Proper 11 C - Psalm 15

Psalm 15

I’ve been working with horses all morning at Ebert Ranch Camp and really wish the lectionary text was Psalm 32 “Do not be like the horse or the mule, which have no understanding but must be controlled by bit and bridle...” On the other hand I was working with riders just as much and Psalm 15 might be just as applicable. Horses know when riders are nervous or frightened. They can also tell when a rider is not all they claim to be and will test the ability of the over confident as much as the inexperienced. Riding a horse is a relationship of trust and horse and rider are equally important when it comes to abiding in the saddle. Abiding in the tent of the Lord is not a reward for those who walk blamelessly or do what is right. Doing what is right is how you abide in the Lord. Dwelling on the Lord’s holy hill is not a reward for speaking the truth. Speaking the truth is the language of the holy hill where there is no translation for slander and evil. That is because the language of the holy hill is love written by the life of One who stood by his oath, even to his hurt, who offered himself to all of humanity without demanding payment or interest and who though innocent died for those who live by bribes.

Proper 11 C - Genesis 18:1-15

Genesis 18:1-15

I’m blogging from Ebert Ranch Camp in the Texas Hill country where Janelle, Pr. Kyle, fourteen of Calvary’s Jr. High Youth and I will be spending the week. In the hill country “the stars at night are big and bright…” even if they come out one by one. Abraham and Sarah had been waiting a long time for God to make good on the promise of offspring more numerous than the stars. When Sarah heard the promise repeated she laughed to herself because she figured the joke was on her. She didn’t need a mirror to know her body had been passed by the promise too slow in coming due. There are times when wearied by waiting “Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?” is beyond our ability to believe. When the check is not in the mail, when there is no good news to balance the bad, when bodies are beyond healing or relationships beyond repair and we like Sarah might think the joke is on us. But at the end of Sarah’s story God will have the last laugh as she cuddles a cooing Isaac and Abraham rejoices in the gift of the son who will make the “starry, starry night” dream come true. The end of all our stories has been written by the One who came in swaddling cloths and for whom we wait to come again clothed in glory. When we remember the end of the story God has written for us we are able to endure the chapters yet to be written as we wait for the last laugh which God will share with us and the whole creation when the long awaited promise of “all things new” is born into eternity.

Proper 10 C - Luke 10:25-37

                                                    The Good Samaritan by Vincent van Gogh 1890

Luke 10:25-37 

When parables become proverbial they lose their primary means of instruction which is a classic bait and switch. The lawyer testing Jesus is himself tested by the parable and forced to acknowledge the Samaritan as his neighbor even though he can’t bring himself to state it outright. “I suppose it was the one who showed mercy.” I imagine Jesus chuckled at the lawyer’s “I suppose…” On the other hand, as long as the parable of the Good Samaritan stays a story it hardly matters, even for the lawyer who passed Jesus’ test while failing his own. The “go and do likewise” is the real point of the parable and that only makes a difference if those who no longer seek to justify themselves act more like the Samaritan and less like the priest or Levite. Which means we can recast the story in our time with a Lutheran pastor, a medical doctor and whoever we dismiss as “less than” but unless we “go and do likewise” the parable has no point in being recast or retold. But if in hearing his own voice naming the neighbor the lawyer is moved to act like a priest or Levite who caring more about the bloodied man than remaining ritually pure stops to do what the Samaritan did then the parable is more than just a clever ruse designed to convict a lawyer. For all those justified by Jesus and no longer surprised by the plot twist or fooled by the bait and switch the story becomes an invitation to “go and do likewise” and in so doing we might just put the punch back in the parable.

Proper 10 C - Colossians 1:1-14

Colossians 1:1-14

Paul makes fruit bearing sound easy but truth to be told even if worms and blight don’t destroy fruit fully grown it takes cooperation of sun and soil and water just to get the tree to bud and the bud to flower. The fruit that we enjoy comes from supermarket aisles, washed and polished, neatly displayed and far removed from the labor that produced and packaged what we take for granted. And so the fruit of faith might be better understood if we were closer to its origin which of course is what Paul is praying for. The Colossian Christians have truly comprehended the grace of God which means they understand that the fruit of faith has little to do with them and everything to do with the One who has rescued them from the power of darkness and transferred them to the kingdom of Christ. A life worthy of the Lord, a life fully pleasing, is a life that recognizes and gives thanks for faith fully grown and supermarket ready no thanks to our abilities but wholly dependent on the cooperation of Son and Spirit and Baptismal water.

Proper 10 C - Psalm 25:1-10

Psalm 25:1-10

The psalmist, trusting in the Lord, prays that God’s great love and mercy from of old be remembered so that the psalmist's youthful sin and rebellious ways might be forgotten. While the Lord, remembering us in love, erases the memory of our rebellion we do not so easily forget our own folly or foolishness or willful acts of insolence and indulgence. Memories, as fresh as the day they were recorded, return to us and in accusing and condemning bring to mind guilt and shame. The enemy that triumphs over me lives in my own heart and mind as I remember what God has forgotten as if God still holds it against me. Forgiveness freely offered is never fully received as long as I continue to hold myself accountable for the sin God forgot long ago. Since the way of the Lord is first and foremost forgiveness the instruction of the sinner begins with trusting the Lord who is faithful and loving. When we believe the Lord forgives we might dare to forgive ourselves. It does not mean that forgiving is forgetting only that we are no longer bound by the sin we remember. And so we forget the shame of our sin when we remember God’s forgetful forgiveness and whenever we remember that God has forgotten the sin we remember we are fully free from our youthful sins and rebellious ways.

Proper 10 C - Deuteronomy 30:9-14

Deuteronomy 30:9-14

The ancestors God delighted in prospering, Abraham, Isaac & Jacob, reaped the benefits of God’s benevolence before the commandments and decrees were written into the book of the law. As it is written, “Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) If that was true for them then turning to God with heart, mind and soul is not first and foremost about behavior but about belief. As long as we think of observing commands as something we have to do “thou shalt not” will always be too hard and far from us. But Jesus abandoned heaven and for our sake crossed the sea of sin and death to bring the Word, his very presence, near to us. It is the heart drawn to God, the mind mesmerized by love, the soul resting secure in peace that makes observing the commands of God as close as your own breath. When turning to God for love of Christ compels us observing God’s commands is not something external, something we have to do, but rather an expression of who we are as those who live and breathe the law of love.

Proper 8 C - Luke 10:1-10, 16-20

Luke 10:1-11; 16-20

To be sent out with no purse or provisions as lambs into the midst of wolves doesn’t sound so promising unless the success of the mission does not depend on the missionary. In fact, the kingdom of God comes near the house that welcomes peace and the house with the “No Soliciting” sign. Where the kingdom is recognized healing happens. Where it is not recognized the kingdom stands as sentence against the shortsighted as they are left to their own devices which is always less than what the kingdom offers. The dust shaking judgment anticipates the woes in the verses the lectionary leaves out. It is a litany of losers, where even sin city Sodom is better off “in that day” than the cities who choose not to welcome peace. But even those who proclaim peace don’t quite recognize the kingdom come near for they rejoice not in the name of Jesus but in the power they wield with his name. Jesus redirects their joy from what they can do to what has been done for them. Their names are written in the book of life in the indelible ink of the blood of the lamb. And if the one despised and rejected, the Lamb who led to the slaughter and before his shearers was dumb is the one who writes the names recorded in heaven maybe there is hope even for the litany of losers?

Proper 8 C - Galatians 6:1-6

Galatians 6:1-16

Jesus said, “If you love only those who love you what good is that to you? Even the pagans do that.” Which means to fully fulfill the law of Christ one must bear the burdens of those who you are quite happy to see weighed down. In which case the law of Christ cannot be fulfilled unless you bear the burdens of “those who want to make a good showing in the flesh” in the same way you "do not grow weary in doing what is right” for those “who follow this rule.” Maybe the apostle Paul was too close to the conflict to apply his own instruction about gently restoring those who by their transgression troubled him so. Of course it is true of our time as well when well-meaning people passionate about defending the faith as they understand it violate its first principle. Love is the law of Christ. Is it any wonder that those outside the faith grow weary of our witness? If we are to be the body of Christ then to be crucified “to the world” is to be crucified for the world. When we argue over doctrine and dogma and in defending the Gospel fail to live it we are no longer defending the Gospel but violating it. Does it mean that anything goes and there are no truths to be taught? No. But if the fullest expression of the truth is love then love determines how all lesser "truths" are taught, which means Paul might have to recant his wish that “those agitators go the whole way and emasculate themselves!” (Galatians 5:12) Oy Vey!

Proper 8 C - Psalm 66:1-9

Psalm 66:1-9

Psalm 66 praises the awesome works of God remembering the rescue through the sea when escaping from Egypt the children of Israel were trapped between an army and a wet place. It is the story told time and again down through the centuries. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the Lord heard your cry and with a mighty arm rescued you from Pharaoh’s grasp bringing you to a land flowing with milk and honey. While it is remembered with shouts of joy and singing it is also the story told when the milk has gone sour and the honey runs out, when enemies are all around, when life hangs in the balance and feet are on unsteady ground. When all seems hopeless in the present remembering the providence of God in the past is how one gets through today and into tomorrow. It is remembering God’s faithfulness that preserves the life that is essential, the life of hope. It is remembering God’s mercy that places the feet of faith on the solid ground of trust. And so we remember the awesome work of God on our behalf, not a passing through the sea on dry land, but God in human flesh passing through the sea of sorrow and suffering and death. In the tomorrow that will be the day that never ends the enemy that will cringe before God is death which like the chariots of Pharaoh has been swallowed up in the sea of victory.

Proper 8 C - Isaiah 66:10-14

Isaiah 66:10-14

Isaiah might be enamored by Jerusalem’s anatomy but I’d rather be consoled in Paris. On the other hand no city in the world seems to attract as much attention as Jerusalem, which sadly to say, has not been the source of much rejoicing. Jerusalem, which means the city of peace, has more often been a city of sorrow. Isaiah’s vision of the exile’s return to Jerusalem to be nursed and carried on her arm and dangled on her knees was not realized in his day and even the rejoicing of Zionist exiles reclaiming the Promised Land was short lived because of the violence and bloodshed that greeted their return. In our time devout Jews gather at the Wailing Wall to pray for the restoration of the temple as Palestinian Christians weep at walls that surround and separate them from the part of the Promised Land that is their home and all the while God weeps over the plight of all people who love Jerusalem. But in the dream of God’s design those who rejoice in her and those who mourn because of her will both be comforted by her. In the dream of God’s design Jerusalem is a place of peace for all people where the feast that never ends will finally begin. It may be that we have to do more than pray for the peace of Jerusalem for the dream of God’s design to come true. It will not come true by denying the right of Jewish people to live in safety. It will not come true by denying the real plight of the Palestinian people imprisoned in their own land. The hatred that exists and is the cause of such suffering will only be overcome when each side sees in each other the dream of God’s design. And when God’s dream comes true it will be Paris that will play second fiddle to Jerusalem, the real city of amour.

Proper 7 C - Luke 9:51-62

Luke 9:51-62

Either the disciples are accustomed to calling down fire on folks or they’re blowing smoke. I’m voting for the latter. But then church folk do get a little hot under the collar when what they believe to be sacred is not well received. Jesus puts out their passion for revenge (and ours?) with a rebuke and the narrative continues with three on the road sayings. The cost of following Jesus will be high. No home. No time to bury the dead. No turning back. We tend to have an easier time of it and even if we make sacrifices we are not without the comforts of home or time to mourn or take care of business before doing whatever it is God has called us to do. So we are either “not fit for the kingdom of God” or the text does not apply to us. I’m going to opt for a middle way aka the Lutheran solution. We may indeed have comfortable places to lay our heads and take time to bury our dead and say farewell before following but being fit for the kingdom depends wholly on the One who had the power to call down fire on rude Samaritans but did not. So what might seem as an absolute (…not fit for the kingdom) is actually a rebuke and a rebuke is a correction not a rejection. And in the Lutheran solution the rebuke of the law always leads one to cling more firmly to the Gospel which is the only way we are ever fit for the kingdom of God.

Proper 6 C - Luke 8:26-39

Luke 8:26-39
The man set free from demons is the hope of every parent, sister, brother or friend of a loved one shackled by insanity, tormented by self-abuse or consumed by addiction. The story is recorded in Mathew, Mark & Luke and it would seem from the narrative, especially the details of self-mutilation in the Gospel of Mark, that the man was chained for his own protection as much as he was to protect others from his violent behavior. No doubt the man of Gerasene had family and friends who like their counterparts in our time prayed desperate prayers and hoped and wept and blamed and despaired and prayed again. And so when the shackles of insanity are finally broken and the Legion possessed pigs take the demons to the deep it seems odd that the people are afraid and tell Jesus, as politely as possible, to get out of Dodge. On the other hand, it makes perfect sense that the man now in his right mind pleads to go with Jesus and if permitted I imagine would have rather died than desert or deny Jesus when the time came to choose. But Jesus sends him home and because he does the next time Jesus steps out of a boat in Gerasene people recognize him immediately and run “throughout that whole region bringing the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was… begging him to let them touch even the edge of his cloak...” (Mark 6:55, 56) The possessed man, now in his right mind, has changed the minds of the people of Gerasene by telling his story and the witness of his new life in Christ. There is healing in hope that springs from touching Jesus through the love and care and support and encouragement of people in their “right minds” concerning the promise of God to deliver us, as Luther put it, from sin, death and the devil. It may be that healing happens in our time as it did in Gerasene. It may be that healing is the strength to endue another day. It may be that healing is the courage to make difficult decisions born of love for the possessed. But however it happens the only way minds and lives are changed is when we who have been set free share our story and the witness of our new lives in Christ so that those still bound might experience the blessing of a right mind.

Proper 6 C - Galatians 3:23-29

Galatians 3:23-29

Clothed in Christ the divisions of race and religion, social status and gender are washed away in the waters of baptism. This is the vision that captures our imagination but like a dream fades from memory in the harsh light of day. It works in theory, but in practice? Not so much. It might be because we are more comfortable with rules and regulations that define our everyday, putting people in their proper place, maintaining the social order for the sake of order (or profit?) Now I’m not advocating anarchy and neither is Paul. What he is advocating is a real time reflection of the future where all things are made new and people of every tribe and nation, language and tongue dine together in perfect unity at the final feast that never ends. If in the future of God’s design definitions that divide do not exist then we who are joined to the preview, who are justified in the here and now by faith, ought to live what we trust and hope one day will be. Maybe the reason it only works in theory is because we don’t practice it enough.

Psalm 22:19-28

Psalm 22:19-28

Psalm 22 begins with God gone missing “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?” but concludes with hope as the one who cries out is confident that the Lord not hidden has listened to the cry for help. It is the absolute honesty of the lament psalms that allows them to end on a note of praise. In a way they are liturgical venting, the psalmist’s heart poured out in questioning and complaint. It does not mean the condition that prompts the cry of dereliction is resolved only that by voicing the complaint as an act of faith the strength that is sapped is restored and the confidence that is shaken is reset on solid ground. That is true for the laments of our lives as well which is why the psalms are the place we go when trouble surrounds us and deliverance seems far off. While the witnesses of the crucifixion only heard the first verse, “My God, my God…” Jesus remembered that the psalm ends with rejoicing and trusted that the cross was the prelude to resurrection. The laments in Orlando echo Jesus’ cry and while their sorrow may last a long time one hopes that in the same way that Jesus overcame pain and sorrow and suffering and the darkness of death so too all our laments will ultimately end in praise.

Proper 6 C - Isaiah 65:1-9

Isaiah 65:1-9

Isaiah is one of my favorite books in the Bible but as it is with favorite books there are chapters I favor over others. Isaiah 25 and the feast of fat things for all people, the return to Zion with singing in Isaiah 35, the tender speaking of Isaiah 40, “comfort, comfort my people” are all to be preferred over “I will not keep silent, but I will repay.” But in the same way that the Gospel is meaningless without the Law and the Law is hopeless without the Gospel so God is not wholly God without being just and the one who justifies. (Romans 3:26) Which is to say while God is merciful there is a cost associated with continually grieving God and even though sin is not counted against us there are consequences that cannot be avoided. Isaiah 65 reveals a dimension of the incarnation, God in the flesh, which is not as comforting as the babe of Bethlehem. No. This is God as grieving parent, God as jilted lover; God continually provoked on purpose by those God seeks to save. It is also an image of God who has been pushed to the point of breaking, whose fierce anger has been aroused by continual mocking and disregard. But while it is true that we are a rebellious people who walk in a way that is not good, following our own devices I don’t think fear motivates one to love the God who calls to us, “Here I am, here I am.” However, if I am the parent of a rebellious child who continually provokes I might sympathize with God’s patience being exhausted. If I have loved another with my whole heart only to be lied to, cheated on, made to be a fool of, then I might sympathize with God’s righteous anger. And when I sympathize with God’s anger and pain and profound sadness by confessing that I am the rebellious child and the unfaithful spouse then I might just be the good apple within the bad and become a blessing to the God that by my sin I provoke. I hope so. And believe me, so does God.

Proper 5 C - Galatians 2:15-21

Galatians 2:11-21

Paul has a problem with Peter who formerly went where no Jew had gone before but now under pressure has changed his behavior, if not his mind. At the heart of Paul’s accusation of hypocrisy, against the Rock upon which Christ promised to build his church no less, is the question of what makes one right with God. Jews sought justification by religiously obeying the 613 laws in the Torah. Paul sees justification in the invitation to die with Christ which is an invitation to die to any attempt to justify oneself. It is the invitation to be crucified with Christ that calls us to speak the Gospel where people might raise their eyebrows so that one day the rest of their bodies might follow suit.

Proper 5 C - Psalm 32

Psalm 32

Silence is golden, unless you have something you need to say. The psalmist is wasting away one night at a time. You've been there, or maybe you still are. You toss and turn waking every hour on the hour as things said or left unsaid replay in your head on a continuous loop. A sleepless night is followed by an endless day until back in bed it starts all over again. Maybe you've also been in that place where sick and tired of being sick and tired you come clean and tell the truth and determine to do what you always knew you had to do but didn't have the will or the courage or the desire or the help to begin the painful process. Of course that makes it sound so simple when it is often only by bit and bridle and living “many are the torments of the wicked” that one tells the truth and acknowledges sin to oneself, to the Lord, and here’s the hard part, to someone else who loving us will not abandon us to more of the same. It is why we are called to be in community and if we weren't always putting on a happy face and pretending as if everything is fine and I’m okay, really I am, we might take advantage of what the church was always meant to be; a hiding place where no one hides. 

Proper 5 C - Luke 7:11-17

Luke 7:11-17

Two parades meet in the city of Nain. One led by Jesus. The other by a weeping widow. The Jesus parade, having just witnessed the healing of the Centurion’s servant, is following with anticipation expecting something from the prophet from Nazareth who never disappoints. The widow’s parade loudly wailing anticipates nothing as the widow’s only hope is borne lifeless on a bier. The parades meet in the gate where one will have to give way to the other. One might expect the Jesus parade to step aside and show some respect but the prophet from Nazareth, filled with compassion, will have none of that. “Do not weep” means the widow’s parade is the one that will step aside and when the son sits up the two parades become one because the prophet from Nazareth never disappoints.

Proper 5 C - Galatians 1:11-24

Galatians 1:11-24
You don’t have to like the apostle Paul to appreciate what the Lord accomplished through him. Truth is he sometimes seems to be rather full of himself for one who will admit elsewhere to be the least of the apostles. That being said it was God who did the choosing and scripture certainly supports the idea that God chooses those who otherwise would be left behind. Moses, reluctant and slow of speech, is chosen to speak for I AM. David, the youngest brother from the smallest tribe, is chosen to be king and even after committing adultery and murder will still be a man after God’s own heart. Mary of Magdalene, once possessed by seven demons, is set free to become the apostle to the apostles. “I have seen the Lord.” And Paul, the persecutor of a charismatic but insignificant Jewish sect, is the one whose work and writings birth the church into the Gentile world to change it forever. So maybe God can work through anyone? Maybe you? Just sayin…

Proper 5 C - Psalm 30

Psalm 30

Sometimes the joy scheduled for the morning has to wait through many nights of weeping before it can greet us with the dawn of a new day. I think it is because we often do our weeping in the silence of our inner thoughts while trying to maintain the outward appearance of prosperity. “I shall never be moved.” The face of God is not hidden all at once but fades from view the longer we isolate ourselves, relying on the limitations of our own strength. But when we finally run out of Kleenex and tire of living in the pit we have turned into a home healing begins to happen. It doesn't mean the dancing we do is pretty or polished, at least not right away. But the better we become at being honest with ourselves and others the more familiar the “mourning turned to dancing” becomes and in the freedom of sharing the joy of the morning might even last through the night.