Cross Purposes

This is the first weekend in over a month that I haven’t been off doing something else - leading a retreat, teaching a class, engaging in a workshop or seminar of some sort. It has been tiring, to be honest, but also exciting. Because most of what I teach when I step outside of the local church is preaching. Something I love doing - well both doing and teaching, to be honest. Partly because of what I understand preaching to be.

Preaching is an intensely personal activity. We are invested in what we do as preachers. There is a piece of ourselves in each sermon. There is a vulnerability in the act of preaching. So, when I go and teach and when we in a class setting preach to one another we become a little closer, we become a little more like the community that we could be.

That isn't the purpose of our preaching when I teach. The purpose was an academic exercise, they are there to learn about preaching, to test their skills and to grow as individual preachers. I'm there to teach, to suggest areas for growth, and to encourage them in their journey to become the preachers that God has called them to be. But this other thing, this other purpose happens anyway. The bonus is that this unintended purpose helps the main goal -- we learn more, we learn more effectively because of the community we become. So, perhaps the unintended purpose is intentional after all. Or it would have been intentional had we thought of it ourselves.

Which is what might be happening in our gospel lesson for this week. Let's read:

John 19:26-29 When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing beside her, he said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." 27 Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his own home. 28 After this, when Jesus knew that all was now finished, he said (in order to fulfill the scripture), "I am thirsty." 29 A jar full of sour wine was standing there. So they put a sponge full of the wine on a branch of hyssop and held it to his mouth.

First of all, you'll notice that there are two Words from the Cross in this passage. When designing this series I realized that the only way that I could get a separate Sunday for each Word would be to start two weeks early or to go over Palm Sunday and Easter. And as an Easter Message, "Into Thy Hands, I Commend My Spirit" might not carry the same jubilant experience as "Christ is Risen" does. So, I had to do some combining. This week we get Word Three and Word Five. OK, I'm also jumping around. But it made sense as they were both in this same passage.

Anyway, the truth is giving equal weight to both Words is difficult and the supporting passage from Isaiah talks about being thirsty - so the sermon tomorrow will be weighted toward the "I Thirst" Word. Which means I need to balance by paying attention to the other Word in this space. With me so far?

Word Three then is this: He said to his mother, "Woman, here is your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Here is your mother." We began with a Word to God -- Father Forgive -- on behalf of all of us guilty ones. Then came a Word of welcome to a sinner. Now a Word to a Mother and a Son. But before that word they were not Mother and Son. Well, she was a Mother and he was a Son, but they were not Mother and Son. If you follow.

For most of his ministry, Jesus seemed unconcerned about family as traditionally understood. It began when he was twelve years old and got Left Behind (Ooh, another best-seller Left Behind: Adolescents in the Temple. Never mind.) When mom and dad found him, Mary's comment to Jesus was "Your father and I were worried." Jesus' response was "I was with my father." Uh oh, that must have hurt. Don't you think?

Later on when Mary and the boys showed up to take Jesus home because people thought he was mad, word was sent to Jesus: "Your mother and your brothers are here!" Jesus responded with "Who is my mother, who are my brothers?" That must have hurt.

Jesus told that guy to leave the dead to bury the dead when he said he wanted to stay with his father. Jesus said he came to set mother against daughter and father against son. I wonder sometimes if those guys who are always preaching "family values" ever read the New Testament. It almost seems as though Jesus were anti-family.

Bishop William Willimon tells of how he would get phone calls from angry parents when he was Dean of the Chapel at Duke University. He said that he never got complaints or requests for help from parents who would say help, my child has gotten into alcohol and it is ruining his life. Or help, my child is embarking on a life of casual sex and it is ruining her life. No, he said, the calls came from parents who said, “help, my children have become religious fanatics and want to spend their lives helping the poor, and it is ruining their lives!” Or, what they really meant, is that it is ruining the plan I had in mind for his or her life! Darn that Jesus, messing with families again.

It is like Jesus had a different purpose for families in mind, different from what most of assume when we talk about our family. We are of the opinion that blood is thicker than water. But Jesus wants us to understand that water is thicker than blood. Only when the water is the water of baptism, however. Willimon says that in baptism we are rescued from our families. Now this is a pretty contentious statement, and many of us would argue that our families are really pretty good folks all around. Sure we bump heads now and then, and sometimes we disappoint one another from time to time, but overall they are pretty good folks and we love them.

After each baptism, I take a few moments to carry the infant into the new family. Which includes the one that brought him or her into the church, but now is much larger, much more inclusive. I introduce the child to a new family. Child, here are your mothers, your fathers, your brothers and sisters, here is your family.

From the cross, Jesus was creating a family, because he would argue, we need one. We need to be connected to one another. We need to belong to one another. We need to care for and be cared for by one another. We need community, and so with his dying words he creates, or continues to create community. In that culture, family was everything. Your place in society came from family, your purpose came from family, your inherent worth came from family. Jesus knew we needed family, he just argued that there was another way to create a family. That locus of meaning, that sense of place was to be found not from an accident of birth or a legal transaction, but from an act of will in a covenant community. We are who we are because of the family that He puts us in. Woman, here is your Son. Here is your mother. And a new family is created.

At the first and the second Word we discovered that the purpose of the cross was to put us back into right relationship with God. Now at the third Word we hear that the purpose of the Cross is to put us into a right relationship with one another. To build community.

It isn't an accident. It is by design. Welcome to the family.

Shalom,
Derek

Cross Over

"Life is hard, and then you die." What a cheery beginning to this bible study on a lovely Spring-like weekend! I'm sure you've heard that cliche before, maybe even said it yourself. If you did then you probably remember the context. It is usually said by a smart mouth kid attempting to capture something of the futility of life. It is usually said by someone who doesn't want to sympathize with someone's struggles. And, I believe, is usually said by someone who doesn't really understand the reality of death, by someone who believes in some unspoken corner of the mind that they are immortal.

At least when I said it, that is where I was. It was just a funny thing to say. It was just a conversation killer. A way of saying, quit complaining, get over yourself, or something like that. Life is hard and then you die. So there. Death is the ultimate conversation killer, the ultimate last word. You can't top this, you can't go anywhere from this, there is nothing else to say. Then you die, full stop.

Of course, we Christians know that there is something more to say. We live our lives, we base our faith on the something more. That something more is eternity. Life IS hard, but then you die doesn't sum it all up after all. There is something called eternity that changes our perspective on death, and on life.

And that is the key to our Word from the Cross this week. That changed perspective on life, as well as death. The first Word last week was a word to God, a prayer on our behalf, of course, but not addressed to us. The second Word is similarly not addressed to us. But to someone we might not expect in the normal course of things. Read our gospel for March 20:

Luke 23:39-43 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, "Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." 42 And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 And he said to him, "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise."

Today. That is the word that has always jumped out at me in this Word. Today. I have wrestled with that word for years, I have jumped from meaning to meaning, from assumption to assumption, from one glimpse of understanding to another, trying to figure out what was being said in that moment. And I still don't know. That is my confession here in this space. I don't really know what was being said. And I suspect that the only one who really knew, or really discovered was the thief, the criminal hanging there with Jesus on a cross that dark Friday afternoon.

One commentator wrote that this just might be the first Christian sermon. Not the Word from Jesus, but the confession of the criminal. "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly; for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong." And he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." Not a long sermon, but a sermon nonetheless. The argument is that here is the first one who realized that Jesus, the man dying on a cross, was the Messiah because he was dying in innocence. His death was sacrificial, whereas the thief's death was selfish - he died for his own deeds. And then having realized this, and having made the proclamation, to his fellow criminal if no one else, he then asked for something from the one he identified as his Lord.

What is amazing is what he didn't ask for. He didn't ask for rescue. Get me down, get us down! That is what was expected, and what the other asked. But this one asked to be remembered. Remember me. When you get where you are going, remember me. That's all. Maybe what he meant was come and get me, but that isn't what he said. So, maybe all he really meant was remember me. Don't let my life be summed up by this death. Remember me as the one who recognized you. Remember me as someone who was more than the sum of his sins. Remember me. That's what he asked for.

What he got was a whole lot more. Today you shall be with me in paradise. Most folks hang their attention on the word paradise. The promise of joy unending, of completion, of wholeness. The green fields of heaven stretching out into forever waiting for the final breath of the one who claimed faith in a man he met while dying. It is a wonderful vision and certainly one worth clinging to.

Yet there seems like there should be more. There's that word "today." I know that given the fact that death was mere breaths away, at least for Jesus, he could have been referring to the fact that shortly Jesus and his new friend would be gamboling through those green fields. It was a sort of "hang on until we get through the messy bit right now and then we'll find our way to the garden -- which is the literal translation of paradise.

Even so, I think we are missing something if that is the interpretation we glean. That word "today" seems even more immediate. It carries the sense of right now, this very moment, not just within a 24 hour time span. But how can that be? How can Jesus be inviting the thief, the criminal - and actually the word thief is never used. Mark calls them bandits, which is a term used for those who stir up trouble, often attacking foreigners. So maybe thief isn't accurate, and criminal is too vague. Perhaps terrorist would fit better in this context. So, how can Jesus be inviting this terrorist into paradise even while they hang, dying on a cross?

Maybe the answer is in the other phrase of our second Word: "with me." There is a singer named Sara Groves who has become one of my favorites. She has a song titled "What Do I Know" on her Conversations CD. In the song she reveals that she has a friend who has just turned 88 and is afraid of dying. Her faith is still strong, she "grew up singing about the glory land, and she would testify how Jesus changed her life. It was easy to have faith when she was thirty-four, but now her friends are dying, and death is at her door." A not uncommon experience, we might say. And the singer, Sara, wonders how to comfort her, how to strengthen her for what is to come. And what strikes her first is what she doesn't know. Here is the refrain of "what do I know": I don't know that there are harps in heaven, / Or the process for earning your wings. / I don't know of bright lights at the ends of tunnels, / Or any of those things. What we don't know about eternity is profound. And when we look at what Jesus told us, there isn't that much that we can add to our lack of knowledge. Jesus didn't seem that interested in resolving our need to know exactly what was going to happen to us when we die.

In fact, we might argue that he wasn't that interested in resolving our need to know what was going to happen to us while we live, except in the most general of ways. We aren't told what works and what doesn't. Jesus doesn't give us the 12 steps to a better life or anything like that. What he offered us is a relationship. Follow me, he said. Today you shall be with me in paradise, he said. Where two or three are gathered I will be there. And lo I will be with you until the end of the age. Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden.

Sara Groves resolves her dilemma this way: “But I know to be absent from this body / is to be present with the Lord, / and from what I know of him, / that must be pretty good.” Today you shall be with me in paradise. Eternity is not about a place, it is about a person. It is about a relationship. And when Jesus spoke those words to that terrorist dying on a cross he meant right now, right then. Paradise for that man was nothing like a green field or garden of delights, it was a cross that was robbing him of life. And yet in that moment he found life, abundant and full life. Paradise begins when we enter into a relationship with Jesus. Eternity starts now, not just when we die, but right now when we reach out for the nail scarred hand and realize that we are not alone.

Life is often hard, and death is a part of the life we know. But eternity breaks through the hardness and transcends the death today and every day that we claim Christ as Lord.

That must be pretty good.

Shalom,
Derek

Cross Stitch

No, I am not turning this bible study into a crafters' blog, there is another reason for the title this week. Hang on and I'll get to it. This Lenten Season Aldersgate is reflecting on the Cross. Our gospel readings will encompass the seven last words that Jesus spoke from the cross as recorded in all four gospels. Plus, since there are seven last words and 5 Sundays in Lent we have to combine a couple of them so I've changed the order a little bit.

Week 1 Father Forgive March 13, 2011 Luke 23:32-38
Week 2 Today March 20, 2011 Luke 23:39-43
Week 3 Behold, thy Son / I Thirst March 27, 2011 John 19:26-29
Week 4 My God, My God April 3, 2011 Matthew 27:45-49
Week 5 Finished / Into Thy Hands April 10, 2011 John 19:30 & Luke 23:46-49

Then, of course will be Palm/Passion Sunday with a presentation of the whole passion story from the Gospel of Luke.

OK, so, here we go. And if you want another source for some of the ideas that I will express here, please pick up Bishop William Willimon's book "Thank God It's Friday." That book is what convinced me that I needed to follow this plan for our Lenten examination this year. It is a wonderful and inspiring look at the words from the cross.

Now, we are ready. I hope.

Luke 23:32-38 Two others also, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. 33 When they came to the place that is called The Skull, they crucified Jesus there with the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. 34 Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." And they cast lots to divide his clothing. 35 And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, "He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah1 of God, his chosen one!" 36 The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, 37 and saying, "If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!" 38 There was also an inscription over him, "This is the King of the Jews."

One of the first observations to make about these words is that there has been considerable debate as to whether Jesus actually prayed this prayer from the cross at all. Some of the oldest manuscripts do not have these words recorded, which lead many to believe that it was a later addition. Some even go so far as to argue that the purpose of addition was to ease the blame off of Rome so that the Christians wouldn't seem to be a threat to the empire. Others argue that the addition was an attempt to avoid the centuries of anti-Semitism that grew up in the church.

The effectiveness of the former could be debated, I suppose, but the perhaps laudable goal of the latter was in no way even approached. It could even be argued that in the early days of Christendom that it was the depiction of the passion story as a whole the brought forth the shameful excesses of anti-Semitism that still persist even today.

Which brings us back to these words, this first word from the cross. It is interesting to me that this first word is not a word to us, it is a word to God. Jesus still has much to tell us, much to pass on to us even with his dying breaths. But he uses this first word to intercede for us yet again. "Father, Forgive them, they don't know what they are doing."
It is not an easy word to hear, or to overhear in this case. Not easy because knowledge is so important to us. "Know thyself" said one of humanity's greatest philosophers. We strive after knowledge. We live in an information age. We grow to the age of understanding. We confer degrees of knowledge upon one another. We pride ourselves with our intelligence quotient.

Yet when push comes to shove, when life bumps up against death, when meaning stands before us, salvation is offered us, love reaches to embrace us, we need to be forgiven because we don't know what we are doing.

In the story of the Prodigal Son, Jesus tells us that the wanton behavior or the prodigal, the loose living, the slap against parental authority, the self-centered, self-seeking sinfulness is not really
who we are. It is a madness of sorts, an unknowing. The turn about phrase in the midst of the story is "when he came to himself." If he only knew from the beginning who he really was; if he only knew his own soul and his own mind, then his life would have been different. If he only knew.

Father forgive them, they don't know. Jesus came, some argue, to show us God. And in showing us God he showed us ourselves. In other words, Jesus came so that we would know what we were doing. And yet as he died he prayed to God to forgive us because we didn't get it. We didn't know.

He could have washed his hands of us at that moment. In an odd way that is what the taunters were asking for. Walk away from us Jesus, show us your power by taking care of your own skin. That selfishness we know, we understand that. Because we live it every day. It is this sacrifice that we don't know. It is this dying that we don't understand. Give up on us and then we would know that you were right, that you did have the power, that you were who you said you were. But then it would have been too late. And we would have been lost.

Jesus didn't give up on us. He began his dying by trying to help us live. Father, forgive them. From the cross Jesus was trying to get us back or keep us in right relationship with God. Forgive them. Heal them. Hold them. Gather them up. Stitch them back together.

That was the function of this word from the cross, to stitch us back into relationship with God. Even though our actions seemed to say that we didn't want to be there. Even though our words implied that we wanted nothing to do with God or with salvation or with hope for living. The thing is, we didn't know what we were doing.

I can't argue for the historical accuracy of these words from the cross. What I can argue for is the theological veracity of them. I have no doubt in my mind that Jesus died as he lived trying to stitch us back together. Even as he was unraveling, even as the world was unraveling on that dark day on Calvary, his intent, his desire was to put us back together with God. To heal the breach, by stretching his own broken body across the gap. To stop the hemorrhage by pouring his own blood into wounds we inflict on ourselves. Cross stitching.

Father forgive them, they don't know what they are doing.

Amen.


Shalom,
Derek

Get Happy

“Forget your troubles, come on get happy.” Remember that one? “Forget your troubles c'mon get happy,/ you better chase all your cares away. / Shout hallelujah c'mon get happy / get ready for the judgment day.” You can almost hear Judy Garland, can’t you. With the jacket and fedora, singing and dancing a jazzy version of “Get Happy.” It was in the movie “Summer Stock.” Which turned out to be her last movie. And given the general tenor of her life - it seems somewhat ironic.

“The sun is shinin c'mon get happy, / the lord is waitin to take your hand. / shout hallelujah, c'mon get happy, / we're going to the promised land.” It wasn’t written for her or for that movie, though. The song was written in 1930 and first sung by Ruth Etting, who also first sang “Shine On Harvest Moon,” “Button Up Your Overcoat,” and “Ten Cents a Dance.” Etting’s life wasn’t a bed of roses either. Her second husband to be was shot and injured by her ex-husband, but she married him anyway, but since he was a decade younger than her in those days it was a bit of a scandal and ended her career. They even made a movie of it with Doris Day and James Cagney.

“The sun is shinin c'mon get happy, / the lord is waitin to take your hand. / shout hallelujah c'mon get happy, / we're gunna be goin to the promised land.” The most recent appearance of the song was in the TV show Glee in this its second season. Kurt and Rachel, two of the most outcast of outcast characters in the show, sing Get Happy mixed with Happy Days Are Here Again. Which has also been done before - by Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland no less (There’s nothing new under the sun).

The problem is, if you saw the episode (or You Tubed it - is that a word?) then you can’t help but have the sense that the irony I referenced in the first paragraph is inherent in the song itself. Kurt and Rachel seem anything but happy as they sing. Almost as if the troubles they want to forget are overwhelming them. And the song seems a little like whistling in the dark.

Whether it was Ruth Etting singing in face of relationship troubles, or Judy singing in spite of personal issues that would send her life spiraling out of control, or Kurt and Rachel singing through the pain of a high school world that wouldn’t find a place for them - none of them seemed able to really forget their troubles. It is beyond our human capacity, it seems, to let go of what hurts us, of what threatens us. It seems almost insensitive to tell someone who has much to worry about that they shouldn’t worry. Doesn’t it?

Matthew 6:24-34 "No one can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth. 25 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you -- you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 "So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today.

Has he done it again? Has he gone and given us an impossible task? Being poor is hard enough, meekness doesn’t come naturally to many of us. Reconciliation, tearing out eyes and cutting off hands, not getting angry, not looking with lust, saying only what we mean and meaning what we say, being perfect, God-like perfect – well, its all just too much. We feel burdened by the responsibilities of our faith. And we have thought it through enough to know that it isn’t these works that gain us a place in God’s kingdom. We know that - in our heads at least. But we are to let these attitudes and actions, these modes of being just fall from us like ripe fruit off our tree of righteousness. And it still feels like a burden. Like our limbs can’t bear the weight of all this fruit, and we are bent over by the encumbrance of our good works.

And then he has the nerve to tell us to not worry. Great. Why didn’t he start with this? We might have had a completely different attitude to all the stuff he’s been piling on. But here it feels like a cruel joke. Be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect. But don’t worry about it. Right.

I know, we could say, just do it, don’t worry about it. But that doesn’t really work in the real world, does it. Anything we strive to do, we worry about. To a degree at least. We worry about what is important. We worry about what we want to spend time and energy on. Maybe all he really means is don’t worry excessively. Don’t worry in such a way that it cripples us. Jesus as Dr. Phil. Let it go, he says, take it easy he says. Do what you can do and be satisfied with that.

Well, that’s certainly good advice and something we should pay attention to more than we do. But is it gospel? Is it really good news? If we just pick ourselves up by our own bootstraps, if we just push away the dark clouds on our own horizons through sheer force of will, then when our energy wanes or our attention wavers, all those worries come rushing back in upon us, stronger and more desperate than before.

We aren’t birds, as beautiful as they are. We aren’t flowers, though they are lovely. And I don’t think Jesus us is really asking us to sit like baby birds in a nest mouths open, bodies quivering, waiting for the worms to fall from heaven. He isn’t really asking us to sit like potted plants waiting for the water to fall and the fertilizer to drop. So, why the little nature interlude? What exactly are we to consider when we do our birdwatching and flower contemplating?

Maybe we should listen again, to the third verse of Judy’s song - well, and Ruth’s and Kurt and Rachel’s (and I’m excited to see according to the previews - Dr. Gregory House’s song too!): “The sun is shinin c'mon get happy, / the lord is waitin to take your hand.” Look at the birds and know, in the sheer wonder of them, that God cares for them. Consider the lilies and understand, through the incomparable beauty of them, that God loves God’s creation. Of which we are a part.

The passage begins with a choice. But it is our choice. God has already chosen. And God has chosen us. Worries and all. Failings and all. God has chosen us. To love us, to be with us, to include us in the plans for the Kingdom, to place within us a longing for home. We choose in the context of being chosen. We love – God and neighbor both – in the context of being loved.

I don’t think Jesus really expects us to never worry again. If he did, why did he include a note that says “Today’s own trouble is enough for today”? He knows we will worry, we can’t help it. He just doesn’t want us to let worry be the definer of our lives. He would much rather that He be the definer, that God be the definer, that love be what shapes and orders our lives. The love we give and the love that surrounds us, like the beauty of flowers and the effervescent joy of the birds.

With all that around us, we might even find time to forget our troubles, c’mon be happy!

Shalom,
Derek

Ooops

Sorry about that. It wasn’t me. Honest. I wouldn’t be offering you a suggestion on how to ... well, I wouldn’t. Really. La Donna met me at the office door this morning telling me that someone hijacked the Late Night Bible Study. What? I said. OK, not the most “on the ball” kind of answer I could have given. But it was the best I could do early Saturday morning. “What?’

I mean come on, who would want to hijack something like the Late Night Bible Study? With a spam message about ... well, come on! Now that I think about it, I remember seeing something about a new member joining the Bible Study group. The online one, not the face to face ones. And whenever someone joins on their own, as opposed to being put there by me, then it is usually trouble. Thankfully, not major trouble - not malicious virus or hacker trouble; just usually spam trouble, email to the group advertising something useless or embarrassing. So, if I don’t recognize the email address that adds itself in, I’ll delete it. But I didn’t get around to it this time. Oops. Sorry about that.

And then, I just spent a little while going through the whole list to find out who was “bouncing.” That’s Yahoo’s term for the email isn’t getting through. There were a lot. Sorry about that. Many of them were the Verizon/Frontier switch that I didn’t change. Oops. So, some of you will get a notice saying you’ve been added. That’s what it means, I fixed an email problem. Some of you still aren’t getting it. If you aren’t getting this then ... you aren’t getting it ... and won’t know that you aren’t getting it ... and can’t then tell me to change your email address ... can you? Hmmm. Oops. Tell you what - if you have a friend who used to get this bible study and now isn’t, their email address may have changed. Tell them to email me and I’ll fix it. Unless they simply got bored with my rambling about nothing much important and decided to get Rick Warren’s bible study where he gets to the point right away. Actually, I don’t know if Rick has an online bible study, but if he did, he’d get to the point. I’m pretty sure. Sorry about that.

Maybe I should just get to the bible study and quit all this waffling. What’s the bible passage about this week, anyway? Being perfect. Oops. Great. Just great. Well, read these verses while I try to get back on track.

Matthew 5:38-48 "You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.' 39 But I say to you, Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also; 40 and if anyone wants to sue you and take your coat, give your cloak as well; 41 and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. 42 Give to everyone who begs from you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you. 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? 48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Out of all the things we wish he had never said, this is probably right up there at the top of the list. “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” No wonder we prefer St. Paul. He said some hard things too, to be sure. But he is also the one who said “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23 - in case you want to go and embroider it or something) That is a statement we can get behind. That is a reality to which we can shout “Amen!”

We are painfully aware of our shortcomings. We know too well how far off track we are, how failings, our slip ups and our bad moments. We know, better than we would like to, just how out of reach perfection really is. So, we read verse forty-eight with a heavy heart. As though Jesus has laid a burden on our backs that is simply impossible for us to carry. It is surely beyond us.

Maybe we should just ignore that last verse. Maybe we could argue that it was added later. Yeah, that’s it, an editorial addition. Jesus wouldn’t have said something like that. He was kinder and gentler. He would have said something more like “If anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also.” Umm.

Some commentators have made a great deal out of that “right cheek” thing. If a right handed person strikes you on the right cheek, it must have been a backhanded slap. Not a real punch, right? It was more about the humiliation than it was about the pain. Someone was trying to put you down. Someone was trying to make you look foolish. And you are supposed to ... well ... let them. Uh.

One writer said that by offering the other cheek you were turning around, and while you turned you were supposed to be reaching back to really let them have it. Right. That might make more sense in a TV kind of way, in a revenge movie kind of way. But it doesn’t really fit into the flow of the Sermon on the Mount. Does it? “Someone sues you for your coat, give them your cloak as well.” “Someone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.”

We spend a lot of time trying to explain all of this away because it is too hard. Because it doesn’t fit in with a vengeance culture. It doesn’t match our natural inclinations to get even, to pay back. So, Jesus must have meant something other than what it seems like he said here. Or maybe this is the advanced level stuff. Only the Mother Teresa’s and the Martin Luther King Jr.’s can measure up to this grade. This AP Christianity class is beyond the most of us.

So, maybe we should just let it pass. Stick with remedial faith issues - basic level stuff, be kind, don’t say bad things, that sort of stuff. But then Jesus says that doesn’t get us what we want. “If you love those who love you what reward do you have?” So it IS about reward after all? What do I get out of this? We are doing all this faith stuff just to get into heaven? To be one of the children of the Father?

Well, yes. But not as we usually think about it. The reward isn’t a ticket to heaven when we die. The reward is a life that is more complete, a life that is full of joy and hope and peace. The reward is a life that is bounded by love, choices that are made by love, decisions that are motivated by love. When we choose to love even those who don’t love us, then we are freed from a desire for revenge. If we are always seeking to serve out of love, then we can’t be taken advantage of because we’ve already surrendered.

Which is really what perfection means. It isn’t about never making a mistake, or never doing anything wrong. When Jesus invites us to be perfect, he is asking us to always be motivated by love. If our intention is always to do the loving thing, then we have reached the kind of perfection that Jesus describes. In other words, despite one of the worst movie lines of all time, love doesn’t mean never having to say your sorry. There will still be a need for an oops, even if we were to aspire toward perfection. Mistakes will be made, because our knowledge is always less than perfect. The Sermon invites us to allow his love to live in us perfectly. Which means it isn’t us, but Him. It isn’t our doing, it is His loving that lives in us. It isn’t our effort, it is our surrender to Christ. Be perfect. Now there was more I was going to say, but I’m out of room. Ooops.

Shalom,
Derek

Birthday Wishes

I am writing this on my birthday. 53, in case you are wondering. Only 53? To some of my readers. Holy cow, 53!? To others. Incomprehensibly 53 to me, to be honest. It doesn’t seem possible, except that I can do the math. Still, my son Rhys asked me if I felt any older. Actually, he asked me that at midnight last night, so I was feeling older then. But now? Not so much. Really.

But I have been spending most of my time responding to Facebook birthday greetings. I’m not quite sure what the etiquette is for this sort of thing. But the 21st Century method of acknowledging birthdays is a Facebook post. I’ve gotten a few cards in the mail, a couple email “e-cards” but nearly 50 Facebook posts and it isn’t yet noon.

Like I said, I’m not sure what you are supposed to do with these things. Do you just send a general “thanks for all the posts” on your status? Do you “like” each one? Or do you send a note? I don’t send a note back to those who send me a card, but I’ve been responding to each one. It’s kind of fun. But they keep coming and I have to stop writing here to get to them.

I’m not the greatest Facebook person around. We’ve got some folks in the church who are excellent at it, both in posting their own stuff and in commenting on others. I’ve been told something about someone and asked, how did you know that? I checked their Facebook page, is the response. It’s a pretty amazing tool. We even have a Facebook page for the church. Did you know that? You can “friend” Aldersgate, and make comments or get information. La Donna updates it every Sunday after church with the announcements for the bulletins and then with the youth stuff that Amanda has been sending out. It could be useful instrument for the church. We’re not sure who all is looking at it, but you should check it out.

Like I said, however, I don’t know all the rules of Facebook, real or unwritten. I can still embarrass my kids by doing something “not cool” with my Facebook page, or theirs. I don’t always update everyone on my status - partly because I have trouble believing anyone really cares. But some folks obviously think they do, because they’ll tell the whole world anything and everything on Facebook. And I do mean everything. People have gotten into trouble via Facebook, but then apparently regimes have been overthrown in part due to Facebook. At least if you believe the reports, and it is hard not to see something significant happening on the world stage.

That’s quite a range, when you think about it, from “Having a bad hair day!” to “Join the revolution to depose the dictators!” But the same instrument serves both causes. No wonder we want to know the rules. We don’t want to run the risk of misusing this powerful instrument.

Learning the rules is a common exercise. Jesus knew that, which is why he took the time to talk about the rules in the Sermon on the Mount. He knew he was in a rule based society, so he decided to take a look at the rules. And to mess with everyone’s head at the same time. “You thought you knew the rules?” he seems to be saying. “Well, listen to this!”

Matthew 5:21-37 "You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not murder'; and 'whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.' 22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, 'You fool,' you will be liable to the hell of fire. 23 So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. 25 Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. 26 Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny. 27 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' 28 But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. 29 If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. 30 And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell. 31 "It was also said, 'Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.' 32 But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery. 33 "Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, 'You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.' 34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, 35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. 36 And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let your word be 'Yes, Yes' or 'No, No'; anything more than this comes from the evil one.

Oh my. Rules are one thing. But this ... This seems a bit much. Doesn’t it? Extreme rules. Intense rules. Rules only for those who are really into rules. Or something like that. I mean, we’ve evolved as a society, haven’t we? We’ve kinda let most of this stuff slide. No big deal, we say. Live and let live, we believe. To each their own, we believe.

But should we? We don’t want to be stick in the muds, I don’t think. And yet, reading these verses it seems like this higher standard is something more than just adding to the list of rules. It is like Jesus is trying to get us to realize something about ourselves and about our relationships. And that something might be something as simple as “pay attention.” Or “these relationships are precious, treat with care.” Or maybe even “community is a gift from God, don’t waste it, don’t abuse it, don’t ignore it.”

You see, maybe I’m just wired this way, but it seems to me that all these rules, all these higher ways of living are about community. They are about relationships. And Jesus is saying that we ought not take anyone for granted. Ought not run the risk of hurting anyone. Ought not treat anyone as less than the child of God that they are. These aren’t rules so much as a way of creating a community that resembles the kingdom of God.

Hmm, creating a community. I guess that means that Jesus was into Facebook before Facebook was around. And like Facebook, the community of faith can be about the little details of daily living or about revolutions and transformation. And maybe even both at the same time.

The birthday wishes kept coming in all day. Some from folks I haven’t seen for a long time. Others from ones I encounter each week or even more. And yet there is this connection. Woven together by birthday wishes and the body of Christ, we are a community of respect and of joy. A caring community of hope and affirmation. We are a Christ breathed community of transformation and spiritual growth.

I doubt that is what Zuckerberg had in mind. Now Jesus on the other hand ...

Shalom,
Derek

Road Salt

I heard on the radio today that there was another snowfall, snarling traffic and shutting down businesses and schools. Added to the snow problems was the cold. It was so cold that the salt wasn’t melting the ice on the roads. Salt, apparently, needs a certain temperature to actually be any good. If it goes below that level, then the chemical reaction that leads to ice melting just doesn’t work. This report indicated that the air was too cold, that the brine they were spraying on the road was freezing and that the salt just added to the grit but not the grip. And, wait for it, this was in Oklahoma and Arkansas!

Yikes. Of course we are now supposed to interject some apocalyptic scenario and invite everyone to hunker down for the duration. But I’m not going to do that. I’ve got other fish to fry. Or other vegetables to flash freeze, as the case may be. In fact, I brought all that up so that I could talk about salt.

I love salt. More than is healthy for me, I know that. And if I didn’t know that, I have a wife who is good at telling me. But still, I love it. Given a choice between a salty snack and a sweet one, I’ll go for the salty almost every time. So, naturally I was excited when Jesus called me salt. Well, ok, he called you salt too. But what was he really saying? What does it mean to be salty Christians?

Matthew 5:13-20 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

You’re right, I could have gone with the light image and saved a potentially unhealthy situation. But, like I said, I’m a salt guy. Besides it is winter, and you can’t help but be salt minded in these cold and icy days. But then the first question is what does salt (or light, if you’re on a low sodium diet) have to do with the law?

The second half of our passage doesn’t seem to be about the same subject as the first half. It is like Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount is one of those stream of consciousness kind of sermons with a whole bunch of stuff that are only connected because they are presented by the same preacher. A sermon I wouldn’t give high marks to, by the way. (Yes, a part of the timing of this Bible Study is because I am heading off to teach my preaching class again this weekend. Let’s just say I’m steeling myself for a wide range in preaching ability.)

Some, in fact most, biblical scholars claim that this was indeed a collection of random sayings that Matthew constructed into the form we call the Sermon on the Mount. That the original sermon was mostly the beatitudes (some argue) or some of the other sayings, but that Matthew just piled on anything he remembered. Or, others argue, Matthew had an agenda and shaped the sayings of Jesus to meet that agenda whatever it was.

Well, could be. But I prefer to take the stance that says this is the sermon we have so lets listen to it. Which brings me back to my question, what does salt have to do with the law?

Matthew presents Jesus as pretty concerned with obedience. Salt and light seem kind of free form, just get out there and be, just influence, just mentor. Do as seems good to you. But then to follow that up with that bit about not changing even a pen stroke of the letter of the law, well, that doesn’t seem terribly Jesus-like, does it?

Maybe it was a mood swing, maybe it was a change in the wind. Maybe he didn’t mean it just like it sounded. Or maybe he did. Maybe he was trying to get us to understand the connection between law and spirit. Maybe he was trying to help us understand the urgency of living our faith in demonstrable ways. Maybe he was hoping that we might grab hold of the seriousness of salt.

Wait. What? Yes, the seriousness of salt. That’s what I said. What was the invitation here, or the call and challenge here? Normally, when I hear about the call to be the salt of the earth, it is presented in terms of preservative and flavor. Those are functions of salt. So, as followers of Jesus, we are called to bring flavor to the world around us. Our presence ought to enhance our surroundings, ought to flavor our communities. Our surroundings ought to be difference because we are in them, because we are a part of them. Salt adds to the taste. That’s what we ought to do.

Secondly, salt is a preservative. More so in earlier times, before refrigeration, salt was used to make sure that food would last into the winter months. So, Christians who are salty are those who preserve what is valuable, what is nourishing for our wider community. We are the storehouse of traditions, not simply for the sake of those traditions, but because those traditions feed God’s people. Those traditions sustain God’s people in difficult times, times of scarcity when we can no longer rely on our own resources, but need the resources that come from beyond us.

Like I said, that is what I usually hear and preach. And I like them, they make sense, but I want to add two more understandings of salt. Or perhaps two more uses of salt that might be a little beyond the traditional understandings.

Did you know that in Jesus’ day salt was used as fertilizer? It is true, says one historian. In our day we see an overly salted field as a bad thing. But in those days salt was often added to the mineral mix of the land in order to produce better crops. So, perhaps Jesus had in mind this use and was encouraging His followers to be fertilizer, to be that which enhances growth. We are in the seed planting business, in the crop tending business. We try to make things grow. Relationships, community, service, commitment, covenant, understanding, hope – all kind of things need to be tended to grow more fruitfully. Be the salt of the earth that together we might help peace grow.

And then, of course, February in Indiana, you can’t help but think of one more use of salt. Road salt. It is everywhere. We hate it on our cars. We don’t like the stains it makes on our carpets in the church. But we are awfully glad it is there on the roads and the sidewalks. Because we all need help getting a grip. You are the salt of the earth. You are the ones who help people get a grip. Who help our neighbors maintain their footing. Who enable the journey to continue. Without this salt, we might slide into all kinds of things. We might slip off the paths, we might crash into the ditches. We need help getting a grip. We need one another. We need salt. You are the salt of the earth. Get a grip.

Shalom,
Derek