Jesus’ Foolish Politics: Preparing to Hear the Sermon on the Mount

Sermon for the Second Sunday after the Epiphany

• Isaiah 49:1-7  • 
 
• Psalm 40:1-11  • 
 
• 1 Corinthians 1:1-9  • 
 
• John 1:29-42

We are in that time between.  It is a time of joy.  The joy of knowing God has come, God is with us. It is a time of enlightenment. We have seen and heard of God come as the human Jesus of Nazareth. My message for us to day is a simple one. Fully entering Our enlightenment, our joy, is accepting and acting on Jesus’ invitation to “Come and see”.  But there is great deal to unpack in this simple invitation. 

We have a related difficulty. After the coming of God in human flesh, we struggle to live by the light and the path revealed to us by this light.  The story we have walked through, god born of Mary like any other human being, god vulnerable to the machinations of Herod, god coming to the banks of the Jordan as just a normal unremarkable person. According to our passage in john even after the baptism and the heaven opening and the voice and the manifestation of the Spirit like a dove, John still points out Jesus to his own disciples and says hey, you might want to check that guy out, he’s the Lamb of God, and even so still others stick around John rather than going after Jesus.

We have in all of this the mystery of the Church, the body of Christ in continuity with Israel, not so as to supplant the importance nor the reality of the Jewish people as God’s chosen people. The church is Israel taken up into Jesus of Nazareth, who fulfilled what Israel is, Christ fulfils the law. Also, the church is how the prophesies of the nations coming to Israel and being enlightened is also fulfilled. In this small community, we have this reality encapsulated, we have a member who is Jewish and who knows Christ come in the flesh and we have those who come from a variety of peoples in the world all of whom are blessed by Israel and the Jewish people, having been enlightened by Jesus of Nazareth the word of god Made flesh, the Israel and wisdom of God.

Our moment comes after a long and varied history of the church in which those who call upon the name of the Lord Jesus, Christ have missed or not answered, or ignored, or betrayed the call to be the church. We Christians have relied on that which is other than Jesus Christ.

There is a need to reacquaint ourselves as members of Christ body with the place of God’s presence in our midst. We need to be reminded that when God came in human flesh God did not reside at the centers of power. We need to contemplate and discern the meaning that  God coming in our midst and the manifestations around it, were missed by most everyone especially the powerful. The power brokers and well as the powerful had no idea that anything significant had happened.  Even many of the poor and the oppressed people in Judea and Galilee also had no clue.

We may wonder what to do in this moment. We may wonder at the failures of members of the church to live out our faith, and to live into the call to be saints, as body of Christ, isn’t so much that we haven’t known what it is, as we the members of the body of Christ have consistently tried to dilute the call and the message by realism or by acquiescence to the powerful. We know it. We celebrate it year after year.  We know the teaching and we will in this liturgy read the sermon on the mount and have the teaching of Jesus clearly proclaimed to us positions other Christians take. But we can’t get mired in the failures of Christians and the betrayals of Christ and the Church, either now or in the past. We need to come again and ask Jesus Christ to show he is staying.  And we need to leave aside our assumptions and presuppositions and truly come and see.

The Isiah passage we read reminds us that what we have been liturgically waiting for in Advent and Celebrating in Christmas and continue to celebrate in this season after the Epiphany, was proclaimed and anticipated by the Hebrew Prophets. We know well with Isaiah that the world can be a place absent of light and hope.  What we need to remember and see again that it is God who enlightens and offers hope, that the nations and the powers aren’t the means through which God offers this hope and light. This happens through a small and insignificant people on the world stage, the Jewish people that God chose to bring enlightenment and hope. Ultimately accomplished through the Jew Jesus of Nazareth. Of course, Isaiah has only a small glimpse of this, and much of what he says of this one and what will happen either is wrong or at least not literal. That is, we don’t know what we celebrate about the person Jesus of Nazareth merely because Isaiah and the prophets of Israel proclaimed it. Rather after the coming of Christ, the incarnation of the Word of God, we see what the Hebrew prophets saw and yet couldn’t fully articulate. We as often as not are like those around John the Baptist , not seeing , nor recognizing the reality of God with us.

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Pentecost Sermon 2016: The manifestations of Pentecost and Discerning the work of God on Earth

Texts: Acts 2:1-21,John 14:8-27

The material effects of the descent of the Spirit on the Church at Pentecost

Why do we read Acts in the Season of Easter? It’s a little out of order.  We read Acts in Easter because Acts tells us how the incarnation passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ effect people in this earthly life.  I will lead us in reflection on  these earthly and material effects and impact on us and the world around us.  This is perhaps more obvious in other passages in Acts than the one for Pentecost. Yet if we pay attention to the manifestations of the Spirit at Pentecost and the perceived extent of the effect of that manifestation we can begin to understand the material nature of the impact of the Spirit and thus the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension of Christ.

Let us attend to what can be seen, heard, touched and is located on the earth in Luke’s account of Pentecost.  Most notably, and what is generally emphasized in our celebrations of Pentecost, the speaking and hearing of various languages.  We should remember that this is a physical and really very earthly and human effect. Unlike the glossolalia mentioned in Paul’s epistles where the language spoken is unknown to any of the hearers in the gathered body and thus requires translation, at the descent of the Spirit upon the Church, (at this time those Jews who are believers in Christ and who had undergone the baptism of John) Jews speak Languages they don’t know that are then also understood by those in the crowd that gathered (also Jews from different parts of the earth). This effect is relational and reconciling. There is also the noise of wind and what appear to be tongues of fire that rested on each of the Apostles.  The descent of the Spirit caused a commotion, sent out sound waves and emitted photons in the form of tongues of fire. This manifestation had an impact not only on the 120 or so gathered who formed the church of that time and moment, but of those outside that group. The Holy Spirit’s descent causes a commotion, it draws attention, and it also draws mockery and disdain.  So, the Holy Spirit descending to fulfill and continue the work begun in Jesus’s life Passion, Resurrection and Ascension has physical and material effect such that people stop and take note, but the effects themselves aren’t meaningful in and of themselves.  Ultimately Peter has to clarify the meaning in this first proclamation of the Church.  Since, Peter is preaching to those of Jewish faith and it is important to establish Jesus as the Messiah, it must be demonstrated how these manifestations fit with Jewish expectation and Torah expectations of the Messianic age in the Tanakh. Peter points to prophet Joel and what he says about the coming of the Messiah and the Messianic age, well this is the fulfilment of Joel’s expectation and prophesy about the messiah and the messianic age.  Now Peter doesn’t mean here that there’s a one to one correspondence between the manifestations experienced by all those on this Pentecost after the death and Resurrection of Jesus, but that if one wishes to understand the meaning of what this crowd has seen and heard and experienced, one should be consulting this prophecy.

Luke gives us another means of interpreting the meaning of this event, it’s geographical extent. Luke’s list of places from which the Jews in the crowd are from is a list of what would have been understood by Luke’s first readers as the extent of the inhabited earth. Meaning that for Luke the extent of this local event is in effect global.  Through the diaspora of the Jews who were on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for Passover and Pentecost, represent the known inhabited world. There are ancient traditions that mark the coming of the Gospel and the Church to certain regions to this moment of Pentecost. Most notably the Latin Father Abrosiaster dates the founding of the Roman Church to this moment and not the direct proclamation of the Gospel by Peter and Paul. For Luke this one local event is at this very moment also global in its extent.

Signs and wonders as physical manifestations of God’s reign in the earth.

What are we to make of all this commotion, and earthly and physical impact?  First, is that the result of what God did in Jesus of Nazareth and in the incarnation and Passion isn’t simply an internal and purely “spiritual” (if “spiritual” means non material psychological and internal experience) reality.  This means that if we’ve encountered this reality of God come in Jesus of Nazareth and the reality of the Passion, Resurrection and Ascension, we will have seen it, it will have a material effect, something we can see, hear and touch.  Second, is that this material manifestation is oriented towards a goal, that is only understood if we know how to interpret what we are seeing hearing and handling.  It is this second thing that I wish to focus on for the remainder of our time.  Since, the exact physical and material effects of the descent of the Spirit do not necessarily continue to happen, there are other possible manifestation and material effects of the mediating and sustaining and empowering presence of the Holy Spirit. In order to see them and interpret them correctly we must understand the depth and extent of the theophany of the Spirit at Pentecost.

In order to interpret and correctly identify the effects of the Spirit in our midst and in the earth, we need to understand the role of the Holy Spirit and meaning of the descent of the Spirit.  Most fundamentally we must remember that the Holy Spirit is God, a person or hypostasis of the Trinity.  In that sense the Spirit's presence in our midst is for the same purpose as the coming of God the Son in Jesus of Nazareth.  The work of the Spirit is the same work as of the incarnate Word’s, Jesus of Nazareth, life, Passion, Resurrection and Ascension.  The Spirit doesn’t inaugurate another work of God in the World, but is the means to continue the work.  This is the work God had been doing in the people of Israel which was fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, and through the Spirit is continued in the Church, in continuity with Israel.  Fundamentally God’s work is to restore the relationship between God and God’s creation, to reconcile humanity and God.  The purpose of God’s work in the world is relational, and is born out of God’s desire for us and for all creation:  The work of God in teh earth is aimed towrds relationship and love.

The material meaning of Pentecostal and Charismatic signs and wonders

Using the above framework we can look again at the manifestations and their interpretations given to us by Luke and by Peter’s first sermon.  First the manifestation and its effect are things that are evident and noticeable.  Sound of wind, tongues of fire that are seen, languages spoken.  Those who wanted to discount what was happening couldn’t deny the event they simply gave it another explanation, the drunkenness of the individuals around whom the commotion started. But the manifestations aren’t random either.  Sound of wind, tongues of fire. These are consistent forms of epiphany and theophany that the people of Israel have known and experienced. They aren’t new, remixed yes, entirely new, no.  God manifesting God’s presence through meteorological phenomenon especially wind, and in fire is consistent with the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai, which the celebration of Pentecost marks. The effect of the coming of the Spirit as a continuation of the work of Jesus Christ, does so in continuity with the work of God in human history and the people of God, Israel. The manifestation and effect is relational and reconciling, it bridges gaps and breaks down barriers that simply are the case in the world.  Languages and location and identity divide us as human beings, on the Day of Pentecost God uses what divides to bring together, and shows that the intended effect of the incarnation and the passion is to bring together, to reconcile in relationship.  Furthermore, Peter in referencing Joel tells us the effect is intended for all no matter one’s social location or identity and no matter your geographical location, yet it also doesn’t erase those differences or identities, rather it makes possible relationship and connection where it seems impossible or difficult.  Lastly, it shakes up what is considered inevitable, simply set in the nature of the cosmos, or dictated by the powerful.  Peter tells us that what we have seen in the descent of the Holy Spirit is the same as the cosmic powers of sun and moon being changed, shaken and upended.

On this Pentecost, what might we take from all of this?  First, pentecostal and charismatic manifestations and signs and wonders aren’t meant to be ends in themselves, without interpretation they are dead ends. Yet, to ridicule or otherwise diminish them is to deny the incarnation. To so ridicule or diminish is to deny that salvation is earthly and material.  The story of God’s activity in the world to reconcile God and God’s creation that begins with Abraham and is brought to fulfilment in Jesus of Nazareth.  If we attend to that story we will see that this reconciliation this transformation isn’t an escape from materiality and the earth, but is a deep and profound affirmation of all that God created. Yet, many of the material conditions of our current worldly existence are at odds with God’s transforming and reconciling work on the earth and in the entire cosmos.  The miraculous, or signs and wonders, are manifestations, epiphanies, that are meant to point out how and where God is at work.  We members of Christ’s body the Church should be both where these manifestations appear and those who should be looking for these theophany.  Yet, these epiphanies and theophany aren’t only the miraculous.  We should find in various ways a transformed and reconciled and transfigured world replacing the world as we know it and find it.  The Church isn’t supposed to be seeking merely the reform of worldly structures and certainly isn’t supposed to be a means of escape from this earthly existence, rather it is to up end the worldly powers of whatever name they go by: socialist, communist, capitalist, neoliberal, progressive, conservative, democracy, monarchy ad infinitum.  God came to earth to transform and redeem and reconcile God’s creation the physical and material created universe seen and unseen. The signs of the descent of the spirit at Pentecost and the signs and wonders that manifested around the early Church and show up again throughout history, show us that God means to transform our material existence.  God’s reconciling work is for the earth, for all creation, for the entire universe. Our very existence is to be transformed, and it happens in time, in history, and on earth. Yet, the work of God is also not from history, nor is it historical nor merely material. This is the incarnation, this is the coming of the Spirit, this is the meaning and reality of the Church in germ. Look, listen, be sent into the world so that we may truly see where God is at work and be ourselves individual and corporately sites of God’s reconciling and transfiguring work on earth upending all worldly systems.

As the Spirit Chooses: Sermon for Pentecost

Acts 2:1-21 - Psalm 104:24-34, 35b - 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13 - John 7:37-39

Today we celebrate the birth of the Church, the day the Holy Spirit descended upon the apostles and disciples gathered in the upper room, with manifestations of sound, and fire, and various languages spoken.

It is a common practice, and in years past we have done this here at Reconciler, for the gospel or the acts passage to be read in different Languages.  This highlights one aspect of the meaning of Pentecost, that what God was doing in Jesus Christ was something for all, that in God becoming a Jew, God was coming near to all humanity, and God wished to meet us in our linguistic and cultural diversity.  Each heard the Good news of God’s wonderful works in their own language.  The universal aspect of this day. 

What I wish to focus on today is the meaning and nature of the Spirit being in us and empowering us, for the purpose of manifesting and witnessing to what God began and continues to do in Jesus Christ, that is to focus on how the Holy Spirit is needed for us to be the Body of Christ. 

The Spirit descends and gives utterance.  The Holy Spirit when it descended made possible what was otherwise possible that the disciples of Jesus spoke in languages they didn’t know so that people could hear from God in a way familiar to them.

The holy spirit came upon the firs disciples and birthed the Church through making possible something the disciples on their own couldn't have done.

There was a trend for a while in in some congregations and promoted by denominational leadership for members of congregations to undergo a Spiritual gift assessment.  These assessments where supposed to tell one what was the gift of the Spirit, or “spiritual gift” one had.  Those who promoted this appealed to this passage in Corinthians.  I think the intentions of these assessments were in the right place.  As Christians this aspect of the Christian life is often underdeveloped, the Holy Spirit and having an awareness of the power of the Spirit in one’s daily life or interaction with other Christians and in worship has been often lacking.

However, my recollection is that these assessments weren’t much different from a personality test.  That is what they evaluated wasn’t something Spiritual meaning of the holy Spirit, but matching up one’s personality with the various list of Gifts of the Holy Spirit listed in various places in Paul’s writing.

The idea was that one’s gift from the Spirit would fit with who you were, it wasn't something one needed to drum up, and it wouldn't contradict your own inner inclinations and abilities. 

Yet, this view doesn’t quite agree with what we find in the Acts account of the day of Pentecost, the point the being that filled with the Spirit and given the gift of speaking other languages was something Galilean Jews would have had no ability or inclination to begin speaking in all these (to them) foreign languages.  Also, in our Corinthian’s passage Paul’s emphasis isn’t on some heightening of the native abilities of the Christian, but Paul’s emphasis is on the will and action of the Holy Spirit.  The point is that what one is given one is base on the will and empowerment of the Holy Spirit and not on inclination or native ability.

The only indication of some consideration of the person is that the spirit gives to each individually. There is a specificity in the gifting but its relation or non-relation to native abilities isn’t in view, rather what we are lead to understand both in terms of Acts and Corinthians is that the gift we receive from the holy Spirit don’t come from us or our will or desire but from the will and desire of the Spirit. So, if one is wondering what gifting from the Holy Spirit is, you will be looking for that which comes beyond yourself.

But that isn’t all.  Paul is also using the idea of spiritual gifts to speak of unity and diversity of the Church the Body of Christ.  In this sense a Spiritual Gift is that which binds you to other members of the Body of Christ.  Spiritual giftedness is the means of the unity in diversity of the Church.  The gift you have from the Spirit is that which you serve and which binds you to other members of the body of Christ.  Your giftedness is part of your being brought into the body of Christ through Baptism.

This was the good thing about those assessments they  sought to get people to think of their connection and service to the Body of Christ, and its local manifestation in their local congregation.

Yet also, this giftedness is about giving witness to what God inaugurated in Jesus Christ.  Or to put it another way The spirit and the gifts from the Spirit empower us and bind us together as the body of Christ. This spiritual reality of the Body of Christ is also the proclamation of the Good News of Jesus Christ. 

The gift s of the spirit allow us to function as the Body of Christ, a unity like all biological bodies that is also a diversity.  It is this Spiritual unity in diversity of the gifts that shows the world what the age to come will be like. 

What gift have you received from the Spirit? What do you find in the presence of other members of the Body of Christ, which binds you to them and also serves other members of the Body in a way that is both unique to you and gives life to you, other members of the Body and the world?

If you are sitting with this and fearful that maybe you’ve missed out or that you are spiritual enough. Don’t worry.  Rest in that you have the Holy Spirit. Ask God and the Spirit to reveal to you this gift that you have been given.  Wait on God, be still. You don’t drum it up, and be prepared for the unexpected.  This is from the Holy Spirit, the gift will be something that is both you and yet beyond yourself and which takes you beyond who you think you are.  Be open to whatever the Spirit will bring you, be open to the movement of the Spirit that is like the wind that you know through its effects in you but don’t know where it is coming from or where it is going. Wait upon God and see where in your desires and in your hear flows life that doesn’t come from you but gives you life and enlivens those around you.  The spirit has come, it rest upon each us, maybe not in visible flame, but the Spirit through Baptism has rested upon each of us, and the Spirit has given you a gift that isn’t for you alone for you but for the Body of Christ and so from each of us may flow a stream of living water for the life of the world. Amen

Reconciliation, Ecumenism, Missional, and Martyrdom

This has been edited 3/19 - 3/20/2013, mostly the edit was in terms of readability and grammar  an update was added at the end. LEK
In this season of Christmas I have been thinking a bit about the name of this worshiping community. As we started Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler we chose the name for two reasons: First we wanted to be clear that in starting this ecumenical congregation we weren't reconciling our denominations, but we were lead to this because we ourselves had, through various ways, including the work of the World Council of Churches, found that Jesus Christ was already accomplishing this reconciliation. Second, we felt lead to be a place of reconciliation not only between denominations, but also a place where people who were alienated from the church and God due to the divisions and actions of fellow Christians could hear again the message of reconciliation and be so reconciled.

As those of you who have been part of Reconciler know, the institutional and denominational aspects of our original vision never materialized: We were unable to recruit from congregations of our respective denominations, and our idea of affiliating as a congregation with the three denominations of the three original pastors hasn't come to fruition and for the past year we have been functioning with the understanding that this will probably never happen.

What did happen was that we became a place for a few who had been alienated from God and the church to find their way to us and find a place where they could find God and Christ and participate in the life of the church. This has meant that some people have been apart of our worshiping community for a time and moved on to other things.

I have come to see Reconciler as an outpost in our urban post-Christian, post-Christendom culture and society. A place of interchange and sending: sometimes sending people deeper into our emergent cultural reality and sometimes sending people back into the institutional realities of the Christian landscape. Those of us who remain seem to be moving back and forth between an ever shifting cultural landscape and the massive and firm institutions and identities of our denominations, that in fact make possible this little outpost on the edge, or in the midst of emergence.

What we didn't see six and seven years ago, was that most congregations of whatever denomination already bear the fruit of a century of ecumenical work, cooperation, and dialog. Whatever one may feel about the weakening of denominational loyalty and identity among laity, and however lamentable the lack of awareness of the work of the World Council of Churches and other ecumenical endeavors may be, the dissolution of impermeable membranes of denominations for the laity is largely due to ecumenism. Perhaps not what we heady ecumenists thought would be the fruit, but it is the fruit nonetheless. When our institutions stopped (for the most part) claiming to be the Truth, when we began to admit that those other believers in Jesus just might also know God and Christ (however imperfectly from our perspective) it perhaps was inevitable (in conjunction with other cultural factors such as our high degree of mobility), that many would find denominational distinction and loyalty unnecessary.  Anecdotal evidence from talking to pastors from across denominational lines and  pastors in my own denomination this seems to be the new reality: a growing number parishes and congregations in Protestantism are ecumenical congregations. Institutionally and in name they may be from a particular denomination and call pastors only from that denomination but the backgrounds and even the theology and spirituality that the laity bring with them is often not that of the denomination of the congregation's official affiliation. I think this is something to celebrate and not lament, though it is lamentable if we don't seize this opportunity and simply allow the situation to be a of watering down of our theology so as to never reveal possible differences in these de facto ecumenical congregations.

That though is another post: What the above means is that we probably had our original idea of bringing members together from differing denominations because it was actually already happening: getting laity from differing protestant denominations to worship together really was a fairly tame idea, as Protestant laity were already choosing to do so, choosing a congregation based on other things than theology and denominational identity and loyalty.

However, does this mean we are all reconciled now! Hardly, there are other divisions some emerging others that have always been there, modernist/liberal vs. fundamentalist/conservative, racial and ethnic, class etc. I think to some degree the ignoring of denominational loyalty is in part due to various realignments in american religion.

What all this means for Reconciler's vision is that we are left with being open to God's reconciling work in Jesus Christ. A place where some are willing to retain institutional connections while also fully engaging a culture society and Christian landscape in transition and emergence.

The common institutional form of the congregation as articulated in most denominational structures isn't well suited for this sort of space of in-between,  border, and outpost (the experience of Reconciler seems to indicate). The American denomination and congregation is a worshiping community plus, as often as not with emphasis on the plus. Much good has come from this understanding and in certain contexts still is an important expression of the church. But what if Christian faith and the faith of the church and the work of the church is always already simply worship, and being sent from those gathered together as a doxological community. This too isn't new, the trendy term missional is attached to such an idea. but mission and missional are perhaps too freighted with colonial baggage, too activist oriented, too certain that we who are sent aren't the ones in need of reconciliation. Even missional is too tied to Christendom and has difficulty grasping that our sending, our suffering, our work is our reconciliation and our salvation. As protestants we forget that as important as God's declaration and accomplishment of our justification, salvation and reconciliation in the blood of Christ Cross is, it is in our own living out the work of Christ in the world that we bring to completion the work of Christ. This is martyrdom. We the gathered and sent people of God are the space the locus of God working out what God accomplished in Jesus Christ. Our very lives are to be the place of reconciling work of Christ. The Martyrs in their deaths and witness were completing and filling out the suffering of Christ, which is the means of our reconciliation with each other and to God.

Not all Christians even in the early church were called to martyrdom, not all are called to these boundary spaces in our current cultural landscape, but some of us are, some of us need these spaces to be able to encounter Christ again for the first time. Some of us need them for our own reconciliation, so that we may fulfill and fill out Christ's passion, that we may find our selves reconciled to God and our fellow human beings. This I believe is the charism that has emerged around this idea and Name Church of Jesus Christ, Reconciler. More on where this charism may lead us in the next month.  (The more did come but not in blog from, it came eventually as A Little Rule for the Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler, and 4 and then 7 people working to found the Order of Jesus Christ, Reconciler, LEK 3/20/2013)

Series on the Church Year

Starting this Saturday October 16th in preparation for Walking the Church Year our joint adult Christian formation with the Immanuel Campus congregations we are having a three part series on the Church Year.
3:30 p.m. Immanuel Lutheran Church 1500 W Eldale in the Olin Center/Library.

October 16: Sunday and Easter: Resurrection as center of church Calender

October 23: Advent and Lent: Waiting and Fasting

October 30: Christmas, Epiphany, Pentecost and ordinary Time: Incarnation and Discipleship.

Child care is provided for all three sessions.

A short Bibliography can be found here

Sermon Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, Third Sunday after the Epiphany

Jeremiah 1:4-10 * Psalm 71:1-6 * 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 * Luke 4:21-30

This week of prayer for Christian unity has been unsettling time of prayer for me. I do not know what has been stirred in you by God this week or if you . For me I was unsettled by having this years theme of this years Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, "You are witnesses of these things" came into conversation with Paul on the Spirit and the nature of the body of Christ. What follows is my own attempt to articulate how I have been unsettled, and hope to invite your own reflections and offerings of your own experiences of prayer for Christian unity to come in conversation with my own experience, the theme, and these text before us today.

The beginning of my discomfort is in the very fact of praying for Christian unity, for in so doing we admit that we remain in a state of disunion. Then In speaking of being witnesses, we speak of our desire and our sense that although we are divided as Christians we have something in common at our core, and that our witness to these things we hold together is compromised by this disunity. Paul uses the metaphor of the Body, to give us an understanding of the nature of the church, the nature of Christ. Through Baptism and the life of the Spirit we are one body, Christ’s body. Yet, this whole passage as an exhortation means that we can live in contradiction to the unity we are given through baptism and the Spirit. In the unity of baptism and the Spirit we are empowered to witness to the things of Christ: his life death and resurrection. And yet this week of prayer for Christian unity should give us pause, in terms of our own spiritual health, and our being formed by the nature of the Church Paul explicates for us in Corinthians. If we are willing to remain content with our own particular witness, whether of our own individual journeys of faith, or as journey tied to a particular denomination, are we not in a sense giving priority to our own “giftedness”? And doesn’t even the various schemes for seeking unity and understanding between Christians keep us divided, if it stops at merely seeking to understand each other and work together? In our attempt to find ways to work together across institutional barriers and barriers of belief, or to work towards convergence in the area of doctrine and belief, and even to work towards ecumenical congregation are we assuming the need to get along rather than assuming we need to be conformed to the Spirit and our Baptism. Yet this week isn’t the week of focus on the work of ecumenism but of prayer. In this we admit that the unity of being witnesses of the life death and Resurrection of Christ, of truly being the church is Spirit directed and Spirit gifted reality into which we must be formed by God. I want to suggest that this sort of prayer should open ourselves up to God showing us the ways in which we all uphold the state of disunity, and the ways we abandon the Church. For our disunity is a sign that we have walked away from the truth of our Baptism and our Spirit filled lives in the Church. This is the urgency of Paul’s address to the Corinthians. We must not remain in the sense of sufficiency of our separate witness and distinctive ways of proclaiming Christ, for to do so is to walk the path of schism. But the hope of this week and of our texts is that we don’t have to work harder Rather we must be opened up to the reality of the church as Spiritual institution and organism.

Our Corinthians passage challenges any notion that Christian unity is coexistence, or acceptance that we all truly believe in Jesus even though we differ and at times contradict one another in our beliefs and actions. What is imaged for us of Christ, the Church, is a great symmetry and an organism made up of parts that cannot survive or even exist apart from the whole. Thus our unity as Christians as based upon the preceding reality: the unity of the Body of Christ, the Church. Granted we could miss this mystical reading of the Body imagery and read Paul’s words as exhortation to just get along for one must not overlook that Paul’s teaching is also about diversity. However I think in following the diversity path we miss that the difference Paul speaks of is not of human origin but of divine origin, of the Spirit. Paul’s use of the metaphor of the Body challenges our current language of diversity that is for the most part a tolerance of separate coexistence. A body isn't a confederation of interrelated differentiated sovereignty's, but an organism that is dependent on the right functioning of every part and member of the organism that has no possible existence outside that organism. For a body to functioning fully and properly each and every member not only needs the others but an integration in the whole.. We aren't to view our giftedness as a reason to separate from others, rather we are to see that we all equally need the other.

I feel that the force of Paul’s indictment against us in his language of the body of Christ, is reinforced if we think along side this metaphor the reality of what is needed to truly be witness of Christ. When we receive gifts from the Spirit, whatever they may be, we are so gifted for a purpose of bearing witness to Christ. Thus in speaking of the Spiritual reality of the church as organism and institution we must not for get that we exist for and as Christ. Thus the unity of our witness is that we witness to the singular work of God through Christ in the world. My own denomination will often speak of our contribution to the building of the Kingdom of God which also goes on beyond our borders. Yet, this in practice means that we celebrate and witness to the ways we believe according to our denominational distinctive we are accomplishing the work of God in Jesus Christ. This way of speaking and thinking fails to question how our identity may stand in the way of the work of Christ and the Spirit and may impair the witness to the life Death and Resurrection of Christ as that which establishes the Kingdom of God in the world; bringing release to the captives, bringing sight, and hearing and healing to all in need. Are we in our separation whether based in denomination or personal identity, or race or class truly joined to the work of Christ and the coming Kingdom of God? It is one thing to claim this, it is another for it to actually be. The challenge of our being called to be witnesses when Christians are divided and content to remain in separation, is that it is very possible we aren't witnessing to the work of God in Christ in the world. In our current states of separation we are perhaps at best witnessing to our own pet projects within the larger work of God, and at worst witnessing to our own agenda with little or no relation the God’s reign and work. Given the force of the metaphor of the body and the need to not witness to our opinions or positions, I am challenged that we need make our hearts ready to receive and be formed into the church, the Body of Christ. Hopefully that is what this week of prayer of Christian unity is doing and has done in we who have so prayed. This is a challenge because I am unsure this is what I want.

I will admit that I am challenged by my own words, and it is a challenge to my self as an ecumenist and those of us here who are members of this ecumenical congregation as much to anyone here who identifies strongly or in part with a particular denomination. We are Christians but more important than our being of the same religion is that we are part of the Body of Christ, the Church. If we cling to a certain distinctive, or find ourselves separated by our opinions how then are we the Body of Christ? True we all may be baptized into Christ and able to claim some form of faith in Jesus Christ, faith and the sacrament of Baptism cannot be belittled, but are we in our current life and way of being Christian truly living into the fullness of our baptism and faith? Am I? In what ways do I resist the unifying work of the Spirit, and mistake what I have been given as the defining fact of my spiritual life? Am I, are we, living into our baptism or contradicting our baptism? And are we perhaps doing both at once? These are hard questions that this time of prayer set aside to seek God for Christian unity has brought up for me. I wonder if I, and we really desire to be the people of God, members of Christ's body or if in the end other identities prove more important in our day to day lives of faith? Are we going to truly allow the Spirit to bind us together to form us as the Body of Christ, or do we in fact in subtle ways resist? Does the fear of needing to get it right or the fear that we may have missed it keep us from truly seeking God in this matter? Are we praying for Christian unity in truth? Are we asking God to reveal to us our separation from Christ? Finally I can’t but see that all our separations (not just denominational or doctrinal) separate us not only from each other but from our head, Jesus Christ, and thus from the Church. This is why we seek God in prayer, for we must confess our known and unknown participation in divisions from the Body of Christ. Such division inevitably means that we have hidden from ourselves the fullness of Christ and the Spirit in our lives and the world. Even so the Spirit gives to us; Christ binds himself to us, and beckons us to live into the unity of our faith and baptism. We are continually invited by our baptism to allow the Spirit to form us into the Church, into Christ. Amen

Sermon Tenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, August 9 2009

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
Psalm 130
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51

The tragedy of the story of David and Absalom is palpable, choices of both David and Absalom lead to Absalom’s death. This past week we remembered the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the horrific end to a horrific war. A whole slew of human choices lead us to that point. So often our choices as human beings collectively and individually lead to tragedy. In history, whether of Israel or our own we are confronted with the tragedy of so much of human existence. I say this at the top because neither the story in Samuel nor the memorial of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the numerous horrors of WWII, not the least being the concentration camps, should be passed over in silence, yet this is not where I want to linger. So, acknowledging that much in this world as it has always been and is not as they should be I direct us to contemplate living in faith, a faith that should satisfy all our longings a faith that leads us to be as children towards God.
This is perhaps challenging view of faith; faith is in this view is neither simply holding certain comforting beliefs about the supernatural world and being, nor is it ones own fundamental belief about the nature of the world. This view of faith challenges us by this exhortation to be like children. What might this mean: As we grow up one of the things we desire is independence. This is especially so for us within our culture that emphasizes individuality, self-sufficiency, and independence. We want to be different from our parents, be on our own, blaze our own trail. Yet in growing up our ability to become self-sufficient and independent is a dependent process. It depends on not only one’s parents but an entire functioning system that is the adult world, which even as one grows up one both wants to enter into and rebel against. Our emphasis on independence and individuality, at times hides from us the ways in which becoming our own person depend on what we push against in this process of individuation. Our ability to become different and move out on our own from our parents depends on the care nurture, and teaching of our parents and other adults. Dependence on others never really ceases, and who we are is due to who others are and how we have been raised, and the options we have been shown. But we often hide ourselves from these webs of dependence, or downplay connection and debt of those who have gone before. This tendency to not see the web of dependence may hide from us a radical notion in our Epistle and Gospel. According to Paul and Jesus we are not meant to become independent of God. Our flowering and fulfillment as human persons depends on God and being in true relationship with God.

This sort of faith is what we reflected on last week, as that faith brings us to the waters of baptism and from the waters of baptism that our faith is sustained. Paul directs our attention to this faith as a calling as Christians members of the body of Christ. In speaking of calling I am not necessarily talking about a specific call from God to do a certain thing with your life or a period of your life, but that call which is shared by all Christians as members of the church. Paul describes what that should look like, and that this way of being is known in seeking to be imitators of God, the way children imitate adults.

Jesus in Johns Gospel pushes further on what is perhaps objectionable about Christianity: the claim that there is only one who gives life to us and the world. There is only one who gives life to the world and as such we are only to have hunger for that one. This assertion of Christ’s reveals to us one of the things that is most difficult to keep attuned to in Christian faith: our responsibility and our dependence. God is the source of all life and existence; Christ is God, the Word who sustains everything. Yet, Ephesians reminds us that all in all of Christ does not negate the importance of our actions. While it is true that God in Jesus Christ is the one who gives life to the world, if we live in death, this life not only doesn't come to us there is that potential that those who we know and the world and the world around us continues to taste death.

According to the Apostle Paul, once we understand all God has done in Jesus Christ once we have received God in Jesus Christ in faith and baptism and recognize that we are part of the people of God, the bodiy of Christ the Temple of the Holy Spirit, we then are to act in ways consistent with this reality, with life. As children we learned from adults around us what it meant to be human and human acculturated into a particular culture, we learned what it meant to be a man or a woman, how to treat people. In fact even as we wanted to be independent we also wanted to act like the adults around us. This is a complex process and there is choosing and sometimes this imitation is not of parents or a blood relative. Imitation can also be something asked up us. Someone gives us a piece of candy or bread and we are instructed to say "Thank you." We want something and the parent will tell the child "say, please may I have some candy." or we tell our children say good buy. Imitation takes on the both subtle things that a parent or another adult may not even be aware of, those things that very from culture to culture but aren't at the front of the mind, and the child imitates, and we take on delight when we see a child mimic some subtleties of someone’s personality. It is through imitation that we learn what it is to be human and what our culture understands to be appropriate human behavior. Paul's instruction here is about imitation, not of human beings but of God. God is the adult world we are to be acculturated to as Christians. We are to become like God, this is the point of faith and Baptism.

We may struggle with the reality that becoming like God is a childlike activity. Accepting this journey of faith accepts our dependence upon a reality outside ourselves, which we can not wholly grasp, comprehend, or control. The language of both our Epistle and Gospel tells us that our relation to God is always like being a child in the adult world. These passages also reminds us that our actions matter although the source of our ability to act in these ways is dependent on another reality, another person, God. When Jesus says that the one who will eat of his flesh, which is the bread of heaven, will no longer hunger is to point to the centrality of this dependence, and also that only God in Jesus Christ satisfies us allows us to be who we truly are to be. Just as children cannot become who they are to be without the nurture support and example of adults around them.

Paul's instruction is what we are to look like Christ as we are sustained by Christ. As we are given life, even as we still find that we are hungering after other things than God, We are to seek only after God to satisfy all we are and desire. Perhaps this feels limiting and constricting? Perhaps this is too much? We want our passions and hungers, they seem to give us life, but they exhaust us and never ultimately satisfy. The one of whom we are to eat and let satisfy our hunger sustains us, and is the creator of the entire universe, all that we see, of our very beings, thus is only what can ultimately satisfy our desires. The truth that in comparison to God we are like infants and toddlers all of humanity: we don't know anything about how to be, or what to eat, or how to live. Only in Christ only by allowing Jesus Christ to satisfy us completely, only by focusing on who God is, seeking to imitate and be sustained by God, can we know what true desire is, and what it means to be truly human. At times certainly this restrains, but like a parent who keeps a child from chasing their favorite ball out into a busy street this sense of restriction is safety and life. In some fashion our culture sees all this when we focus on righting injustices and seek after justice. Yet as a society as a whole in seeking for justice we aren't looking beyond ourselves but solely relying on our human understanding, as if children could know how to be adult without first imitating adult behavior. Our desire for justice is true but we do not want to look to the one who in Jesus Christ’s life death and resurrection showed us the meaning and source of the only justice that deserves the name. The Christian claim the claim of Jesus Christ and his Apostle Paul is that we cannot know life and justice without first learning of them from God, and being sustained by the very flesh of God. Or we have no ability to truly change ourselves and the world, unless, as some mystics have put it, we suckle on the very breasts of God. Amen.

Revisting Sharing our Faith

A month ago I reflected outreach as sharing our faith. At our last council meeting I asked us to reflect on events that we could have that would allow us to share with others our faith. Thinking more on this I have been wondering how best to keep anything we plan to do as natural and organic to our life together as a congregation. This line of thought is trying to think through why our one Beer Bread and the Bible was something we as a congregation found enriching to our faith and community life and a place where our friends Christian and non-christian felt welcome to come and participate. There are couple things that I think were important for the Beer Bread and the Bible: we were interested in reading James and the in the themes of James, it was a moment of outreach but it was not for the purpose of getting members for Reconciler.

As I push us to think more about outreach, I feel we can begin feel pressure of something in addition to our Bible studies and fellowship as a congregation. Thus another thing we need to add to our busy schedules. Yet, I am hopping that our approach can be more integrated and integral when it comes to outreach. So,I keep coming back to the one Beer Bread and the Bible is not because I think we have to replicate exactly what Jeremy and Charity did in hosting and having it, but it emerged organically from both Jeremy and Charity's desires but also the character of the congregation at the time. It was something people who did not attend Reconciler came to and felt comfortable attending without any push to be part of the congregation. Also the reading of James and then discussing was a Bible study that it allowed people with differing levels of experience with and understanding of the Bible to enter in and come away with something. Lastly it was a time of fellowship for our congregation but also with friends who were either Christian or not Christian. These three things tell me that it wasn't something we added on but something that came from who we were, and we wanted to share it with others, without expectation or strings.

What I feel we can learn from this is that anything we do for outreach first should be something that we want to do and are interested in. Second it should be an opportunity for us as a congregation to connect with each other. Third it needs to be open to others participation even if they never attend Reconciler. If we keep these three things in mind perhaps some of the pressure is off of "creating" an outreach event.

I am thinking that as we plan to gather in September to talk about Christian faith and Baptism as Chrissy and Will prepare to be baptized, and as we (0r I) solidify what we want to study for the fall and as we have potlucks, that we see at least some of these as places to invite our friends and acquaintances as well as times for us to gather as a congregation. This is also how our presence at the Glennwood Arts Festival came about we have had visual artists as members of Reconciler, I am a painter, so it made sense to be there, as our congregations changes and grows perhaps there are other ways we can integrate members talents and involvement with Reconciler's visible presence in the community.

Outreach: Sharing our Faith

There are numerous voices out there telling congregations what churches should be about. Terms fly about: emergent, missional, outreach, justice ministry, relevant, etc. Recently some members of Reconciler have spoken about wanting others to experience what they have found at Reconciler, yet how to share this in a situation and culture in which gathering together as a community for worship is hardly a priority at times even for many religious or spiritual people. There is a challenge for Reconciler in that our Sunday worship isn't' necessarily the best way to first encounter our faith community or Christianity, unless one is the type to be comfortable participating in something one might not fully understand. Yet since we have considered Eucharistic centered worship essential to Reconciler's work and for the support of Christians in their various callings, we have not been willing to make our main service "seeker" sensitive, or more accessible. This means that there needs to be some other way for people to be introduced to the congregation and even introduced to our worship life. We have attempted somethings like keeping a booth at some of the sumer neighborhood festivals here in Chicago, as well as events intended for people to get to know us and what Christians might do with the Bible, with a potluck themed as Beer, Bread and the Bible. This was somewhat successful in that it was well attended but only had one. We also had a panel discussion on Fair Trade and had planned to have more but the attendance was small and organizing something like that takes a large amount of time and energy.

Church is a complex thing, for although there is certainly something to the claim that congregations don't exist for the members it is also true that a church community is for those who are part of the church community. We gather to worship to be formed into the body of Christ to be spiritually empowered to live out our callings as followers of Christ, we are both gathered and sent, both under care and caring, ministered to and ministers. To be out in the world to let people know about Reconciler both things need to be kept in mind. Also, we need to keep in mind what is our faith? Why would we feel the need or have the desire to invite people into our Community, why is Jesus Christ important? Why, do we seek to make a difference in the world? In this sense any outreach needs to be willing to say that Christ makes a difference, that in some sense what Christianity offers is true in ways that other paths aren't. This truth should be in the life offered in and through the community of the Body of Christ, thus the ways in which knowing Christ brings truth into our own lives and transforms us, both our failings and our successes. In outreach we are telling our own stories of encounter with the truth who is Jesus Christ. If we are not sharing this and offering this opportunity of encounter with others than all our attempts to be relevant or to seek after justice, or be place of healing etc, will seem abstract and lack authenticity. In a world of choices if we believe people should be interested in Christianity and spend there time on church, then what we bring to the conversation should have some weight that other attachments and communities can't or don't bring people. We can offer something beyond relevance, we can offer the spiritual root and stamina to work for justice, we can offer a path of transformation in and through Jesus Christ both personally and corporately.

This requires a willingness to be vulnerable about how Christ has made us truer, how encounter with God in Jesus Christ transforms us and gives us a vision and the spiritual resources to look at a world of injustice and work for justice. It means finding ways to introduce a worship that should support all these things and lead us to encounter God in these ways, so that a complex symbol system can be entered into once someone does actually come to worship.

We need to stop seeing our worship as the place of initial invitation and see ourselves about proclaiming inviting and explaining before someone ever enters into worship with us. Events like Bread Beer and the Bible or sponsoring panel discussions from a Christian POV on current issues of justice and politics and culture I think are good places both for Reconciler and other churches to start, but we also probably need to think of ways to introduce people to the symbol system of the church a sort of pre-catechumenate mystagogy, I suppose.

I am beginning to wonder if the various types of alternative worship services liturgies, coming from variety of denominations and groups,shouldn't be viewed or offered as the worship of the church, but ways to introduce or re-introduce people to the symbol system of Christians worship. In other words are there ways to give people some sense of the meaning of Baptism artistically and symbolically before they undergo baptism or as they are investigating Christianity, the same for Eucharist and other things.

Explorations in the Liturgy

As I found myself the only pastor at Reconciler this past January, one of the challenges I felt we faced was how we would authentically keep an ecumenical witness to our liturgy. To some degree this has always been a challenge. The way we faced this chalenge originally was in creating a liturgy (the form of which coincides with most church's liturgy of word and table) in which each of the three pastors when they lead that portion of the service did so from within their tradition. The clearest way this happened was at the table each of the three pastors followed their tradition. However, attempting to duplicate either the Baptist or Episcopal way of celebrating communion wasn't really an option for me, and I didn't want this to simply become a "high church" Covenant worship service. It was clear early on that this was in our worship the place of challenge to the ecumenical vision.

As I reflected on this I remembered that our liturgy itself was an adaptation of the BCP Eucharist service and the Lima Liturgy of the WCC, along with some Baptist elements (a form of altar call) and what might be called emergent elements (like discussion after the sermon). So, during the Octave of Prayer for Christian unity I used the Lima liturgy unchanged, and it seemed to fit us more or less and the feedback I received on the liturgy was positive (though only a few gave feedback). The challenge of our current situation turned into an opportunity to explore making some changes to our liturgy that may bring about an adaptation of the Lima liturgy to a congregational and weekly used order of worship. Also, on other Sundays I have been adapting the Eucharistic prayer from the Apostolic Constitutions of Hypolotus of Rome. In the past couple of weeks I have been playing in our liturgy and the Lima liturgy, seeing how our liturgy may be more informed by this ecumenical liturgy designed for ecumenical worship and how the Lima liturgy may be adapted to our context.

Our context includes the space we worship in. This has lead me more and more to play with the idea of simply using the "east facing" altar in the chapel, which would mean facing the same direction as the congregation during the Eucharistic liturgy and not facing the congregation. Of course such a posture could communicate many different things, including exclusion and distance. However, the original idea of all including the priest facing towards the altar and not facing the people is that we are all praying together, rather than one person performing for everyone else: priest and people have a singular action which the priest does on behalf of all. Most importantly though we are all praying together facing God as a community. An altar against a wall is called "east facing" because it was the practice to build churches such that the sanctuary of the church where the altar is was on the east side of the building. This all has lead me to think about having our congregation move in our space so that at the liturgy of the word we sit around lectern at the rear of the chapel and then move and stand at the front near the altar all facing the same direction at the Eucharist, maybe even at some point having all process in together at the beginning of the service from outside the chaple.

All of this thought of getting us moving more, with the liturgy becoming something we do with our whole selves and together, presents a difficulty if we are all carrying books and papers, not impossible but certainly more difficult. Which has me rethinking the role of projectors and screens in worship and the liturgy. I am beginning to wonder if we have been thinking too piecemeal when it comes to the use of "media arts" and projections. Liturgical books were to be "media" aids towards the right and orderly performance of the liturgy, and then a means like with the Book of Common Prayer that all could know and understand what the liturgy was and what was going on, but still as a "media" aid to prayer and the work of the people. But now as we look at the liturgy and attempt to delve the depths of Christian worship we are rediscovering that worship and liturgy are more than words, it is an act and action we do with our bodies. There are varieties of way of attempting to live into this: some of which abandons much or all of whatever might be viewed as "tradition" or "traditional", or we attempt to add things and integrate thing into a "traditional" liturgy. But what if "media art" is like books have been? What if we use them to communicate and direct the congregation in the act of worship; that is what if what is projected on the screen using various technologies isn't there to augment or create ambiance but is itself giving direction to the congregation in the way our bulletins and hymnals and worship books do now? Reconciler is a long way from possibly getting rid of paper and books, or so it seems right now, and whether projection would work in the chapel at Immanuel is another question as well. However, the challenges of January have at least for me, your pastor, lead into an opportunity to play with the liturgy and explore how we can both be more ecumenical in our worship but also engage our whole selves in this ecumenical worship.

Next week is the Octave of Prayer for Christian Unity, or the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The week of prayer begins this Sunday January 18th The feast of St. Peter and ends on Sunday the 25th the Feast of St Paul. The theme for this years observance is from Ezekiel 37:15-19, 22-24a “That they may become one in your hand”. I encourage us to take the time to pray for Christian Unity in our daily prayers and to meditate on the Ezekiel passage over the course of the week. As a congregation with an ecumenical vision and actuality although in the past we have failed to give a great deal of emphasis to this but I believe that this could be an important aspect of living out our vision. A way to remind ourselves why we gather each Sunday as those from a variety of denominational backgrounds and journeys. Reminding ourselves why we join in regular worship with Immanuel Lutheran Church and St Elias Christian Church. We do these things because we are seeking and praying for the unity of the Church

This years theme and resource materials were prepared by Christians in Korea, who not only face the divisions between Christians but the division between North and South Korea, and the loss and hostility on both sides that has remained since the Korean War. Christians in Korea see the prayer for Christian unity to not stop only at creed or denominational divisions but the political and ideological divisions as well as of wealth and class. I encourage each of us during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to also take time to reflect how Reconciler can deepen its ecumenical calling and reflect on what Christian unity may mean for us. We too in this country and this city of Chicago face various divisions that are also divisions between Christians: race, ethnicity, class etc. In this week we are praying for reconciliation and seeking to repent of all ways we praying for forgiveness for the scandal of our disunity and our inability to be ambassadors of reconciliation in the world. What paths of personal and ecclesial conversion must we take to arrive at full communion in Christ?

If you would like a guide for your prayers and mediation over the week the Graymoor Ecumenical and Interreligious Institute has resources that can be going here . The Graymoor Institutes website also has an explanation of the theme of this years Week of Prayer for Christian Unity as well as a brief history of the Week of Payer. Do take the time to read some of this.

Announcements:
Tomorrow, Thursday January 15 we have a congregational meeting at the Nidge, 7:30 pm. If you consider Reconciler your church home or attend Reconciler on a some what regular basis, you are encouraged to come and join in reflecting on how God is at work and leading Reconciler.

This Sunday, January 18th begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

We now have childcare and a Children's Sunday School program during our 5 pm service. Spread the word!

Wednesday Evenings on the Immanuel Campus:
Community meal 6 pm members of Immanuel, the Community of the Holy Trinity and Reconciler join with the youth who take part in Immanuel's after school program for a meal together.
Following the meal at 7 pm there is a prayer service. For January and February it will be a service of Lectio Devina (prayerful reading and discussion of Scripture for the coming Sunday) During Lent there will be a sung Vespers service.

Sunday in Ordinary Time, Proper 17

Note: What follows is mostly long hand notes for the sermon I preached this past Sunday August 31st, 2008. I am not going to try to reconstruct a manuscript, but thought the notes might be of interest and able to follow and give the gist of the sermon preached.
Exodus 3:1-15
Psalm 105:1-6, 23-26, 45c
Romans 12:9-21
Matthew 16:21-28
Introduction:
Distractions.
Paul is exhorting us on how those who are the church are to act as the body of Christ. This passage should probably be one we are meditating on as we as council and church reflect on how we are as a congregation and how and if we are desiring and being called into deeper aspects of being church together. The story of Moses and Jesus’ saying about taking up cross and loosing and finding our life are where we must begin if we are to find ourselves on our way to living out Paul’s exhortation to us. I our longings and desires are to truly find there rest in God and what God is calling us to then we must turn aside from our selves from our preferred or comfortable identities and stand before the one who will burn away all that is untrue without destroying who we are, and we will find that the way of the God of Moses is the way of the Cross. Paul in his exhortation is describing a community all of whom are on the journey with and to the cross, who have died to their selves. Today we are asked to turn aside; from the place we have brought ourselves and face God, in burning bush and upon the cross. We are called to turn aside from the merely human attempts at identity and community. We have examples of this turning that is the encounter with God:
I. Encountering God as burning through our identities to find our unique idenity
Moses at the Burning Bush Who is Moses? Murderer? Son of Pharaoh? Israelite? Leader of a Nation? Mystic?
Who are you? Who are we? Who is God?

II. Jesus and the Cross. Finding life through death.
Who does Peter think he is. Simply a fisherman Son of Abraham following the Messiah. Restorer of Israel. A holy politician possibly warrior. Future noble in the new Israel? Advisor to the Messiah. Peter has yet to embrace the divine identity the one that truly fits his unique self. In not yet having moved from the various human possibilities of his self he can’t see the divine plan of the cross, the self-sacrifice the divine one has always already undertaken, and his words where just a little before was the mouth piece of God becomes the mouth piece of Satan. Peter is holding on, he wants Jesus to preserve his life and let us be honest if the leader of a movement starts talking about being killed by the authorities lets be clear those closest to him are probably going to die as well, so Peter is also speaking out of self preservation. To which Jesus tells Peter and those around him and we who follow him now that the attempts to preserver our selves our lives, work against truly living and finding who we are.
III A community of those who all have taken up their cross and lost themselves in Christ.
Paul describing the life of a community that has turned aside and taken up the cross for the sake of Jesus.
Paul Says “Let Love be genuine” What is Love? Why do we love. Paul pairs genuine love with hating evil and holding fast to what is good. In ourselves, in the world in others. Love is shown in mutual affection, love is other directed. Then we are to serve the Lord, rejoice, be patient, pray.
Serve others both in the church and those who are strangers. Associate with the lowly, be at peace with all. Never avenge yourselves. And here we begin to clearly see that this is the way of Christ and the cross. What is the reason and purpose for vengeance? It is an act of self-preservation. Revenge seeks to right things to prevent a wrong to the self through either doing the same violence and wrong to another or another wrong in hopes that one will not be wronged again. Let me be clear this is not about being in an abusive relationship or marriage and finding ways to get out, or to bring the law to protect self and others. Vengeance in fact does not seek to remove ourselves from the situation, but in pride keeps us in the context from which we should remove ourselves. The way of the cross and self-denial is not being doormat but in fact is the way to be more truly and authentically oneself amongst others. What this exhortation of Paul assumes is a community all joined together in following the way of the cross all together taking up the cross and following Christ. Paul and Jesus do not envision this path as an isolated and lonely one. A personal path but not an individualistic path. In that sense we can not know truly what it means to take up the cross and follow Christ if we imagine it as a individualistic task I do on my own for Christ. Because the carrying of the cross has the need to be other directed and not solely focused upon the self.
Conclusiong: The Church as the community of encountering God and other in taking up ones Cross.
The community of the Church first requires that we have encountered God, who calls us to turn aside like Moses. Encountering God as the knowable but incomprehensible source of all life and being, whose self has not other source than itself and thus is always directed towards others, Creation, we as human beings, the other members of the trinity. This encounter calls us from the good and bad identifiers of self we have accumulated over the years and invites an encounter with the self God created us to be, who we are in our uniqueness before God. We confront God and ourselves when like Moses before the burning bush who confronts a self he does not know or understand in his encounter with God. But we may also find that like Peter and to some extent Moses, we simply add this unique identity before God to all the other senses of ourselves we may have, rather than taking it up as the true one. And if we have done this and I think we all have, then Jesus comes and says that no we are not simply to add following God and Jesus to things we do and Follower of Christ or Christian as some earthly and human identity, but are called as those who bear the name of Christ to die to all other identities, to die to the life we believe we need to preserve and hold on to, for only then will we truly find our lives preserved and our true selves before God. This is so because we can not be truly other directed if we are concerned for our own welfare our own status in a group preserving our own identity and place in the world or the church. In the end Paul exhortation brings home the reality that can only be our true selves before God if we are that self in the midst of others who follow Christ and in the world, where we must attend more to others than to ourselves. We can do this because as believers if we are all truly following the way of the cross will find that while we are not seeking to preserve our place and our rights and our identity others who are bound to Christ and have taken upon themselves the cross are in fact looking out for us in love, and seeking to up hold us in joy or sorrow, in tribulation or peace. And this, my friends is true community that only God initiates and creates and which we through the cross enter into. This is beyond friendship, which requires sameness; it is beyond the human desire for community and safety. It is the love of God poured out into our hearts that flows out towards others without thought of preserving ourselves for it rests in the knowledge that our true self is securely held in God’s loving embrace.

Pentecost Sermon- Gathered Together in One Place

Sermon Texts:
Numbers 11:24-30
Psalm 104:24-34, 35b
Acts 2:1-21
John 20:19-23
(Possibly begin with a reflection on Krzysztof Kieslowski, the Decalogue) Lately, I have been beginning my sermons with a confession. I do so again tonight. I confess that Pentecost is a difficult feast for me. I am not sure what to make of the descent of the Holy Spirit, even though I come from a tradition seeks to live life of the Spirit. I understand what happened could even say that it is the birthday of the Church. Yet, I found that I struggled with what it all could mean. As a result I found myself taking refuge in theological abstraction, far from the ecstatic reality presented in Acts. The ecstatic reality is too tied to modern and contemporary interpretations of the Holy Spirit, Baptism of the Spirit and speaking in Tongues. Even though Kate speaks in tongues. I want us to know this reality of the descent of the Spirit upon the church and the Spirit’s continuing presence, but where do I begin? I confess this because I have a feeling that many of us perhaps most of us have a similar ambivalence. Many groups of Christians we are all aware of will appeal to this passage in acts for their ecstatic worship. Others appeal to this passage to speak for embracing of human diversity and multiculturalism. With all of this we may have a deer in headlights experience when it comes to Pentecost and the Holy Spirit. Many denominations and Christian groups don’t even celebrate it. In Covenant Church it varies but often even in churches where Pentecost is celebrated, on a day like today Mother’s day would trump the feast of Pentecost. Before I forget let me wish to all mothers here Happy Mother’s day. This is not a mother’s day sermon, except in the most furthest reach possible, for I do want to talk to us about the Church (not our congregation, not some denomination, but the body of Christ that began two Thousand years ago on that one day on the feast of Pentecost. For the Church that universal entity that sum that is greater than its parts, is called the Mother of all the faithful. The Lutheran Theologian Carl Braaten’s main work on the church is called Mother Church.

But I have wandered. So, we know what happened and we know the various uses to which Pentecost is put but what to make of it all? The Spirit comes and fills people, tongues of fire rest on peoples heads and those people start speaking in various languages, Luke tells us that every language known to the first century Mediterranean culture and the Roman Empire was spoken on that day. For Luke the entire world in the representatives of the Jewish Diaspora around the world of the first century represented the universality of the proclamation of the new covenant. This bit of this story probably makes us all quite comfortable as those well trained and schooled in multiculturalism and valuing of diversity(at least that is so with me). The Holy Spirit as the spirit of diversity is something we can all get on board with. Yet, there is this thing of the ecstasy of the moment, the rushing wind, the confusion at least to those nearby the upper room where all were gathered together in one place. We must face the speaking of languages that these Galileans did not know. What is this to be filled with the Spirit that one then is able to do what one could not do by one’s own power or under one’s own control? I will admit part of what I have found discomforting and objectionable to Pentecostal and Charismatic church services is being caught up in a group ecstasy, of the chaos that seems to be allowed even encouraged in those services. And of the more orderly charismatic services of some more mainstream churches that use the praise and worship style I am put off by what I experience as the manipulation of my emotions to produce an ecstasy. And yet here it is in the Scripture text. The Spirit is powerful and descends with the sound of a violent wind and without warning people begin to speak in different languages, and people sit up and take notice.

Rarely do the above two ways of appropriating and relating the descent of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost get joined together. And equally as prevalent is the tendency to simply say yep the Spirit came down and we are to be filled with the Spirit and we just continue on as before. In the story of the descent of the Spirit there is the universal reach of the Gospel message beyond human boundaries and is shown through power and the ecstatic reality of being filled with the Holy Spirit. This begins to come to view when we understand that Pentecost and the descent of the Holy Spirit is seen as the birth of the universal Church, the Body of Christ. By seeing Pentecost and the Descent of the Holy Spirit as the birth of the Church brings together the ecstasy and power of the Spirit and the diversity of the embrace of the Spirit. What is the meaning then of the confluence of these three ecstasy, diversity and founding of the church?

Why would this event be the birth of the church? Had not Jesus already gathered the 12 and the other followers that were then numbering 120 or so? Had not Jesus appeared to them and even commissioned them at the Ascension? The answer is yes and yet it is reported that Jesus instructs his followers to wait. Something is still lacking the Holy Spirit will come. Then another question should be why Pentecost, this feast of the Jewish year? Pentecost was the feast of first fruits, it is a harvest festival, but it also came to be associated with the giving of the Torah and thus the formation of the people of God Israel with the Covenant at Mount Sinai. The Numbers 11 is one of the founding stories of the People of Israel, takes in the midst of their time in the desert as they begin to live out their Covenant life under the Torah. God leads his people through those upon whom the Spirit rests. In this particular story there is a lifting of Moses’ burden but also it is yet another demonstration that the life of the people of Israel does not depend on human ingenuity and powers. In the surrounding story of this passage we see repeated both in Moses and the people the falling back on human power and vision, and God showing time and time again that unlike other communities and nations Israel is sustained by God and Spirit not by human power or leadership. It is after all the whole point of Egypt and Sinai the giving of the Torah: God takes slaves to be a Nation that is to represent God to all other nations.

How does this fit with Pentecost? Pentecost the feast of first fruits, a festival that shows that the People of Israel recognize that their life and sustenance does not come from their effort but from God’s life giving presence in the world, and so from the very first harvest in the climate of Palestine, they offer that which they have first harvested. Since the life of Israel also depends on the Torah the day also becomes associated with the giving of the Law (which came to be seen has happening 50 days after leaving Egypt). Pentecost then is about what is given and what we receive. Pentecost is about the life giving power of God and that we only live by that power.

The Spirit descends on a feast celebrating that all is from God, and which remembers the Giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Pentecost then reminds us that we are not to depend on our own efforts. As such then we do not on this day celebrate human community and the diversity of humanity. The Holy Spirit is not the human spirit but the Spirit of Christ, the Third person of the Holy Trinity. What is affirmed and shown in the descent of the Holy Spirit is the community of God, and we those gathered together by Christ in one place are upon whom the Spirit descends with power, not for the purpose of ecstasy, or for having a particular supernatural ability, but to show forth the purposes of God, that all may be joined in this community, in order that all may come to know God; Father Son and Holy Spirit.

I do not deny that this message of God’s universal love and invitation has been at times attached to particularities that have nothing to do with the Gospel or the divine community of the Trinity. However, we cannot allow that failure of some Christians to obscure the reality that by the descent of the Holy Spirit formed a new community whose boundaries are not human boundaries but is still a distinct group gathered together by Christ and upon whom the Spirit descended. What we then see in the rest of Acts and in history is that this community is expanded, as God joins to the 12 apostles and the 120 more and more people. This new expanding community consists of those who have come to faith in Jesus Christ, and who affirm Jesus as Lord. Peter is clear that the fulfillment of the end times prophesy of Joel (In the last days) of God’s spirit being poured out on all flesh is fulfilled on that day 2000 years ago when the Spirit descended on the 12 and the 120 all gathered together in one place. The fulfillment of Joel is particular in extent but shows itself to be universal in scope. The invitation is not limited to a language or ethnicity or gender, or any other division or difference we can discover or invent. The particularity is in God. We are called to come into a particular community, to return to that relationship humanity had before the fall. But we are unable to form such a community. Only by being joined to God; being filled with the Spirit can we be part of this community. This community then becomes the witness of what God has done and God’s character, not upon our own power but as the Spirit gives us ability. Whatever we do, if it is working for justice, or to reveal and bring beauty to the world, or to speak truth into this world, or to live faithfully in the midst of a confusing and often sinful world, we do so to witness to God’s Kingdom, and we can give this witness only by the power of the Spirit. We are not the builders the Kingdom but are to be witnesses of its presence. We will not bring justice to the world; we cannot on our own bring beauty out of ugliness. By our own will we cannot make suffering and oppression and evil make sense or bring good from it. Only by the power of the Spirit can we do so. Ultimately, the center of this work of God by the power of the Spirit is the Church. When I say this I am not referring to this or that congregation you have been apart of in the past, not even this congregation of Reconciler. By “church” I mean the gathered people of God, the universal Church the body of Christ formed on that day some 2000 years ago when the Spirit descended upon the 12 Apostles and the 120, and upon whom the Spirit has remained till now. This is why in the Apostles Creed immediately after we confess belief in the Holy Spirit and then confess faith in the Holy Catholic Church. For the Holy Spirit that brings froth the church creates the church out of those Gathered together in one place. In the church we find the forgiveness of sins and are made one with the power of life and the Resurrection and so confess resurrection and the unending life that comes through being rejoined in communion with God. None of this happens in isolation, or simply between me and you as autonomous individuals and God, for god isn’t even an autonomous individual but a being that is a communion and community of three persons into which we are drawn as those Gathered together in one place. Only by living into this reality of life lived by the power of the Spirit, which is the reality of the Church, can we have the ability to witness to the Kingdom of God in the World.