Advent 1

Advent 1: Nov. 27, 2016

St. Peter’s, Great Falls

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Lectionary 

Listen to a portion of our first reading today:

excerpt Isaiah

‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
to the house of the God of Jacob;
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.’
…
they shall beat their swords into ploughshares,
and their spears into pruning-hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
O house of Jacob,
come, let us walk
in the light of the Lord!

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Our second reading invites us to “wake from our sleep” – to be alert to God’s work around us
and the Gospel urges us to prepared for the “Son of man coming at an unexpected hour”

4 Sundays hearing from Isaiah:

What I plan to do for the next 4 weeks is to prepare for Christmas through Advent by listening to the prophet Isaiah.
This week: Mountain of the Lord, swords into plowshares
Next week: a shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse
3rd week: make straight a highway
4th week: sign of Immanuel

Why Prophets as a theme for Advent?

The primary reason to focus on the prophets – Isaiah in this case – is that we may be able to hear God speaking to us in a fresh way, a voice we don’t usually listen to. Furthermore, I believe that we live in prophetic times – even apocalyptic times.
The characteristics of the biblical prophets include these:
many varieties of prophets
did more than just “preach”
they communicated God’s message for the people. They were an intermediary between God and God’s people.
their actions were often as powerful as the words (n.b. the opening of our reading today: “The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.“
there were 100’s of prophets – most of whom don’t have a name
there were women as well as men
they were in the center of the politics of their day
the writings that we have preserved in our text today are often in the form of poetry

A prophet is for most Christians:

Incontrast, I think that most Christians hear the prophets primarily as someone who tells the future. What the old testament calls a soothsayer and that the telling of the future is primarily focused on fore-telling the coming of Christ.
Now it’s not surprising that that would be the most usual way for Christians to hear the prophets because that is the primary way that the New Testament treats “prophecies”.
But if we listen to them on their own terms – not in service to the New Testament – we may be able to hear God speak to us in fresh ways. That is what the prophets did in their own day.

Prophets: “speaking truth to power”

One recent way to describe prophetic speech is to call it speaking truth to power.
This was a phrase that was perhaps coined by the Quakers during the mid-1950s. It was a call for the United States to stand firm against fascism and other forms of totalitarianism;
It is possible that it was coined somewhat earlier by civil rights worker.
Those four little words comprise a powerful expression.
“It is a powerful nonviolent challenge to injustice and unbridled totalitarian forces, often perpetuated by government, sometimes not,” says Judith Sherwin (Attorney at Law, Adjunct Professor, Loyola School of Law). “Sir Thomas More did it at the cost of his life when he spoke truth to power against King Henry VIII; Martin Luther King Jr. did it at the cost of his freedom when he ended up in the Birmingham jail and eventually at the cost of his life.” Huff. Post

Isaiah the prophet in particular

The voice in the book we have today comes from 3 very different circumstances. The first was when the nation was threatened with destruction by the Assyrians – but all that happened was that ½ of it was destroyed. Another voice 150 years – coming from a disciple of the first Isaiah, spoke and wrote at a time when the nation was again threatened, and this time destroyed. for good – at least until 1949. A third voice wrote some 50-150 years later and wrote of a new way of experiencing and knowing God – now as the God of all creation, not just of the Israelites.
Other than the psalms, the most quoted book of OT in the NT is Isaiah. It was primarily used in the context of “fulfillment” – as I have said.

the Mountain of the Lord

In today’s passage we hear about the mountain of the Lord. This is Jerusalem. Mt. Zion. Where the temple stood. The house of God as it were. Isaiah invites us up. I have had experiences like that with mountains, both in Colorado and in Hawai’i. Especially in Hawai’i I experienced them as in some way the special domain of God. Meant to be kept sacred. Meant to be visited with reverence.
Over the centuries the mountain of the Lord has been a metaphor for the hard work needed for advancement in the spiritual life. To ascend the mountain was to encounter God not just in his own place – but to be transformed by the encounter. Moses was encountered on such a mountain. Jesus was transfigured on a mountain. And he preached – at least as Matthew presents it – on a “mountain.”
So in some sense God seems to be saying “it is hard work. Persevere. Be ready. We do not know the hour.”
Be a people of peace.
Be a people of justice
Be a people of mercy
– even as God himself brings you peace and justice and mercy.
And we will listen more next week to what the prophet says to us.

November Thanksgiving St. Paul's

Church

Sun, Nov 20, 2016 St. Paul's

lectionary

• make us good stewards
• provide for us
• a wandering Aramean was my ancestor
• rejoice in the Lord always
• whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.
• I am the bread of life

What we "ought" to do

At a young age I remember being taught that I ought to be grateful -- for any number of things. I ought to write thank you notes. I ought to appreciate all that my parents -- or teachers -- or ?? did for me.
For the most part I don't think it worked very well.
On the other hand, I am curious to figure out when did I learn actually become grateful? At what point did I exercise gratitude?

Being grateful

It had to be connected with receiving a gift and knowing that I didn't somehow deserve it. Had earned it or it belonged to me.
When I got good grades I figured I had worked for them. When I got them without working for them -- English honors in senior year -- I just figured it was something like good luck.
Being lucky isn't really related to gratitude.
Possibly it was when my first born was raised above our heads by the delivering physician and he asked me what his name was? I cried uncontrollably.
Perhaps it was a little earlier when I was rock climbing and fell. I was caught:

• my friend held the rope
• the piton held in the rock
• the rope held

Perhaps it was the day I received a cash gift at seminary. Someone had known that our family was in need of money, perhaps because of the birth of our second child, I don't remember. But I can still vividly remember the moment I opened the unmarked envelope I had just picked up at the campus post office. In it was a bundle of cash. No note. No way to send a thank you note. The only thing to do was to be grateful.

It was quite a bit later in life that I learned about a teaching of the Rabbis -- the goal of offering 100 blessings / day

Question: I once heard that there is a certain amount of blessings we should attempt to say each day. How many is it, and what is the source of this idea?
Answer: There is indeed such a teaching. We are to recite 100 blessings each day. The Talmud1 extrapolates this from a verse in Deuteronomy:2 "Now, Israel, what does G‑d, your G‑d, ask of you? . . . to walk in His ways . . . and to serve Him."

The Hebrew word for "what," mah (מָה), is phonetically similar to the word me'ah (מֵאָה), which means 100. In other words, the verse can be understood as saying: "Now, Israel, a hundred does G‑d, your G‑d, ask of you"—one hundred blessings.
chabad.org

Guides

• thanking someone who doesn't usually get thanks
• Know the value of small things
• learn the value of giving thanks for small things
• Cultivate being grateful
• make it a minimum goal to offer it 100 times in a day

There are countless articles out there touting the value of gratitude. But is that really what's going on here? Is it -- this is good for you -- ?

That's not the reason for doing it.

"Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough." -- Oprah Winfrey

Habakkuk: giving thanks even when the fig tree withers

3:17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights. To the leader: with stringed instruments.

"Sing as if no one can hear; dance as if no one is watching; dream as if there are no impossibilities" (Annie)
"If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough." - Meister Eckhart

End of Church year -- begin of new

• This Sunday is the last of the church year
• gift of last 50 years, that we get to hear from each of the gospels over a 3 year cycle -- this next year gospel of Matthew
• Like other "new years", it gives us a chance to look back and take stock and to gird our loins for the upcoming year. or
• For all that has been, Thank you. For all that is to come, Yes! Dag Hammarskjold

11-13-sermon-st-pauls.md

Church

Sun, Nov 13, 2016: St. Paul’s

lectionary

Holy Scripture written for us
I shall build a new Heavens – focus on Jerusalem – no more the sound of weeping
the wolf and the lamb shall lie down together
the stones of the temple thrown down – when you hear of wars and resurrection – nation will rise against nation
they will arrest you

The Bible and the Times

“This past week has been an emotional and turbulent one for many people in our nation.”
We had an election last week. … you probably noticed.
Perhaps the greatest 20^th^ c. theologians, Karl Barth, said that sermons should be written with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. He came to that conclusion after watching his German Evangelical Church first support the Kaiser in his war-making effort in the 1^st^ World War and then much more alarmingly support the rise of Adolph Hitler.
The events of the past week require me to look at the Bible and the newspaper at the same time. And I’m not particularly comfortable doing it. What the newspaper (and all the other venues for news) tell us connected to the political events of the American election of the past week. I have been so cautious my whole ministry to avoid even the appearance of partisan politics in my church speech and actions.
I recognize that the church is “church” for all people, whatever their political persuasion. I recognize that Christ died for all people.
The results of my reading of the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other, however, convinces me that we live in radical times. One of the results of the election I read about in the newspaper is that there have been a number of racist and violent messages in a number of communities. I read that many of our citizens are fearful of what is to come after the pronouncements of the political campaign that we have just witnessed. There have been a number of protests to the election throughout the country. I wonder if there has ever been anything similar in the history of our country?
It convinces me that the message for the church cannot be “business as usual.”

Our times have become exceptional times

• apocalyptic times – like we hear of in the gospel today.

The eschatological images fit the time we live in.

• “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.”

The world we live in is filled with unfathomable images, trends and trajectories, hopes and despairs that seem beyond speaking.

• 9/11
• the melting of the ice caps
• warfare fought in the middle east with ferocity and frenzy that seems to come from a world gone by
• But such events have been occurring with regularity throughout Christian History:
• The sack of Jerusalem, expulsion of Jews from Judea
• Nero blaming all his troubles on the Christians in Rome
• Justin Martyr and countless others marched to an amphitheater to be killed by lions.
• The destruction of Rome within a century of it becoming a “Christian” city
• The murder and destruction of Jews, Muslims and Arab Christians at time of the crusades
• the Black Plague when ½ the population of Europe died
• the wars of religion throughout Europe
• 20th c. wars
• the Holocaust, and genocides of the 20th c.

… for example, the matter of deaths caused by war: in the 18th century, about 4 million people died in wars; in the 19th century, about 8 million people died in wars; in the 20th century, nearly 100 million people died in wars.

The end times: what is its meaning?

Apocalyptic literature was and continues to this day to be written for the encouragement of those who experience persecution or destruction. It is intended to convey the message that the ruins about us are not God’s final answer.
We, the church, must reflect God’s answer. It is not the case that things will inevitably get better and better for our country or the world. One person said:

There is no biblical basis for a hope in inevitable progress. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that things will gradually get better until at last the kingdom is present, and in fact it is closer to the biblical truth to say that things will get worse before they get better. 1

At the same time, the Bible could not be clearer that we are responsible for our end of things. Bp. Desmond Tutu once put it in the most succinct way possible: God has made us responsible for His reputation.

Exceptional demands are upon us

We are at this moment a nation deeply divided upon itself.
When Luke said of Jesus (back in ch. 11 of Luke) But he knew what they were thinking and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself becomes a desert, and house falls on house.” he wasn’t talking about politics. He was talking about the Kingdom of God vs. the Kingdom of this World.
What would Jesus do about the division in our country?

“What would Jesus do?”

What would he do about the more than ½ of our nation that feels themselves to be under threat from the President elect?

How can we be responsible for God’s reputation in these times?

I am not presuming to tell you the answer to the questions I pose, but I think the times demand an answer from us.

Not to answer is itself an answer.
An expository article from Interpretation 1982. “It can be said that Christian life is placed between history and eternity. It takes part, on the one hand, in the history of the world within which it exercises its faith; and it participates, on the other hand, in the power of the resurrection as the token of the new world toward which it is straining.
This reminds us that the events of the last week – as polarizing and shocking as they were (no matter your allegiance) – is but the perspective from this side of the Resurrection where God made us responsible for His reputation.

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1. St. Louis commentary: ↩

Nov. 6 -- All Saints Sunday

Nov. 6 (All Saints Sunday)

lectionary

Haggai – Thessalonians

Again we hear from a prophet whose name comes with many different pronunciations. My teacher enforcing the British pronunciation made us say “Hay’-gay-ai”.
As I previewed the passage last week, I smiled because it was a perfect example text for my Old Testament class. The timing was perfect – In the second year of King Darius,… . The prophet looks back at a nation, a religious faith, a way of life, an extended family – that had been utterly destroyed. He looks and sees a time to come: “Once again, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land; and I will shake all the nations, so that the treasure of all nations shall come, and I will fill this house with splendor, says the Lord of hosts.”
Remembering the past glory, promising a coming splendor and glory
Second coming, delay of parousia
Now he is God not of the dead, but of the living; for to him all of them are alive.”
Haggai the prophet’s words may help us to look out and see the glory of the Lord that is all around us.

The coming splendour

Mother T. saw it in the slums of Calcutta
I felt it when Pres. Obama led the nation (as it were) in singing “Amazing Grace” at the memorial service at Mother Immanuel in Charleston.
I saw it in the short video we shared on Facebook, a woman catching a cab in New York, in response to the question where to? she said anywhere. Explaining that she was on her way to the hospice and she wanted to see the living world one last time.
This is available anywhere
it doesn’t need a successful church program
a church that has genuinely prayed in provides it
I was in such a church somewhere off a small road in the woods, built in early 1700’s right here in South Carolina.

After the storm, a song, Google it, Haggai starter

irish band
… (end)
And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.
Get over your hill and see what you find there,
With grace in your heart and flowers in your hair.
After the Storm is a story about that emergence – a story of people encountering a new world, encountering loss, and then learning how to keep going.

All the saints, gone before, have prepared the way for us to see the splendour

so that we can see
“Nana” remember the student conversation in Old Testament where she wanted to tell me about the great faith of her nah nah. When I sought to confirm what I was hearing she just repeated na na expecting me to know perfectly well who I was she was talking about. The point about na na was that she quote probably had lots more faith than the student does. But was clearly a wise person for the student. If it hadn’t been class I might have pursued the notion of her being a saint.
each of you has your own personal “Nana”
This community has its own
we give thanks today for all the saints who have prepared the way for our eyes and hearts to be open to the splendour before and on its way
After the storm
We have endured a storm in this country and indeed the world:
Change in us, region, world
This is not the church I grew up in
Declining communities
Tornado, flood, earthquake - my mother’s word - seeing the ruin. The promise of rebuilding.
Freshness of the smell, clean, no asthma.
I can remember my mother promising to us kids, growing up in Denver suburb, that we were safe from those things that children fear: floods, earthquakes, tornadoes.
After the flood of 1965 a large recreational lake appeared behind the dam to control the South Platte. I have a good friend who lives near there. After the earthquakes – that were man-made – Denver International Airport was built on the reclaimed land. The Tornadoes – well, I’m not sure. But I do know that everytime there’s a fiersome thunderstorm, the air seems to be clean, the dry ground watered, and there is a promise of new life.
wonder of life itself
oldest living man @ 113 is a survivor of the Holocaust – he witnessed the ruin, now a sign of the splendour of the living God
st. Louis rolheiser
Gospel lends itself to a message about resurrection, about life after death,
the communion of the saints is a shorthand for the community of all those alive in the resurrection

Elizabeth Johnson, leaning on Karl Rahner, adds this thought: “Hoping against hope, we affirm that they [our loved ones who have died] have fallen not into nothingness but into the embrace of the living God. And that is where we can find them again; when we open our hearts to the silent calmness of God’s own life in which we dwell, not by selfishly calling them back to where we are, but by descending into the depth of our own hearts where God also abides.”

These are the saints we remember. It is on their shoulders that we stand. Because of them we are granted the privilege of seeing the splendour around us and awaiting the glory that is to come.