Monday, August 13, 2018

Sermon Series: Dreams: Mary and Joseph


Last week I mentioned that sacred dreams occur in the scripture during major times of transition in the life of God’s people.  Dreams bringing people closer to God, dreams showing outsiders to the faith that God is the true God, dreams bringing hope to people who have little to no hope left.  Even in the darkest of times, God reaches out to God’s people and sends a message of presence, of hope, of possibilities for the future.
            And so today, we have another dream, another angel speaking to Joseph in his sleep, that Mary will have a child, a child blessed by God, a child that is proclaimed to be the son of God, the long awaited heir to the throne of David, the new branch from the stump of Jesse. 
            The dream that Joseph had, of this angel sharing with him about the birth of this child, is so transitional, that early church leaders took these stories and marked them as different.  Although the Hebrew scriptures were not yet known as the Old Testament, this dream, this birth, this transition brought about what we now call the New Testament and the Gospels.  A whole new set of holy scriptures were born through this dream. 
            For those that were here the Sunday we heard the dreams from Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar, we heard about two separate dreams that were of future kingdoms.  There would be four kingdoms and after that God would create an eternal kingdom:  “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. And from Daniel’s dream:  Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’   We also look to Isaiah and his words about God’s future kingdom as we celebrate the birth of Jesus and how we believe he is the fulfillment of God’s promises and sacred dreams. 
            And so generation after generation have waited.  God’s people who were in exile during the time of Daniel and Ezekiel have returned home.   They have reestablished their lives in Israel but have not become the might kingdom they once were.  They have struggled to protect themselves and have found themselves conquered by the Greeks and then again by the Romans. 
There is a deep yearning in the people to have a new leader, a new king, someone that will defeat the Roman oppression and allow the people to once again live as an independent nation.  But sometimes human yearning is not what God is creating.  The angel shares these words with Mary:  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”  This tends to connect to that yearning of God’s people.  It gives them the hope that this is the one that has come to be their new king. 
But to Joseph we are told:  you are to give him the name Jesus,[f] because he will save his people from their sins.”  There is nothing here about a kingdom or the throne of David it is a much more spiritual nature.  But Joseph knows that there is something special about this child.  Perhaps God was calling him to be a religious leader, a Pharisee or a Sadducee, someone with the authority to cleanse God’s people of their sins.   There is no king language here, no new kingdom, but still a major message of who this child will be, he will save his people from their sins. 
And so the time has come, the dreams from 500 years prior are being fulfilled, are coming into reality, God’s very presence is truly entering the world.  No longer is God speaking through dreams to bring transition and hope and purpose to God’s people, but rather is entering the world in human form, in a sacred presence, in a living dream to share with God’s people how to truly live in the world, even when there is oppression, even when there is injustice, even when hope seems scarce. 
Last week, I asked the question that perhaps we are lost in today’s world because we do not know where we fit into the story, where are we in the sacred dream sequence?  We are no longer waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promises, we are no longer waiting for the coming of the Messiah.  Some people are diligently awaiting the second coming, we hear mention of this once in awhile, all the bad things happening in the world must mean that Christ is coming soon and all of this will be destroyed and God will redeem God’s people. 
But as Presbyterians, we live into this current time understanding our place within the promises of God as disciples, as followers of Jesus, as doing what we can to live out the teachings Jesus calls us to live out.  Just as Moses gave the people the 10 Commandments, a code of living as God’s holy people, we have been given teaching after teaching to live into as we journey through these lives. 
What is God’s dream for today?  Well, each congregation, each Christian organization or agency should be interpreting this question or themselves and living into their own piece of the greater picture.  The mission that I grew up volunteering with in Maine had a statement that their purpose was something about – until we fix the last house on the last road.  The YMCA has been running commercials that state:  There's never been a better time to build a better us. At the Y, we are committed to creating a better community for all.  Also – we are not just a gym, we are a community. 
So, that is my goal for us this summer as we move into the fall, to truly spend time imagining, dreaming, wondering, what is God’s dream for us in today’s world?  Through New Beginnings, your dream was to partner with the community near and far to spread the love and joy of Jesus.  Another dream was to live more fully into what is called Missional Church.  I have shared various aspects of missional church with you all and as we journey into 2019, I want us to dwell more deeply in the understanding of missional church. 
One of the habits of missional church is to announce the kingdom of God.  The Kingdom of God, to announce the very fulfillment of the angel’s message to Mary.  Mary, your son will be the Son of the most high – and his kingdom will endure forever.  Two thousand years later, do we see that kingdom in our midst?  Do we feel God’s presence with us?  God’s dream for us to be disciples, disciples that see God at work and share those moments of love, justice, reconciliation with others.  We announce that the homeless have shelter, the hungry have been fed, the thirst have something to drink.  We announce that broken have been healed.  We announce that children that have no school supplies now have the resources they need for school.  We announce that God’s love is creating loving community where all are welcomed and offered safe space.  Amen. 

Monday, August 6, 2018

Sermon Series - Dreams - Ezekiel 1


            There is a saying:  Without vision, the people perish.  This saying was an important part of my early youth and young adulthood in connection with the ministry and mission of my home church.  Each summer, we would journey up to rural Maine and would work on housing for low-income families.  It is very much like the Appalachian Service Project that many of our local churches participate in, and perhaps a possible mission trip in our future. 
            Without vision, the people perish.  Without dreams, without hope, without the potential for a better future what would give people meaning as they look into tomorrow?  Although I am not an expert on this, people appear to be unique in that we are able to think about tomorrow, to think about next week and next year, to think about how to take care of ourselves to ensure our survival in years ahead.  Other intelligent creatures, such as dolphins and elephants, don’t have a retirement plan.  They take each day as it comes, living within their community, seeking food and companionship.  They definitely understand fight or flight, knowing when danger is at hand and working together to protect each other especially their young. 
            Over the course of human history, people have learned that they need to think about the future, that the need to plan for the changing seasons, that they need to store food and create clothing and shelter to protect them from the elements.  And somewhere along the way, people also developed an understanding that as they think about the present and the future, as they live together in family units and greater community, that a presence greater than themselves is also involved in their lives.  Life became more than just food, family, sleep, but a sense of soul, a sense of a spiritualness to life, a sense of purpose that people are part of a divine plan, a sacred journey. 
            And so we have these unique stories within our scriptures, these dreams and visions of God speaking to humans through images embedded with deep meaning.  Dreams guiding people into a future of promise, of love, of healthy and whole community.  From Jacob’s dream of the ladder, to Joseph’s dream of greatness, to Daniel’s dream of future kingdoms, each dream happens in a specific time and place and marks a significant transition in the life of God’s people.   Jacob’s dream gives him the deep understanding that God is present with him, awakening him to the sense that he has a soul, that there is a sacred quality to life, and that his future offspring are a part of God’s plan for humanity.  Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel’s dream mark a transition in the life of the Hebrew people.  They are in exile, perhaps feeling abandoned by God, but through these dreams God sends a vision, a meaning, a purpose for God’s people to stay strong that if they are able to endure, for kingdoms later, their offspring will be a part of God’s eternal kingdom. 
Imagine, having to live into a dream that is not for you but for your great-great-great grandchildren.  That’s really tough for us to imagine in today’s world of instant gratification.  Maybe, just maybe I could engage in Pharaoh’s dream, seven years of abundance and seven years of famine.   Fourteen years is not so overwhelming as potentially four hundred years to hold onto hope, and at least seven of those fourteen years are going to be good.  Maybe that is part of the crisis churches are going through today, people have lost the sense of where we fit into God’s plan.  Where are we in the grand scheme of things?  What dream are we living into?  Do we feel like the seven years of scarcity, that a famine is in our land, and we are trying to wait it out until better days arrive?  Or are we like the people in Daniel’s time where the just is no hope for us but perhaps the future generations will be a part of God’s grace? 
So, enter in Ezekiel’s dream.  Ezekiel lives in the time of exile as well.  The great Temple in Jerusalem has been destroyed.  God’s home, God’s dwelling place is in ruins.  What must that have felt like for the faithful people.  The pain, the loss, the sense of spiritual death, the destruction of hope.  What kind of future would they have and where was their God, was God dead too?  People do not do well in exile.  People do not do well when their belief system is destroyed.  People do not do well when they are forced to live within a new culture.  Unfortunately, this has happened over and over and over again through human history.   Here in our own country, we are still trying to sort through the destruction placed upon the Native American people and the impact that slavery has had upon our nation. 
And so Ezekiel has this dream, a dream of heavenly nature.  His dream is every bit as descriptive and symbolic as Nebuchadnezzar and Daniel, with winged creatures each with four faces, faces of God’s creation: human, eagle, lion, and ox.  From the birds of the sky, to the domesticated animals for farming to the wild animals of hunting, appearing together in one heavenly being.  A dream filled with a wild storm of wind and lightning and fire, makes it almost sounds like Pentecost.  And then there is the appearance of the wheels, a wheel within a wheel, Ezekiel saw a wheel way up in the middle of the air.  Now in several cultures, the sun god rode a chariot across the sky each day, was Ezekiel connecting the sun god of the Babylonian people into his dream?  I’m not sure.  But whatever his vision, he saw a heavenly being sitting on a thrown, being honored and worshipped by the winged creatures.  Has Ezekiel had a glimpse of heaven? 
Ezekiel’s role as a prophet during exile is to keep the hope alive.  It is his job, his vocation, his calling to remind God’s people that God has not abandoned them, that just because the earthly Temple where God dwells is destroyed, God is not dead.  God has a heavenly Temple, a heavenly presence and God will continue to be present in the lives of God’s people.  In times of great distress, when earthly hope seems to be lost, people will seek the promise of a heavenly life, an eternal life, a life where God reigns.  Our scriptures are scattered with these promises that no longer shall there be tears, or loss or grief, that a time will come when God’s peace reigns. 
I sometimes wonder if that is the role of the church in today’s world, to be like Ezekiel the prophet, to keep the hope alive, to remind the world that God is not dead but still very much a part of our lives or this world and that God still has a purpose for us.   Just like people in exile, we live in a day and age where so many people have lost their vision and are in one way or another perishing.  This happens though addictions – drugs, alcohol, gambling, eating, and even with our phones.  People are connected to each other and yet feeling extremely lonely.  Suicide rates are up.  As we saw in Philadelphia, homeless people are often ignored and treated as if they are not anyone’s problem but their own.  Mental illness struggles can bring people into a stage of lost hope, as well as tragedies within one’s life.  So many people are looking out into this world and wondering where is God?  And God has blessed the world, blessed communities with the church, with faithful people still holding onto hope and love and forgiveness and grace, we are called to be the voice of the prophet the voice of hope for the future the voice of God to the people. 
And yes, even us, even if we feel lost and lonely and are asking where is God in all of this, even us, we are called to dream.  We are called to embrace the sacred and come together and create a vision for the future, a dream of God’s love to be born in this place.  We are called to look around our community, to listen to the places of hurt, and respond with a vision, a dream, a purpose for how God is calling us to connect to those places of hurt and loss.  And when it feels overwhelming or when we feel we don’t have the energy or insight to move forward, God meets us and reminds us that we are loved and feeds us through the sacrament of communion.   As we break bread and share the cup, we are reminded that God has never abandoned God’s people, that sacred dreams have moved God’s people forward in a new direction and that we too are called into the story of dreams, of God immersed futures, of God’s current presence here in our lives.  That we are fed to continue the story, to dream new dreams, to remind others that God and the church are still relevant in the world today.