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MANY AND ONE

5/30/2021

Romans 8:14-17a

Those who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children. The Spirit doesn’t make us slaves who are afraid. Instead, we become God’s children and call God our Loving Parent. God’s Spirit makes us sure that we are God’s children. The Spirit lets us know that together with Christ we will be given what God has promised.

Today is Trinity Sunday, a day of formal recognition of the three-persons of God: God as Parent, Jesus the Christ, and the Holy Spirit. Very few of us could claim that we actually understand this trinity of being.

I’d probably be a little suspicious of anyone who tried to claim that they really got it all – instead, we simply accept that God at some points interacts with us in different ways – sometimes as a Parent — the one who brought us into being; sometimes as Jesus, the human form God took to live among us and to interact more fully with us; and sometimes as the unseen Spirit who lives in and with us, guiding us and moving us through our lives. We can go this far, and the rest we shrug off as “mystery.”

Unfortunately, this leaves us with something that sounds like three separate pieces somehow glued together into something different. I prefer to express this as the Trinity being all about the relationship among these three facets of God. Read scripture carefully and we see the love flowing among these three, We are told at the very beginning of scripture that we are created in the image of God. If God is, in fact, relational, then it follows that we, created in God’s image, are relational beings ourselves.

A piece recently made the rounds on facebook, among clergy-types, at least. It appears to be a quote from a pastor of a large Brooklyn church, Rich Villodas, about whom I know nothing accept this quote which consists of five major points:

1) The Bible is more communal than individual. Even when it seems to deal with an individual, the effects of that individual’s interaction with God end up affecting all of us.
2) Jesus teaches us to pray “our Father” not “my Father.” Our Father, father to us all – again, not an individual act.
3) Paul uses the phrase “our Lord” 53 times, and “my Lord” only once. Same as the second point. God is not my God, or your God.
4) The commonly used phrase “Jesus is my personal Savior” is not found anywhere in Holy Scripture. Everything we are shown in scripture shows us a people knowing God together and acting in God’s name together. It is never about me, me, me.
5) We are the people of God; we belong to each other. There is an unfortunate thing that has happened in our country over the centuries, as we have grow more and more stable, more comfortable. This is a largely unspoken and usually unacknowledged idea that we who are the lucky ones, the comfortable ones are responsible for the less comfortable, the less well-off. That’s a good beginning, but it is not the whole package. Because, if we truly do all belong to each other, then the less well-off are equally required to care for the rest of us.

I’m not talking here about money or material goods – I’m talking about love and spiritual care – which requires that we lucky ones acknowledge that those we might see as having little to give may very well have something we desperately need. Belonging to each other is not a one-way street. In God’s eyes there is no “us” and “them.”

Our faith is not a “Jesus and me” faith. It is not about me—or you—getting to heaven. It is about “us” — all of us, caring for each other, helping each other, so that we all live within the reign of God — and no one – no one -- gets left out or left behind.

I read a comment somewhere—don’t know where or by whom—to the effect that while taking a class in biblical Greek, the person discovered that the Greek word usually translated into English as “you” should actually be “you all” — a plural you. Ever since then, this person has read the New Testament with a Southern drawl and a lot of y’all’s. Imaging St. Paul, giving his intense messages with a drawl and addressing the Greeks, and Syrians, and Romans as y’all.

There is a beautiful saying by teacher Ram Dass -- ”We’re all just walking each other home.” I’ve always loved that saying since I first heard it. Whatever it is we are doing here, our God is a relational God and we are a relational people, y’all. If we are going somewhere, we should be going there together – no one left behind.

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THE SPIRIT IN US

5/23/2021

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John 14:14-16, 26-27a [The Message]

“If you love me, show it by doing what I’ve told you. I will talk to the Father, and he’ll provide you another Friend so that you will always have someone with you. This Friend is the Spirit of Truth. The godless world can’t take him in because it doesn’t have eyes to see him, doesn’t know what to look for. But you know him already because he has been staying with you, and will even be in you!

The Friend, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send at my request, will make everything plain to you. He will remind you of all the things I have told you. I’m leaving you well and whole. That’s my parting gift to you. Peace.”

When he was still walking with us in his human form, Jesus made this promise to his followers. He himself would be leaving them, but he would make sure that a “Friend” would come in his place to always be with them. Other translations refer to this “Friend” as a Guide or an Advocate. We can tell by the different names that this Spirit is not an easy one to pin down or classify. The Holy Spirit can be all of these, and more.

We, most of us, know the story of the first Pentecost day, when the disciples — who until now how been hiding out in a locked room afraid to go out — suddenly received Jesus’ promised gift of the Holy Spirit and were so overwhelmed by the experience that they were immediately accused of being drunk at an unseemly hour of the morning, or maybe even that they were just crazy. But that experience was just the showy introduction. It was after they had calmed down a bit that the real work of this “Friend” became apparent. It was after that they became, as Jesus said well, and, more importantly, whole.

Writer C. S Lewis, writing to a correspondent, reminded them that the fizzy fireworks like the first Pentecost are not the real presence of the Holy Spirit, they’re just a symptom. They soon settle down and as he put it, you might think that the real thing had gone away. But it won’t. It will be there when you can’t feel it. It may even be most operative when you can feel it least. The Holy Spirit usually works in us when we are least aware of it – reminding us of the things Jesus taught us, helping us remember right from wrong, leading us in directions we didn’t even recognize as options. All while we probably believe these things are all our own ideas.

At that first Pentecost, it was the Spirit in them that eventually empowered the once frightened disciples to go out and start sharing -- telling the world about Jesus and the Reign of God ... and to do so in such a passion-filled way that, in time, the whole world knew their story.

The Spirit in us might not lead us to such notable acts as transforming a world. Anne Lamott often says that we most often see the Spirit at work in us in our relationships with each other, doing the things good people have always done: bringing thirsty people water, sharing our food, standing up for the underdog, demanding justice for everyone, not just the chosen few – all those things our hearts know are right.

The Spirit lives within you! Listen to it. Pentecost was not one single historical even that happened thousands of years ago. Pentecost happens every day, and it happens again and again, because we humans are a forgetful lot.

Come, Holy Spirit! Live in us and with us. Guide us in your paths. Speak to our hearts and teach us to truly see and hear each other. Come, Holy Spirit.

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LAST WORDS

5/16/2021

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Matthew 28:18-20

Jesus gave them this charge: “God authorized me to commission you, so go out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I’ll be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up to the end of the age.”

The Feast of the Ascension was celebrated this past Thursday. It’s the last big event in our journey in the life of Jesus — from Christmas through the weeks immediately after Easter, and it all culminates, with his followers standing around, and with Jesus being carried up into heaven – usually depicted as floating upward on a cloud, and – this is the key phrase – disappearing from their sight. At least this is the image most of us have been given most of our lives.

The ascension is a “problem” for most modern Christians – those of us who are not literalists, at least. We have so much trouble accepting that one day Jesus just floated up into heaven and “poofed” away, never to be seen on earth again in his human form.

We think of Jesus’ “last words” as a Good Friday thing – his last words as he is dying on the cross. The reading we just read, from Matthew’s gospel, is Matthew’s version of Jesus’ last words to his disciples. His gospel ends here. Matthew never actually says Jesus ascended — he just leaves us there and we assume the rest.

Mark, in his gospel, simply says that “Jesus returned to heaven.” Luke says that Jesus blessed his disciples “and while blessing them, made his exit, being carried up to heaven.” That’s the closest to the ascension story suggested above. John’s gospel says nothing at all about an ascension. What we can gain from the writings left for us is that in some manner, from this point onward, Jesus was seen no more among them.

Most of us non-literalists have known for a very long time now that heaven is not actually “up there.” If we weren’t sure before, NASA’s journeys into space pretty well proved that to us. Jesus told us repeatedly that the reign of God is here, right here where we are. So why are we so determined to place it somewhere else?

We happily believe a great many very odd things throughout our Christian journey, so why do we get so hung up on this one, when we can believe it as figurative truth or metaphor. We don’t struggle like this at the idea that Jesus rose from the dead, or that God impregnated a young woman by way of the Holy Spirit, or that massive choirs of angels filled the sky at the holy birth.
We accept that we can believe literally or not, and that both ways of telling the story are true. The point that matters is that when Jesus’ direct work here among us was over, he returned to God, to his home, to “heaven,” which is wherever the love of God reigns. It’s a story that tells us that Jesus’ direct work on earth is over and now will be done in a different manner, in a different form.

Next Sunday will be Pentecost Sunday, which will mark a major shift in our focus from the life of Jesus to the life of the newly emerging church. From here on we stop centering directly on the human life of Jesus and start paying attention to what the new church does with the story of that life.

After all, not a one of us here today was around during Jesus’ earthly life. All we know of it is what his early followers have left behind to tell us. What we have is their interpretation of Jesus’ message, and there was a lot of disagreement in just how that message should be heard and passed on.

Whether they knew it at the time, or not, those early followers were organizing a new religion, and a new church — which is interesting (but so very human) because Jesus never said a word about “go out and start a church.” What it appears he did say was that they (and by extension, we) should change the way they lived their lives. He said nothing about making up a bunch of new rules. Nothing about buildings with gate-keepers. He certainly said nothing about locking certain people out if their ways were different from our chosen rules.

One thing he did say, to them, and again by extension, to us – and he said it quite emphatically -- is that we are not to judge each other. Period. Not our job. And so, of course, many of the new church builders started straight in with the judging and setting rules to govern the judging.

He was, however, equally emphatic, and equally clear on the things we are to do. We are to care for each other — to care for the widows and orphans, not just toss them to the curb to fend for themselves. We are to feed the hungry. There is no ambiguity at all in that command. Feed. The. Hungry. Three words – that’s it. Clothe the naked; give water to those parched with thirst; seek justice; practice mercy; be kind with each other. He tells us nothing about building institutions.

The more time we spend with Jesus, either in the stories left for us in scripture or in our personal prayers; the more we come to recognize the true voice of Jesus and the more we can recognize when something truly comes from him — and these then, are the things we cling to. The things we do to follow him. The new church had a lot of work ahead of them – and we today are still part of that workforce – still struggling to build the reign of God right here, right now. Still struggling to follow him as he asked to be followed.

Amen

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THE VERY BEST WAY TO LOVE

5/9/2021

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John 15:9-12 (The Message)

“I’ve loved you the way my Father has loved me. Make yourselves at home in my love. If you keep my commands, you’ll remain intimately at home in my love. That’s what I’ve done—kept my Father’s commands and made myself at home in his love.

“I’ve told you these things for a purpose: that my joy might be your joy, and your joy wholly mature. This is my command: Love one another the way I loved you. This is the very best way to love.”

“Love one another the way I loved you” ... We all are familiar with this command. It may be the best known line in New Testament scripture. We are to love each other in the same way that Jesus loves us ... But what, exactly, is that way? Jesus explains it here in this reading by saying it’s the same way the One he calls Father loves him ... But then, again, exactly what does that mean? How does his Father love Jesus? How does Jesus love us? How are we called to love each other?

I suspect it’s not that the answer is really all that difficult. If we have trouble “getting it” it’s not because it is too hard to understand. If we don’t get it it’s because we are resistant to its truth. Because to love like Jesus requires us to love completely ..... Without reservation ..... Unconditionally. Because this is the way his Father loves Jesus and the way Jesus loves us.

We humans love to slap conditions on anything we do. “I’ll love you forever if only you .....whatever,” or “I’ll recognize you as a good person if you just .....” We may not always be aware of it, but we attach conditions to everything we say and do. Every relationship we have comes with conditions attached – even our relationship with God. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve had people tell me, “I asked God to do something and it didn’t happen, so I’m through with God.” It seems we don’t want the God who is – we want a God who thinks like we do and loves like we do, and answers our prayers with the answer we want. Rather than shaping ourselves to be like God, we expect God to be like us.

This reading comes immediately after last week’s story of the vineyard grower, the vine, and the fruits of that vine, where the emphasis was all about the close connection between the grower and the vine — between Jesus and the One that he -- as a man of his time, always refers to as his ‘Father’. As we discussed last week, WE come into that story as the fruit that grows from that vine, and if we are to flourish it can only be within the love that flows between the two.

So how do Jesus and God love unconditionally? Sometimes by words, but more often by their actions. God creates, God gives life, God restores life where it appears to have dried out. God provides a way where there is no way. Jesus touches and heals, gives food to the hungry, he teaches in words that ordinary people can understand, and he publicly forgives those who have stumbled and failed — even those who will eventually betray him and kill him. That’s a very high standard of loving.

This morning before coming here to record this service, I spent some time catching up on my on-line reading, including this gem from John Pavlovitz’s newest blog: Jesus’ message was one of invitation and inclusion; of a table being expanded, of the least receiving love, of the foreigner being welcomed, of the lepers being touched, of the Samaritan being good, of the starving being fed, of the entire world being loved with ferocity.

So that’s how we do it -- we love as Jesus loves us — laughing with those who are simply enjoying life; weeping with those who grieve; holding those who are alone; listening to those who are voiceless and speaking for them if they cannot be heard for themselves. In the words of Brazilian novelist Paulo Coelho: “The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” Don’t tell others what you think about God’s loving – show them. Do the things that Jesus did, the things he taught us to do -- live in this world and BE love — that’s how Jesus did it. That’s how it works. Just love with ferocity. Amen.

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FRUIT OF THE VINE

5/2/2021

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John 15:1-5

“I am the True Vine and my Father is the Vine Grower. He cuts off every branch of me that doesn’t bear fruit. And every branch that is fruit-bearing he prunes back so it will bear even more. You have already been pruned by the word that I have spoken to you.

“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear fruit by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.”

I would make a terrible vine-grower — or any kind of farmer for that matter. I cannot bear to prune back my plants. I hate cutting off still living parts of a plant even though I know full well that the plant will be stronger and healthier if I do. I end up with a lot of scraggly plants in my yard — nowhere near as attractive as they would be if only I would prune them better.

I’m lucky enough to have incredible roses in my yard, but that’s only because my occasional yard guy prunes them ruthlessly every winter. If it were left to me, that wouldn’t happen. But that’s me, and I’m not God, thank heavens.

In our story today, God as vine-grower appears to have no qualms about pruning, and Jesus, who is the vine, grows and flourishes — and so do we who are the fruit attached to that vine. A fruit cannot grow if it is separated from the vine. That seems pretty obvious. If fruit wishes to grow it must do so while attached to the life of the vine.

Scripture is filled with references to fruit, both literal and metaphorical. There is the famous apple that has been used to vilify Eve from the very beginning – although it may not have been an apple at all, scripture simply says fruit. One of the oldest and strictest rules the Hebrew people were expected to live by is the prohibition against stripping all the fruit from a vineyard at harvest time. There was always to be fruit left behind for the widow and orphan and for the traveler passing through.

Grapes and vines show up so often on scripture because they were one of the most common things in biblical culture. People of that time and place understood about vines and how they grow and how best to help them bear good fruit.

I happen to live in wine country. I have no direct link to any of it, but I know a fair amount about optimum temperatures and late spring freeze and sugar levels just because they are such common topics of conversation around here. Grapes are both big business and ordinary stuff.

Grape vines, specifically, are mentioned more than any other plant in scripture, Raisins, wine, and vinegar, all come from this one valuable plant, all valuable in a hot drink country without refrigeration. These vines are valuable even though they are grown solely for their fruit -- there is apparently no other use for the vine in the Scriptures.

Vineyards play a large role in Jesus’ parables. There is the story of the vineyard worker who, even though he began working at the end of the workday, was paid the same as those who had worked all day though. And then, of course, there is today’s reading.

Like many of the uses mentioned here, our reading today is metaphor, and for once it isn’t too dense for us to understand: We are the fruit, Jesus is the vine, and God is the one who cares for us and desires us to bloom and prosper into all that we could be — even if that requires some pruning. It is interesting here to note that the Greek word the writer John uses for prune and cleanse is the same.

Story-teller/theologian John Shea, in his book Stories of God explains that in the Old Testament, God is the primary actor, an active character — God speaks and acts directly and personally with God’s people. God creates the world; God speaks to Moses and the prophets...

But in the New Testament, God pretty much ceases to be an active player directly. Instead, Jesus becomes that active speaker and doer. He is the one who speaks and acts. And instead of the lead actor, God has now become the plot of the whole story. No longer the one acting out and teaching about the story — God is the story.

In our story of vines and fruit, the fruit does not experience the vine-grower directly but only through the vine. We, the fruit, share our experience of love and caring directly with the vine itself — that vine that shares our humanity and our limitations. It is through the vine that we learn to know the story. Through the vine that we learn and grow and thrive to become the fruit God calls us to be.

Therefore, it is important for us to remain attached to that vine – that source of wholesome life and growth. et us always remember this.

Amen.

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MANY AND ONE

THE SPIRIT IN US

LAST WORDS

THE VERY BEST WAY TO LOVE

FRUIT OF THE VINE

Rev. Cherie Marckx

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