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. 

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. 

sermon - Daniel: dreams

Prophetic Dreams

            When people think of the book of Daniel, most often, they think of Daniel in the Lion’s Den.  This book is one about a tragic time in the life of the Hebrew people.  Israel has been conquered by the Babylonians and the educated and skilled people have been taken captive, into exile back to Babylon.  As they enter life in the captive land, they are encouraged to assimilate into the culture and ways of the Babylonians including their religion.  This is a story of resistance, a story of people seeking to stay faithful to their God despite chaotic times, and it is a story of hope that even though the present is not very favorable, the people find hope that God will establish a better future.  And it is a story of dreams. 

            We started our sermon series on dreams with Jacob, who dreamed of a ladder connecting earth to heaven.  In this dream, Jacob was awoken to the sacred right there, in the very place where he slept.  It was also a sacred dream that reinforced Jacob’s call that he and his descendants would be God’s people.  Last week took us to Egypt where Joseph had a dream that he, the youngest brother, would rise to power over his older brothers.  In this story there were several other dreams including that of Pharaoh.  These dreams were prophetic, speaking to things in the future and Joseph was able to interpret these dreams so the Egyptians could prepare for a long season of famine. 

            Today, we continue with prophetic dreams, dreams held not by God’s people, but like Pharaoh, the oppressor of God’s people.  The first dream we heard was that of Nebuchadnezzar, but instead of sharing his dream with others he demands that others must tell him the dream and then interpret it for him.  Those in his court cannot tell him his dream, but Daniel has a true gift.  Here, in the land of exile, in a land where Daniel has taken great risks to stay faithful to his God, he has the opportunity now to not only interpret Nebuchadnezzar’s dream but also share what he dreamt.   “No wise man, enchanter, magician or diviner can explain to the king the mystery he has asked about, ²⁸ but there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries. He has shown King Nebuchadnezzar what will happen in days to come

            So Daniel tells Nebuchadnezzar his dream, his dream is of kingdoms, starting with the current kingdom moving far into the future.  As each kingdom comes after Babylon, they are slightly weaker and weaker.  Unlike the dream of Pharaoh and Joseph, this dream takes us long into the future and there seems to be no immediate action that can be taken.  There is no calling to stockpile food in order to prepare, it just is.  As Daniel gets to the end of the dream, listen to the language:  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.  Does this sound like the texts we use at Advent?  Isaiah also speaks of a future kingdom, an eternal kingdom of King David, a Kingdom that we now speak of as that brought to us through Jesus Christ.  And as Daniel concludes his interpretation, giving credit to God in heaven, Nebuchadnezzar responds:  Surely your God is the God of gods and the Lord of kings and a revealer of mysteries, for you were able to reveal this mystery.”  And just like Joseph, Daniel is given a position of authority within the Babylonian Court. 

            For a people in exile, to know that their God is present with them, is sending them a message of hope, even though it is through their oppressor, they find encouragement, they have a new anchor in which to place their faith, they have something to lift them up out of the chaos and stress of these trying times. 

            Over time, a new king came to rule over Babylon, king Belshazzar, and this time it is Daniel that has a dream.  Daniel’s dream parallels that of King Nebuchadnezzar, in that it is predicting future kingdoms.  As his dream concludes he has this vivid image of:  In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man,^[a] coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. ¹⁴ He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all nations and peoples of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.  Again, we have this prophetic vision of the Messiah. 

            Professor:  Juliana Claassens

Share this:  Daniel 7 assert that God is not just a far-away removed deity, but that God is present in the chaos of this world: moving, acting, and intervening in the real life struggles of the believers who are yearning for a Liberator God.  Sometimes when we switch on the morning news and read the newspapers over a cup of coffee, we may feel a bit like Daniel, frightened by devouring monsters in his night visions, when we seek to wrap our minds around everything that is happening in our country and around the world. However, the belief and hope in a Savior that enters exactly where the forces of chaos seem to be most rampant is what allows one to get up and face the day. 

            God, through these dreams, sent the people hope despite being in exile, despite being in captivity, despite being oppressed by outside forces.  We, continue to live as a part of that dream, on the other side of it, on the side where God has sent the son of man, the redeemer, the liberator and yet, we know there are still forces of oppression in this world, there are still vices that we need liberated of.  When we find ourselves struggling in hard times, what is our anchor?  What is our hope?  We have the eternal kingdom of God, the eternal reign of our loving Creator, we are a part of this on-going story, this on-going dream.  God is not done with the world yet.  The people of God have endured through amazing trials and tribulations and the promise of God’s presence in their lives has strengthened them. 

            The forces of oppression in our lives today are varied.  They can be disease, unemployment, under employment, addiction, poverty and homelessness.  They can be global structures where we just feel powerless.  And God’s people do not stay silent, there are various groups being a voice for the voiceless, being a witness to God’s goodness in the world, speaking out on behalf of the environment, dedicating their careers to mental illness treatment and care.  So many people seek to be a part of God’s dream, a part of the redemption of this world, a part of the liberation, witnesses of God’s presence in this world  Amen. 

summer series: Dreams

This summer, I thought it would be fun to do a summer sermon series on the various dreams found in our scriptures.  So, as we begin with this first dream, often referred to as Jacob’s ladder, I will share a bit of background on Jacob.  The story really begins with Abraham and Sarah, called by God to leave their land and follow God.  Eventually, Sarah and Abraham have a son named Isaac and now the next generation has been born.  Isaac marries Rebekah and has twin sons: Esau and Jacob.  During her pregnancy, Rebekah seeks the Lord and learns:  And the Lord said to her,

“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples born of you shall be divided;
the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.”

Esau is born first which secures him the birthright of the eldest son.  Jacob was rather cunning and bought his brother’s birthright from him for a bowl of stew.  Then, with the help of his mother, Rebekah, he is able to trick his father, Isaac, into giving him the blessing instead of Esau.  Between taking his brother’s birthright and his father’s blessing, Esau and Jacob are no longer on speaking terms, in fact, Jacob flees with the fear that his brother just might kill him. 

            It is here that today’s passage begins, a younger brother, destined by God to break the cultural norm of birth order, fleeing for his life.  As night fell, Jacob found a place to rest and as he slept, he had a dream.  President of Princeton Seminary, Rev. Craig Barnes says this:  You see, when it comes to dreams, the only good ones come from God. And God insists on just giving them to us. The most important dreams are things like being loved, having a child, beholding beauty, discovering your purpose in life, finding joy in your work, or finding a friend who will stick with you through anything, even the truth. Those dreams, the things for which we yearn most in life, come only as blessings from God. And blessings can only be received.

            As Jacob falls asleep, he dreams of a ladder, a ladder connecting the earth to heaven and going up and down on this ladder are angels.  What I think is interesting is that God is not up at the top, God is not up in heaven sending his message down the ladder through the angels, but rather, we are told that the Lord stood beside Jacob.  And then Jacob was given a promise, if you compare this message from God to that given to Abraham it is almost the exact same.  God promises, that Jacob will have numerous descendants and this land will be his.  But more importantly, all the families of the earth shall be blessed^[d] in you and in your offspring. ¹⁵ Know that I am with you and will keep you wherever you go. 

            Perhaps before this dream, Jacob knew that he was to inherit his father’s blessing, perhaps he knew that he was going to assume the role of the elder brother even though he was the younger, but it is not until this dream, that he truly understands that this is not a role of power but a blessing, a gift from God, a sacred calling. 

            How often in our lives, we seek to climb the ladders before us, if you are in the corporate world, we even call it the corporate ladder.  We want to climb up, we seek promotions, we seek job security because we then have financial security.  But how many awful stories have we heard of people climbing and climbing and climbing only to destroy their own lives? 

            Jacob has to learn to live into who he is, and that God is with him and God will journey with him where ever he goes.  As Jacob awakens from this dream, he proclaims:  Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”  As we seek to grow in our professions, or in our daily journey, God reminds us through this dream to do so with God alongside of us.  Jacob could have lived his life for his own gain, but God desires for his life to be one of blessing. 

            I’ve met a handful of people in my life that had rather prestigious careers and had some sort of divine intervention and changed their course in life in order to be more connected to serving others.  One couple I met gave up their dream of retirement and moved to a rural area in order to be full time volunteers for the mission program our church was involved with. 

            Now, I have had some rather vivid dreams, if they have any kind of religious meaning, most of the time they are of me showing up on Sunday morning without a sermon.  But imagine, waking up from a night of sleep, of having such a powerful dream, that you proclaim: Surely the Lord is in this place—and I did not know it!”  What a wonderful dream, to awaken one’s self to the presence of God all around us.  And to awaken to a promise that in Abraham and in Jacob God has promised a blessing upon their descendants.  All the families of the earth shall be blessed.  What an amazing dream to live into.  Summer is a time for dreaming.  Some of us are trying to embrace the dream of being a part of God’s blessing, some of us are trying to embrace the dream of God’s blessing extending to all, some of us are somewhere in between.  But the dream of Jacob’s ladder continues into today’s world.  God is standing beside us, the angels are ascending and descending the ladder to heaven, and the promise of blessing is flowing for us to receive but also for us to give.  We know there is much pain, suffering, and struggling in this world, and together, as Christ’s disciples, we are called to be agents of blessing.  God had a new dream for humanity, and so God called Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to be a great and mighty nation but also to be a people of blessing, bringing God’s love and peace and joy into this world.  We too are called by God, as a congregation to dream a new dream, to be a people that imagine a ladder to heaven with angels ascending and descending, with God standing next to us, reminding us that we are blessed to be a blessing, and encouraging us to remember:  Surely the Lord is in this place.

Sermon - Jesus silences the storm

In today’s world, we love to travel.  No longer do people tend to stay in their own neighborhood for their entire lives, or their own county or even their own state.  People travel, we have cars that can get us places quickly, but we also have trains and planes.  Just one generation back, people did not travel anywhere near like what we do today.  When my parents were in high school they might dream about foreign lands, but never would they think that they would go to Australia or Spain or England or France.  By the time I was in high school, my family had travel all over the United States as well as allowing me to travel to England to visit my best friend who had moved there and to Spain with my high school Spanish class.  These opportunities did not exist for my parents when they were the same age as me. 

            In the day and age of Jesus, people also traveled, mostly for trade.  They walked, or rode animals, or traveled by boat.  And traveling was dangerous.  There were bandits on the roads, Roman soldiers stationed throughout, storms would blow through, they didn’t have convenient stores to stop into if they were hungry or thirsty.  They didn’t have cell phones or GPS or AAA for roadside assistance. So, most people limited their travel. 

            One of the commentaries I read shared that this story is less about the storm at sea, but rather more about getting into the boat and traveling from one place to another.  For the most part, when we decide to go on a roadtrip, we know where we plan on going.  We set a destination and make arrangements for when we arrive, but it seems with Jesus, he gets his disciples into the boat and off they sail, intending to go to the other side, but not knowing anything about what awaits them when the arrive.  

            Do we ever hear Jesus calling:  Let us get in the boat and cross over to the other side?  Symbolically, asking us to move from a place of comfort to a place where we just might engage in a new ministry.  This summer, nine of us will be getting into the boat and traveling to Philadelphia for a week long mission trip.  To be honest, we have no idea what to expect once we get there other than we know we will be given shelter and food.  We don’t know how hot it will be, or which urban ministry project we will spend time with, but we do know Broad Street Ministry has been hosting church groups for years and that they know what they are doing.  For some people, the unknown can bring great anxiety while for others it is a thrill of adventure and brings great excitement in that anticipation of encountering the unknown.  Jesus must have had an adventurist heart, for he was constantly moving from place to place always with the trust that God was calling him in whatever direction he took. 

            Let us get in the boat and cross over to the other side – might speak to our young adults that have just graduated from high school and are heading off to the unknown of college.  Or to our college graduates that are heading off to the unknown of a new job.  Or to parents that are becoming empty nesters.  Or to a church that is seeking new ways to partner with the local community. 

            The thing is, nothing in life is smooth sailing.  There will always be ups and downs and storms will blow through, literally or symbolically.  Another writer shared this:  in the storm, we disciples cried out to Jesus to wake up.  How this speaks to us in todays world.  Don’t we want to shout, to cry out, to demand that God do something to stop these storms that we are in?  Our Presbytery is focusing on current events that we believe are breaking God’s heart.  We have already done one meeting on the Opiate addiction crisis and another on the #metoo.  In September we will be addressing the Immigration crisis and in November we will be sharing about gun violence.  We are in a storm, all around us, in so many different places and topics and issues and we cry out, God save us.  God, do something to stop this madness, stop children from killing children, stop people from overdosing on heroin, stop families from being separated one from another, stop the sexual discrimination and abuse that seems to be running rampant in our nation.  We, just like the disciples, want God to break in and perform a miracle and bring life to some sort of peaceful calm.  Jesus woke up, and he silenced the storm, but he also scolds his disciples asking them, why are you afraid have you still no faith?   

 Would that be God’s response to us today?  As we move across the waters from one place to another, as we wonder what is becoming of this world, would God say: why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?  Is God encouraging us to allow our faith to guide us through our fear?  Or can we travel through the storms not calling out to God to stop them, but rather knowing that God is in the boat with us, traveling with us, present with us, promising us God’s love and grace and mercy. 

And what if, what if God responded, stop the storm with me.  How would we respond?  Would we be willing to get involved in the things that make us angry about our world?  We are seeing more and more people involved in marches because in these storms people are waking up and wanting to be empowered to be a part of change.  There is an incredible desire within our society of people wanting to restore peace, of people wanting to stop the storms, of people understanding they can no longer sit quietly waiting for someone else to take care of the problem.  More and more boats are moving out into the lake, despite knowing there are storms at sea.  Over the centuries, it has been people of faith that have spoken out, despite the fear of others, to condemn slavery and segregation.  People have taken incredible risks to be in the middle of the storm, working with God to bring peace, peace not just for one group of people, but for the greater good, the whole of society.  At one church, we held monthly peace vigils, we chose a topic and then spent an hour, out on the front steps of the church with signs, and discussed with each other the issue at hand, and shared with those that passed by, and made ourselves a visible presence of peace to community. 

There is no denying we are in a storm, what is your anchor or where do you place your hope?  What brings you peace when torrential rains hit?  Is it knowing God is present, is it trust that God is faithful?  Is it through prayer or becoming involved in some sort of social justice movement?  Or maybe you are in a place where you have lost your mooring and feel tossed about and truly believe we are perishing just like the disciples did, cry out as they did, reach out to the source of peace, the source of creation, the source of love that has been present in your life.  The disciples knew Jesus was there, they knew he would come to them, they knew they could answers or help or calm in his presence.  And he me them in their need.  Some of us just need to find a place of calm, a place of peace, a place where we truly feel safe, and in this particular story, it does not happen on the beach or the safety of land, but in the midst of traveling from one place to another, in the midst of the storm, in the midst of not knowing where they were going next, they engaged the peace that only God can give. 

Whether we are in the boat or not, there is a storm, and God is not sleeping, but is calling those who will listen to participate in Biblical justice for all humanity.  Amen. 

Bible Sunday - sermon

A Light Unto our Feet

                Our lives are filled with stories.  Some stories are about us or our families, others are stories that we hear.  Our lives are immersed in stories, stories on TV, the movies, books, and songs.  There are stories that we tell and others we keep secret.  Some stories are worth billions of dollars and some stories are thousands of years old.  Authors, writers, story tellers all work on developing good stories, developing what will catch the attention and interest of others.  Some become classics, worth sharing from generation to generation while others get quickly forgotten.  Our lives are immersed in stories.  And most of us a one or two that we would call favorites. 

            How much time do we give to our stories?  Some people watch the same movie over and over again until they can repeat every line.  My children are suppose to read at least twenty minutes each day, sometimes that twenty minutes seems like an eternity while other times they don’t want to stop and continue reading longer.  It all depends on the story.  Each year, when my children go for their annual doctor visit, we are asked the same question, how much screen time does your child get each day?  The recommendation is no more than two hours.  There are days that I know they are watching more than two hours of shows, so what are they watching?  What are the stories that they are learning?  How is that two hours of screen time forming their own inner story of this world in which we live?  These are all questions we should be asking, no matter what our age.  How much time do we allow the voices of others, whether it be a movie, a show, the media, or a novel infiltrate our lives?  And what impact does it have upon us?  The Psalmist writes that the Word of God is like a light unto our feet.  The word of God is to guide us as we journey in these lives.  If we just live by the stories of the world, what will our true guide be?  What will be our true north? Our anchor?

            For the most part, it seems our stories are often filled with some sort of conflict, crisis, bad news, and the characters seek to resolve the problem and by the end of the show good has overcome bad.  I just finished re-reading a Wrinkle in Time, a favorite story of mine from my childhood.  A friend of mine shared how she loved these books, how the religious symbolism really spoke to her.  And I thought to myself, hmmm, I must have missed something when I was a child, I don’t remember anything religious about them at all, in fact, I felt like they were rather scientific rather than religious.  So, as I re-read this book all these years later, I realized that the religious symbolism was not hidden at all in the story but rather overt.  There is light – good;  and there is darkness – bad or rather evil.  And the more you learn about the light, you learn that the light is not just good, it is love. 

            Today, we give our second graders their Bibles.  We hope that this collection of stories is read, and re-read, and talked about.  We hope these Bibles become a light unto your feet.  I still have two Bibles that were given to me by my church, one as a child and the other as I went off to college.  Sometime during high school, I decided I would read the Bible from front to back, and so each night, before going to bed, I would read.  There was a lot I did not understand and even more that I did not absorb, but I read and eventually I made it through the entire Bible. 

What I did not know as a child or as a youth was that this book is not one book but many books.  And some of the books are collections of stories, some of the books are historical, some of the books are poems, and some of the books are letters.  There is such a variety.  Some of the stories are over two thousand years old and yet, we continue to tell them.  We continue to tell them, we continue to find meaning in them because they are stories of faith shared from one generation to the next in how people found themselves connected to the sacred in this world.  These are stories that shaped an entire nation of people and stories that continue to shape communities of faith in how we feel called to be a people of God. 

            Without these stories, without reading these accounts of faith from one generation to the next, we would have no anchor, we would be like a young sapling with no deep roots.  The more people immerse themselves in learning these stories, the more they understand and see how God is active in the world today and how God is continuing to call and guide us in the decisions that we make.  Our sacred stories help form our own inner story of this world in which we live.  By knowing our sacred story, we cry out when we hear stories of injustice, violence, hatred, and greed.  We celebrate when we hear stories of justice, mercy, and love.  Perhaps we even find ourselves with inner conflict when the stories of this world collide with our sacred story, not sure how to respond, asking if what is happening is ethical, moral, or for the better good. 

 As Jesus teaches about the word of God, the word of God known to us as the scriptures, he uses a pretty straight forward parable.  The farmer sows seeds, scattering them all about:  some fall in the weeds, some on the rocky ground, some fall on the hard path, some fall on the fertile soil.  Sometimes I feel that way with ministry ideas, let’s just brainstorm, throw out ideas and see which ones might actually take.  Not every idea is going to take off, but if we don’t try, we won’t ever know.  Some falls in the weeds and gets smothered, some falls on the hard path and never has a chance to grow, some grows quickly but does not take root and dries out quickly.  Good soil is no accident, it takes work, it takes nurture, it takes cultivating.  Today, we seek to cultivate the good soil, with the gift of these Bibles. 

            God never tires of spreading God’s word upon this world.  Just like in a Wrinkle in Time, the over arching message of this collection of sacred stories is that love overcomes evil, that God’s power overcomes sin, that life can be transformed for the good and that as a people of God, we have the responsibility to be agents of goodness, kindness, compassion, and love in this world. 

            Don’t let the size of this book overwhelm you.  Don’t let segments of this book push you away.  Begin with Genesis and Exodus, and the collection of Gospels.  Six books out of the whole, begin there and see what God has been up to in this world and how God continues to be a God of justice, Mercy, Peace and love. 

            We teach our children each and every day.  We teach them with Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney, we teach them about our values, we teach them that sports, dance, arts, and education are important.  Our story of faith encourages to teach our children and our children’s children about God.  About God’s love for us and for this world in which we live.  As we spend hour upon hour with screen time, or sports practice, or lessons and even homework, do we lift up our values as a people of God?  Just as we absorb all of the stories of the world around us, we are called to find time to absorb, to learn, to study, and to understand the stories of faith shared by the people that came before us and then in turn to share our stories with the next generation.  What I love to be able to do is take our modern stories and find the connections to our faith stories and compare and contrast them.  But I would not be able to do that if I didn’t know our story, if I didn’t understand the ways God is calling us to be harbingers of justice, mercy, and love.  Be a reader of our sacred stories. Be a story teller, be a messenger of God’s love in this world and allow the seeds of God’s word to fall in the fertile soil of your hearts so that you live into God’s hope that life can be transformed into God’s greater goodness.    

Confirmation Sunday

1 Samuel 3

            In today’s society, our young people have numerous opportunities before them.  They can play a variety of sports, they can participate in music, dance, or drama programs, they can do scouting, some gravitate towards art while others immerse themselves in reading.  As a parent, I want my children to try a variety of activities in order to see what they enjoy the most.  Is there one area that perhaps my child will excel and become passionate about? 

            Our young people that we confirmed today are involved in numerous activities: from hockey to Marital Arts, from Drama Club to Marching Band, from Robotics to dance, and from scouting to summer camp at Camp Johnsonburg.  There is a strong interest within them for cooking, and they are a group that is interested in making a positive difference in this world in which we live.   This group of young people have a variety of gifts, a variety of interests, a variety of ways in which to contribute to their schools, their teams, their clubs, and to their church. 

            We have had a handful of baptisms over the past month, and one of the things I share as I walk a child around the church is about seeds of faith within him or her and how, the church family promises to provide the nurture that will encourage those seeds of faith to grow, to mature, and to bear fruit.  This group of confirmands have spent time in the church, they have spent time listening to the word of God in a variety of ways, whether it is through Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, Camp, worship, or through the actions of the church and its members in our ministry.  The word of God speaks to us in a multitude of ways, and it does not matter if we are young children, adolescents, young adults, or adulthood. 

            What I love about today’s story of Samuel is that Samuel is young and God is speaking to him.  Samuel is being raised by an elderly priest Eli, and the word of God was rare in those days. Things really were not great.  There seems to be an ongoing cycle through the scriptures of God’s people participating in the life of faith and falling away, of God’s people being inspired and participating in the life of faith and falling away.  Of God calling new leaders to inspire the people of God and new energy being born and then the people once again falling away.  Over and over again.  And over and over again, God reaches out and calls people to once again bring the people back into a life that is sacred and holy. 

            When we have these stories, these stories of God reaching out to people to be the ones that bring the flock, the fold back to God, we say they are: “Call Stories.”  Call Stories are scattered through the scripture: Abraham, Moses, Jeremiah, Samuel, even Mary in our Christmas story is called.   Samuel, as young as he is, hears the voice of God but Samuel does not know it is God.  He things that it is Eli that is calling him.  Three times Samuel is called and three times he gets up and goes to Eli saying:  Here I am, what is it?  Finally, it is the wisdom of Eli that realizes this must be God calling Samuel.  There is this beautiful mentoring moment as the elderly Eli is able to help interpret what is happening to young Samuel.  In order for Samuel to truly hear God, to truly know what is happening, he needs Eli, he needs the wisdom of his mentor to guide him. 

            God is calling Samuel to transform the future relationship of God and God’s people.  The people of God are soon to become a kingdom and as they do, God is calling spiritual leadership to participate alongside of the king.  These new spiritual leaders will be called prophets.  But if Eli had not listened to Samuel, if Eli had said you are just a child go back to bed, God’s plan would have been slowed down.  But Eli listened.  He not only listened to Samuel but he connected it back to the true source and listened to God. 

            How do we listen to God in our world today?  How do we listen to each other?  Are we good at listening to the thoughts and ideas and passions and interests of each other?  Because God is calling, God is speaking, God is at work but we have to listen, we have to listen to each other no matter how old or young we are, and we have to discern if this just might be a seed of faith that is starting to grow and mature into something that will bear fruit. 

            That is one of the things that I love about confirmation class.  I love to listen to our youth.  I love to listen to their music, their concerns, their interests and brainstorm with them how we can transform our worship in various ways to be more inclusive of them.  Confirmation class is not just about learning the basics and deciding if you want to officially join the church, but it is also about becoming leaders, about feeling that their voice is heard and respected.  They are now full members of the church, and two seeds that they would like to see grow not just within their own lives but within the life of the church are:  a functioning youth group and perhaps a cooking group of some sort.  This group also expressed interest in continuing to meet next year with our mission mornings.  This was something new I introduced since Confirmation class met on Sunday evenings.  Those Sundays that we met at night, instead of a formal Sunday School lesson, we did activities that connected to mission such as making signs for Souper Bowl of Caring and baking quick bread for Faith Kitchen.  So as we begin to plan and prepare for next fall, the CE committee will be looking for adults that would like to be like Eli and mentor our youth, listening to their voices, listening to the ways in which God is speaking to them, and guiding them in hands on mission projects as we continue the mission mornings.