Lectionary 27 Year B - Psalm 8

 Psalm 8

Psalm 8 marvels that the “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name” is mindful of mortals. I suppose it does beg the question since within the human community the mighty generally despise the lowly. There are exceptions, of course, but when there is only so much wealth and power to go around human beings tend to hold onto whatever they have. Not so with the majestic name that is above all names. God in Jesus enters the human story as a baby born to an unwed mother and a confused carpenter in a country occupied by a foreign power.  God in Jesus is the opposite of what we would expect. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by humans, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.” (Isaiah 53:2-3) So while the psalm imagines God’s mindfulness as crowning mortals with glory and honor and giving them dominion over every living thing. God determines to elevate us by being brought very low and dying on the cross the death of a criminal. “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth…”

Lectionary 27 Year B - Genesis 2:18-24

 Genesis 2:18-24

The trouble in paradise comes in chapter three but in the beginning everything was perfect. The “one flesh” couple lived without fear or guilt or shame or any of the ways of being and doing and thinking that rip one flesh apart and cause untold heartache. But once the two lusted after the forbidden fruit and crossed the line between creature and creator they no longer felt comfortable in their own skin. Relationships between helpmate partners have never been the same despite the fairy-tale optimism of happily ever after. Not that helpmate partners cannot be “one flesh” in a way that benefits both. It just takes more clinging to each other than we may care to or are able to do. So going back to the beginning is helpful. Not the first blush of love, although that is very nice, but the beginning of this story. It was not good for the first human to be alone and so God gave us the gift of the other who can be “one flesh” with us. If we think of ourselves as taken out of and given to each other we might cling to one another in ways that make the best parts of the fairy-tale come true.

Lectionary 26 Year B - James 5:13-20

James 5:13-20

I am confident Elijah was a human being but I’m not so sure about “quite like us.” On the other hand he was fully dependent on God for rain or lack thereof in the same way that those who suffer pray and the cheerful rejoice. There may be some who think it is the prayer of the righteous that determines the outcome but I prefer to believe the “powerful and effective” nature of the prayer has more to do with the persistence of prayer in the face of circumstances beyond our ability to control. We know that we were not meant to live forever in bodies of flesh and blood and bones and so the healing that happens in the temporal is not nearly as “powerful and effective” as the healing that allows one to take life as it comes without being overcome by whatever one must endure.

Lectionary 26 Year B - Psalm 19:7-14

 Psalm 19:7-14

We tend to think of the law as limiting, maybe for good reasons, but restrictive none-the-less. The psalmist sees the law as the kind of freedom that revives, rejoices and enlightens. That is because the law of the Lord reveals the truth about the One who desires all good things for us including clearing us from hidden faults, which may not be all that pleasant per se (there is a reason our faults prefer to be hidden) but it is certainly a good thing to know oneself well enough to avoid being dominated by errors that are not easily detected. So when we embody the perfect law of the Lord we live the love of the Lord which Jesus said is what the law and the prophets is all about. Love God. Love others. Such words and thoughts of the heart are always pleasing to the Lord, our rock and redeemer.

Lectionary 26 Year B - Numbers 11:4-29

 Numbers 11:4-29

The children of Israel, fairly well fed on manna and quail, weep in the wilderness because they long for the days when they imagine they dined with dignity. Truth is the Egyptians stopped giving them straw to make bricks so it is unlikely their task masters gave them fish to eat “for nothing”. We tend to color the past in ways that fill in the blanks of our present complaints. Sometimes we imagine the past better than it could have been. Often we imagine it worse than it was. But either way we are not satisfied with whatever is and therefore long for what never was. And so the children of Israel throw a tantrum and Moses becomes despondent and the Lord becomes very angry and the dysfunctional Exodus family tries to figure out how to live together in the desert when no one is happy. When the very angry Lord calms down the despondent Moses is instructed to share the load and the solution to the people’s displeasure is the Spirit of the Lord resting upon the seventy appointed along with two others who were not approved which is often how God acts because the Spirit of the Lord cannot be contained or easily explained. The person who is most moved is Moses which means he will refrain from complaining, “why have you treated your servant so badly?” at least for the time being and get back to leading which is what God called him to do. And the children of Israel will quiet down and be grateful they have something to eat, even if it is “what is it” (manna) and a small bird with not much meat. 

Lectionary 25 Year B - James 3:13-4:8

 James 3:13-4:8

If it were as easy as James makes it sound “submit yourselves to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you” the devil would be forever on the run. But then it’s the first part “submit yourselves to God” that is the most difficult to do which is why we are always dealing with “the devil inside.” (INXS) We might be tempted to think God holds back until we act as in “draw near to God and God will draw near to you” which is why submitting to God would seem to be all about us. But if submitting to God is predicated on the belief that God gifts us with wisdom from above then what we become in submitting is what God already is – “pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy” and the devil cannot long endure such good gifts.

Lectionary 25 Year B - Psalm 54

 Psalm 54 The lectionary often skips over verses that call for the destruction of enemies even if there is good reason for enemies to be destroyed. Repaying evil with evil doesn’t seem to fit the pattern of following the Christ who instructs disciples to turn the other cheek and pray for those who persecute them. There is good reason to follow Christ in a world where pious people believe acting in ruthless ways to defend the honor of a prophet is justified. But the psalmist does not advocate for actively striking his enemies and even though his prayer is not for their welfare he leaves vindication in the hands of the Lord. (Romans 12:19) That is because “vindicate me” assumes that the psalmist is in relationship with the Lord and that in their rising against the righteous the ruthless are rising against God as well and God is more than able to defend God's honor, thank you very much. We can and should pray for the ruthless to experience consequences for what they have done to others if for no other reason than to spare the innocent from the designs of the insolent. But in the spirit of the Christ we might also pray that the ruthless be freed from the ways of deceit and violence for their own sake, for a merciless life hell bent on the destruction of others will reap what it sows. 

Lectionary 25 Year B - Jeremiah 11:18-20

 Jeremiah 11:18-20 Jeremiah gives voice to the cry and complaint of the un-numbered and un-named throughout human history who led to the slaughter have looked to God, (or anyone who will listen) for help. But help does not always arrive in a timely fashion as Jeremiah himself will find out when his story of lament and complaint ends in silence. Despite all indications to the contrary we believe justice will have its day and the cause of the righteous will be upheld by the God who judges the heart and the mind. However, it may be that we who pray forgiveness for things done and left undone, things said and left unsaid, who have waited for God to act on behalf of those who suffer while God waited for us to act, will be judged equally guilty. “It was the Lord who made it known to me” means we are God’s agents of mercy and justice in a world that devises evil schemes against the weak and powerless. Too often Christian backs bristle at slights against the practice of our individual piety while the plight of those literally “led to the slaughter” hardly registers a reaction. Granted, the world has never conformed to the kingdom of God and always works against the principles of God’s reign, but when we are silent in the face of suffering we acquiesce to the evil schemes that would cut off the word of life from the land of the living.

Lectionary 24 Year B - Mark 8:27-38

Mark 8:27-38 If Jesus thought of his generation as adulterous and sinful what would he say of ours? I know there are a number of well-meaning people of faith who think we've gone to hell in a hand basket and fear it’s fixin’ to get worse. But since the rebellion in the garden there has never been a time in human history when we have not been an adulterous and sinful generation. That doesn't mean there are not degrees of separation when it comes to what was meant to be and what is. “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” (A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens) Peter publicly confesses the Christ; “you are the Messiah” and then privately rebukes Jesus when Jesus defines what it means to be Messiah in a way that does not conform to Peter’s preconceived notion. Messiahs are not meant to undergo great suffering and be killed, even if they promise to rise again. If Peter missed the Messiah boat before the resurrection we are more likely to do so on the other side of the empty tomb and so cast Jesus in our own image of power and glory. No one is ashamed of a mighty Messiah coming in majesty to smash the enemies of God to pieces. But if we preach Christ crucified, the King of Glory is never far removed from the place where the world was saved. “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” It was God’s design that the Messiah should be stripped naked and nailed to wood by religious authorities and Roman soldiers so that the Jewish rabbi from the Gentile region of Galilee could change all our ideas about power and prestige. Our problem is that we belong to an adulterous and sinful generation that holds onto to this life with a death grip and denies everything except ourselves believing we understand the divine mind when truth to be told we remain mired in human thinking.

Lectionary 24 Year B - James 3:1-12

 James 3:1-12

James does not mean to discourage “my brothers and sisters” to become teachers, nor does he expect them to be perfect, he just wants them to be aware that teachers (and preachers) are held to a higher standard by virtue of the task they have taken on. I’ve had some great teachers in my life but one of my favorites was Miss Kruse. She was my fifth grade teacher at Grace Lutheran School in River Forest, Illinois and years later I had the great gift of being her student teacher. She was a remarkable educator, well ahead of her time, but more importantly she embodied this text. I imagine there were days that were more difficult for her to be gracious and kind but as far as I could tell her way of being was her way of saying. That is, you cannot simply decide to be more disciplined in your speech while harboring anger and resentment in your heart. In the same way springs of water draw from what is down deep and not from what is on the surface. So if Miss Kruse is the bar for who should presume to teach we should all look for some other work. But because Christ is the well she drew from we can all tap into the same source and be as gracious and kind, not that we will ever be as remarkable.

Lectionary 24 Year B - Psalm 116:1-9

Psalm 116:1-9

Do we love the Lord because we are heard or are we heard because we love the Lord? It sounds like the psalmist would opt for the former but then there are plenty of passages (including this week's Gospel) that lean toward the latter. I’m going to do the Lutheran two-step and say it is both and. We love the Lord because the cords of death that choked the life out of us have been loosened. But then we wouldn’t have called on the name of the Lord in our anguish and distress if we didn’t trust the Lord to hear. And trust is just a five letter word for love. The Lutheran song is that the Lord loves us regardless of whether we love the Lord or not (the melody of grace) but maybe the Lord is equally adept at dancing the two step both and. The Lord answers because we love the Lord and the Lord loves because we ask. Grace certainly exists apart from the call and response relationship of love but it is not nearly as noticeable as when faith two steps with the Lord.

Lectionary 24 Year B - Isaiah 50:4-9

 Isaiah 50:4-9

The word that sustains the weary is that the teacher knows a thing or two about suffering. He has endured far more than verbal ridicule and yet morning by morning remains confident of God’s presence and help. It is one thing to suffer and quite another to suffer alone. That is a disgrace the teacher could not long endure which is how laments become songs of praise even when one continues to suffer at the hands of the unjust. The teacher who endured the cross for the sake of the world is more than able to sustain us with a “morning by morning” word of peace that surpasses the world’s ability to understand. Therefore, like the One who teaches us, we do not turn back or rebel against difficult things done for the sake of the weary. 

Lectionary 23 B - MArk 7:24-37

Mark 7:24-37
It is a difficult story to deal with if you wonder what Jesus was thinking when he called the desperate woman a dog. She didn't object to the insult because her daughter was possessed and there was nowhere else to go for help. Jesus recognizes the kind of need that leads one to bow down low and accept ridicule and insult for the sake of someone you love and so he banishes the demon from her daughter. The second story is similar as the deaf man with slurred speech is helped by those who beg Jesus to heal their friend. Spit and speech (Ephphatha!) do what doctors could not. Astounded beyond measure the crowds marvel at everything done well. Jesus' “everything done well” won’t be remembered when he is accused of being in league with the devil he dispossessed from the desperate woman's daughter. (Matthew 9:34) And it won’t be long before people hurl more than insults at him as they strip him naked and nail him to wood. But when the world is possessed and you have nowhere else to go you’ll go to the cross to save those you love.

Lectionary 23 B - James 2:1-17

James 2:1-17

What good is it my sisters and brothers if you supply the bodily needs of those who are hungry and do not wish them well by warming them with the sharing of peace? What good is that? I’m taking some liberties with the word from James but only because there is a tendency for well-meaning people to provide for people in need without ever getting to know or appreciate the person in need. Calvary’s past participation in the Room in the Inn ministry attempts to meet both the relational and physical needs of the guests who spend the night in our family life center and if you ask them I think they appreciate the relational aspect as much as the physical. (hopefully we'll be able to open RITI in the Spring) Case in point; Pastor Phil’s made to order omelets are an often mentioned breakfast with the RITI crowd but other churches provide wonderful egg casseroles with the same ingredients so I think the difference must be in the ability to choose. There is a huge difference between eating from a predetermined menu and having a choice, especially when most decisions in your day to day are determined by someone else. The homeless need help, no doubt, but I think what they long for is dignity and that doesn't come to anyone as charity. It can only be found in true friendship and genuine love that looks past possessions or lack thereof to value another person as a human being created in the image of God. 

Lectionary 23 Year B - Isaiah 35:4-7a

Isaiah 35

Isaiah 35 begins with the parched land rejoicing and ends with the ransomed of the Lord returning to Zion with song as they are overtaken by joy and gladness. In the in-between are feeble hands and weak knees and fearful hearts that long for redemption. But since the chapter begins and ends with a promise Isaiah can say, “Be strong” to the feeble and weak and fearful of heart instead of “suck it up”. The ability to “be strong” comes from anticipating the promise as if it already was so that hands and knees become steady even when the ground is shaking. The blind are still blind. The deaf still cannot hear. The lame still limp and the dumb are still speechless. It is as simple and as difficult as that because we are more accustomed to “suck it up” than “be strong” or perhaps think they are the same thing and therefore are always running too fast in the present for the future to catch up with us. But when God’s ultimate vision becomes our eternal imagination then the future bursts into the present like a rainstorm in the desert and the blind see and the deaf hear and the lame leap and the dumb shout for joy. What will be already is when by faith we stop “sucking it up” and allow the future gladness to overtake us. 

Lectionary 21 Year B - John 6:56-69

John 6:56-69

By the end of chapter six the five thousand fed on loaves and fishes have gone home and “many of his disciples” desert him. Only the Twelve are left and as usual Peter gives voice to what they’re thinking. They have come to accept what the crowds cannot and because they believe Jesus is the Holy One of God they aren’t turned off by his “eat my flesh and drink my blood” talk. I don’t think they understand what he is saying any better than those who declare it to be “a hard teaching”, but then accepting doesn’t require understanding. Not that they don’t have limits to what they will accept as in Peter’s “God forbid it!” when Jesus says he will suffer and die and rise again. And when the mob comes to the garden to grab Jesus the Twelve (minus one) find another “to whom shall we go” place to hide until the risen Jesus breaks in on their pity party to prove with nail scarred hands that death itself has died. But for now they are the ones enabled by the Father to believe. We too have been enabled by Spirit filled words to believe what we cannot fully understand and only dimly perceive, that all our best hopes and dreams for the here and now and the forever future are found in the Holy One of God. 

Lectionary 21 Year B - Ephesians 6:10-20

Ephesians 6:10-20

Being strong in the Lord is not the same thing as being strong. In fact the only way to be strong in the strength of the Lord is to let go of whatever strength you think you might have. Even the self discipline of daily devotionals or spending time in the word and worship can get in the way of surrendering self-sufficiency in order to pick up what God would have us put on. Don’t get me wrong. Acts of piety are helpful but they are not the source of strength that allows one to stand against all that is against us. So the first piece of armor to put on is the belt of truth because everything else attaches to it. We admit the truth about ourselves (that we are our own worst enemies) while confessing the truth about God, who dies so that enemies might be called friends. The breastplate of righteousness cannot be attached to dishonesty therefore our admission and confession makes a place for being right with ourselves and God. The mission of the church is often mired in mud and would have the world worship at its altar but the truth of the Gospel compels feet to go to proclaim peace to those who would never darken the door of our sanctuaries. The shield of faith allows us to live with all that threatens without being threatened by those very same things. And heads fitted firmly with salvation means the “here and now” is fully fitted with the “there and then” which is to say we live the forever future in the present whenever we think of ourselves as eternal creatures.  

Lectionary 21 Year B - Psalm 34

Psalm 34:15-22

Psalm 34 declares that even the name of those who do evil will be blotted out from the face of the earth while the Lord will remember the brokenhearted and save those whose spirits are crushed. Of course broken hearts are often brought about by those who do evil and as the prophet Habakkuk points out the wicked prosper long enough for the righteous to wonder why. (Habakkuk 1:1ff) But the psalm declares it is the very act of evil that slays the wicked while those who patiently endure troubles (albeit while crying out for help) will be rescued from whatever condemnation is reserved for those who oppose the way of righteousness. While we might interpret this psalm as being willing to wait for the scales of justice to ultimately and finally balance the equation between good and evil the psalmist sings of justice in the present tense and will not stand idly by while the wicked prosper. That means Psalm 34 might respond to Habakkuk’s question, “How long, O Lord, will the wicked prosper?” with a defiant, “no longer.” And so we live the future, which is the present tense of Psalm 34, whenever we tip the scales of justice in the favor of the troubled while setting our face (and our energy and resources) against those who do evil. The petition, “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven” has as much to do with our will as God’s.

Lectionary 21 Year B - Joshua 24:1-18

 Joshua 24:1-18

“Far be it from us that we should forsake the Lord to serve other god’s” turns out to not be too far from them at all. In the future the prophets speaking for God will lament, “These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13) I suppose after forty years in the wilderness you’ll say anything to get some relief in the Promised Land. I’ve read the Old Testament more times than I can count and far be it from me to find times these people pledging faithfulness made good on the promise. Oh there are times they listen to what the Lord is saying (as for me and my house we will serve the Lord) and experience blessing, but the land promised (albeit taken violently from others) is ultimately divided between two kingdoms who hate each other more than they fear their enemies. I think the truth of the scriptures is that it doesn’t sugar coat the story of the people of God who turn out to be just as unfaithful as everyone else. But in the same way that the scripture speaks the truth about us it reveals the unique nature of our God.  Every other god would visit vengeance on promises made but not kept.  This God declares through the crucified and risen Christ, “far be it from me” to forsake you. 

Lectionary 18 Year B - John 6:24-35

John 6:24-35

John is the only Gospel that details the aftermath of the multiplying feast. The people (well fed) are apparently not satisfied with leftovers (12 baskets of barley loaves) and so chase after Jesus to see what is on the breakfast menu. Jesus rightly calls them out when they ask, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” which means, “Have you baked the bagels and cured the lox?” But Jesus should not be surprised at their desire to be fed on the cheap as we all enjoy a happy hour now and then. That is to say we’d all like to be taken care of, provided for, live in the lap of luxury, etc. etc. etc. But Jesus would have us look beyond what is to what will be so that the work of God, believing Jesus was sent as the sign of what will be and already is, means we no longer lust after that which cannot satisfy. “You wanted breakfast?” Jesus asks. “How about a feast that never ends?”

Lectionary 18 Year B - Ephesians 4:1-16

Ephesians 4:1-16

Living “a life worthy of the calling” is often understood in terms of personal piety reflected in a disciplined life, especially as it relates to resisting behaviors identified as the ways of the world. But the apostle Paul defines a “life worthy of the calling” in ways that relate to living in relationship with others. Living in “humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” cannot be accomplished unless one bears with those whose life is less than one’s own “holier than thou” or on the flip side bearing with those whose life is “holier” than you are or care to be. The point is patience is not necessary when others are as you are and there is no need for humility or gentleness or making any effort at all when the bond of peace does not require negotiation. But then we tend to “speak the truth in love” loudly without first quietly growing up in every way into Christ so the truth spoken has little to do with love and everything to do with pride or prejudice or one’s own particular point of view. But when “each part is working properly” those who are patient assist those who require patience (and vice versa) to grow and in doing so all are built up in love. Easier said than done, which is why one must make “every effort.” 

Lectionary 18 Year B - Psalm 78:23-29

Psalm 78:23-29

We get the good verses of Psalm 78 which recounts God's response to God's people's complaints in the wilderness. The complaining was from folks who were not satisfied with water from the rock and who wondered aloud about the ability of God to provide meat and make bread. (78:20) God was furious (78:21) and yet responded to the people’s complaint with manna (what is it?) and quail. They ate and were well fed for God gave them what they craved. Of course at the time they craved whatever would satisfy their hunger and it would not be long before they tired of quail and complained about the detestable manna. The point of these passages - the good ones - is to remind the people of God - which includes us - not to fret when in our wilderness wanderings we are tempted to complain and doing so doubt God's goodness. I happen to be flying over the Idaho wilderness at 35,000 feet. I suppose I could complain because my flight was delayed for over three hours. But that's hard to do when you are listening to Willie Nelson on Bose NC 700 headphones and sitting in seat 1 A on an Airbus 321a. So I won't complain about a late start even if it will cut short the time I have with family in Seattle. But, God help me, I will complain about the recent heat bloom in Seattle. Not because I mind hot weather. I'm a Texan. But the rise in the sea water temps mean I will not be enjoying Pacific oysters due to the real possibility of contracting Vibrio parahaemolyticus. (Look it up) To which the Almighty says, "You know they're not kosher? And I made them really gross looking so that no one would think of eating one.

Lectionary 18 Year B - Exodus 16:2-15

 Exodus 16:2-15

Those who complained in the wilderness, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt” forget the family members who never made it out of Egypt and that the Egyptians didn't need the Lord’s hand to help kill them. But then we tend to reconstruct the difficult days of the past in the light of present troubles thinking that what was was not as bad as what is even though what is and what was are often the same thing. Dying at the hands of the Egyptians or of starvation in the wilderness is still dead. It is to God’s credit that this constant complaining does not lead God to “walk like an Egyptian” (The Bangles) and be done with the whole assembly. It is a preview of God’s struggle with a people whose “love is like the morning mist.” (Hosea 6:4) The God who provides manna and quail to ungrateful people will continue to give them bread to eat, even if it is the bread of tears, in the hope that they will recognize that freedom in the wilderness is better than slavery in Egypt. God’s hope for us is that in following the way of the Lord we would prefer to live in radical freedom, no matter how difficult it is, than to dwell in the comfortable prisons of our own design.

Lectionary 17 Year B - John 6:1-21

John 6:1-21

The feeding of the five thousand is found in every Gospel which means it was a big deal to the early church. My guess is it was the Galilean Woodstock of sorts (without the music and drugs) so that it occupied the popular imagination and even those who were nowhere near the mountain that day wished they were until the five thousand magically multiplied and everyone claimed to have been there for a bite of fish and a morsel of bread. Well, maybe not, but it really was a big deal. In fact those who actually were there ran around the lake to meet Jesus (who walked across) thinking that the one who provided supper might also make them breakfast. (John 6:26) Of course we do the same thing when with limited vision we value temporal needs over eternal truths. Not that God is disinterested in our everyday. But the miracle of the story is that God takes what is and multiplies it into what can be. We are tempted to tell the crowd to go away which devalues both our own resources and the multiplying effect of faith. But the story of the first century Galilean Woodstock is that what appeared to be too little was more than enough.

Lectionary 17 Year B - Ephesians 3:14-21

 Ephesians 3:14-21

If we are able to comprehend the breadth and length and height and depth of God’s love for us in Christ Jesus we have a clue as to what God can accomplish beyond the limitations of our imagination. Far too often we turn this all surpassing power into a temporal wish list thinking that what we ask is what God will provide. I think the clue to what God is about is in the “far more abundantly” clause of the contract rooted and grounded in love. Our vision is limited at best and more often than not myopically distorted so that what we want, need, or desire has little to do with the love that surpasses knowledge. But if we take our cues from Christ we might begin to understand that what God intends to accomplish is for us to act “far more abundantly” than we otherwise would so that every family in heaven and earth might experience the benefits of God’s grace.

Lectionary 17 Year B - 2 Kings 4:42-44

 

2 Kings 4:42-44
Twenty loaves of barley and unnumbered fresh ears of grain that feed a hundred foreshadow a boy with five loaves and two fish that feed five thousand. Theologians apply eschatological significance to the feeding stories recorded in the Bible but they might not need to do that if we were more familiar with hunger. A good number of us are well fed enough to diet. But in these stories God provides real food not as some future kingdom come down but as a real need satisfied by real food in the real here and now. Again, some make sense of these stories by saying the real miracle is in the sharing and not some magical multiplying of meager resources, but however you do the math the meal was enough that the satisfied multitude asked for doggie bags. I’ve been on the receiving end of such sharing and it does not discount the miraculous moving of God to multiply what is not into what can be and in that miracle we are always well fed. 

Pentecost 16 Year B - Mark 6:30-34; 53-56

Mark 6:30-34; 53-56

The people of Gennesaret recognize Jesus because the Gerasene demoniac is in his right mind and wearing clothes and won’t stop talking about the One who set him free from the chains of insanity. (Mark 5:1-20) My guess is only the swine headers are sorry to see Jesus again. The apostles sent and returned have also experienced rock star status and along with Jesus are no longer anonymous. Of course it is not a good thing to have no leisure (even to eat) but it might be nice to be known once and awhile as a disciple of the Christ. We don’t have to have Holy Spirit power to heal or the ability to teach with wisdom and authority. The command of Christ is to love one another as we have been loved and love will get you noticed if we love consistently and without reservation. Even a chance encounter with a stranger affords us the opportunity to be friendly or generous or welcoming and although we might not see the result there is healing in a smile or a gesture of kindness. We have spent a good bit of time practicing the faith in and with the faithful. It’s time to get in our boats, so to speak, and cross to the other side, which today might mean the Starbucks across the street from the sanctuary. I wonder if anyone would recognize us? 

Lectionary 16 Year A - Ephesians 2:11-22

 Ephesians 2:11-22

I've read this passage more times than I can remember and have always celebrated it as good news and of course it is. But then I am a “citizen with the saints” who otherwise would have been an alien and a stranger cut off from the covenant with no hope and without God. I imagine it was read differently by those who saw the “dividing wall” as faithfulness and not hostility, who waxed poetic about the perfect law that revives the soul and makes the simple wise. (Psalm 19:7) Truth is even the apostle Paul resisted the new arrangement with violence, breathing “murderous threats” (Acts 9:1) against those who claimed the Christ as Messiah and Lord.  Years after Paul breached the wall the commonwealth of Israel was expelled from the household of God by the aliens and strangers who erected a new wall of hostility. I’m guessing God hoped for a different outcome, but like the “in the beginning” gone wrong in the garden this was a moment when all the possibilities of the perfect future were available in the present and humans chose to remain mired in the past. That does not mean we need to stay there. We can embrace this text from the other side of history and tear down the walls we have erected. We can stop defining “us” by denigrating “them”. We can choose to be people who proclaim peace to all who have been exiled to “far off” and by living the hope of the future be ourselves a holy “dwelling place for God.” 

Lectionary 16 Year B - Psalm 23

 Psalm 23

I have had more than one sheep and a few shepherds in my time, albeit of the German, Australian and Belgium variety, but then “the Lord is my shepherd” wasn’t thinking of a dog to get the job done. No, “the Lord is my shepherd” isn’t limited to a pastoral landscape or agrarian lifestyle. That may be why a culture specific song speaks to every time and place. We all know the valley of the shadow and have felt its cold grip about our necks. We have been surrounded by enemies who overturn our tables and drain our cups to the dregs.  Goodness and mercy have fled away and our heads have been anointed with scorn. The psalm is not spoken to those who lie on beds of ease or rejoice as in days of comfort. There is a reason this psalm follows the cry of dereliction, “My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?” in Psalm 22. For “the Lord is my shepherd” speaks as a finale to those who have walked through “the valley of the shadow”. Not that the rest of us can’t sing the song. It’s just that to fully appreciate the tune requires a minor key before the major chord can be resolved.

Lectionary 16 Year B - Jeremiah

Jeremiah 23:1-6

It appears that the days that “are surely coming” still haven’t arrived as the righteous Branch raised up for David was “despised and rejected” (Isaiah 53) and crucified by the sheep he came to shepherd. Of course the righteous Branch was resurrected and the remnant gathered on Pentecost would proclaim the reign of the righteous Branch from Jerusalem to Samaria to the ends of the earth. Unfortunately the empire figured out assimilation was the best way to stamp out the Holy Spirit fire as the remnant ruling did not remain true to the righteous Branch. And so even if there are days of righteousness and justice and wise dealings they don’t last as one tyrant is overthrown only to be replaced by another. So what shall we say about this promise as yet unfilled? Well maybe Jeremiah’s idea of what the Branch would accomplish and God’s “plans to prosper… with a hope and a future” (Jeremiah 29:11) were not exactly the same thing. In the temporal realm branches raised up are not like the capital B branch that comes humble and riding on a donkey and in the grand scheme of things we should not look to small b Branches to be anything more than twigs. We are citizens of a realm that exists simultaneously in the finite present and the infinite future and as such are free like Jeremiah to speak truth to “the powers that be” without counting the cost even if the cost is a cross. In that way the days that “are surely coming” have already arrived and are still pending as we work to transform what is into what will be, even while we wait with eager expectation for the days when “they shall not fear any longer, or be dismayed, nor shall any be missing” will have fully come.

Lectionary Year B - Mark 6:14-29

Mark 6:14-29

It is a gruesome story and a sad end for the Baptizer who made straight the way in the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord. I know Stephen is the first martyr of the church but John is the first one to die for the cause. That’s not to say he fully understood it even if in baptizing Jesus he recognized the one who was greater than he. While in prison John sent his disciples to ask Jesus if he was the one or should they look for another. Jesus sent them back to tell John “the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised and good news is proclaimed to the poor.” (Matthew 11:5) Maybe Jesus’ response emboldened John to continue to be a voice in the wilderness, albeit confined in Herod’s prison, calling “that fox” (Luke 13:32) to get out of the hen house. But then John was not a “reed shaking in the wind” or one destined to wear fine clothes. (Matthew 11:7) He was born to be a prophet and “more than a prophet” but like so many prophets before him he paid the price for speaking the truth to power. Jesus will have his own day in court when the crowd demands its due and the prophet from Galilee suffers the same fate as those who went before him. The difference is that the Word made flesh could not be silenced, even by the grave. And John the baptizer was blessed to know he was included in the word that Jesus sent him. We stand in that prophetic tradition as those called to speak the truth and not count the cost for the word sent to John includes us. The dead are raised.

Lectionary 15 Year B - Ephesians 1:3-14

 

Ephesians 1:3-14

Chosen in Christ “before the foundation of the earth” is a long time to be loved. But we were destined for adoption for the good pleasure of God’s will. That means we are the object of God’s eternal affection so that love lavished upon us has as much to do with God’s desire to love as to be loved in return. It is a mutually pleasing arrangement. God gifts us with glorious grace and we live for the praise of God the giver’s glory. The mystery of God’s will made known to us through the apostle Paul is that God is somehow incomplete or unfulfilled without us. And we are less than we were destined to be without God. The church has not always done justice to describing this reciprocal relationship, casting God as a stern judge who merely puts up with us or excusing continued rebelliousness on our part by a cheap grace that that does not count the cost of our redemption to the Christ. But when we understand ourselves to be dearly loved children we can no more be afraid of God’s wrath than a child laughing while bouncing on the knee of a devoted parent. And in the same way we live to make God laugh with pure delight and joy just as we desire to please a beloved parent.

Lectionary 15 B - Psalm 85;8-13

Psalm 85:8-13

Because steadfast love and faithfulness embrace righteousness and peace are bold to come out of the closet and engage in PDA (public display of affection) so that faithfulness springs forth and the righteousness of heaven rains down upon the earth. But before these delightful verses the psalmist pleads for God’s displeasure to be put away and God’s anger to dissipate so that the people might be revived. Therefore the most important verse of the psalm is verse 8. “I will listen to what the Lord God is saying…” Revival happens when God responds to the people’s pleading and they listen and act on what they hear. Then the righteousness that springs forth to be kissed by peace is found in acts of kindness and mercy that mimic the ways of the Lord. And like a sweet embrace or a passionate kiss the world blushes at first but in the end is blessed by the PDA of God's faithful people.

Lectionary 15 B - Amos 7:7-15

Amos 7:7-15

There comes a time when the harsh word is the only word left to speak for one cannot forever endure those who continually abandon the truth and expect no consequence for living the lie. And so the Lord hijacks Amos from dressing vines to speak a harsh word against Jeroboam and the vineyard that is “my people Israel.” Even if the Lord is merciful and slow to anger there comes a day when the steadfast love of the Lord is compelled to say to the wicked, “Thy will be done.” There is a loss for God as well, like a parent of wayward child or the partner of an unfaithful spouse, as the Lord goes into exile and all the hopes and dreams begun in the rescue from Egypt – I will be your God and you will be my people – are for naught. But God’s anger does not burn eternally as God’s desire for intimacy cannot withstand exile forever. Long after Israel is abandoned and Judah is exiled and returned, God will write a new covenant on the hearts of humans. The true nature of God will be revealed in the living and dying and rising of Jesus who creates for himself a people to bear witness to the grace of God. The desert will bloom like the Texas Hill Country after a rain and the dry land will rejoice and the people will prosper not because we abandon rebellious ways but because God refuses to abandon us.

Lectionary 14 Year B - Mark 6:1-13

Mark 6:1-13
The home town crowd is astounded at Jesus’ teachings and deeds of power. Jesus is amazed that it doesn’t make a difference. He is still the carpenter, the son of Mary, even if he can cast out demons and heal the sick and speak with wisdom the origin of which defies explanation. To be fair Jesus is asking neighbors and relatives to suspend logic and move beyond anything they could imagine about him. That is the difference between knowing and believing. They can see that there is something different about him and even name it but they cannot (or will not) believe he is more than the Jesus they have always known. That is what happens to the twelve sent out two by two as well. Called and commissioned to proclaim “the kingdom come” they do the things that Jesus does, casting out demons, healing the sick and preaching the Jesus sermon. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news.” And they receive the same reception as Jesus does. Aren’t you James and John, the fishermen, the sons of Zebedee? There is no indication that Jesus did any dust shaking when rejected so perhaps the instruction to shake the dust off their sandals has as much to do with the disciples not being discouraged as it does the house that will not welcome. But like the disciples sent out the message received is meant to move one from knowing to believing to doing. We might know a thing or two about Jesus and be able to recite the tenants of the faith as described in creeds and catechisms just like the home town crowd knew about Jesus. Faith calls us to move beyond what we know in order to believe what cannot be known. Or in other words what you know becomes who you are and who you are becomes more like the One you know.

Lectionary 14 Year B - 2 Corinthians 12:2-10

2 Corinthians 12:2-10

“Power made perfect in weakness” is not a pleasant sort of life even if Paul is content to boast of his long list of calamities. Indeed, it would seem that the thorn in his flesh is the least of his worries. But then the lesson to be learned is that the ability to endure all things does not come from a position of strength as if all one had to do was double down on spiritual steroids or stoically channel your inner Norwegian - if you happen to be Lutheran. No. It is grace that allows weakness to be strength. That means one can be content and still lament of the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” (aka - channeling the inner Dane) It means that even though you pray for what you want (three or more times if you like) there comes a day when you accept what is and there is some measure of contentment in acceptance. But that is not the end of the story. The grace that is sufficient points us to the “things that are not to be told” so that the future balm for present woes might be applied to the wounds made by thorns in the flesh. In that way “my grace is sufficient for you” transcends whatever keeps us from being too elated in the present with the promise of whatever waits for us in the paradise that only “God knows”.