Tabernacle Church, UCC

Weekly Sermons

Breaking Thru - Coming Home
February 19, 2012
Mark 2:1-12

Each of us can probably come up with a time when friends really helped. Maybe after a surgery when you needed meals delivered. Or after the birth of a child. Or maybe friends chimed in when you went through a heart ache of some sort. For me having friends who are willing to help when I am most in need has been a saving grace. I remember right after my foot surgery, many of you came to visit me and bring me food; and most importantly, warmth and comeraderie.

Sometimes, we are the friend. The one who brings gifts of food, warmth and grace. I am sure you can think of a time, or many times, when you showed up at a critical moment and your friend’s face lit up with gratitude. 
And then there are the times when being a friend is complicated and requires courage.

About 30 years ago, a group of friends and I got together on behalf of another friend. She was troubling us because she drank a lot. And her drinking had begun to affect our relationships. 

It was a cold Friday in the Fall when we gathered at a friend’s cottage in Maine. Our goal for the weekend, was to come up with a plan to help our friend so that when she arrived at the cottage on Sunday morning, we could steer her in a new direction.

The next day as I remember it, was gorgeous. We ate breakfast together and then went for a walk, trekking over rocks by the water’s edge. If you have ever been to Maine, you know how magnificent those rocks along the shore are....In the process of walking and talking, my friends and I became much closer. Our trust of each other strengthened. 

The rest of the day was spent around a fire place talking about what we could do for our friend. 
At the end of the day, we came up with a plan for an intervention. Our friend was set to arrive at the cottage in Maine the next morning. The plan was to worship together and move right into an intervention. 
I can’t remember the details of what we did on Sunday. But I remember sitting in a circle and everyone speaking directly to our friend about how much we loved her. And each of us said that we would not continue to be in relationship with her until she got help and stopped drinking. We listened to her talk about how difficult her ife had been - and about why she drank. There were many tears and lots of angry reactions. But in the end, she decided, with our love and support, to get the help she needed.

Friends sometimes bring/drag/carry friends to a healing place. Friends sometimes are the only people who CAN, because friends are often the ones who are able to see friends with uncluttered vision, with God’s eyes. 

In today’s Jesus story, some friends bring a man who is paralyzed, to Jesus. Carrying him on his mat, the home that he has made for himself for all these many years, they find Jesus at HIS home in Capernaum. Many people have gathered around him. He has become a magnet for people in need of good news. He talks about God in ways that make God accessible. God is not a distant, judging, angry, punishing entity. God is a healer, a guide, a peacemaker, a friend; God is the breath of hope and the inspiration for new life. And here we see Jesus at home, comfortably talking about God; and making scribes uncomfortable by BEING God.

For people who were alone in the world, who felt trapped in their lives, who felt homeless, this was a safe place to hear good news. For people who thought they knew it all, this was a frightening place to be. Yet they were there.

Suddenly, Jesus’ home is broken into. The roof crashes down around them. And friends of a paralyzed man lower him to the floor.  Imagine the surprise for the crowd of people sitting and listening to Jesus.

There is a U2 song called “Stuck in the Moment.” I can picture the scene out of an episode of Glee - as the man is being dropped into the crowded room, his friends sing: “You’ve got to get yourself together, you’ve got stuck in a moment, and now you can’t get out of it.”

I love the metaphors in this story: The mat upon which this paralyzed man has been living, is lowered down with him on it. Can’t you see the mat as a metaphor for being stuck? Stuck in a moment; stuck in a relationship, stuck in an addiction, stuck in the mundane, stuck on this piece of material that has become your home.
The friends break through the roof of Jesus’ home. Breaking thru the roof is a metaphor for breaking out of the rut, breaking through the walls of despair, breaking from the old, breaking ground on a new idea, breaking out of the prison that has trapped you, breaking free of anything that has paralyzed you.
Then the greatest metaphor of all: STAND UP AND TAKE YOUR MAT...Stand up for your self, your heart, your soul. Stand up for what you believe...Re-invent yourself; re-claim your life; take that old “home” of yours and come home to your power.

And how do you do all this? GOD! You claim God’s good news as your very own. You trust that God, Christ, Jesus - is speaking directly to you. Stand up and take your mat.

In the case of an alcoholic, the metaphor is good - take that life style, take those bottles, take your addiction, take your passion for alcohol - and reframe how you live and love and cherish your self and your friendships. You have cherished a substance - time to cherish God. Let the mat be your constant reminder that God created you to be alive and well. God is with you all the time. Transform your mat into God’s ever-loving presence.

So here we are at the end of the sermon and I ask you, if you were to name your mat, what would it be? What would be the home you’ve created that is not serving your spirit? What is the dynamic that makes you feel trapped? What are you clinging to from the past that paralyzes you in the present? How are you stuck in the moment?

Being disciples of Christ, friends in Christ, is an astounding thing. In the presence of Jesus, we have entered the realm of miracles; of transformation; of faith healing. We are disciples of Christ.

Discipleship is about gathering with friends, caring deeply about each other, helping one another break through old habits and attitudes, taking risks for the sake of friendship, and coming home to God.

Thirty years after the intervention with my friend, she is still sober. Her life was transformed that day. And honestly, so was mine. Since then, I have helped at least a dozen families prepare and participate in healthy interventions. And almost always, the addict has come home to themselves, their families and their friends with grace and new life.

Today, Christ would say: Take up that mat that has been your home for so many years. Stand up and walk. Let your mat be a forever reminder that you are more than your dis-ease, your habits, your fears, your paralysis. You can begin anew right now. We can begin anew right now.  That is God’s good news today.

AMEN

Discernment, Decision, Discipleship
January 22, 2012
Mark 1:14-20

When I was in college, I was very content with my dreams. I dreamed of becoming a professional dancer and actress in New York. Like most drama and dance majors at NYU, I was hopeful about my future on the stage. And then at some point in my senior year, everything changed. I got what we in the church-world call a CALL. It’s really a feeling, a sense, that touches the heart and leads one in a brand new direction. In theological terminology, a Call comes in the midst of discernment - when the Callee is pondering deeply where God wants them to go and to BE.

In today’s brief Gospel lesson, we see four fishermen busy at their jobs. Tending to their nets and fishing from their boats. In the middle of their regular routines, Jesus Calls them to follow. "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." When they drop everything, when they leave even their father behind in the boat to follow him, when their decision is made immediately to change the course of their lives, we wonder - how did they get there? How did they know that following Jesus was what they wanted to do?

Mark gives us a little glimpse into their discernment process. Jesus arrived in Galilee after John his baptizing friend, was arrested. He came proclaiming the good news of God. "The time is fulfilled and the kingdom of God has arrived. Repent and believe in the good news."

We don’t know how long this proclaiming went on. Mark certainly doesn’t give us much information. But we can imagine that Jesus hung out with the people of Galilee for some time before today’s scene. And in that time, he became a good friend to the fishermen and their families. A good friend with inspiring ideas about the future. As their friendships deepened, their beliefs in his words also deepened. So that when he came to them on the shore of the sea of Galilee, they were ready to answer his Call, the trusted him completely.

Follow me and I will make you fish for people.

Having discerned what they love about this man’s words and dreams, they were willing to leave their lives immediately. The decision was instantaneous, to take their skills of FISHING, and use them for God. After discerning, they decided to follow Jesus.

For me, the discernment process was very private and lasted about a year. I was Called to ministry through two women - both characters in plays that I was performing in. The first was a play from the book by Niko Kazantzakis called "The Last Temptation of Christ." You might recall when it was made into a movie by Martin Scorsese. There was a lot of controversy about it. It’s a wonderful story about Jesus and his disciples. In it, Jesus is very human. He and his followers are all very human. Like most friends, they have arguments, they wrestle amongst themselves about who is closest to whom, and they are tempted by all the real stuff in life. They are like us, - vulnerable and human.

The portrayal of Jesus is painfully human throughout the book, he is torn between knowing himself as a man and knowing that God has called him to a divine purpose. His discernment about which is more powerful is agonizing at times. As is the discernment of his disciples. They discern whether to stay in there and follow this man who takes everything to heart, or to leave, that is the question of their lives.

Discernment is exactly that. A time of questioning. Questioning God and self. A time of asking who am I? Who do I want to be? Where is God in my life?

The point of the book "The Last Temptation of Christ" becomes clear in the end when his last temptation is whether to accept his divinity and go through with the crucifixtion or to leave the cross behind and choose his humanity. In a dream, he chooses humanity - and he experiences the passions and hardships of that choice. Finally, in real life he decides to embrace his divinity and accept his death on the cross. When the book became a film, Roger Ebert gave it two thumbs up and said "This film paid Christ the compliment of taking him seriously as a man. Here he is flesh and blood, struggling, questioning, asking himself and God what is the right way. And finally after great suffering, earns the right to say from the cross, "It is accomplished."

In college, I played the role of one of the disciples in the book - Mary Magdalene. What felt like a Call for me was how much she loved Jesus - and how much he loved her. Their human connection made God real for me. And I decided to follow what I had come to love.

The other woman who Called me to ministry was also a character in a play by Harold Pinter called The Woman. I interpreted the role as a homeless woman from the streets of New York. In order to understand the character, I lived in costume, on the streets and in the train stations of New York for a week. Talk about an arduous discernment process. Being homeless, even by choice for a week, was horrific. But it had life-changing ramifications for me because I learned that I wanted to do something about the problem of homelessness with my life.

Mary Magdalene and the homeless Woman Called me to follow Jesus. To follow what I loved. And I made a decision to change the path of the rest of my life. When I first told my teachers and dance instructors about my decision, they were flabergasted. “Why would you do that?” they asked. My only response was that I had come to love Jesus as a women and I was willing to follow what I loved.

After discerning that they loved Jesus, the four disciples Simon, Andrew, James and John decided to follow him and change the path of the rest of their lives.

At the heart of discipleship is love. Following what you love is the essence of being a disciple. Discipleship is fidelity to the one you love. It is choosing a long-standing commitment to put love for God at the center of your life.

To this day, I re-visit my Call, I wonder whether I am Called still. Even this summer during my sabbatical I wondered whether WE are still called to one another. The feeling became clear as I became more centered. YES, we are stilled called to one another.

These days, people talk about "church shopping." It’s a modern day version of discernment. In these last seven and half years, many of you have decided to join this congregation. And today, we welcome our most recent disciples.

The challenge we all face as disciples of Christ, is how to keep following him. With all the temptations to go back to life before Christ (BC), we are challenged to hold fast to our commitment to him, in spite of and because of, the difficulties. Discipleship is most exciting when we are in it together - and when the decision has been made after some discernment.

This new year promises to have some hard times. We have a building that requires attention. It’s hard to focus on a building when our call is to fish for people. But, that is part of being a disciple - caring for this home where we meet God each week and where new disciples come to meet Jesus regularly. As disciples we have responsibilities. We have programs that need people to make them work. Sunday School teachers, silent auction volunteers, organizers for the HAWC Walk, people to sing with the choir, read scripture...to serve on Action Groups.

When Jesus called his first disciples, they left their boats and their lives, to follow him. They let go of their nets and followed what they had come to love - God.

When I first told my parents that I was leaving New York and going to seminary, they did everything they could to talk me out of it. “Don’t leave your dreams. Don’t let go of your hopes. Don’t give up....” For years, I struggled with whether I had done just that. I looked back and wondered whether I had discerned properly. Whether I had made the right decision.
Revisiting a call is healthy I think.

Today, I feel clear. I like this passage for its clarity. Because I feel truly Called to ministry here with you, with seasoned and new disciples by my side.

AMEN

Epiphany 2012
POWER

Epiphanies are commonly known to be AHA moments. When we know something with absolute clarity – or we think we do. When our head and our gut are ONE. I’ll bet that we can all recall in an instant an Epiphany. The first thing that comes to my mind is the moment I knew that my marriage was over. In spite of my three very young children, a FT job and a mortgage that I couldn’t possibly pay by myself, I knew that the marriage was over. And like all Epiphanies, that moment was the catalyst for a new life – for a major change – for a shift in the direction of my journey.

That is the nature of Epiphany. In scripture, epiphany is the coming together of two separate but equal aspects of life. We see it in the passage from Genesis – God sees that there is darkness in all that has been created. And God creates light – like an Epiphany – a light bulb – an aha moment. God brings together light and darkness – giving each its own unique role. Separating the two.

Matthew’s story about Epiphany is a similar coming together of two separate but equally powerful aspects of humanity. Mind and spirit meet in that little town of Bethlehem. Philosophers from a far off land, meet Jesus. Intellectuals connect their intelligence with God’s presence in the world. And everything changes. The three magi take a new path after this encounter. They leave by another route.

Epiphanies always inspire a new path. Epiphanies almost always create change in people’s lives. Epiphanies are powerful moments when mind and spirit meet and something shifts dramatically.

You may have had the experience of sitting with intellectuals and trying to explain your faith. Meeting of mind and spirit requires some patience on everyone’s part. A good friend of mine is a scientist/teacher. He thinks logically. He sees outcomes before he begins figuring out how to get there. He has a vision and he creates a clear and orderly path to get there. I on the other hand, hope for a healthy outcome, but I always trust the process of God’s hand in the journey and therefore do not have a clear sense of an outcome. When he and I talk, we find ourselves in exciting and new territory every conversation. Because our meetings represent this Epiphany idea – where mind and spirit meet. It’s a dynamic that creates power.
Epiphany is an opportunity to look at power. What is power? As I was preparing this sermon this week, I was in a conversation with a young woman who is in her third year of college and of ROTC. She deals with power on a regular basis. She is a petite, athletic, smart spirit-driven beautiful child/woman. Power she said, is when you have a sense of clarity within yourself. It is the ability to trust God inside you so you can lead others. Power misused, she said, tries to control others; to derail them from their true path; to disable them from being themselves. Power at its healthiest, encourages people to see and be fully present to themselves. It gets people organized to make a difference in the world and in their own lives.

I thought her words were so perfect for Epiphany. In Matthew’s story, we see three types of power.
1. Power of the Magi – three studied, observant, astute scholars. Power of the mind.
2. Power of Herod – appetite for control makes him feel vulnerable when he has lost control. And he hates feeling vulnerable. Craves control and ego praise. He represents the power of abusers and tyrants and people who react to fear with violence and control.
3. Power of God – creator of life – of light – of good news and goodness.

Epiphany is Herod’s greatest nightmare; because a new power is in the world – and he cannot control it. A brand new power is born into the world in a baby, a human being  who will lead by example, by modeling healing and love and joy and justice.

There is a workshop planned for clergy in June this year titled “Being Jesus.” It caught my attention because it sounds aslightly arrogant. But the description is good:
“What does it mean to live as if Jesus is real? As if you, and those around you, are filled with the power of Jesus, and sent to do his work of healing, feeding, forgiving, and raising the dead? How do we practically carry out the acts of Jesus in his name?”

The workshops are broken into four categories:
1, Putting on Christ – claiming the authority of spiritual power.
2. Healing – listening, restoring hope, helping, sharing, offering safe haven for those in need.
3. Forgiving – praying for patience, strength and resilience in the face of hard living and broken relationships.
4. Raising the dead – bringing new life out of the ashes; beginning again, inspite of the wounds and the obstacles.

Epiphany urges us to embrace the power of Jesus with mind, body, heart and soul. To merge the mind and the spirit – and in doing so, to take a new path. And on this new path, to make room for God’s voice, to follow God’s light like the star that the magi followed to the little town of Bethlehem.

All of us have the three powers of this story within us. We have the power of mind, of spirit and we also have the power to control, to abuse, to misuse our power. What is helpful about Matthew’s story in our Gospel is that he names these powers and gives us a way to name them for ourselves. And to make room always for the mind-spirit connection; and to recognize the Herod power. The voice of fear – fear of feeling vulnerable. Fear of losing control. To recognize the Herod within and to tame that energy. To give it less and less of a voice.

“When the wise men had heard king Herod telling them to spy on the new king, they set out to meet the Christ child. And there ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it seemed to stop over the place where the child was. When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they knelt down to pay him homage. Then they offered their gifts and after this encounter, they left for their own country – by another road.”

When we leave from this encounter with God today, what path will you take? You will be returning to your same place of residence – with the same people you encounter every day – but what will be different about your journey through this new year?

AMEN

God Smugglers
December 18, 2011
Luke 1:47-55
A few years ago, shortly after Joel started taping our services for public television, I gave a children’s message about Mary. This was the Sunday before Christmas when we focus our attention on this woman who changed the world forever. I wanted to talk with the kids about her importance in the life of Jesus. So I asked one simple question: "Who is Mary?" The responses were great. The mother of Jesus. Wife of Joseph. Someone even quoted the pageant saying "She was God’s favored one." And then the blessed/dreaded answer came loud and clear: She’s a virgin.
The church froze for a second. At least it felt like it did. All eyes were on me. I heard someone in the choir say "This is gonna be interesting..."
I tried not to panic. Seemingly calm, I asked "What’s a virgin?" Hoping that a child would give an adorable answer and we would all chuckle. But my question put salt on the wound. No one said anything. Then one brave child broke the silence, "We don’t know. You tell us."
I saw my career tanking before my eyes. My heart started to race and I prayed: Dear God help me. But God was definitely laughing. And I said: "A virgin is an innocent. Do you know what innocent means? It means she was willing to learn. Willing to be open. Willing to say yes to God." She was able to see God everywhere nothing blocked her vision.
Or something like that. To be honest, all I really remember is the word innocent - and all the laughter that came from the choir. To this day, whenever we have a Bible Study during Advent, this children’s moment at Tabernacle comes up. And I always blush all over again.
When you and I talk about Mary, the virgin, we have a definition that has been in our lives and in our culture for centuries. We think about her sexuality and we either believe in the miracle of immaculate conception or we simply accept the mystery of incarnation. Miracle and mystery go hand in hand with Mary the mother of God.
We love the miracle and mystery of incarnation; of God coming into the world as a human child. We need miracle and mystery in our world and in our lives. And the virgin birth is as miraculous and mysterious as it gets. Like most of us, I love this divinely inspired story of God’s entrance into this dark and frightening world of ours. For today, let’s think of Mary as: an innocent, receptive, open 14 year old girl. A willing soul. A tabernacle (which in Hebrew Scripture meant a dwelling place for God). An open heart. Mary the favored one, miraculously and mysteriously received God into her womb, into her soul. Mary smuggled God into the world.

Yes, Mary smuggled God into this world of ours. And she did it in spite of the dark and frightening truth of her world. She did it in a place that was much like Iraq and Afghanistan today. A war torn, dry, hilly, dusty world where tribes constantly fought over territory, power and religious beliefs. A world of warriors who came home from battles with visible and invisible wounds. Mary smuggled God into a world that was dark and frightening and desperately in need of the hope and joy of an innocent child.
The angel of God said, "Don’t be afraid Mary, for God has found favor with you. You will bear a son and call him Jesus."
What if Mary had said "No."? What if she had said, No thank you Gabriel, I really don’t want to carry God into this frightening place. I don’t want to lose control of my life. I don’t want to let go of MY dreams. I don’t want to take that kind of risk - I mean smuggling God into this place could kill me. And frankly it could kill God. I don’t want to be responsible for that.
In fact, this dark world did try to kill God - but God’s love for humankind is an ever-blazing-light that cannot be killed. God’s Love never dies.
But back to Mary, she didn’t say "No." Rather, she said: "Here I am. Let it be, with me. My soul magnifies the Lord. My Spirit rejoices in God my Savior. For God has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely from now on, all generations shall call me blessed."
Mary was the first to know that an innocent child had been chosen to smuggle God’s son into the world.

There is a story about a young Christian woman during WWII who was working in a factory near the German border. Every day, she would ride her bicycle up to the border where a German guard stood watch. She was a pretty young girl. And he rather liked her regular visits. She always had two bags in her bicycle basket. Every day the guard would ask her what was in the bags and she would say food for my family for dinner. And the guard would look through the bags, steal a little of the food, and let her pass. This sequence happened for months. When the war was over and people were beginning to re-settle into their lives, the guard ran into the young girl who was now a young woman. He asked her "All these years I have wondered: What was really going on back then? I know you were smuggling something across the border. What was it?" The girl looked him in the eye and said, "BICYCLES."

What a surprise it was for people of all generations, that Mary, an innocent young woman, was invited to smuggle God into the world. How perfectly miraculous and mysterious is that?
The story in Luke’s Gospel is quite marvelous as it continues to unfold. Right after Mary says "Yes, I will smuggle God into this world." she is told by Gabriel to go find her relative Elizabeth, who is also smuggling a gift from God into the world. Elizabeth had been trying to conceive for many years, and in her old age, she receives the message from God’s angel that she is going to have a child who will prepare the way for God. Both women, having said "Yes" to God, accept their divine assignment as God smugglers. Mary, following the instructions from Gabriel, goes with haste over the long and hilly region of what is now Iraq, to meet and greet her relative.
In their first encounter, Elizabeth exclaims that the child in her womb leapt for joy; a sign that both women were fully aware that God was in the world.

Recently, I saw a movie called "The Boy with the Striped Pyjamas." It’s about two young boys who become friends during WWII. One is the child of an official in the Third Reich, who lives just outside one of the camps. The other child lives inside a camp.
Each day, the two 8-year-old boys meet at the barbed wire, electric fence, to talk and play. At one point, they decide that as soon as all this is over, when everyone is getting along again, they will be able to play ball together. The final scenes are powerful. The two innocent children figure out a way to be together. The boy in the camp smuggles a pair of pyjamas through the fence to the boy on the outside. Dressed as a prisoner, he digs under the barbed wire and they enter the camp hand in hand. Smuggling innocence into the darkness. The ending leaves viewers stunned, but able to see the light of everlasting love, in the midst of the world’s horror. Today through Mary, Elizabeth, Gabriel and God we are reminded that birth and resurrection continue to be the miracle and mystery of God’s presence here on earth.
Today’s good news is that Mary is as real and human as we are. Her innocence allowed her to say YES to God. And she stayed faithful to God and her son from birth to death to resurrection. Today’s good news is that we can all be smugglers for God. Our faith in the midst of hard times smuggles God into the world.

Meister Eckhart was a famous German mystic and theologian in the 14th century. He held to his faith in the midst of war and darkness and was excommunicated during the Inquisition. His views on Mary and Jesus and God’s incarnation were considered heresy. About the virgin birth he writes: "We are all meant to be mothers of God. What good is it to me if this eternal birth of the divine Son takes place unceasingly but does not take place within myself? And what good is it to me if Mary is full of grace if I am not also full of grace? What good is it to me for the Creator to give birth to his Son if I do not also give birth to him in my time and in my culture?"
We join Mary today, as God smugglers. We are all meant to be mothers of God, giving birth to God in our time and in our culture; Bringing light into the darkest places carrying faith in the midst of hard times. During this last week of Advent, with the candle of love blazing in our hearts, we are asked by God’s angels to say YES.
YES, I will smuggle God into the world.
AMEN

Advent Sanctuary
Dec. 4, 2011
Mark 1:1-8

This year, we are creating an Advent sanctuary that includes, words, candles, music and art. The sanctuary that we gather in to prepare for Christ’s birth, is meant to reflect the inner sanctuary of our souls. As we prepare to hear my reflections on today’s Gospel message, let’s take a moment to be in this Advent sanctuary and to experience our own inner Advent Sanctuary. The darkness, the two candles, and the table at the foot of the cross prepared for communion....."May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts, be acceptable to you O God."

When I was a child, there was a drama that we used in church every few years, to help us understand the power of today’s message. As the drama began, the chancel area was filled with people; men, women and children. Each was busy doing some routine task of the day: washing dishes, sweeping floors, directing traffic, reading, writing, playing football, cooking. There were all sorts of people: teachers, bankers, preachers, waitresses, judges, nurses - lots of people milling around. All in pantomime; all obviously busy.

A preacher went to the pulpit and started to read this opening verse from mark’s Gospel. "The beginning of the good news of Jesus Christ....A voice crying in the wilderness saying repent and believe." Suddenly, a man would jump up out of the congregation and yell:
"Prepare the way of the Lord. Repent. Because you want to be ready!!! The one who is following me is much more powerful than you can imagine. I baptize with water. But I am not worthy to stoop down and untie the thong of his sandals. He is coming and he will baptize with the Holy Spirit. Repent so that your heart and soul are cleansed so you can see him as your God."

The working people in the chancel would freeze. They stopped everything they were doing and stared in amazement. John standing in the darkness of the Advent Sanctuary continued: "Make your paths straight for the Lord." Slowly but surely, each person would put down the tools of their lives, let go of their old ways, and follow John out of the church.

Today, in this Advent Sanctuary, where we feel safe and secure, where darkness is our familiar, where our relationship with God continues to deepen; today in this Advent Sanctuary, we are Called to a dramatic transformation. We are called by this divine drama, to repent, to face the truth about ourselves, and to shift the direction of our lives. The Christian story actually begins with this radical message from John the baptizer. Repent, receive forgiveness, believe and follow.

We know about John. Our children speak about him every time we do a baptism. They are well versed in the story of the baptism of Jesus; of John's humility at the presence of Jesus on the banks of the Jordan River. And they love, as we all do, the ritual of anointing a child’s head with water. Unlike some churches, we make sure that anyone who wants to be baptized or wants their children baptized, feel welcome. We are as open and affirming with baptisms as we are with Holy Communion.

Because we follow John’s lead. And John purposely welcomed everyone to the Jordan River. The original point of baptism was radical transformation for individuals, for religious institutions and for society. John used the religious ritual of cleansing oneself before entering God’s sanctuary, to transform an entire system. He proclaimed that a relationship with God did not require four walls and segregated bathing pools. He proclaimed that a new relationship with God could begin through cleansing in an open river. He proclaimed that anyone who repented and received the waters of baptism, would be ready for a face-to-face encounter with God. Repentance meant letting go of old ways that consume time, energy and spirit – that have nothing to do with God. Repentance meant transformation.

John was political. He was sick and tired of a religious/political system that excluded or divided people based on their wealth or their status. John was a revolutionary - a prophet who took his relationship with God beyond the four walls of a sanctuary. He broke rules for the sake of the future.
Because John knew that the world was about to change forever and God was the catalyst. On some visceral level, John knew that God was in the world and that God’s Peace, coming fast and furiously, was about to cause enormous turmoil. God's Peace would overturn the system, and the transformation wouldn't be easy. So John cried: “Make his paths straight!”
Prepare the Way of the Lord.

In the context of the times, we have to understand that Mark wrote his Gospel about 70 years after both John and Jesus were executed. There was a war going on. Jewish rebels had revolted against the Romans who were occupying Jerusalem and the neighboring countryside. But the Jewish people were not united. For some, any hope of peace and security meant fighting the Roman occupiers. Others believed peace would come by cooperating with them. Some people were trying to follow the way of John and Jesus, in spite of violent reactions by both religious and political leaders. Ancient Palestine was in shambles early Christians were in desperate need of a prophetic voice to keep them traveling on the straight path of Jesus Christ.

Mark used the message of John the Baptist to encourage people to stay the course; to repent of the old ways and not fall prey to slipping backwards from the way of Christ. Mark's message was: Now is the time to unite and demand change. Now is the time to follow our Lord.

So he begins his Gospel with John: Repent..and receive the baptism of forgiveness.... for the one who is coming after me will baptize you with the Holy Spirit. Prepare the way of the Lord. Make his paths straight.
As I was preparing this sermon, I kept thinking about the difficulty we seem to have with the word repent. What comes to mind when you hear the word repent? Many people tune out. It conjures up issues of "personal sins" that rumble around in our personal histories, and that often cause us to feel guilt.

And because we tend to be paralyzed by guilt, we avoid the topic of repentance.
But on this second Sunday of Advent, in this Advent Sanctuary where we befriend the darkness and welcome light, Mark is relentless. He demands that we hear John calling from the crowd to repent of the old ways and make a straight path on which we follow the way of Christ.
What would you do if John the baptizer stood up in this sanctuary and cried out: Repent and prepare to follow the Lord.

What would you cleanse from your life? What would you let go of? What would you change so that you could freely meet your God, and follow?
Let it be so for now.
AMEN

***************************


God’s Promise
November 27, 2011
Advent Begins
Have you heard? Have you heard that Jesus is coming? That God is breaking into our universe? Have you heard that God is going to join us as one of us? Are you excited? Are you scared? I wonder if He’s coming in clouds - with great power and glory or will he slip through the door unannounced. Are you wondering what you will say? What you will wear? What you will BE? Have you heard the good news - God is coming. I cannot promise when. I cannot promise how. I cannot promise anything. God however, promises to come. Have you heard? Are you listening? Are you alert? Are you scared?

In an article titled "The Dangers of Advent"author and theologian J.B. Phillips begins: "By far, the most important and significant event in the whole course of human history will be celebrated, with or without understanding, at the end of the Advent season. The towering miracle of God’s visit to this planet on which we live will be glossed over, brushed aside or rendered impotent by over-familiarity....God has been here once, and God is coming again. And the danger of Advent is you won’t know."

Are you tingling? Are you alert? Are you ready?

The danger of Advent is that we will be so caught up in the familiarity of the season, in the familiar mundane insanity of preparing for Christmas ala American pie, that we will miss the whole thing.
We will miss the tingling sensation of God’s presence. We will miss God in our midst - because we settle for what is familiar with this season’s pace and pulse.

This first Sunday of Advent is the beginning of expectation. Expecting God’s promise to be real. Expecting with timely alternatives God to be with us to love, support and care for us; to be faithful to us, all the days of our lives. This Advent Sunday is the beginning of God’s promise to enter our world. God is coming into a world where there is darkness, where there is violence, where there is despair, where there is fear.

"But about that day or hour, no one knows but God. Beware, keep alert, for you do not know when the time will come. It’s like someone going on a journey and commanding the people left behind to be on the watch for when they return - in the evening, at dawn, at midnight - maybe even when the cock crows." Mark 13:34
When God makes a promise, we are challenged to listen and to believe that the promise is real. This is the practice of Advent. To be alert. To be vigilant. To be awake. Because we expect that God’s promise is real: God is coming into our lives, and it would be a terrible crime for us to miss out.

Last summer during my sabbatical, I went on a journey. I flew out to Oregon by myself. It was on a whim one night months earlier, that I got onto the computer and booked a flight and rented a motorcycle. In some ways, it was a crazy thing to do. I knew no one in Oregon. I’d never rented a motorcycle before. And I had no clue about the weather in Oregon, or a route or even where I would find shelter.

But something propelled me forward, and I took the chance. Trusting, I suppose, in a divine promise that if I risked launching into the unknown, I would inevitably meet God along the way.
God, of course, surpassed my expectations. The miracle of my time in Oregon, was beyond my imagination. Aside from great riding and wonderful weather, I met awesome people who have become dear friends. In fact, they joined us for worship last Sunday and spent this past week of Thanksgiving with me.

When you are motorcycling, you enjoy the experience of partnership with fellow travelers, but obviously there isn’t much talking. So this past week was all about getting to know each other. And of course, the best way to get to know one another is through story telling. One of the things we learned that all four of us had in common, was that we had each escaped from dark and difficult relationships in our past.
As we spoke about our lives, and found in each other compassionate ears and hearts, I could feel the power of God’s presence once again. Friendships can be like this. Gifts from God that make us re-believe in today’s promise - God is here, God is coming.

Advent, in its purest form, is about trusting that God is coming to be with us; to be our friend; our teacher; our healer; our counselor. During Advent, we sing that traditional song that we love so much: "O Come O Come Emmanuel; God be with us." Advent is when we prepare for this ultimate divine gift: God in our world.

The danger of Advent comes when we let these four weeks slide by as if they were the same-old-same-old. The danger of Advent is that we don’t hear God’s promise to be here with us; to join us once again in the midst of our lives; to be our friend who listens and understands. The danger of Advent is that we become too familiar with God and we fall asleep on the job.
In Mark’s Gospel, Jesus talks about his coming again. He explains that after the difficulties, after the suffering, after the pain, there will be a time when the sun will darken; when the moon will not give light; when even the power of heaven will be shaken....
And then, the light will come. Then, the light will shine brightly. Then God will come again and God’s promise will be real; that there will be peace, love, joy and hope in abundance on this earth.

The danger of Advent is that we get stuck in the darkness of pessimism, making no room for light. Advent contrasts the darkness and the light - just as we will be doing at the beginning of worship: testifying to darkness before we light the Advent candle. Jesus uses contrast to help us understand God’s promise. God comes into this world because we need the contrast. We need to know that suffering doesn’t have the final word. Faith welcomes God in the midst of suffering. And though darkness cannot be eliminated, divine light can shine into the darkness and not be overcome by it. Light means nothing without darkness. Just as health means nothing without sickness. And balance means nothing without imbalance. And friendship means nothing without loneliness and solitude.

Mark uses contrast often in his Gospel. Today, the parable of the fig tree is used to illustrate Advent’s contrasts. The tree is the harbinger of summer in the midst of cold dark winter. "As soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near."
Green branches in the midst of cold dark winter speak to the hope of what is to come. Green branches are a sign of God’s promise: I am coming into your world, in the midst of darkness, to bring light, joy, love and peace.

Many of us will be setting up our Christmas trees this week or next. As we do we might think about the evergreen branches being a symbol of God’s promise. Each branch is a sign of what is to come - a future filled with God. Maybe each ornament will become a symbol of God coming into our lives and into our homes. As we awaken to the smell of pine and the glow of lights on the green branches, we might pause to be grateful for God’s promise to come again as a human being. To befriend us unexpectedly. To know us. To be near us. To understand us.
May our Christmas trees be reminders of God’s promise.

Beginning this afternoon, Tabernacle will have a special Christmas tree set up in the Bigelow Room. On it will be ornaments that represent families in need of God’s promise this season. Our ritual is to take an ornament and bring back gifts for the people on the list. Everyone can participate.

The danger of Advent is that we take God’s promise for granted; that we forget to stay alert and awake; that we become so familiar with the day-to-day stuff, that we miss God’s entrance. May our Christmas trees be reminders to listen for God every day and to trust God’s promise that God is coming, ready or not. We might as well be ready!
AMEN

***********

Take Hold of God’s Hand
Thanksgiving Sunday 2011
Matthew 25:31-46

It’s hard to think about Thanksgiving without thinking about food. The smell of turkey wafting through the house. The texture of stuffing, overflowing crusty bread seeped turkey juices, pecan, cranberry, pumpkin.......
The first Thanksgiving was a spiritual feast from the. Women baked for days preparing breads and turkey. Native Americans and Pilgrims lay aside their troubles and for a day, shared a spiritual feast with one another. The first Thanksgiving, in 1621, was declared the day that will always be set aside for feasting, fellowship and prayer. Where troubles would be released and people would gather together in peace and harmony. Thanksgiving would be a spiritual time to look back over the year troubles and all and give thanks for all the blessings of this life.
Be clear, the year at which they glanced, was far from easy. During the previous winter of 1620, half the original travelers had died. And those who had survived, struggled with grief, hunger, disease and poverty. Nonetheless, they paused on Thanksgiving to be grateful.

Looking back over the year is a good practice for us today. This is the last Sunday of the Christian year. When there are endings, it is good to look back and ponder what has been learned and what has been lost. It is good to pause and find the glimmer of hope in the midst of all the hardship.

This has been a trying year for many people. Unemployment, homelessness, poverty - all on the rise. Children have been directly affected by the economic crisis:
Did you know that child poverty rates reached 22% in 2010, up from 20% in 2009?
Did you know that 4% of American children have been affected by home foreclosures since 2007?
Did you know that Catholic Charities fed 56% MORE children (935,000) in 2010 than in 2006 (600,000)

According to the director of Urban Poverty and Community Development, Robert Fischer, faith based programs that deal with children and poverty tend to catch people who fall through the cracks of other safety nets. When emergency needs arise, people often turn to churches first. He says, "The most disadvantaged families oftentimes don’t go to formal settings to receive services, but they will go into a church. Churches can provide information and reach families and children who wouldn’t know about public services otherwise."

As we look back over the last year, we know people who have really had trouble. Some of us have been troubled by a death in the family, an illness a foreclosure a divorce, a break up, loss of job..... You may be one of those people. Recently, I read an article written by a seminary student and in it she said "Faith comes from trouble. If you ask most people how they came to faith, they will tell you a story about trouble. Faith comes from trouble."

I would add that faith comes from finding and taking hold of God’s hand in the midst of trouble.
In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus looks back over his life - and he sees people - God’s children in trouble. He looks back over his life, and he sees hungry, sick, homeless, impoverished children - and he urges us to care.

A colleague of mine likened today’s passage to the reality show "Undercover Boss." I’ve never watched it, but the concept is intriguing. A boss goes undercover, leaving the comfort of their corner office, to examine the inner workings of their company. While working alongside their employees, they see the effects that their policies and decisions have on others. They see who is working in partnerships, who is a lone ranger; who is kind and who is not.

In today’s passage, Jesus sits on the throne in the kingdom of God, looking back over the year. And to the utter surprise of his constituents, he reveals that he has been undercover amongst them. And he has some questions for them.
I was hungry. Did you give me food?
I was a child. Did you welcome me into your circle?
I was thirsty. Did you give me drink?
I was naked. Did you clothe me?
I was sick. Did you take care of me?

Looking back over the year, as we prepare for the spiritual feast of Thanksgiving, do you think you have taken hold of God’s hand? Do you have lived by the mission statement of Christianity.
To love God with all your heart, mind, body and soul. And to love your neighbor as yourself.

My colleague admits that the metaphor of Jesus as undercover boss is not perfect. But it is humbling to think of Christ being one of us who is in trouble. It is humbling to think that he knows how we have treated ourselves and our neighbors because he was here. Knowing our frustrations, our imperfections, our fears. It is humbling to think that Jesus knows how we have taken hold of God’s hand in the midst of trouble - our own or other people’s.

And it is reassuring to know that his judgement is not about whether we are perfectly faithfully following religious rules and policies - but rather whether we have reached out to take the hand of someone in trouble.

On Monday night, at the Pastoral Relations Group meeting, we talked about some of the ways Tabernacle has impacted our view of the world in the last year or so. One of the members of the group spoke up and revealed that he has had a shift in his life since he started coming here. He said that Tabernacle has been the catalyst for seeing people living in poverty with a compassionate heart rather than a judgmental one. He said that there was a man who he passed on the way to work every day, who begged for money. His attitude was always, judgmental: Hey buddy, you are not doing anything to help yourself, so I am not going to help you. But after he had been worshiping with us for a while at Tabernacle he saw the beggar with new eyes. And he started to give him some spare change. And he started to give him some spare change, dollars from his pants. As time went by, this man living on the streets of Boston became more and more a human being to him. And then he decided that he wouldn’t just give money, he would talk to the guy. So he started to ask him how he was doing. And now, he says that he feels like they are friends. They know something about each other. And his is an interesting guy.

This is what Jesus is looking for. That we his employees take hold of our neighbors hand, and care - troubles and all.

I’d like to close this sermon with a prayer of Thanksgiving written by Howard Thurman, former Dean of Boston University:

Howard Thurman’’s Thanksgiving Prayer
Today, I make my Sacrament of Thanksgiving. I begin with the simple things of my days: Fresh air to breathe, Cool water to drink, The taste of food, The protection of houses and clothes, The comforts of home. For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day!
I bring to mind all the warmth of humankind that I have known: My mother’’s arms, The strength of my father The playmates of my childhood, The wonderful stories brought to me from the lives Of many who talked of days gone by when fairies And giants and all kinds of magic held sway; The tears I have shed, the tears I have seen; The excitement of laughter and the twinkle in the Eye with its reminder that life is good. For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day
I finger one by one the messages of hope that awaited me at the crossroads: The smile of approval from those who held in their hands the reins of my security; The tightening of the grip in a simple handshake when I Feared the step before me in darkness; The whisper in my heart when the temptation was fiercest And the claims of appetite were not to be denied; The crucial word said, the simple sentence from an open Page when my decision hung in the balance. For all these I make an act of Thanksgiving this day.

AMEN
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Taking Risks for God’s Sake
November 13, 2011
Matthew 25:14-30
Another one of Matthew's characters bites the dust......
Banished to outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. This time it's a servant who buries his master’s money, reaping no return on the investment. In fairness to the servant, maybe he is choosing to take a prudent approach to the relationship with this overseer, because he is afraid of the guy. He's not about to take risks with someone else's money. Fear is a powerful thing.

In the song Devils and Dust Bruce Springsteen the chorus speaks about fear and God: I got God on my side; I'm just trying to survive; but what if what you do to survive kills the things you love; fear's a powerful thing; it will take your God-filled soul and fill it with devils dust.

The servant in the parable is banished to outer darkness, filled with devil's dust, for being afraid to take a risk with his Talent.

Last night I had dinner with a friend who I met while doing work with women in prison. She organized the defense team for the Framingham Eight – eight women who defended their lives but killed their batterer and were serving life sentences. I was their minister. Last night we recalled the FEAR that these women lived with in their homes – fear that eventually saved their lives.

Not all fear takes your soul and fills it with dust. Sometimes fear saves lives and gets you out of the devil’s dust.

But Matthew imagery in this morning’s gospel reading is dramatic. Remember, he is the only Gospel writer who has us visit this imaginary place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, more than a few times.

Is it imaginary though? It sounds like a prison. Or a state of being that haunts us when we do nothing for God's sake? Responding to the Penn State story about sexual abuse by an assistant coach, a letter to the Globe quotes Irish philosopher Edmond Burke: “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”
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I imagine the parents of the 10 year old boy who was sexually abused would be happy to believe that there is such a dark place - where the man who has lived freely for many years after committing such a violent crime would spend his days. “All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”

Today, the person in the Jesus-parable hasn't committed a violent crime. But he is guilty of doing nothing out of fear. He is afraid to take a risk, for God’s sake. And Jesus does not approve.

Three servants are given Talents. (In Biblical terms, a talent is a ridiculous sum of money...15 years of wages.) The first two use their talents and double their worth. These two servants return to their master with more than he originally gave them. And they both receive identical commendations.

The third servant is given only ONE talent. Afraid, he hides the talent in the ground. He does nothing. For this, he is banished to outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Apparently, Jesus believes that the greatest risk of all is not to risk anything; To not care deeply enough about anything. Jesus believes that to live in fear will take your God-filled soul and fill it with dust. He warns that the outcome of playing it safe, of not speaking up, not loving, not caring, not investing ourselves - is something akin to death.

He pushes us beyond "no risk faith". Because he wants us to take risks, for God’s sake.

The economic realities of our lives tempt us to live in fear, as if there is never enough. Not enough money to do what needs to be done. Not enough joy to energize ourselves. Not enough kindness and care to make a difference. Living as if there is not enough is enough to be banished to the place of outer darkness, where fear has the final word. Fear is a powerful thing. It can motivate and it can paralyze.

The alternative to fear is Faith. Faith is the place where we are enough. We have enough. We can be enough. Where we find courage to make a difference. Fear turned to faith can move mountains......Turning to this moment at Tabernacle: THIS IS GOOD NEWS!
Stewardship is an opportunity for us to look at each other, and see that we are enough. We have enough. Stewardship is an opportunity for us to look at each other and see people who are willing and able to take risks for God’s sake. Faith is a powerful thing.

This year we have a unique Talent to work with. The talent is a ridiculous sum of money: $35,000. Last year, and for the last 30 years, this Talent was given to us through rent from the courthouses. People from all over the state waited in our basement for jury duty. We were their hosts. But they have a new space now and our space is no longer needed.

So we have this TALENT - $35,000 – to make some decisions about. We can respond with fear:

O dear...what will we do...will we cut away at the ministry of the church...will we take away from our mission work...fear can be a powerful thing.

The other response, the one Jesus is calling us towards, the faith is a powerful thing response, is to trust the expansive power of God. To take some risks for God’s sake. We are abundantly rich with talents: time, skills, ideas, creativity, money, resources, and a building with great space in the middle of downtown Salem... How will we take risks and pool our talents this year? So much is happening at Tabernacle Church that is worthy of a faith-based response: MUSIC< MISSION< EDUCATION<FELLOWSHIP< CHILDREN’S OUTREACH. HISTORY IS BEING MADE HERE!

Now is the time to make Faith be the powerful thing, not fear.

Now is the time to take risks for God’s sake!
AMEN

************************
Blessings
Matthew 5:1-12
October 30, 2011

"It would be lonely to live in a world without blessing. The word blessing evokes a sense of warmth and protection; it suggests that no life is alone or unreachable. Our very presence here is a blessing. A blessing evokes a privileged intimacy where the human heart pleads with the divine heart. Regardless of our differences in religion, language or concept, there is no heart that is without this inner divine reference. It would be lonely to live in a world without blessing."

This is an excerpt from a book by John O’Donohue titled "To Bless the Space Between Us."

As I begin this sermon, I invite you to breathe in a blessing for yourself and breathe out a blessing for someone else....

Do you ever wish you could go back to a time - a time before THIS? A time when your children were little and they ran into your arms with glee when they saw you walk in the door? A time before, when your dreams were still a possibility rather than a mythological hope that never came true? A time when you didn’t have cancer or when a loved one wasn’t struggling? Do you ever wish you could go back to a time?

Maybe you never think about good times in the past. Maybe you never had good times in the past and you are delighted to be right here in the present. But many of us can relate to the idea of wanting to return to a time when life wasn’t so brutally difficult. Watching the news this week, I thought about this concept in the aftermath of the earthquake in Turkey. There were many stories of people giving of themselves to rescue strangers, friends and loved ones. And there were amazing stories of survival: Three days after the quake a mother and her infant were rescued, the mother having hovered over her baby to keep her alive; and a day later a man lifted his fiancé from the rubble with the help of strangers, and she was miraculously alert and alive. - both of them convinced that Love kept her going.

I imagine that families, friends and neighbors in Turkey are thinking about the time before the earthquake....wishing that life could go back in time, that blessings could be said, love expressed, tenderness shared.

Last weekend I was with military families and friends who would do anything to go back in time. The first day during registration, I stood quietly near the line of people waiting to sign-in. They had come from all over the country to surround themselves with people who understood what they were feeling. The first couple I spoke to in line, were grieving their son’s recent suicide. They could barely speak. I could see the hunger for some sense of healing in their eyes. Right behind them, was a mother and her young daughter, there to find a sense of healing at the loss of a father and husband. Both new families were starving for some sense of belonging in this circle of people who never wanted to belong in that o-so-sad circle.

When we are confronted with life-changing situations, when all the dreams of the past seem to disappear in an instant, we are faced with the difficult spiritual challenge of accepting what IS, letting go of what WAS, and turning towards hope and possibility for what MIGHT BE. That was the spiritual journey of last weekend.

Today, in our Gospel reading from Matthew, we meet a crowd of people who have lived, loved and lost. They come from a past, full of dreams and hopes and possibilities. They are very real people, like you and me. Like the families I spent my weekend with. Like the people in Turkey. They are very real people, seeking a message about healing and promise. They are people who come from all over the land, to be with other people who understand. They come to Jesus seeking words of comfort and support.

This company of people, this crowd of people, did not come with preconceived notions about what Jesus would say to them. We don’t know exactly what their stories are, but we can imagine. Because they were a crowd of people in need of other people who understood them; in need of a sense of healing and hope.

What will this rabbi say to them?

Jesus was a mystery to most people. He seemed like the person they had been waiting for - the Messiah. But he was unpredictable. They had no idea what Jesus would say that day on the mountain. But they were hungry. Hungry enough to flock to the event. Like the folks waiting in line last weekend to register for the conference, they had no idea what was about to happen but they were hungry for support and healing.

So we can presume that these words of blessing must have been astonishing to them. His blessings were comforting and soothing and just what was needed for healing. His blessings took in the hopes of the past while holding the truth of the present and gently caressed every single human being there.

When I first encountered the faces and broken hearts of people last weekend, I saw in them a deep yearning for blessings and promise. When I stood in front of them to offer the opening prayer, I thought about this passage from Matthew’s Gospel.
So we began with blessing. Breathe in a blessing for you and breathe out a blessing for the one you love who has died.

When a blessing is invoked, it changes the atmosphere. In the light of a blessing, a person or situation becomes illuminated, wrapped up, in a new way.

On this All Saints Sunday, I hope you’ll take time to offer and receive blessings. To breathe in blessings to yourselves and breathe out blessings for others.....

In closing, I invite you to do what we did at the closing of worship last Sunday. We formed a circle around the chairs and each person said aloud the name of the one who died and a quality about them that was in their heart.

I realize we already made a circle, so let’s just do this with our breath. Breathe in the name of your saint and breathe out a quality about them that is in your heart. Miraculously, the empty chairs filled up with all the saints of the circle of people.

AMEN
**********************************

Playful Stewardship: an oxymoron?
October 16, 2011
Matthew 22:15-22

Here’s the thing about money. The same amount of money can be used for good or greed; to promote healing or killing. Billions of dollars can be used to wage war or build schools. Millions of dollars can be used to add possessions to already possessed people or fund programs for special need children, find cures for diseases. A moderate amount of money can purchase several homes for one family or several homes for several homeless families, a shelter for abused women and children, and animals for farmers trying to keep their farms.

The same amount of money can be used for good or greed; to promote healing or killing.

Jesus is clear on this point. One coin; one question: Do you worship money or do you use money to worship God?

I have three questions for us today:
If you had all the money you want, what would you spend it on?
If you had ten years to live, what would you do with your time for the next 3 years?
If you learned that at midnight you’d die, what would you wish you had done with your talents?

These three questions are used by a colleague of mine who is a financial planner/theologian. Basically, he begins working with his clients by determining who they want to be and what they want to do with their resources - right now. MONEY, TIME, TALENT - these are our resources. Who do you want to be? And what do you want to do with your resources?
Jesus spoke about money and resources more than anything else other than the kingdom of God. Asking people to honor the God within them and the God within others, he challenged people to use their resources to honor God always.

Because of this, his ministry was a constant source of frustration for the wealthy and powerful people of his time. They used resources to promote themselves. But the people who needed healing, food, shelter, community, love...pooled their resources to follow Jesus. And some wealthy and powerful people crossed over the great divide to follow Jesus and promote healing and peace. Nicodemus - the Pharisee who visited Jesus under the cloak of darkness; *took the risk to follow Joseph of Arimethea - the business man who arranged for a proper burial for Jesus; *Zacheus, the tax collector who ate a meal with Jesus and agreed to reconcile his debts with all the people he had hurt.*

In t oday’s scripture is about taking a risk with money. The scene begins when a group of Pharisees and Herodians try to push Jesus into a corner to show that he has no respect for political authorities. Their tactic was to entrap him around his beliefs about money.

"Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor or not?" Trying to trap him in his political incorrectness, they think they’ve got him this time. They think his answer will give them a reason to arrest him and get rid of him.

But he turns everything upside down with his famous words of wisdom: "Give to the emperor the things that are the emperors; and give to God the things that are God’s." Jesus turns everything that is "normal" and institutional and set in stone or metal - upside down.

There’s a cute story by Theologian and Philosopher Thomas Morris from an article titled "Suspicions of Something More." He writes:

"My first experience inside a church did not bode well for my religious future. The memory is still vivid. Pandemonium. I'm three years old, and a very large female Sunday school teacher is holding me upside down by my ankles and shaking me as the class gathers around us, shouting and shrieking. I'm choking on a forbidden piece of hard candy, unable to breathe, and she is determined to shake it out of me. After a good deal of jostling and back whacking, it pops free. Breathing again, I'm restored to the upright position, and the crowd of on lookers is dispersed. In many ways this episode is a metaphor for the role of the Christian faith that has turned my little world upside down."

When it comes to money, Jesus turns our world upside down. He separates those who worship money from those who use money to worship God. He jostles and whacks those who would entrap him, and basically asks: "Who do you think you are? And on what do you spend your resources? Do you worship God or money?"

There is a growing national movement that is shining a light on this question; specifically how do we use our money. OCCUPY, started on Sept. 17 on Wallstreet, is a grass roots gathering of people of every race, religion, age, sexual orientation, gender expression and immigration status, who are choosing to take a stand about economic injustice. This rag-tag group of protesters are the face of real people, strangers and friends, who are asking important and legitimate questions about how we use our resources:

If you have all the money you want, what are you spending it on? Do you have any regrets about what you have done with money until now? With the time you have left, how will you use your resources?

In Boston, many of the OCCUPY protesters are college students and graduates, with loans they cannot pay because they don’t have jobs. There is a growing frustration that is bringing people together with a united voice. People are taking a risk to talk about money and economic justice.
The reason Jesus talks about money as often as he does is because money is a very serious issue. Money, or lack of money, determines where and how you live; whether you have housing or food; what level of education you have; how you die; whether your children have warm clothes, breakfast and dinner, and a good night’s sleep. Money determines how the elderly in our lives are living out their final days. Money matters.

Christians who wrestle with the wisdom of Jesus regarding money, are confronted with the dilemma: Do we worship money? Or do we worship God with our money?

Turning to our stewardship campaign: That is the challenge of a stewardship campaign. For one month each year, we join Jesus in a difficult but essential conversation about money.

This year, our campaign is meant to be playful - even though it is a serious subject. But this year we want to create more than a fund-raiser. We want to create a friend-raiser.

We want to be able to talk about money while we playfully make new friends and spend time with old friends. As followers of Jesus, we want to be able to honestly look at our relationship with money and in community ask ourselves these important questions.

If you had all the money you want, what would you spend it on?
If you had ten years to live, what would you do with your time for the next 3 years?
If you learned that at midnight you’d die, what would you wish you had done with your talents?

Following the lead of the OCCUPY movement, we want to consider how our money can help people most in need: People who are unemployed and homeless; people who are hungry and afraid; people who are searching for a spiritual home that is open and affirming; people who need to be in a healing community of faithful people. That is Tabernacle in a nutshell.

During the stewardship campaign, I challenge us to join the fellowship of the playful, the upside downers, the friend-raisers - who are willing to consider how to worship God with money rather than worship money.

Let the fun begin!
AMEN

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Wearing Gratitude ~ October 9, 2011
What unpredictable thing is Jesus up to today? These recent parables from Matthew’s Gospel are giving us food that is hard to digest; and yet like any scrumptious feast, tantalizing. Let’s begin wrestling with this passage. Remember what a Gospel is: A Gospel is not a storybook or a biography or a history text. A Gospel proclaims news. News about the kingdom of God; news about God’s presence in our lives; news about transformation. A Gospel proclaims something good that requires action; something new that is being transformed. A Gospel proclaims good news!!!

Sometimes it is hard to wrestle out the good news in a Gospel story. Partly because we have such an unpredictable teacher in our protagonist. We never know what he will do or say. The stage today is a wedding feast. Every wedding I have ever officiated has included a feast. First comes the sacred ritual of making a vow before God and community to love, cherish and honor; then comes the party. Most wedding planners focus on the party. Thousands of dollars are spent on this party. Engaged couples dole out copious amounts of money to gather friends and family for the party. Occasionally, the reception is a disaster due to tensions between family members or friends; or someone who drinks too much.

In Matthew’s story, the son of a king is getting married. The guests are summoned but they are busy. Too busy to stop their ordinary lives to attend the festivities. Seems odd that everyone who was invited declined the invitation. And even stranger, that the king’s messengers were killed by the invitees. Maybe no one liked the couple - or a maybe everyone was afraid of the king and this was an opportunity to send a message back. It was a gruesome way to say "No thank you."

What we know is that the king gets revenge. "Don’t mess with my son and his fiancé. If you won’t come and you kill my messengers, you die too." He launches a military campaign against the guests and their city.

Apparently, that same day, he sends out messengers again. They are instructed to gather anyone they can find - good and bad - so the wedding hall is filled. Quickly, the room is filled with both worthy and unworthy guests. The expected guests are dead. The unexpected guests, the riff-raff, are present. The party begins.

Let’s pause for a second to set the context of his unique way of Matthew’s unique way of proclaiming the good news. At the beginning of his Gospel, there is violence. He is the one who tells the story about the Three Wise Men visiting Jesus and the threat of violence by King Herod. Matthew shows us Mary, Joseph and Jesus escaping persecution by running to Egypt. Matthew’s story continues to be haunted by violence and the results of violence. Today’s parable fits nicely, and uncomfortably, into Matthew’s proclamation of Good News in the midst of violence. His Good News includes sorting out those who are worthy from those who are not - maybe because that’s what the culture understands. Violence determines who belongs and who does not.

For an Open and Affirming, peace-making church like ours, Matthew’s "GOOD NEWS" is a challenge. Our theology, our conversation with God, includes an invitation to all people. Here, everyone, no matter what you believe, where you have come from, who you love, how you love...everyone is welcome.

Turning back to the parable, we find a room full of guests, come to celebrate the marriage of the king’s son. Not knowing anything about the fiancé, I can’t help but wonder about THEIR joy. All the initial guests have been slaughtered. There must have been a strange energy in the reception hall with a room full of strangers and an undercurrent of fear.

Sounds a little like the situation Jesus finds himself in as he speaks. He is surrounded by people calling for his execution. He is fully aware of the threat of crucifixion. Perhaps the wedding feast represents the joyous reunion he is going to have with his fiancé - God.　

Another aside: My daughter is of the age where many of her friends are getting married. In two years she has been a Bridesmaid in 4 weddings and has attended at least three. The focus of her preparations for all the weddings has been her clothes; not the meaning of the sacred covenant, but what will everyone wear? And the money! I am stunned at the cost of a bridesmaid’s dress. And as a mother of the bridesmaid, the fact that they are truly a one-shot-deal dress makes me crazy.

Back to the parable: Jesus brings strangers, good and bad, rich and poor, to this room to celebrate. In the shadows of violence, a bizarre group has come to a wedding between two people that no one knows. After everyone is assembled, the king enters. Like Jesus, for most of his public ministry, the king is surrounded by a mixed crowd of people. Like Jesus, he notices one of the guests, a man who is not wearing a wedding robe. I cannot imagine Jesus being so shallow that he would care whether someone was wearing the right clothes to a wedding. But the king notices and he is outraged. He has the man bound up and thrown into outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This destination, of darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, is unique to Matthew’s Good News. The phrase occurs only once in the other Gospels but six times in Matthew’s.

This man, invited just like everyone else, is not wearing the right robe. Who cares? And especially Jesus. He was the one who said, "Don’t worry about what you wear..." So the question is What does the robe represent?

Frankly my friends, I am a bit baffled. At most of the weddings that I officiate, I read from Paul’s epistle the words printed at the top of your bulletin. "Put on then as God’s chosen ones, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience. And if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other. And above all else, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts."

Perhaps the stranger without the appropriate wedding robe, was not wearing gratitude for the opportunity to simply BE in the company of the king and his son. Perhaps the king saw that this stranger was pretending to be loyal and true, but was judging others, putting himself above the fray, comparing himself to the least among them. Perhaps Jesus is proclaiming his own good news: "Come to me all you who are heavy laden and I will refresh you. Come to me humbly, just as you are, wearing gratitude for life, for joy, for relationships, for time...because they are so very precious."

Wearing gratitude was part of the lessons of our world this week. Watching Amanda Knox return to her home after four years in prison and the threat of a lifetime behind bars and even execution, was a reminder to wear gratitude always. And learning that Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple and visionary of Pixar, died at 56 years old of pancreatic cancer, was another reminder. Even his own words at the end of his life were about loving and living what you love. We are confronted with whether we are wearing gratitude for the time we have. Are we putting on compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness and patience in all our relationships? Are we putting on love above all else? Are we letting the peace of God rule in our hearts - with gratitude for God in everything?

There is a lot of violence, darkness and gnashing of teeth in Matthew’s Gospel. There is a lot of that in our world as well. Perhaps he is showing the contrast between life without God and life with God. Perhaps Matthew’s good news requires a view of the contrast.

Perhaps seeing the violence is required so we can cherish peace.
AMEN

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God as Beloved Partner
Oct. 2, 2011
World Communion Sunday
This is the third week in a row where Jesus addresses the religious community with an urgency that is uncharacteristic. We know it’s because of the timing. Jesus knows it’s because of the timing. He is about to die. The calls to Crucify Him are still ringing in his ears.

Have you ever been with someone who thinks or knows they are about to die? There is a calm but urgent need to help the people who will be left behind understand what is most important. Rarely does a person who is about to die speak about ways to get richer or accumulate more wealth. More likely, they talk about loving more completely, more often; Forgiving and repairing relationships. Often, when someone dies, the opposite happens. People bicker and divide themselves rather than unite.

Jesus is pushing his religious colleagues towards a renewed relationship with God. He tells this parable about a landowner, going away and leaving his tenants to care for the vineyard. When he realizes that they are not doing justice to the vineyard, he sends a delegation of servants to urge them to take care; but they are rejected and killed. A second delegation of servants is sent and they too are rejected and killed. Then the landowner sends his son who is also rejected and killed. The Jesus-lesson turns to a question for his colleagues: What will the landowner do now to the tenants? THEY say that he will put those wretches to a miserable death.

But Jesus does not suggest that God will get retribution. He actually foretells his resurrection: The one rejected will become the cornerstone for the people who don’t reject him but rather seek to follow and walk humbly in partnership.
He is forgiving them ahead of time, and preparing them for the possibilities yet to come, with him as their cornerstone. Because he knows that God sent him not to destroy or retaliate, but to build and rejuvenate God’s beloved community.
Jesus poses an important question for you and me in the religious world of now. How have we, rejected him?
We could make a psychological case for our rejection: we don’t truly listen to our feelings and follow our hearts in our words and our deeds; We don’t honor the God within ourselves; We don’t walk humbly with our most precious souls. This rejection is true, I believe. We reject God in the inner landscape of our lives.

But that doesn’t feel like the complete message for today’s urgent words from Jesus. He is talking about more than each of us individually. He is talking about this community; this region; this country; this world. How have we rejected God as a nation? As a region? As a community?

I’d like to look at this question from the community perspective:
On Thursday night, Betsey (Christian Ed Director) and I attended a meeting about homeless families on the North Shore. Did you know that in the last year, homeless families living in motels on Rt. One have risen from 76 to 176 families. And the problem is getting rapidly worse. One story is very close to home. A two parent family with three children bought their home in the middle of a booming economy. Their mortgage was one of those that begins low and get larger in a few years. When they became unemployed and couldn’t meet their mortgage payment, they lost the house and all their possessions. They are living in a hotel room, praying for God’s intervention.

For the past two years, church and community organizers have been meeting to begin a comprehensive project to help homeless families like this one, on the North Shore. Called Family Promise, it is described as "an ingeniously uncomplicated, repeatedly proven strategy for keeping homeless families together and getting them back to "normal." These families need help finding work. Plus, they are not chronically homeless and they don’t know how to connect with government services. They’re overwhelmed. They are mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters, desperately in need of temporary help."

The way Family Promise works...
1. Host Congregations and Support Congregations commit to supporting 4 families four times each year for one week. The family sleeps and eats dinner and breakfast with the congregation.
2. Volunteers partner with the families for the week as hosts and companions.
3. Day Center: families spend their days working towards finding jobs and securing homes. The day center has showers and lunch for each family.

How does this relate to our scripture lesson today? Jesus always points to our relationship with God. God sends us opportunities, delegations, messengers, and we either reject them or partner with them.
Are we going to reject God’s invitation to help in this time of growing homelessness? Or are we going to be in relationship with God as our beloved partner and help these 176 families?

When a project like Family Promise says to us "Can you host three or four families for one week four times each year?" we are faced with the dilemma: Are we going to reject God’s delegates or be partners?
The parables in both Isaiah and Matthew show us what rejection of God looks like. The world stops flourishing. Growth is stifled. God’s love, care and partnership come with an expectation: to do justice and walk humbly with Jesus. And he would be the cornerstone for Family Promise!

On this World Communion Sunday, we are charged to look beyond our borders. To see where Jesus is pointing to God in the world. To choose being in relationship with him as he rids the world of poverty and violence. To walk humbly in partnership with our beloved God, seeking justice for all people.
AMEN

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Spiritual Authority
Sept. 25, 2011
Matthew 21: 23-32

Conversations with Jesus always make us look at ourselves. In conversation, he always moves the focus to an opportunity for spiritual renewal. Today, the conversation is with Temple leaders. People who maintain the flow for religious practices - who are the system keepers. They ask: "By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?"

The chief priests and elders have more than a concern about something he did or said. He has turned the system of how, when and where they worship, upside down; and they are angry.

"By what authority are you doing these things? Who gave you this authority?"

Jesus answers with a question: "Who do you think gave John the authority to baptize in the Jordan?"

In order for us to truly understand these dueling questions, we need to set a context. Prior to this interaction in the Temple, Jesus had entered the holy city of Jerusalem on a donkey, to cries of "Crucify Him." He had gone to the temple where he spent two days. On the first day, he lost his temper. Seeing the temple turned into a market place where rich and poor, haves and have-nots, were identified and divided, infuriated him. He flipped tables and drove out those selling and trading.

The important things being bought and sold were animals for ritual-sacrifice; unblemished turtle doves or young lambs that would be handed over to the priest for a fee. The animals were a kind of dues paid for using the cleansing pools and worshiping. Animals were used as sacrifice for the rituals of atonement; which means becoming at-one-with-God by repenting of sins. The belief was that through the mediation of the temple priests, a broken relationship with God, symbolized by the sacrifice, would be restored.

John and Jesus both grew to despise this practice. John focused on the cleansing rituals.... by taking people away from the temple politics of cleansing into the Jordan River where repentance was free, God’s forgiveness was free and a renewed relationship with God was free. Jesus was sick and tired of a religious system that excluded people because of their economic circumstances.

While John upset the religious authorities by removing people from the temple, and encouraging their relationship with God in the natural waters of the Jordan, Jesus walked right into the Temple and demanded change. He upset the religious authorities by saying healing is not for sale. And a relationship with God is not for sale.

Today’s passage comes on the heels of Jesus over-turning tables in the Temple Cleansing scene.

Who gave you the authority to do these things?

We can imagine Jesus ready for an ambush, adrenaline pumping, considering their question..... He answers with a question about John’s ministry. John, you recall was beheaded for his unconventional practices.

Then Jesus uses a parable to get to the heart of the matter. Basically, he suggests that people who are willing to change in order to be one-with-God, are the ones with Spiritual Authority. People who suffer, struggle, or rise up out of the ashes of life’s hardships, are the ones with Spiritual Authority. People who have lived real lives, made real mistakes, encountered real obstacles, faced real diseases, been tormented by real demons - and have discovered an internal resilience.....those are the people with Spiritual authority. Tax Collectors who have said I am sorry and followed Jesus; Prostitutes who have chosen to love their bodies and follow Jesus; children who say, I am not ready and then change their minds...these are the people with Spiritual Authority.

Thicht Nhat Hahn, a Buddhist teacher and author, writes about Spiritual Authority in his book The Art of Power:

"The five qualities of spiritual authority are faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration and insight." He contrasts these spiritual qualities to the alternative, the common understanding of authority which values wealth, fame, youthful looks, fancy food and power over people.

I am sure we could come up with a list of people who exude these latter qualities. Some of them famous and some in our own lives. Isn’t it interesting how we are naturally drawn to people with spiritual authority, not the alternative.

If you read the book or saw the movie "The Help" you can picture Black maids from Alabama, the invisible work force of the south in the middle of the Civil Rights Movement, finding their voices and their courage to lead a movement of men, women and children with an Authority born of faith, diligence, love, courage and insight. These powerful women united themselves by their real life experiences and became extraordinary leaders. Humble and true to their God, they brought people together, people without a voice, and helped them find one.

Another example of Spiritual Authority: A colleague of mine tells a story about a man he met in the hospital. He was in his late 30's and already rich. He owned a sailboat, a ranch, a town house, a summer house and a company. One day when driving along in his high-end BMW, he blacked out. At the emergency room, he learned that he had brain cancer. The doctors told him that he would likely lose his life if they didn’t operate, but if they did, he would likely lose his voice and comprehension. The man became very quiet - contemplating this change in his world. Then he said to my colleague, "I’ve had enough of talking. Maybe I’ve said too many words. This evening it seems so precious to just have a drink of tap water or to watch the pigeons on the windowsill. They seem so beautiful to me. I’m not finished with this life yet."

After 14 hours of surgery, the tumor was removed and when he recovered from the anethesia, he said "Thank you" to the doctor. His voice was restored. And his entire life changed. He still completed his business obligations, but he no longer craved wealth, power or fame.

He spent more time with his family and friends and he became a spiritual guide for people with a cancer diagnosis. People flocked to speak with him when they discovered their own tumors.

Spiritual authority is often born from real life difficulties and real-life compassion. It doesn’t come from top down, but rather inside out. This is the topsy turvy world that Jesus creates.

Faith, diligence, mindfulness, concentration and insight make great leaders. Jesus once said "People with faith can move mountains." Faith means we have confidence in God’s presence in us. Diligence is the ability to come home to our best self - undistracted by outside negative messages. If the maids in the book The Help had listened to negative outside messages, they could never have found the courage to speak for justice. Mindfulness - the energy of being aware of what is happening in the present moment; not distracted by past or future worries. Concentration - to enjoy what you are doing, who you are speaking with, where you are at every step.

To see, hear, smell, touch and taste with full awareness. And insight - the wisdom to know what is important and what is not, remembering that everything is changing.

By what authority are you doing your life? Living your life? Where does your authority come from?

I know what it feels like to become so concerned about what other people think that I lose my own voice, my own spiritual authority. I know what it feels like to try to appease and please everyone outside myself, and lose all sense of what is right and real for me. I also know what it feels like to speak from my real life, my real experiences. The latter is so much more interesting and true to my relationship with God.

The question we are left with today is: How are we answering the voice of Jesus asking us "By what authority are you living your life?"

AMEN

The Mysterious Energy of PRESENCE – reflections on my sabbatical
Sept. 18, 2011
Matthew 20: 1-16

Jesus begins today’s lesson saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like…. “ And he tells this parable about letting go of envy and competitiveness because they derail us from the presence of God. God sees and values everyone just as they are. Jesus urges his followers to simply BE who they are. Being aligned with God’s PRESENCE is like being in the kingdom of heaven. 

We get caught up in thinking that our value is determined by how much we have, or how much we do, or how long we work, or how smart we are.  We compare ourselves to others constantly, rather than love the mysterious energy of God’s Presence in us and in each other. Jesus is very clear in this parable: the spiritual path, that he calls the kingdom of heaven, or the VINEYARD, requires living into the PRESENCE of God. Contributing as much as you are able by being wholly present and not comparing yourself to another. Envy takes you off the spiritual path. Don’t worry about someone else. Be true to your own path.

This was a primary lesson of my 3-month sabbatical. Being true to myself and to my spiritual renewal required me to honor the mysterious energy of PRESENCE all around me; and more importantly, within my very soul.

Getting to this PRESENCE, being aligned with God, wasn’t easy. For three months, I rode 6000 miles in solitude on my motorcycle. Hard riding, long days on wilderness roads, and the constant chatter of my mind’s re-living old stories as they vibrated away, forced me to let go, to be myself in the wilderness and to be restored to God’s presence.

Here is an excerpt from my last 850-mile trip in the Peaceable Kingdom of Vermont’s North East Kingdom:

“This is the final leg of my sabbatical. I am securely and delightedly living in my home away from home – a hotel room. This sabbatical has taken me all over the place. Traveling on two wheels with the intention of centering myself in God’s energy and presence.

I have learned to expect the unexpected; to be at peace in the wilderness of stormy weather and barren landscapes; to find joy in the solitude of an adventure; to make friends with loneliness and to meet people everywhere. I knew that this journey of a lifetime required letting go of my routines and my regular support systems. I knew that letting go of old ties and former labels was essential to my spiritual growth. I knew that I would discover a deeper courage somewhere along the way.

But I couldn’t have predicted that the true outcome of this sabbatical would be rediscovering God in myself. And that this is what it means to be centered.

Making friends with my shadows and with strangers has meant owning the labels I’ve given myself and letting them go. I have been simply “a woman on a motorcycle” for three months. I like this: I no longer need to identify as a position, a role, an education, an experience, or a struggle. I have come to delight in just BEING.

Spiritual joy and wisdom do not come by holding tight to possessions, positions and preconceived notions. Rather spiritual joy and wisdom come through letting go of all that, and just BEING.”

We, you and I here at Tabernacle Church, are the hands, ears, eyes and heart of God’s heavenly kingdom. We do not need to compare ourselves to each other. We just need to BE ourselves in each other’s company. I have come to believe that we can align ourselves with God’s mysterious energy of PRESENCE and by simply BEING, make a real difference in this world.

AMEN

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The Miracle of Forgiveness
Sept. 11, 2011

"When may we stop forgiving the people who do the most horrific things?"

Looks like Jesus says "NEVER."

Hard pill to swallow on 9/11. Listening this week to the testimonies of people who survived the attacks ten years ago, has been hard. In particular, employees from Cantor Fitzgerald, the brokerage firm that lost 658 people in the World Trade Center. NY survivors recalled the horrors of watching people burn and jump and fall. There were signs of PTSD in every story. I was working on a sermon about forgiveness, thinking how can we forgive THIS?

A New York Times article last week highlighted the recovery efforts of Cantor Fitzgerald. Howard Lutnik, the owner, (who was dropping his child at kindergarten on the morning of 9/11), has rebuilt the company, calling on two spiritual truths: loyalty and forgiveness. Loyalty to those who died and their families as well as those who survived. And forgiveness so that spirits can move forward and lives can be rebuilt.

Mr. Lutnik has a sculpture on his desk that was recovered from the rubble. It is a bronze copy of a Rodin hand. Three fingers are missing and the finish is seared. But the sculpture of a hand reaching to heaven is a reminder of all that happened and of the spiritual truths that were needed to begin again: loyalty and forgiveness.

All the world’s religions, Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam...all the world’s religions teach about the necessity of forgiveness. Even the medical and scientific fields have begun to delve into the importance of forgiveness for health and well being.

WHY? Why do all these disciplines stress forgiveness? Perhaps because forgiveness is the way to PEACE. Forgiveness is the way to Peace for our world.

Today, on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Christian churches all over the world are focusing on this passage about forgiveness. "When may we stop forgiving the people who destroy rather than heal?" NEVER.

In the book "God is Not a Christian" Desmond Tutu states that God is weak. He says "God relies on us to do God’s work in the world. Without us, God has no eyes; without us, God has no ears; without us God has no arms or hands. God relies on us. Won’t you join other people of faith in becoming God’s peace makers in the world?"

He goes on to talk about the interfaith world of God. "God is clearly not a Christian. God’s concern is for all God’s children. God rejoices that human creatures, irrespective of race, culture, gender or religious faith, are making exhilarating advances in science, art, music, ethics, philosophy and law, apprehending the truth, the beauty, and the goodness that emanate from God. God rejoices when forgiveness paves the way for peace."

This South African religious leader reminds us that our world will not be peaceful without forgiveness. Apartheid’s fall and the restoration of South Africa required enormous acts of forgiveness. Under President Nelson Mandela, whose ability to forgive surpasses all understanding, a commission was established called Truth and Reconciliation. Led by Desmond Tutu, this commission was an effort to restore community through forgiveness.

Forgiveness is the miracle that brings about peace. Every religion on the planet shares a belief that this Holy virtue, forgiveness, is vital to the healing of our world.

"Jesus, When may we stop forgiving the people who cause enormous sorrow?" NEVER. He goes on to help us understand the miracle of forgiveness with a parable.

The parable is pretty straight forward. A servant owes a ridiculous amount of money to the king. (A talent represents the largest possible number.) Jesus chooses this ridiculous sum to make his case clear. (It works for 9/11. The incomprehensible, unqualifiable, infinitesimal debt/damage....)

When the servant realizes the magnitude of his debt, (which is key in the passage) the king sets him free by extending his hand with the miracle of forgiveness. But the forgiven servant fails to extend his own hand to forgive another. In fact, he is cruel. The king is not happy. If someone receives the miracle of forgiveness but cannot offer the same extension of grace to another, suffering occurs. The king’s punishment represents the torment that occurs when there is no forgiveness.

A world at peace requires forgiveness, always. Practicing forgiveness creates a world of peace. Extending the forgiving hand, formerly gripped and withered from holding onto grudges or vengence, creates a world of peace. God is weak. God relies on our extended hands, expecting the miracle of forgiveness, to make peace in our world.

When may we stop forgiving? NEVER.

We all remember where we were on 9/11. At the moment that the first plane hit the building, I was on a bicycle ride. I was enjoying the beauty and peace of God’s landscape. I remember clearly the route I took that morning. I was one with the sounds of birds singing and trees swaying. When I walked into my home, sweaty and tired, everything changed. God’s peace, seemed like a distant dream. I spent the next 48 hours leading worship services and memorial services for people from the area who were on the planes. And, like every other parent, soothing my children’s confusion and fear. (Most of which was brought on by their contact with the grownups around them.)

Kristina Olson is a singer and song writer living on the North Shore. Her sister was visiting from California 10 years ago and was one of the passengers on the first plane that hit the towers. I had performed with Kristina a few times, so we knew each other fairly well. She called me that afternoon and asked me to join her family at her home, to pray and mourn her sister’s death. Everyone at the intimate and heart wrenching service was shocked and devastated and seeking a connection and comfort with each other. And even still, as close as we were to the situation, no one was calling for revenge. We prayed for peace that night of 9/11.
AMEN