Rik's Sermons: January 2016

Sunday, January 31, 2016

The Edge of the Cliff

Epiphany 4C – RCL

January 31, 2016

In the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus read from the book of the prophet Isaiah, and began to say, "Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing." All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, "Is not this Joseph's son?" He said to them, "Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, 'Doctor, cure yourself!' And you will say, 'Do here also in your hometown the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.'" And he said, "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian." When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

Today’s gospel reading is a continuation from last week. Last week we read of Jesus going into his hometown Synagogue in Nazareth, reading from the scroll of the prophet Isaiah that "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor." And then with all eyes upon him he begins his first sermon in his home church saying “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” Everyone was amazed. Jesus spoke with authority. Their hometown boy was indeed doing well. But Jesus did not stop there. Jesus said more.

We hear the crowd question "isn't this the carpenters son? And Jesus indeed was the son of Joseph in the eyes of the town’s people – he is the local boy. The people had heard about the signs and miracles that Jesus was doing in his adopted hometown of Capernaum on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. They wanted to be set free. Certainly they were captives. They were living under Roman rule. They wanted to be healed. They wanted to witness the miracles and healing themselves. But Jesus tells them that he has come to set everyone free – not just them. They were not going to get any special treatment from Jesus. Then Jesus quotes from two instances of prophets healing outsiders when many insiders also needed healing. Jesus is telling them that they are not going to get a special show from the hometown kid. Jesus did not come to release just them – or even to release them first. Jesus came to do more. Jesus came to heal the whole world. To heal both Jews and gentiles.

The admiration and awe from the first part of the sermon suddenly turned to anger and the crowds drove Jesus out of town and were ready to throw him off a cliff. Now I have to tell you that as a preacher standing up here it makes me wonder if I will say something that will make you all want to throw me off a cliff – thankfully most of Sacramento is quite flat!

Just two weeks ago I worshiped in an Anglican church in Nazareth. After church our pilgrim group visited a synagogue church from the first century. A place that certainly could have been where this all played out. And we saw the hill and the precipice on what was the edge of town in Jesus’ day where the crowds wanted to kill him. A day that certainly foreshadowed Jesus eventual crucifixion as he continued to upset the powers of his day.

Nazareth is a hilly city – hillier than I had imagined. It is also still full of divisions – as is all of the Holy Land – a land where Christians, Jews and Muslims all have holy sites. It is a place where I experienced amazing thin places where the veil between our world and the world of Love that is the dream of our God was close at hand.

I experienced places that brought tears to my eyes. Tears because of the presence of the Holy but also tears because division and captivity still exists in the Holy Land. Tears because there are children being killed and abandoned. Tears that Palestinians, Jews, Muslims and Christians are not at peace with each other. Tears that power is still oppressing people.

But there is also joy in the holy land. There are amazing people working for peace in the Holy Land. Organizations like Parents Circle work to bring peace at a grass roots level. Parents Circle is made up of parents who have had children killed in the ongoing violence of occupation. But instead of wanting revenge for the death of their children they come together to advocate for peace.

There are people who take care of abandoned children in the Crèche Ministry in Bethlehem. A ministry where children are cared for with love. A place where unwed mothers and women who have been assaulted can safely give birth. There are people who care deeply for the outsider and the poor and the sick. There are still people working to bring Isaiah’s prophecy and Jesus’ work to fulfillment.

Ruth Anne Reese from Luther Seminary said, “Perhaps the most disturbing part of this passage is that Jesus does not do any miracles in his hometown. Why should they not receive a little benefit from Jesus’ ministry? Yet this very sense of being disturbed can be a helpful pointer for our own preaching and teaching. Do we feel entitled to the work of Jesus among us? Do we think that Jesus should do ministry for the church first? Or, do we share with Jesus his concern for the marginalized and vulnerable and for those beyond the boundaries of our local congregation?”^{^[1]}

In our own country- indeed in our own communities we have similar tensions. We have people who want safety at all costs. We have people who want to literally build walls to keep other people out. Who claim that they are the anointed ones and have favor with God yet they oppress their fellow human beings because of race, gender-identity, sexuality or socio-economic status. Our heated political rhetoric during the election cycle is bringing out the worst in people. Unfortunately we too can be like the people in the synagogue – one moment thrilled with what Jesus is saying to us and the next moment angry that we are not his favorites.

Our call as Jesus people is not to oppress people. Our call is to identify those places that need healing. To open our hearts to the suffering around us and to work to change the power that oppresses.

I am thankful that this congregation gets it! You have a history of working to bring good news to the poor. To feed the hungry, to cloth those who have little. St. Matthews is now opening up the campus to the winter sanctuary program to house those who have no place to go. Letting people sleep and find safety in this holy space. You all are willing to share your church space with the other. To provide a place of warmth and safety during the cold and wet nights of winter.

That is our call as followers of Christ. We are called to open our hearts to the marginalized. We are called to tell truth to power. We are called to help bring God’s dream of Love for all of creation into reality here and now. A love that is for everyone. Not just those who we think are worthy. In fact we are called to walk right up to the edge of that cliff with Jesus with the recognition that people might want to throw us off too. And then we too are to walk on and continue to do the ministries that we are called to do as we help bring the reign of God’s love to our hurting and hurt filled world.

^{^[1]} https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2742

Sunday, January 3, 2016

This Season is about Incarnation!

Second Sunday after Christmas

All Years

Jeremiah 31:7-14

Psalm 84 or 84:1-8

Matthew 2:13-15,19-23

After the wise men had left, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother by night, and went to Egypt, and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet, "Out of Egypt I have called my son."

When Herod died, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead." Then Joseph got up, took the child and his mother, and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was ruling over Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. And after being warned in a dream, he went away to the district of Galilee. There he made his home in a town called Nazareth, so that what had been spoken through the prophets might be fulfilled, "He will be called a Nazorean."

Merry Christmas! Today is the 10^th day in our Christmas Season and the second Sunday of Christmas. You will by now have noticed that we are still singing Christmas carols and hymns even when our secular society has moved on – and as a comic strip I read in yesterdays paper reminded me that the next big shopping season is already on us – Valentines day. But we are still remembering the birth of God as a small baby. We are still reveling in the incarnation. My Christmas decorations are still up at my house and will stay up until we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany – the coming of the wise men on January 6^th.

And in the midst of it we have this strange Gospel reading!

What is this doing here? We hear about God warning Joseph in a dream – not once but twice. Once to flee and again when it was safe – well sort of safe – to go back to Israel. I struggled about how to preach on this lesson. What is the good news? Because frankly this reading contains a lot of danger and bad news – but you did not hear the bad news when I read the Gospel. The assigned reading leaves out the worst part – it leaves out the slaughtering of all male children under the age of two in and around Bethlehem by the order of King Herod. It leaves put the reason for the warning.

There was a real danger and Joseph was warned that King Herod was so weak and unsure of holding on to his kingship that he was willing to slaughter all the male children of a certain age after the wise men – also having been warned in a dream – did not go back and tell him where they can find the infant king. The coming of Jesus into the world was turning society on its head.

There is a lot of danger here. But the danger is not from God. It is from power-crazed humans. God intervenes by sending an Angel to Joseph in a dream to get up and flee Bethlehem. Flee Israel. Go to Egypt. So the Holy Family are once again refugees. A difficult journey back into the land that their ancestors escaped from slavery many years before.

Unfortunately not a lot has changed in 2000 years in people’s hearts. We still have power hungry groups willing to slaughter innocents to gain control. There are stories after stories of Syrian’s fleeing the multiple civil wars that are going on in their country. We read of Isis fighting to create a caliphate – a holy state – warring against everyone in Syria. We read of awful killings by awful means of people caught by Isis who do not fit their brand of religion. We have rebels – not affiliated with Isis trying to overthrow the president of Syria. Because of this violence thousands – perhaps millions – are fleeing Syria.

Like the Holy Family over two thousand years ago they are fleeing the violence. They are trying to find peace. But they are not finding much peace. The open borders in Europe – where until very recently one could travel between European countries without border controls – are starting to close. Germany is being criticized for it’s welcoming of refugees. There is fear that some of these refugees might be terrorists. There is fear of the stranger.

Closer to home there is another influx of unaccompanied children and mothers with children crossing our southern borders. Children fleeing the violence in South and Central America. Young people fleeing the violence that the drug lords are inflicting in trying to control and take power. Killing anyone who gets in their way and putting young people to work. And we too are worried that some of the people crossing our borders might cause violence. That they too might be terrorists. So some in our country want to fortify our borders and to send any one who crosses back to their own countries – no matter the violence and possible death that might wait for them.

And for some of us the Christmas season might not be all that joy filled. It can be a reminder that we are not all able to have a feast. We are not all able to afford the kind of Christmas that we see on TV or in advertisements. We might be refugees in our own homes. We might be feeling the loss of loved ones due to death or estrangements. There is not always joy in our own lives.

But there is good news in this reading. This season is not about the feast. This season is not about how many parties we attend. This season is about Incarnation. The coming of God into our world. The coming of God into a real world. A world that is fraught with hunger, violence, fear and death. And while God does not cause the violence the promise of the Incarnation is that God is with us when we are hurt. God is with us when we are refugees. As the trite saying goes – God has “been there and done that”.

One of the preachers I follow said this about our readings today: “So while the story Matthew tells may be dark and difficult, it isn’t even a little bit far-fetched.

Which is why, of course, he tells it. To let us know that in Jesus, Emmanuel, God did indeed draw near to us, took on our lot and our life, and experienced and endured all that we did -- disappointment, fear, violence, even death. All so that we would know that we are not alone -- that we do not suffer alone, fear alone, live and die alone. ”^{^[1]}

And our call as followers of an incarnate God is to be there too. We are called to accompany each other on our paths through life. We are called to be there in the good times and to celebrate the joys that come into each of our lives. But perhaps more importantly we are called to accompany people during the difficult times of life. To be there with them when it is not easy.

One of the requirements for ordination is to do a unit of Clinical Pastoral Education. I did my unit as a Hospice Chaplain. Many of my friends and relatives said that it must be hard accompanying people on their last stages on earth. To know that most of the people I was serving would likely be dead in six months or less. But while there were sad moments and moments that I was in tears there was also joy.

Joy that I was able to reach people who had advanced dementia or Alzheimer’s disease through prayer and hymns. There was joy in hearing a woman speak who had not spoken more than a word or two of gibberish for months. There was joy in working with a family to plan a celebration of life for their mother. To hear the pain and disconnections that were being healed in a difficult time. To hear of siblings that had been disconnected for years starting to be reconnected.

That is our call. That is the promise of incarnation. To remember that God was willing to come into a violent world not to bring more violence but to bring peace. To behave not as the people expected the messiah to act but to turn those expectations on their heads. To remember that this baby grows up to challenge conventional wisdom.

David Lose from Luther seminary sums it up beautifully: “The Christmas story begins with the birth of a child. But it doesn’t end until this child has grown up, preached God’s mercy, been crucified and died and then raised again. Actually, it doesn’t end until Jesus draws all of us into that same story, raising us up to new life even amid the very real challenges that face each of us here and now.

This story matters because it tells us the truth: the sometimes difficult truth of unjust rulers and violence and private grief and personal pain and all the rest. But also the always hopeful truth that God has not stood back at a distance, but in Jesus has joined God’s own self to our story and is working -- even now, even here -- to grant us new life that we may not just endure but flourish, experiencing resurrection joy and courage in our daily lives and sharing our hope with others.”^{^[2]}

On this second Sunday of Christmas I give thanks for all of you who live out the incarnation. I see the good people of St. Matthew’s walk with each other and walk with the community that surrounds them. To be God’s hands, feet and heart in our world. Even as the discernment on what form the ministry to the community at St.Matthews is going to look like going forward is moving too slowly you reach out. You are opening the campus for winter sanctuary this week. A week that promises to be wet and cold. You, in the midst of uncertainty, are living the incarnation! I give thanks for that in each and every one of you.

^{^[1]} https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?post=2973

^{^[2]} ibid.