bible

Extravagant.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

In the gift of this new day, in the gift of the present moment, in the gift of time and eternity intertwined, let us be grateful, let us be attentive, let us be open to what has never happened before, in the gift of this new day, in the gift of the present moment, in the gift of time and eternity intertwined. 

– John Philip Newell

Gospel Lesson

John 2:1-11

Jesus Changes Water Into Wine

2 On the third day a wedding took place at Cana in Galilee. Jesus’ mother was there, 2 and Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.3 When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.”

4 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”

5 His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

6 Nearby stood six stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing, each holding from twenty to thirty gallons.

7 Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water”; so they filled them to the brim.

8 Then he told them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the banquet.”

They did so, 9 and the master of the banquet tasted the water that had been turned into wine. He did not realize where it had come from, though the servants who had drawn the water knew. Then he called the bridegroom aside10 and said, “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

11 What Jesus did here in Cana of Galilee was the first of the signs through which he revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

I have had the privilege over the years of officiating weddings…and participating as a witness to them!  It’s been fun to see how folks want to go all out to celebrate these moments!  And, it’s good to have so many parties associated with them.  It is a moment that folks need and want to celebrate relationships of all sorts!  

I love the gospel story because it is about family, community, and something new.  Jesus is at a wedding, enjoying himself with his friends and family, the disciples and his mom comes up with this problem.  The wedding has run out of wine…which is a huge “faux pas” in those days and an immense embarrassment.  Jesus’ mom wants Jesus to do something about it.  Jesus responds by saying “woman”, which may sound odd to us today, but the actual word translated is more of a term of respect and intimacy.  Jesus, who by this time is 30 years old, then says something like “oh Mom are you serious?” (in a very loving way I’m sure!).  Mary, Jesus’ mother sees something in her son that is special, she knows he is able to do something about this.  Jesus, then does something amazing.  Jesus takes ordinary water, water used to clean dirty feet (you see, in that part of the world it was pretty dusty and when you went into someone’s house, you cleaned your feet and hands pretty good), and turned into wine…what’s more, he turned it into the best wine that anyone at that party had ever tasted!  

At that point, people had been drinking a lot.  Like for days…as weddings back then were not a one day affair but a week long deal.  Usually, the best wine came out first, then after folks had a lot to drink, they’d bring out the cheap stuff.  But, the master of ceremonies tasted the best wine and remarked about the generosity of the bridegroom.  

Why did Jesus change the water to wine?  To show that there is something new going on in the world.  In a world that is crazy and where we often feel like ordinary water, or maybe even dirty toe jam water, as we walk through life and get dirty and grimy, there is hope.  When we recognize the Christ Presence in Jesus and that this Presence resides within us, God can take the ordinary or dirty water of our lives and turn it into the best wine ever tasted!  Jesus is saying in this story that he is the “visible image of the invisible God” at it says in Colossians.  Jesus is also saying that everyone is special in this story.  

I think that the family in this wedding party probably ran out of wine because they didn’t have a whole lot of money…so, when Jesus turned the water into wine, he turned SIX whole jars, HUGE jars into wine…more wine than they could have drunk.  Jesus not only transformed the water into wine and wants to transform our lives, Jesus blessed the whole wedding party beyond measure and wants to show you some amazing blessings and adventures in life.  One thing about Jesus, he exhibits and demonstrates that God is  extravagant in God’s pursuit and love for us and for the community.  These were friends, family, members of Jesus’ family and neighbors.  The author of John is making a statement by having Jesus’ first public miracle happen at a wedding.  God is interested in overwhelming us with God’s love in practical, and even unpractical, and unforeseen ways…and this God is interested in blessing all of us, not just a few.  God’s good news, God’s presence isn’t for just a few, it’s for everyone.

This passage has also been said to give witness to the passing of the old law based on rules, regulations, and works to the new demonstration of God’s presence with humanity.  One of grace, personal love, and on God’s works on our behalf not our own.  

Just like Jesus wants us to experience the blessing of friendship with God and others in order to live lives into something beautiful, new wine, God wants us to have a change of heart of on our religion, how we live our faith, our very lives.  Julian of Norwich says this about faith, it means:  “trust that we are in God and God whom we do not see is in us.”

In our faith, in our way of not just showing up at church, but being church, we so often settle for the way things have always been.  We want to know what to expect and to control things.  We want a predictable faith, a predictable religion, a predictable God.   In so doing, we often make decisions and act upon those decisions that are comfortable and do not depict a faith in God, or even ourselves…leaving us feeling like grimy, dirty, used up foot washing toe jam water.   It’s a religion that does us no good.  And that’s a religion that we simply don’t need….and many people have come to the same conclusion and walk away from their faith.

Yet, we then come to something unpredictable, like a wedding, or a funeral, or an action that someone does for us, and we see God’s goodness breaking in.  And, deep down, we behold the extravagance of God, the delight of God.  Again, Julian of Norwich says this:  “to behold God in all things is to live in complete joy.”

Again, Jesus fills 6 barrels.  That’s a lot of wine.  Jesus didn’t want folks to feel like they didn’t have enough.  He also didn’t want them to simply seal up those barrels and not share…he poured them out for the entire wedding party!

We are loved and are called to love ourselves, others, and God with extravagance…to pour out the good wine of God’s faith in us, God’s love for us, God’s religion or binding to us, to all in our neighborhood…and, in so doing, we’ll find ourselves experiencing a lived life of the greatest celebration we could ever imagine!

Baptized.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ,
of Christ the light of the world to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you.

– Gaelic Blessing

New Testament Readings

Acts 8:14-17

14 Now when the apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. 15 The two went down and prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit 16 (for as yet the Spirit had not come upon any of them; they had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus). 17 Then Peter and John laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

Luke 3:15-17,Luke 3:21-22

15 As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, 16 John answered all of them by saying, “I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 17 His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

The Baptism of Jesus

21 Now when all the people were baptized, and when Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, the heaven was opened, 22 and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

Sermon:

I’ve shared this story before.  But it seems pretty important in this season, as I’ve been thinking a lot about Robbie Waddles.  When I was 8 years old, my best friend, Rob was baptized.  When I saw him get baptized, I thought that was pretty cool.  I love Robbie, still do.  We did literally everything together growing up.  He died at age 46, probably suicide…which is sad, because he was an amazing human…English professor, musician, athlete…and he believed in me.  Growing up, if Robbie did it, I was going to do it. 

So, I asked my parents if I could be baptized.  We set-up a meeting with our Baptist pastor, we talked about it, I got real excited…and the next Sunday, I was immersed in this huge tank that was in our Sanctuary behind our choir. 

I did not want to wait, I wanted to get in and get it done.  

I don’t remember much about my conversation with our Baptist preacher.  I just remember that it was something that my best friend did and he was glad…and it sure did make my parents happy.  

In our reformed PCUSA understanding of Baptism, we believe it to be a sign of God’s faithfulness to us.  It has much more to do with God’s actions on our behalf through Jesus than our actions.  It is also a seal that God puts on us…God’s “signature” if you will.  And, it eventually took the place of circumcision as a sign of one’s trust in God…am much less painful sign I’d say!  Baptism marks us as a people living in community with God.  God seals us to God’s self.  We may not always live that way, but in effect, God is saying that he won’t give up on us and that he believes in us.

As Jesus comes up from the water in today’s Gospel, there is a voice from heaven, God’s voice that has these amazing lines from our gospel lesson this am.  “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I’m well pleased”.

Jesus is God in the flesh, the flesh part means that Jesus represents all of us to God and God is represents to all of us through Jesus. In our Trinitarian understanding, God is three persons that are of the same substance birthed out of the Godhead.  They mutually indwell in each other’s being in such a tight community, even sharing the same essence, so much so that they are one God and speak as one.  Jesus is unique in that he is divine, yet also human.  We share the same essence as Jesus, therefore we can also say that we are human with divinity at our core…especially as image bearers of God…  It’s wild, but what it means for us today is that when God looks at us, God sees Jesus and the words of this passage are also addressed to us.  God is well pleased with us!  We are God’s beloved.

James Torrance, one of the great Scottish Torrance brothers who were writers, theologians, philosophers, and pastors says this about Jesus’ baptism: 

“When he [Jesus] saw the people going down to the river to be baptized by John, confessing their sins, submitting to the verdict of guilty (which is repentance), Jesus said to John, ‘baptize me!  I will submit to the verdict of guilty for them!’  He identified himself with sinners, the he might take their place…”

Jesus’ baptism is for all of humanity.  

This action by Jesus demonstrates the whole of Jesus’ birth, life, death, and even resurrection.  Jesus came to give us life.  We often forget that we are God’s beloved…actually, we are God’s heart.  And, when we look deep into our selves, our true selves, we find God waiting for us there.  

Baptism signifies a death of our old selves, the old self that lives in its pathologies and old ways of thinking, when we are put under the water.  When we come up, we are reminded that God has cleansed us and lives within us and is emerging always out of our deepest selves.  Meister Eckhart says that “God is within, but we are without”.  

Jesus wants us to move towards a new way of thinking, a new way of living, a rebirth of God within that moves from the inside out…this new life as signified by baptism

This rebirth is in constant motion.  Since Jesus is God, Jesus is the Christ and we are the body of Christ, Jesus’ actions are sealed forever with us, just as we are sealed with Jesus.  At 57 years of age, I am again realizing deeply what it means to be present to God and others.  The great Catholic writer, Thomas Merton says:  

“Our reality, our true self, is hidden in what appears to us to be nothingness….We can rise above this unreality and recover our hidden reality….God Himself begins to live in me not only as my Creator but as my other and true self.”

God, the Creator, wants you to know that life, real life, is happening through God’s constant actions in and around you as you empty yourself and allow God to be rebirthed within.  There is new life, this rebirth, as signified in baptism!  God is doing a new thing as the writer in Isaiah says:

18 Do not remember the former things,

    or consider the things of old.

19 I am about to do a new thing;

    now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

Jesus has brought a new thing and wants us to live reconciled and reset lives as we enter into new reality that is fully present with each other.  You, and our community, have been baptized in Christ.  The old life has gone, and a new reality is upon us.  May we stop waiting and live in the birthing of God’s Presence within us, around us, and follow God’s movement towards all of humanity in the streets and neighborhood around us.

Word.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

In out-of-the-way places of the heart, Where your thoughts never think to wander, 

This beginning has been quietly forming, 

Waiting until you were ready to emerge. For a long time it has watched your desire, Feeling the emptiness growing inside you, 

Though your destination is not yet clear You can trust the promise of this opening; 

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning That is at one with your life’s desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;
Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk; Soon you will home in a new rhythm,
For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

– John O’Donohue 

John 1:(1-9); 10-18 (NRSV)

The Word Became Flesh

[1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being 4 in him was life,and the life was the light of all people. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light. 9 The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.]

10 He was in the world, and the world came into being through him; yet the world did not know him. 11 He came to what was his own, and his own people did not accept him. 12 But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified to him and cried out, “This was he of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me ranks ahead of me because he was before me.’”) 16 From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. 17 The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son,who is close to the Father’s heart,who has made him known.

In the middle of winter, it can seem like things are bleak.  The days are shorter, it’s cold and cloudy, (although it has not been cold again this winter…on the contrary, very warm…strange new weather patterns my friends…)  the sun doesn’t seem to shine as much.  Plus, in Cincinnati, we seem to get a lot of “in-between” weather.  Doesn’t really snow a lot, but still cold and wet.  We long for spring!  

In our lives this past year, we may have experienced things that have been bleak, dark, and we may have felt like we are in an “in-between place”, or a s threshold space, as well.  We may have been sensing that a change is necessary, we have longed for the warmth of hope, just as we may have longed for the hope of warm sunshine in the spring after a long winter.  Our days get shorter, we experience darkness as we move through the changing seasons.

The changing of seasons is a good metaphor for our worshipping community called Westwood First Presbyterian.  At times this past year, it has felt like it has been a place of searching and change.  As a collective group of persons, it seems like we have been in an “in-between” place even as we co-create new things and move forward.  We may fill like we are on our way towards something, but we are still incomplete, not fully there.  We have wanted to change and grow in new directions, we’ve had a new pastor, we’ve been working on what it means to be a “community engaged” church, we are experiencing new relationships coming into the building even as we go out into the neighborhood, and we have embarked on a mystical journey together towards a deeper understanding of God’s revelation inside and all around us.  All of this is good, we are moving towards something, people inside the church and outside have remarked that there’s something different at Westwood First (and they like it!!!), and even different in our own lives, but we are still in between and not yet fully where we are called to be…at a threshold.

The very definition of the “darkness” means to be in a state of dark, it is an abstract noun.  Yet, it does not mean that one is “dark”, just living in a state of darkness.  That “state” or existence can be changed.  

Try an experiment this week.  Go into a dark room.  Pause for a moment, take in the darkness, look into it.  Then turn on a light and notice the difference.  Notice the change.

Our identity as Jesus followers gives us hope for in the midst of darkness and change, Jesus says this in Matthew 4:16 quoting from Isaiah.  

the people who sat in darkness

    have seen a great light,

and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death

    light has dawned.”

Sitting in darkness can really be disorienting.  We feel lost, yet the darkness does point us toward a need for light.  We actually need both.  Light and darkness, and the threshold times in between light and dark.  It is in those times that something new is created.  It is interesting to me that the word, “word”, or “logos” in Greek, in our gospel lesson this morning actually translates as “creative energy”.  

In darkness, we cannot see others around us as we should.   We stumble around often in relationships and because we are not able to see, we experience a break in relationship from folks because of something we’ve done or said, or something that was done or said to us.  Or we simply grow apart over time.  We often sit in darkness and darkness often leads to brokenness which can feel like living in the shadow of death.  And, in the brokenness, new things emerge, or are able to emerge and to cause creativity and growth.  

None of us are competent or good enough to get through this life deal without experiencing darkness, lostness, or brokenness.  The difference is how much light we want shining on our lives to expose us in our darkness.  

Author, poet, philosopher, Parker Palmer, in his book,  Let Your Life Speak, talks about depression and darkness.  He states that we need to embrace our wholeness as persons in those dark moments, our shadows, look into them, and use them as times of understanding who we are, our true selves as Thomas Merton, the great catholic philosopher and mystic might say.  

Friends, like a thief in the night, we can let darkness overwhelm us, but that is not our identity, that is not our true selves, we may live in darkness, but there is a light in the depth of that darkness…and this great light has entered the world and our lives…actually, this great light has been in us all along…made in God’s image means that God put God’s self in us from the beginning…”in the beginning was the word, and the word…”. 

Jesus, the light of the world, entered into the neighborhood of our lives, became flesh and bone just like us.  God  makes God’s dwelling, with us!!!  In us!!!  All around us!  Jesus is a visible expression of that divine expression that encompasses us and invites us to the work of awareness to live into…

Jesus came to reveal to us what it means to live in the fullness of who we are called to be in our truest selves.  We have received grace upon grace, we are given new opportunity to reinvent ourselves, to experience rebirth even in the midst of the in-between times.  The light of Jesus is here, we may not always like what we see, it may cause us to ask deep questions, but the light does transform us and can bring us into places of beauty in our lives in our neighborhood, work, and even in our church!  

This light was the word made flesh, Jesus, who invites us into this sacred moment where we can catch glimpses of his glory and experience fullness with others and with God…and we too can shine as sons and daughters of God as the “word” is made flesh in us and makes it’s dwelling in us…  

Treasure.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Celebration is an attentive and gracious joy of presence. When you celebrate, you are taking time to recognize, to open your eyes and behold in your life the quiet miracles and gifts that seek no attention; yet each day they nourish, shelter, and animate your life. The art of belonging in, with, and to yourself is what gives life and light to your presence; it brings a radiance to your countenance and a poise to your carriage. When your heart is content, your life can always find the path inwards to this deep stillness in you. 

– John O’Donohue 

Luke 2:41-52 

41 Now every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the festival of the Passover. 42 And when he was twelve years old, they went up as usual for the festival. 43 When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. 44 Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. Then they started to look for him among their relatives and 

friends. 45 When they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem to search for
him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parentssaw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety.”49 He said to them, “Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”50 But they did not understand what he said to them. 51 Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart. 

52 And Jesus increased in wisdom and in years,and in divine and human favor. 

The setting for this mornings’ gospel is a pilgrimage that Jesus makes with his parents and a whole host of others to Jerusalem to celebrate passover. It was a huge festival that every pious Jewish family would want to make.

It’s important to note that the authors up to this point in Luke have made Mary and Joseph the center of the story, Jesus doesn’t do anything without them. However, in this narrative, Jesus begins to take center stage. 

It’s also interesting to note that the authors give Jesus’ age. He’s 12. He is in the process of entering adulthood and this story is meant to mark a place of growth for Jesus. He’s making a statement. 

But, before that statement, we have the dramatic emotional experience that some of us as parents have gone through. Realizing you don’t know where your kids are. Now, I haven’t forgotten where my kids are for a complete day, but I have had a few moments in places like Central Park in NYC, King’s Island, or Disneyland where I’ve turned around for a brief moment and couldn’t find my kids…that sense of urgency in finding them brings up all sorts of feelings that we parents fear. 

Part of that emotion is out of a sense of wanting to protect our kids, but also the thought of losing them, of losing the relational connection, is overwhelming. That’s true not only with kids, but with anyone that we have a relationship with.

So, Mary and Joseph have left Jerusalem, they’ve been gone for a day before they realize that Jesus isn’t with them. Now, before you judge them as parents, remember that this is a different culture. Unlike today, Mary and Joseph are a part of a large clan of relatives. They all share a sense of responsibility for each other and for their kids. So, it would be natural for Mary and Joseph to assume that Jesus was being taken care of, and that when their clan left, that someone would have Jesus. 

But, that wasn’t the case here. They had left Jesus. When they went back to Jerusalem to find them, they searched for him for 3 days! Could you imagine the panic and the angst of his parents, missing someone they loved? 

After three days, they went to the temple. I’m not sure what led them there, maybe it was a sense of needing to go and seek spiritual comfort at the temple, or maybe they heard that Jesus may be there, who knows. But, when they got there, they found Jesus in the middle of religious scholars, listening, asking questions, being curious…it says that even the teachers at the Temple were amazed at his answers, his maturity, and understanding. 

Who knows what Jesus was talking about that day, but my bet is that it had a lot to do with God’s love being summed up by how much God loves us and calls us to love others…of a God who created us out of relationship, for relationship…a God who gives us community with one another, with God’s self, and with the world around us. Jesus was listening not only to the teachers, but also to God’s Spirit revealing to him where community can be made present. 

When Mary, as any mother would, asked Jesus why he put her through this…why the anguish of wondering where he was, Jesus responds, “why were you searching for me, you should have known I’d be in the one place where I can intimately experience relationship with others and with God.” 

Jesus refers to being in his Father’s house. We can get caught up in the masculine reference to God, but the Israelites used Father in a relational sense, it has much more to do with attempting to describe God in intimate, relational terms than subscribing to God masculine qualities, and, by the way, there are just as many examples in scripture of God being reference in the feminine and with feminine qualities. Language sometimes fails us in giving testimony to our experience. 

God is closer than any parent, God is within us and outside of us, God is “other”, we are not God, yet God reveals to us who were created to be, saved to be, and sustained to become.  

Jesus is experiencing God’s joy, God’s Presence, God’s love in the temple. 

It seems like Mary, like many parents, was not able to “see” or  “hear” her son in this moment…but, she paused, listened…and saw and heard him in that moment.  Mary doesn’t continue to scold him, she doesn’t understand all that Jesus is saying, yet she knows that her child is authentically experiencing God. She sees Jesus.  It says that she treasures these experiences in her heart. Treasure is a great word, it’s something of immense value. In other places in the new testament, there is the parable of giving up all that you have to find the hidden treasure, it also says that where your treasure is, there is your heart. 

Friends, this is a hard one…harder than we thing.  Where is your treasure?  Do the work of finding your heart…not others hearts, but start with yours!  

Mary’s treasure was in her son, the relationship they had, Jesus also treasured his mother, he didn’t intend to cause her anxiety, but he was also growing in his understanding of God’s love for humanity. God’s desire for us to experience love for God, for others, and for ourselves. God’s summary of the entire law, of the 10 commandments, into loving relationship. 

It’s fitting that we have this gospel lesson after Christmas, the coming of Christ bringing to us the promise of God’s loving presence…now, we are called to grow in our understanding of that Love by following Jesus’ example. In Luke 2:52, we have the only reference to Jesus’ life before his public ministry.  It says that Jesus grew in his teenage years up until age 30 in wisdom and in God’s and others favor. 

Jesus was marked with God’s favor as he grew in wisdom (which is, by the way, a feminine word)…Jesus represents all of humanity, therefore we are also favored by God. May we treasure these stories about Jesus, may we understand that our treasure lies in deep, abiding, and even curious love for others and for God…may we seek and see God in all that we meet and may we find ourselves in the Father’s house, which is the temple, which is the body of Christ, our bodies even, understood to be placed in the world and encompassing all of humanity.

Friends, may we experience God’s love as we practice loving the world around us with wisdom and living in God’s favor. 

Shine.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Oh God of peace, you fill our hearts with hope at every Christmastide, for we remember again that this is the world that you have loved. May that hope, peace and joy fill our hearts, this night. Amen.
― Celtic Prayer

Christmas Eve 2024.  What a year we’ve had…and now moving into a time of more change for me and for us together at Westwood First Presbyterian Church!  My goodness!  I know that for me, this year has been a time of tremendous growth, and I believe for this congregation as well.  We are experiencing deep growth coming out of a year of birth pains in our previsions years.  As we come to the end of 2024, I love that we read this passage on xmas eve.  Really, we read this same passage almost every Christmas Eve.  It’s traditional, it’s the Christmas story…and it’s the promise of new birth coming to us in the darkest of nights, the darkest of days. 

My dad would read this passage every Christmas Eve…from the King James Version no less.  He went to church every Sunday, was a church leader, but this was the only time I really ever remember him reading Scripture.  Yet, he did.  One thing about my dad, he was pretty consistent!

Luke 2:1-20 

The Birth of Jesus

2 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 All went to their own towns to be registered. 4 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5 He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. 6 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

The Shepherds and the Angels

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying,

14 

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,

    and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” 16 So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. 17 When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. 19 But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. 20 The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

This year, many of us have had to ponder on a deeper level what Christmas is about, it’s about something new being birthed…in us and in the world around us.  Childbirth isn’t easy, it’s painful…yet, what do we call babies after they’ve arrived?  “Little bundles of Joy”.  Possibility, mystery, love, struggle, suffering, growth, and presence are all wrapped up into babies.

Babies grow into adulthood through the throes of life.  Our faith does as well.  Sometimes we have to remember that things are formed in dark places, like the womb.  Faith also is birthed in darkness.  And, faith is not about certainty…it is simply trusting, deeply, that you are not alone in this world…that there is a God who resides within you and all around you that is with you…a God who entered humanity, became human, in the form of Jesus.  

December 25 was decided by the early church, really many of our Celtic ancestors, because it is close to the annual winter solstice.  It was actually a pre-Christian celebration, and our Christian ancestors borrowed a lot from those ancestors because it simply made sense with the story of the incarnation of Christ, the enfleshing of the divine in the world…which is a story that is also incarnated, birthed within us.   

The winter solstice is also known as the “longest night”.  It is the day of the year where it’s darkest the longest.  It is to remind us of the darkness of life that we all experience.  And also that there is hope, because after the longest night, when it is the most dark, the light shines forth, dawn comes…and we can see what was birthed in the night more clearly.  

Friends, the reality is that the church has so often preached a message of hope, of joy, of peace, of love, of triumph…without the darkness that we see around and in us, without struggle…but that’s simply not life is it?  There’s more to the story.  We have to have both…light and dark…struggle and growth go hand it in hand.  God is saying to us on the symbolism of this night…to look into the darkness in order to see a candle, a flame, of love…of promise, of hope, of relationship, of incarnation…

Tonight, may we remember the darkness of Christmas night, there is a great stirring, a movements towards something new that brings joy, hope, peace, and love.  There are shepherds seeing and hearing miraculous news while dutifully minding their flocks.  There are wise men and women seeking knowledge and growth.  

The passage that we read tonight is full of subversive beauty!  Caesar Augustus, the Roman emperor was the head of a political cult that set him up to be divine, a savior, the lord, one who claimed to not have any failings, in his ego, Caesar was a winner at all costs…and he lived in imperial power exacting a census that was a sign of his authority and ability to collect taxes and contribute to the wealth of Rome, and especially his own wealth.  Yet, Jesus comes to us impoverished, on the run, and in a dirty stable.  His coming is announced to a group of outsiders, literally, shepherds and not some great proclamation to the entire empire, this proclamation came from the heavens to a few shepherds and wise men and women so that it can be carried to and for all of creation.  Amazing!

Into that dark night, a baby is born.  Emmanuel or “God with us”!  Jesus, Emmanuel, born to us, humanity.  God, entrusting God’s self to us, in darkness, and to a couple of teenagers who were still trying to figure things out!  God, who gives hospitality and relationship receives hospitality and relationship.  God being birthed into the world by a teenager!  

Into the night, a small light came on to the scene of history that grew to a blazing fire illuminating hope, peace, grace, friendship to ALL!

One of our Christian mystics from the 1400’s, Meister Eckhart, says this:  “The light is satisfied only in the innermost place, where no one dwells. It is within you even deeper than you are in yourself. It is the ground of simple silence that is motionless in itself. Yet from its stillness, all things move and all things receive their life, that they may live in accordance with this reason and be conformed to it within themselves.”

We have opportunity after opportunity to meet God in the deepest darkness of our lives, in the stillness of the night metaphorically, this night and every night…really every moment.  May we lean into the darkest places, the deepest innermost place of our lives, into the dark night of our souls as another mystic from the middle ages, John of the Cross would say, and grow into people of a radiance, a shining forth, as we wait for the morning light!  

But, we have to wait at times and even be still.  The shepherds, wise men and women (there is speculation is that the magi were actually all women) and even Mary and Joseph, had to wait…to let things emerge.  Friends, as Westwood First is birthing new life, as we, together, embark into a new chapter, may we too allow yourselves to wait on God’s timing that is shedding light at just the right time.  My goodness, we have some amazing stories being written and told in this season.  As we allow yourselves to embrace what the night brings, there is a light shining and leading us into a future.  A future that is emerging right before us where there are possibilities. 

So friends, into the darkest nights of our lives as Christ is born again in us and around us…may we proclaim and rejoice in this king, this savior, this lord, friend, this ever deepening Presence being born in us with the world!  And, in this looking in, may we experience the birth of Christ that is happening within us, all of the time.  

As we go into the night, hear some more words from Meister Eckhart:  

“This birth which takes place unceasingly in eternity is the very same birth which has taken place within human nature.” 

May the joy of the promise of new birth, the story of Christmas, be with you every day, every moment of your life.  Amen and Merry Christmas!

Messenger.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

That truth has been inscribed into our heart and into the heart of every human being, there to be Thanks be to you, O God, for the strong arm

of those who have given us shelter in our life,

who loved us from the womb and carried us as children, who guarded us like watchful angels and wept when we were in pain.

Thanks be to you for the men and women whose passion for the poor is undying, whose prayer for the oppressed is tender, whose defence of the wronged is fierce.

Grant us the strength to cry for justice, to be patient for peace, to be angry for love.

Grant us the grace of a strong soul, O God, grant us the grace to be strong.

~ John Philip Newell, A Celtic Psalter.

Philippians 3:1-11

Paul’s Prayer for the Philippians

3 I thank my God for every remembrance of you, 4 always in every one of my prayers for all of you, praying with joy 5 for your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to think this way about all of you, because I hold you in my heart, for all of you are my partners in God’s grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I long for all of you with the tender affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And this is my prayer, that your love may overflow more and more with knowledge and full insight 10 to help you to determine what really matters, so that in the day of Christ you may be pure and blameless, 11 having produced the harvest of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God.

Luke 1:68-79 

68  “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them. 69  He has raised up a mighty saviorfor us in the house of his servant David, 70  as he spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets from of old, that we would be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us.71 72 Thus he has shown the mercy promised to our ancestors, and has remembered his holy covenant, 73 the oath that he swore to our ancestor Abraham,to grant us 74 that we, being rescued from the hands of our enemies, might serve him without fear, 75 in holiness and righteousness before him all our days. 76 And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
 77 to give knowledge of salvation to his people by the forgiveness of their sins.
 78 By the tender mercy of our God, the dawn from on high will break uponus, 79 to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.” 

Luke 3:1-6


The Proclamation of John the Baptist 

3 In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was rulerof Galilee, and his brother Philip rulerof the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias rulerof Abilene,2 during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness. 3 He went into all the region around the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, 4 as it is written in the book of the words of the prophet Isaiah, 

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:
 ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

5 Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low,
 and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; 6 and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” 

How do we receive messages these days? What are some examples of messengers? 

As I read these passages in Luke, the word messenger came out loud and clear. 

There are stories of messengers throughout history, especially when they bring good news. However, things may not turn out great for those messengers. 

One of the most famous messengers was the Greek courier, Philippides. There was a great battle between the Persians and the Greeks. Philippides had run a message to the Spartans for help with the Athenians. He ran for a couple of days apparently. His last run was from the city of Marathon to Athens. When he arrived at Athens, the Greeks were eager to hear the outcome of the battle, Philippides had good news and exclaimed, “Joy! We won.”, then legend has it, he fell over and died. 

But, Philippides did have good news to share and ran long, hard, and with much pain to share it. 

Our gospel lesson this morning is all about a messenger who has come to share truly good news. 

Our first passage in Luke comes right after Mary’s song where she talks in beautiful ways about God’s promise of a Savior, of the Messiah, the deliverer coming to the world through her. A song where she reminds us that God does keep God’s promises. 

In our text, it is Zechariah’s turn to give us a song. Zechariah is high priest and he and his wife Elizabeth were well past their years for childbirth. When Zechariah heard that he was finally going to be a dad, he didn’t believe it…so, the angel delivering the news said that he wouldn’t be able to talk because of his stubbornness in not believing. It says that he was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied. 

In the Old Testament, when someone is said to be filled with the Spirit, that means, sit up, wake up, and listen. Zachariah has a lot of respect, he’s older, he had gone through a lot in life, he had given up on being a dad, yet through it all, he was faithful. He may have been shut up by God for a time, but I think even that was a gift from God. God was not through with Zachariah, even though he had lived a long life, God was saying to him, YOU, even in your advanced age, have a purpose that will change the world! Zachariah had time to sit, be still, and listen to the rhythm’s of his heart and hear God’s whisper in his life. 

He was ready to share. When his mouth was loosened, praise and wisdom followed. As well as reminders. Zachariah tells us that God is powerful by using the symbol of a horn. In antiquity, the horn was a symbol of power. It made a loud noise and help, or deliverance, would follow. If you had a horn, you had powerful friends. God was bringing salvation, was making things right. 

Zachariah is also sharing that God has made a covenant with humanity. That God would rescue us, would show mercy, and that our hope is coming. 

He then says that his son, John, will be the messenger. That John would come and prepare the way…and would shine a light for those living in darkness and guide us towards peace. John would bring good news of God’s entering humanity, of restoring right relationships, God would keep his covenant and make God’s loyalty and love to humanity known through John’s cousin, Jesus. God was not only living in community with us through Spirit, but would also physically live with us. The uncreated entering creation. 

Humanity often lives in darkness, we bump about not knowing where we are going. We break things, cause damage to ourselves and others, even destroy one another. Yet, God says that we were created for so much more, for mercy, forgiveness, and for relationship. And, to serve others and God without fear as it says in verse 74. 

Jesus would guide us towards the way of peaceful living with one another. 

And, John does just that. In our second Luke passage that was read at the beginning of the service today, John speaks to the crowds who come to him, some curious, some ready to change, all wanting something more. John rails against the religious, political, and social structures of the day. It’s no accident that Luke mentions the year, and the different leaders of the day. Luke is reminding his readers the setting in which John gives his message. John is standing in the public arena calling all towards repentance, to change towards a new life signified in baptism…the old life is gone, a new life has come. 

John is one crying in the wilderness, reminding his readers of the wilderness that they were in when they left Egypt…it seemed like it may take a while, they wandered around, but in God’s time, they were delivered out of the wilderness and into something more. 

Not all may have experienced this…some died in the wilderness. But, we have to realize that God is committed to the whole picture, all of humanity. With God, no one is lost, even if they are on different parts of the Journey. John is telling us that Jesus is coming to us now to show us and remind us that the Kingdom of God, of heaven, God’s Presence is here, now, and will be with us forever. 

Friends, just like the marathon runner, we may be tired, we may be worn out, we may want to give up. But, we’ve got good news, we have a God who is calling us to live differently, to change, to repent and live in forgiveness of our stuff and the stuff of others, to let go of the past and live into a new future even as we practice a new Presence, and to have peace…real peace.  Peace in scripture is not the absence of conflict, but a deeper sense of faith that we can live into.  We may not know the future, we may have a lot of uncertainty, but we also are all connected to one another and a divine flow of God’s love that calls us into.  Friends, we are never too old, we never have it all figured out, but if we are willing to donate trust beyond circumstance to one another and to God, just as God demonstrated through Jesus, we can come out of the wilderness and into the promise, the hope of salvation and into the abundance of life, the deep peace that passes understanding, that God promises! 

Watch.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

That truth has been inscribed into our heart and into the heart of every human being, there to be read and reverenced. thanks be to you, O God.

That there are ways of seeing and sensitivities of knowing hidden deep in the palace of the soul, waiting to be discovered, ready to be set free, thanks be to you.

Open our senses to wisdom’s inner promptings, that we may give voice to what we hear in our soul and be changed for the healing of the world, that we may listen for truth in every living soul and be changed for the well-being of the world.

~ John Philip Newell, A Celtic Psalter.

Luke 21:25-36

25 “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.26 People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 27 Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in a cloud’ with power and great glory. 28 Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.”

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

29 Then he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree and all the trees; 30 as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. 31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. 32 Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. 33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Exhortation to Watch

34 “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, 35 like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.”

With so much happening in culture, it’s hard to see God or see things beyond what’s right in front of us. When we read the first few words, even though it was written a couple of thousand years ago, we see signs of the times then and now…especially in our political and religious worlds and beyond…with climate change, wars everywhere, racism, sexism, patriarchy, toxic masculinity, it can be hard to have imagination or to stay curious about the seeing beyond the “signs of the times” and to stay “alert” to God’s movement in our lives and in culture.

What catches our imagination when we see things clearly?  Or maybe not clearly?!  There is a lot of “looking”, watching, seeing, in this morning’s gospel passage.  

I was looking for lyrics to songs about seeing as I was writing this sermon.  Then it hit me as I did a search for “seeing”.  The problem is not seeing something, not seeing that so much is changing in the world, the issue is what do we see, or who do we see?  

These are some of the most longing and beautiful words about seeing from the musical artist, Peter Gabriel, from a few years ago:

In your eyes

The light, the heat (in your eyes)

I am complete (in your eyes)

I see the doorway (in your eyes)

To a thousand churches (in your eyes)

The resolution (in your eyes)

Of all the fruitless searches (in your eyes)

Oh, I see the light and the heat (in your eyes)

Oh, I wanna be that complete

The issue for us, is do we see out of love, deep love…not just love for another human, a project, or even a church or a family, but the deep universal love that keeps us grounded, helps us to come alive.  The love that God gives us of God’s Self.

Richard Rohr this week in my daily devotional said this:  

Those who truly live in The Story have embraced and integrated their personality, shadow, woundedness, family issues, culture, and contextualizing life experiences under The One. . . . This is a truly integral spirituality, a truly catholic worldview, and the unrecognized goal of all monotheistic religions. These, like Jesus, desire “nowhere to rest their head” except in the One and Universal Love. 

We come to this morning’s gospel lesson and its word on seeing, on watching.  The setting is right before Jesus and the disciples have their last supper.  Jesus is teaching in the temple and telling folks that they should recognize the signs all around them.  That there is distress in the nations, a foreboding of what is to come and to be on the look-out for the Son of Man, the Messiah.

It’s interesting that not much has changed since Jesus gave those words.  In Jesus’ time there were protests, Roman oppression and rule, unjust systems and folks rising up to challenge them, and wars, always wars.  

Today, if you only watch the news for 5 minutes, you see about the same things.  Different actors, but still the same.

We all see things that can lead one towards despair and even confusion.  What’s going on here?  We may wonder.  But, Jesus has other words for us, that when we sense some of the things I just mentioned, there is a deeper promise that God has made to us.  We are not alone and that God has come, is here, and will come for us.  

The writer of Luke is telling us that God’s promise of entering humanity is upon us.  That in the midst of the anxiety, distress, and confusing times, that there is good news.  When we read this passage of Luke, we can respond in several ways:  one is fear, the other is faith that God will keep God’s promises and we can life expectantly and with joy, hope, peace, and love.  

Rather than looking at the events around us with fear and anxiety, we can live with confidence and courage.  A Greek word that is used often to describe God’s Presence is Parousia.  It means literally presence, arrival, or visit.  God’s Kingdom is upon us, God’s Presence.  The question for us is do we see the signs of God’s Presence in our lives?

Do we sense that something new is emerging within our lives and do we live in expectation of this newness being made known?  Do we get wrapped up in the anxiety and emotion of external issues that arise around us or are we able to take a deep breath and sense that something good may arise out of whatever situation that we are facing eventually?  Or, better yet, we may not see anything good come out of some situations, but do we have a sense that we can sit with whatever is happening and know that we are not alone and that we can share whatever is happening with others and with God?

I believe that cultivating this sense of Presence is key for our lives.  If we work from love, from faith, we can see so much in our lives and in the world that strengthen our faith in God and in others…if we can live our lives acknowledging the Presence of God around us.  As we listen to ourselves, others, and attempt to look at even familiar things with a sense of God’s presence in everything, we can catch those glimpses of God that can move us towards growth.

Today is the first Sunday of Advent.   Advent literally means that we are preparing for the coming of Jesus.  It is about arrival, coming into place, viewing something in a new way.  Today, we have a sign of a candle being lit representing hope. 

Hope is defined in the dictionary in several ways: 
a person or thing that may help or save someone.grounds for believing that something good may happen…a feeling of trust…or as we say here, trust beyond circumstance…

The writer of Luke is calling us out to have trust and hope that we may never understand, but we can live into or apprehend, we can’t prove it.  But, it is a trust that keeps us alert, keeps us living expectantly.  We are called to be open to God’s breaking into our lives in the most unexpected ways.  God is showing us things all of the time.  We can be stubborn or attempt to control what signs God may be giving us, we can be resistant to God’s Presence out of fear and a desire to cling to what we know.  Or, we can see, that, just like the seasons give us clues that change is upon us, that God’s Presence in our lives has arrived, is arriving, and will arrive.  We can see that as we stay alert and practice listening or noticing the signs of God’s activity, that we can have lives filled with meaning, purpose, and even gratitude in the midst of all of the craziness that we experience within us and around us.  

Truth.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

Presence

In the gift of this new day,
in the gift of the present moment,
in the gift of time and eternity intertwined,
let us be grateful,
let us be attentive,
let us be open to what has never happened before,
in the gift of this new day,
in the gift of the present moment,
in the gift of time and eternity intertwined.

~ John Philip Newell, A Celtic Psalter.

John 18:33-37

33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” 35 Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.”37 Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”

Who are you?  That’s a great question.  Who are we?  I know you’ve heard me say this before, but I don’t like to be labeled.  I like running, but I don’t want to just be known as a runner.  I want to be healthy.  I’m a spouse, parent, friend, etc…but I want to also be known as a someone that cares, is open, loves well, is inconsistent at times, but always willing to go deeper in who I am with others and with myself.  Same thing about being a pastor.  Love it.  And, quite honestly, being at Westwood First Presbyterian has rekindled my love and deepened my call of being a pastor.  But, I want to be known for deeper things as well…a friend first as Christ was/is a friend…but even more, I want to be Rich Jones, authentic human.

You can go down the line:  politics, theology, associations, etc.  I want to be something more than the things that I may engage in…I think we all do. 

This morning’s gospel lesson is about getting to the truth of who we are.  

It is also full of drama.  The writer in John is attempting to tell a beautiful story about “truth”.  In our culture today, people are always talking about biblical truth.  It’s interesting to me on how many things people say is biblical truth, while others say the exact opposite as biblical truth.  It’s one of those dead end arguments, if you say something is biblically true, it’s like you are trying to shut down an argument.

But, the writer of John is trying cut through the distractions and point to Truth.  I’d say truth with a capital “T”.   A truth that isn’t convenient, but is deep and lasting, and requires courage to live into.  A truth that has much more to about relational reality than facts or figures.  

The dramatic fashioning of the story is interesting.  The actors in this drama leading to Jesus’ crucifixion have all left the stage (except for Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of Jesus, and John the Beloved)…the disciples, the religious rulers, the mobs, all have left and its just Jesus and roman governor, Pilate.  

Pilate is intrigued by Jesus.  He has some doubts on Jesus’ guilt.  He is not resolute and he wants to be practical, but he’s curious and he’s searching for an answer.  Jesus was just before a mob demanding his crucifixion.  I’d imagine that the crowd there that day was filled with tension, fear, anxiety.  They were under roman rule, they were enslaved to a religious system that was propping itself up by they’re going along with the system.  They did not want to give up on what they had lived under because it was familiar and they could not see beyond to what Jesus exemplified.  

The religious leaders also needed a distraction to maintain power.  Jesus was challenging their system, their way of living, and they needed to show the crowds they were still in charge.  

They all needed a scapegoat if you will, someone to blame their issues on, someone that they could punish for their own sin.  And, Jesus seemed like a good one to scapegoat.  

Yet, they could not kill Jesus without Roman approval.  But, Pilate wasn’t convinced.  He wanted to appease the religious leaders in Jerusalem, and he also did not want civil unrest.  So, he pushed the pause button and questioned Jesus in private.  

He starts with some probing questions, “ are you the king of the Jews”.  The “you” in Greek is emphatic, are YOU the king of the Jews.  Jesus is also curious; he wants to know if Jesus is being prompted to ask or if it’s his own question.  Jesus asks, is this your idea?  Pilate responds, that it’s his own people who have betrayed Jesus, and wants to know what it is he’s done.  

Then Jesus talks about his kingdom.  His kingdom is not of this world.  The kingdom of this world is about power, prestige, hierarchy, status, enslavement of the masses, and fearful individualism where the focus is on some type of survival, scarcity of resources that pushes one towards selfishness and violence. All the things, the truth if you will, of what it means to be the anti-Christ or not of Christ.

Yet, Jesus’ kingdom is not about any of those things, its power comes from humility, confidence, and service.  It is non-hierarchal, relational, and collaborative.  It frees up everyone from slavery to whatever is keeping them from growing towards a deeper truth of who they really are.  It is not based on fear or anxiety but brings peace, presence, and abundance.  It gives us loving community and friendships with others, and it is marked by non-violence.  All the things, the truth if you will, of what it means to be the Christ.

Jesus goes on to say that he has come into the world.  That’s a huge statement.  Jesus is saying that the Truth is embodied in the humanity and the divinity of Jesus.  Jesus says that he is the truth and the truth will set us free elsewhere in scripture. And, that truth, present in the Christ, is also present with all of us. We hold the truth in our hearts, yet we have allowed, over so much time, to create an anti-truth, or “alternative truth”, that divides us and enslaves us. We see it all around us in the messages that we received from so many folks and platforms with their desire to dominate and destroy.

Yet Jesus came into the world to testify to the truth, to testify that there is a better way to live and find our being.  Friends, as we go into the world around us, as we listen to our neighbors, we will find God active, we will find so many things that will point us towards a loving God.  And we will grow.  

If we have any chance of growing closer to God, of seeing our church not only survive, but thrive, then we have an opportunity, just like Pilate, to ask Jesus what is truth.  But, unlike Pilate, we can have courage to live on the side of truth, to know the Jesus that embodies truth and to follow his example of going into the world and finding the places and people where God is at work and invite them into our fellowship, even as we join them in friendship in the world that we live in.  

If we can dare to risk this, we will move from death into the resurrection, life filled with Jesus, filled with Truth.

May it be so with us.  

Threshold.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

To acknowledge and cross a new threshold is always a challenge.

It demands courage and also a sense of trust in whatever is emerging.

This becomes essential when a threshold opens suddenly in front of you,

    one for which you had no preparation.

This could be illness, suffering or loss.

Because we are so engaged with the world,

    we usually forget how fragile life can be and how vulnerable we always are.

It takes only a couple of seconds for a life to change irreversibly.

Suddenly you stand on completely strange ground

    and a new course of life has to be embraced. 

Especially at such times we desperately need blessing and protection.

You look back at the life you have lived up to a few hours before,

    and it suddenly seems so far away.

Think for a moment how, across the world, someone’s life has just changed –

    irrevocably, permanently, and not necessarily for the better –

    and everything that was once so steady, so reliable, must now find a new way of unfolding.

Though we know one another’s names and recognize one another’s faces,

    we never know what destiny shapes each life.

The script of individual destiny is secret;

    it is hidden behind and beneath the sequence of happenings

    that is continually unfolding for us.

Each life is a mystery that is never finally available to the mind’s light or questions.

That we are here is a huge affirmation; somehow life needed us and wanted us to be.

To sense and trust this primeval acceptance can open a vast spring of trust within the heart.

It can free us into a natural courage that casts out fear and opens up our lives

    to become voyages of discovery, creativity, and compassion.

No threshold need be a threat, but rather an invitation and a promise.

Whatever comes, the great sacrament of life will remain faithful to us,

    blessing us always with visible signs of invisible grace.

We merely need to trust

~ John O’Donohue, “Benedictus” (To Bless The Space Between Us)

Mark 13:1-8

13 As he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what large stones and what large buildings!” 2 Then Jesus asked him, “Do you see these great buildings? Not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”

3 When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives opposite the temple, Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked him privately, 4 “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray. 6 Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come. 8 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines. This is but the beginning of the birth pangs.

Endgame was a Marvel movie that Brennan, may son, and I saw together a few years ago.  It was the culmination of several Marvel movies depicting the end of the world.  In this movie, the villain, Thanos, had grabbed all six of these powerful stones that enabled him to destroy half of the universe and 1/2 of its population.  But, the Avenger superheroes find a way to reverse time and restore the universe and its population…including many of the Avengers who had vanished.  

Now, that was a movie, and as good it was, it’s still fantasy.  Yet, and we have heard this before, we live in “apocalyptic” times.  That doesn’t mean the end of the world, but it does mean the end of some things so that new things can emerge.  It also means that things are being revealed that were hidden, or not recognized before.

Friends, as we read the gospel story, can we not see that this was not only true 2,000 years, but so true today!  

Jesus makes a statement, that the temple, this grand building in Jerusalem that was built by King Solomon, was one of the most amazing structures in antiquity, and made a huge impression on the disciples.  The disciples kept on falling into the same patterns, going after surface things, wanting to be great, wanting to be a part of a system that kept them from realizing their full humanity.  

Jesus literally goes after them with a blunt statement meant to cause them some dissonance, to make them think, to shake them out of their comfortable status quo and visions of grandeur.

You see this temple that you are so impressed with?  See how powerful it looks?  How permanent?  Well, nothing is permanent, these stones, large stones, will all fall down, this building will be destroyed…and, so will all of your notions that have been created to give you some sense of control, when in reality, those notions control you and keep you from becoming the person that you have always wanted to be.

It’s interesting though, the disciples stick with Jesus.  They know his words and actions carry meaning.  It often happens that when Jesus makes these statements in public, there’s a sidebar conversation with the disciples where he explains further.  After three of the disciples ask in private the meaning of his words, Jesus goes on to say that there will always wars, rumors of wars, human conspiracies, and all sorts of disasters, but something deeper is going on.

Friends, look around!  We see this today, everything is being exposed.  We see our political structures exposed…both sides, all sides.  There are some good people in government in different seasons, yes, but we have a system that is collapsing from lack of trust, greed, and a lust for power…and everyone blaming others rather than working towards the common good.  The church universal is complicit at times with this empire and being exposed as it became complacent and sold out to being an entertainment center, a walled fortress, or a sales pitch.  We have become a society based on business, on transactions, of living above our places, or locations, and zipping around like ants marching towards a slow death,  rather than a community of people, in a location, living in place, being transformed and transformational, and growing into life, the abundant life that Jesus came to show and to reveal to us…and give to us freely without condition!  

Yet, apocalyptic times are necessary, and a part of the deal we call life.  It happens in culture as we build and live into systems that, honestly, need to be exposed…sometimes destroyed, sometimes reformed, and often let go of in order for something new and more humane to emerge.  

They are actually a threshold time.  A time where we are crossing a doorway from one room to the next, from one season to another, leaving things behind and going into the unknown.  St. Brigid, the Celtic saint and abbess, was also the patron saint of thresholds as she helped to bridge the span between the pre-Christian and Christian Celtic worlds.  

Anthony Murphy says this:  Brigid stands at the threshold of the old and the new and refuses to budge. And we should be glad that that is the case.

She was born at the threshold of a home and that is a significant metaphor for what she represents.

She is a woman of two worlds, of two states of mind, of two ways of seeing the world. 

Who among us shares her holistic vision?

The world needs that right now.

This is true in our personal and corporate lives.  We go through the throes of life holding on to things, notions, bias, image, and relationships.  They all have to be brought into the light, because often we try to hide behind them and present an image to the world that is so much work.  

God wants us to give us life, real life.  God wants us to live freely and in love with ourselves, others, and to be experiencing God’s movement, God’s love, in every aspect of our lives.  

But, giving birth to life requires pain.  Jesus compares apocalyptic or threshold times in our life as “birth pains”.  I have not given birth, but as I’ve shared before, I’ve watched it happen…and I did experience pain when Debbie punched me while giving birth to Brennan.  Birth is hard, we don’t want to leave the comfort of the umbilical cord, the womb, and enter into this crazy, painful, sad, joyful, wonderful world.  Yet, we can’t stay in the womb, that will eventually kill us and kill the mother…we have to leave, we have to grow, we have to trust, and risk.  We really do not have a choice, yet, we also do have a choice to how we live and respond.

Friends, apocalyptic times, threshold space, are all around us, we can accuse, scream, take sides, put others down, live in despair, or we can lean into them, grow and learn, and become more aware.  Our world, and our own personal worlds, will end and are dying, but it’s not the end of the world, or our own worlds…no, it’s actually the beginning of a new world, a new birth.  

May we live into the possibilities as we embrace the changes in and around us.  

May the power of Brigid inspire you,

The grace of Brigid attend you,

The flame of Brigid enliven you,

The story of Brigid engage you.

May the God who provides her all these gifts

Provide them also to us,

That we may go into the world

With her lavish generosity

And her creative fire.

–Jan Richardson

Good.

/ jonesyuk / Leave a comment

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

For Love In a Time of Conflict 

When the gentleness between you hardens
And you fall out of your belonging with each other,
May the depths you have reached hold you still.

When no true word can be said, or heard,
And you mirror each other in the script of hurt,
When even the silence has become raw and torn,
May you hear again an echo of your first music.

When the weave of affection starts to unravel
And anger begins to sear the ground between you,
Before this weather of grief invites
The black seed of bitterness to find root,
May your souls come to kiss.

Now is the time for one of you to be gracious,
To allow a kindness beyond thought and hurt,
Reach out with sure hands
To take the chalice of your love,
And carry it carefully through this echoless waste
Until this winter pilgrimage leads you
Towards the gateway to spring.

By John O’Donohue from To Bless the Space Between Us

Micah 6: 1-8

Hear what the Lord says:
    Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.

2 Hear, you mountains, the case of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has a case against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

3 “O my people, what have I done to you?
    In what have I wearied you? Answer me!

4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and Miriam.

5 O my people, remember now what King Balak of Moab devised,
    what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know the saving acts of the Lord.”

6 “With what shall I come before the Lord
    and bow myself before God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?

7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”

8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good,
    and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice and to love kindness
    and to walk humbly with your God?

Someone asked me a couple of weeks ago what sermon I would preach this Sunday after the election if a certain person won.  I responded that I would probably preach the same sermon even if the other person won.  It is a sermon today that I am preaching from the Old Testament.  I don’t usually do that, but I think it gives us hope and also a reminder of the goodness that we all share in our humanity.  Micah is a part of the prophetic writings in the Old Testament like Amos, Hosea, Jonah, etc.  These prophets were speaking bold to the religious and political power structures of their day that they had gone astray and were not pleasing to God who wanted them to remember that power is not something to use over folks, but to use for the common good.  

I was also reminded of something this week that I shared with Bill Ringshauser when we met to plan out Diane’s memorial service.  I had shared with him and his sister a quote from my friend Cormac Russell, which I think is VITAL for us at Westwood First Presbyterian, and the world really:  “It’s better to be connected than correct”.  If we are connected, and not worried about having correct arguments or opinions with can be dehumanizing to others, lead to identity politics and religious dogma, etc. then we we will continue to be unified and come together to work for the common good of everyone.  I believe that’s what we are about at Westwood First, amen?!  

What is the common good?  That’s a great question isn’t it?  The term “good” can be defined from the world wide webs as:  

“better or best…having admirable, pleasing, superior, or positive qualities; not negative, bad or mediocre: a good idea; a good teacher. morally excellent or admirable; virtuous; righteous: a good human.”

And, of course, the word common has a connotation of what is best for everyone in a community.  

This is the gist of our passage today, that if we live lives of awareness in the universal presence of Christ, then we will want to know what God requires of us, our what being and living for the common good looks like.  

Our passage this morning is a conversation between three different groups of folks:

  1. God (verses 1-5)
  2. Worshippers of God (verses 6-7)
  3. Micah (verse 8)

It seems like God is wanting to convey a message about being upset that folks aren’t getting a message in verses 1-5.  God’s making a statement that folks are not listening or being what they were created to be.  God’s telling them that God’s brought them out of slavery, out of the empire that was telling them that they were less than human.  That’s been the story throughout history really, God created us to be free and to live in equity and love with all of creation…and not stuck in a system, or an empire way of thinking that dehumanizes us and others and reduces us to simply being cogs in a wheel…or living in the proverbial rat race…  

So, God is a bit frustrated.

In verses 6-7, folks are asking, what do you want God?  Sacrifices?  I mean, look at what they are offering!  Their firstborn, the fruits of their body?  All sorts of things.  

Talk about missing the point.  God is frustrated, and I think that frustration leads God to a deep sense of sadness.  We try to make it up to God, but God simply wants us to be a better version of ourselves…to be persons who love ourselves and others well.  

It reminds me of a time when I was a kid.  I was in Canada on vacation.  Our family would vacation with my best friends family, Rob Waddles!  Loved Rob.  One day were playing and I accidentally gave him a black eye.  I felt horrible.  I did not know what to do…I asked him if there was anything I could do to make it up to him.  He simply replied in his 10 year old self, it hurts.  Trying as hard as I could, I could not make it right on that level.  I think God can relate to Rob…it hurts, but God is still our friend and is committed to us.  Rob stayed my friend throughout his life…beyond this one episode.  And, Rob just wanted me to be his friend, warts and all!  God is saying the same thing…you can’t make it up to me, and those no need to be…just be YOU, the authentic you.  As you do that, or be that, goodness will flow out of you.  

Here’s the good news though, in verse 8, Micah, the prophet, reminds folks what God requires.  Oh human, mortal, I have told you what is good…it is to love kindness, do justice, and walk humbly with God.  God is not interested in our sacrifices, but wants us to be good.

When you meet folks who love kindness, do justice, and walk with humility within themselves and with others…with God and the Universe in which God resides, you know it.  God wants Israel, and wants us, to simply do that…to be human as God intended, which, if you remember when God created humanity, and creation, he said it was good from the beginning…Micah is telling us what “good” looks like.

We just had our All Saint’s remembrance.  We remember folks that have passed, and their memories and presence in our lives…even after their death.  It’s actually an ancient practice that goes back thousands of years…our ancestors, like God, actually, in communion with God, are calling us to be the people were created to be as described by Micah.  As it says in Hebrews, there is a great cloud of witnesses cheering us on as we run this race of life, to be the people that we are called to be, not identified by a political party, a religious dogma…but to be human.  And, I know when I’m running a race, I’m not concerned with my image, I just want to finish!  

I have been remembering many folks this week, especially my best friend Robbie who died of either suicide or an overdose of opioids that were prescribed to him by his doctor for a back issue several years ago.  In his life, he had that humility, that kindness, and a deep sense of justice for all people, which he expressed through music in a beautiful way…  He demonstrated that with me in so many ways over the years…and, it’s made me a better human and the desire to do the same.  He believed in me and still does.  Today, and most days, I remember Rob, and his spirit, his essence is still with me in amazing ways as he encourages me on my journey.  

God’s spirit is also with us on our journeys.  God is giving God’s self to us constantly, throughout history…God gets frustrated, but does not stop loving us and believes in us…just wanting us to be simply us…to be good.  And, we can’t help but being good at our core because God lives in us from our core, our deepest, truest Selves…and all around us and God is good.  We just have to live in that recognition and let that love flow.  We can get into places where we get stuck from time to time…but, God is constantly working to get us unstuck and to remind us that we are connected with all things and people, we are in in communion.

That’s good news to me, and I hope good news for you.