christianity

Power.

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Mark 6:1-13

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth

6 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. 2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! 3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. 4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.” 5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. 6 And he was amazed at their unbelief.

The Mission of the Twelve

Then he went about among the villages teaching. 7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. 8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; 9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. 10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. 11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” 12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. 13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

What a week.  Writing this sermon in the midst of this past week has some interesting pondering within me.  

With the funeral of Tom Klayer this past week and another one coming up for a non-church member, I’ve been thinking about my growing up and my parent’s death.  A few years my dad died in a car wreck and my mom of cancer just three years later.  

During those years, in between my parents’ deaths, I spent quite a bit of time in Louisville where I grew up, especially when my mom was sick and dying.  Being in my hometown at that time gave me some perspective, as it often does, of how I grew up.  People knew me in a certain way, and, it’s fascinating, it’s me, but it’s also over several lifetimes lived.  Even my mom had a vision of me that was not the full picture of who I was or who I was becoming.  Now, there was lots of love and oftentimes folks see a version of ourselves that we need to see as well, or be reminded of.  But, all of us have a sense of being in different places of understanding ourselves over the years, don’t we?

Jesus is not different from us, his hometown knew him as Mary and Joseph’s son.  He was a carpenter.  Galilee, during this season was apparently fairly prosperous, so he wasn’t a wandering carpenter, but had fairly stable employment.  We know from a few readings ago that some in his family wanted him to have some stability and not get out ahead of himself or others.  So, heading back to his hometown had Jesus thinking a lot I bet!

As we’ve read the past few Sundays and discussed, Jesus had been busy!  Calming storms, healing folks, performing miracles, raising people from the dead.  Starting a movement that was getting a lot of attention, both good and bad.  Showing radically inclusive love and inviting folks to think differently within the systems that they have lived in.  You know, just the ordinary Son of God kinds of things…

Yet, his hometown didn’t throw him a parade, didn’t welcome him with open arms, they were amazed, his sermon must have been intriguing at least…but, they were also amazed in the kind of incredulous kind of way.  Saying things like, “who does he think he is?”, “Where does his wisdom come from?”.  And, as if to say, we “know” him, “isn’t he the daughter of Mary, brother of of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon?”  Which is interesting, because later in scriptures, we know Mary stands with her son, and that at least two of his brothers become early church leaders.  

There’s also this theme of faith, or deeper trust, that we’ve talked about in the past.  It seems like Jesus is telling us that faith or trust is shared, it is something we have and that we have to exercise it, practice it, for it to grow or be useful.  

But, the people in Jesus’ hometown did not want to do that.  They wanted to stay comfortable and keep folk “in their place”.  He’s Mary’s son they say, not even mentioning his earthly dad.  The crowd may have been suggesting that Jesus was different, and maybe he really wasn’t Joseph’s kid…of course, if only they knew…or were willing to risk getting to know Jesus now.

For 30 years, Jesus had been someone, now he was growing into a very public, deeper version of himself, his “true self” as the monk Thomas Merton and others would say.

He tries to do some miracles there, but could only lay hands on a few sick people…and realized that the familiarity of who he had been was would not let folks see him, or his power of love.  He was amazed at their lack of faith.

Again, could it be that his hometown was looking for a heroic, triumphant, local kid makes good kind of story?  I think so.

But, Jesus was in the process of re-ordering so many things, he was moving things from the way it had been into a new imagination…an imagination that we are made in the image, or imagination, of God…This imagination would transform how we view one another, how we love, how we connect, and who’s included (everyone), and that God does not show favoritism but wants all of us to be in communion with one another, and with God.  That there is one allegiance in this world that matters, and that is to God.  And, in today’s world that we live in, we still, desperately, need that kind of Jesus imagination, don’t we?

God has been telling God’s people forever to be a witness to God’s love to the world, to the nations.  Instead, they became just like the other nations.  God’s power was shown as God giving God’s self to us, and that we are to follow in God’s example.  And, specifically, to follow in God’s example through Jesus.  Yet, we too, just like Israel, often forget and simply become just like others, living in a system and a culture without thinking much about how to make our lives and the lives of others more connected, more human as in the image of God that we were created.  

I love this quote from Richard Rohr on power:

“God has communicated in a million ways that “I am your power,” but we do not believe and trust what we cannot see or prove. Instead, we bow down to lesser kings (like institutions, nations, wars, ideologies, etc.) that we can see, even when they serve us quite poorly.” – Richard Rohr

Jesus has a message, this message that God’s presence, God’s kingdom, God’s reign, is with us and it supersedes all other earthly kingdoms, systems, governments, etc.  And, we can have a deeper trust, deeper than belief even, in that Presence.  A presence that will not let us go and is all around us and in us!

He calls his disciples, his closest disciples around him and sends them out to share this with others.

He tells them to go in twos, because we are relational and need each other.  None of us are superman or wonder woman on our own.  To only take a staff…not a bag, don’t take bread, and wear sandals, but don’t take an extra tunic.  To lean in on the first house that shows hospitality, don’t go to another house if it’s nicer, but stick with the first.  

Again, this past week, like all of the weeks we’ve had together at Westwood First, was a good reminder of so much, that relationships are important more than anything.  I have been welcomed into all sorts of conversations and life events in these past few months.  Visiting with folks at the church, on the phone, in nursing homes, retirement communities, coffeeshops, yes, breweries also, and in hospitals.  

Hospitals are supposed to be places of welcome, rest, relief, and healing.  Hospital comes from the word “hospitality”.  And, I remember that mom’s hospital was pretty good at that…as are many hospitals.

As Jesus followers, we are also places and people of welcome, of rest from a weary world, of grace and relief, and of healing.  Healing of ourselves, others, and living into the promises of God.  As we do that, we change, and others may as well.

But, some may not want that change or have the imagination for a new imagination.  They may not welcome us.  They may be thinking it’s the same story as so many other faith communities…one that says more about what we are against than who and what we are for…which is being for and with all of humanity.

Yet, Jesus says to shake the dust off of our feet and move on if we are not welcomed.  Now, this doesn’t mean that we give up on those who don’t welcome us.  I’ve heard it said that this actually a phrase that means to dust off the criticism that we receive and keep on walking the path that we have been given within a community of faith called to love the neighborhood in which we live.  

Friends, may we live into the faith that God has in us as God sends us out, together.  May we receive and give hospitality and share the good news that God is with us and loves us.  May we be the alternative, loving, authentic community within a world so desperately in need of people and places like that.  

And may we remember along the way that we are in communion with ourselves, others, and God as demonstrated in through Jesus.  

Human.

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Old Testament Lesson: Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18


1O Lord, you have searched me and known me. 2You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from far away. 3You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. 4Even before a word is on my tongue, O Lord, you know it completely. 5You hem me in, behind and before, and lay your hand upon me. 6Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it. 

13For it was you who formed my inward parts; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; that I know very well. 15My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes beheld my unformed substance. In your book were written all the days that were formed for me, when none of them as yet existed. 17How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them! 18I try to count them—they are more than the sand; I come to the end—I am still with you. 

Gospel Lesson: Mark 2:23 – 3:6 

Pronouncement about the Sabbath 

23One sabbath he was going through the grainfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24The Pharisees said to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?” 25And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? 26He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.” 27Then he said to them, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; 28so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.” 

The Man with a Withered Hand 

3 Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. 2They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. 3And he said to the man who had the withered hand, “Come forward.” 4Then he said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. 5He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. 6The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. 

When I was 18 years old, I was involved in a youth ministry that went on a weekend skiing retreat to Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.  It was a great trip filled with some amazing experiences.  It was also at a time in my life when I was beginning to question some things about religion and my life.  I was an achiever.  Especially when it came to church.  I wanted to make sure that “I did things right” and I received a lot of approval, especially in the church.  I was president of our FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes)/Good News Club, on our church’s youth council, active in organizing regional events and outings, had started a Campus Life club at my high school, and had even been “licensed” to preach by my baptist church.

Yet, I did not feel connected to God, nor to myself.  I took a chance, got vulnerable with my youth ministry adult leaders one night and told them about how I was doing all of this Christian stuff, yet, felt alone and did not know who I was…I remember them saying that God loves me and that’s not dependent on my doing anything…that I just needed to live and be.  That weekend turned out to be a lot of fun…there was skiing, there was some fun skits and games, a good speaker, and, more than anything else, a sense that I could let go of some things.

It’s been a lifetime for me of letting go of things and roles and expectations in order to live into my humanity as God intends.  A lifetime of risking being vulnerable and curious.  

This God knows me as the Psalm passage so beautifully states.  I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  And the Divine is with me in the depths and heights of life.  The Divine that is with me in this life, was with me before this life, and is with me after this life.  It is Me at my deepest, truest Self.  God, me, together.  Made in God’s image, God’s likeness.  

And, yet, I listened to the world around me that said that I am somehow separated from God, from the Divine, from the very spark that give and sustains life.  If you have ever been to a funeral service that I have officiated, you know that I use Romans 8:38-39.  “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.”.  But, the world, the systems that we’ve created, wants to divide us with religion, politics, orientations, origins, and even through the very scriptures that have been given to us to remind us of our journeys, our pilgrimages, in becoming human, or remembering our humanity.

Growing up, I knew that I did not want to live in the systems of the world.  Intrinsically, I knew somewhere inside of me, that we are all connected and loved.  But, I also needed to survive in the world that was given to me, so, often unintentionally, I developed an image that seemingly thrived in the world in which I lived.  I succeeded, I was “winning” if you will.

Yet, I was not at peace.

Years later, in my early twenties, I was given the gift of going to the Abbey of Gethsemani in Kentucky.  A weekend of silence and rest.  At first, I could not stop, and then I let go.  I found some salvation in slowing down and intentionally listening to my body and soul.  I found “sabbath”, a time of intentionally letting go and leaning into who I am.  Being reminded of my humanity that is separate from any religious dogma, success, or what I do or what role I play.  Being reminded that I am fearfully and wonderfully made and in constant union with God whether I recognize it or not.  I have been going back to the Abbey ever since, for 30+ years.

This is the point of our gospel lesson.  Jesus is reminding us throughout his life that our image is not based on following religious rules for sake of following rules, especially when those rules get in the way of being human.  

The sabbath is made for humanity, not humanity for the sabbath.  The sabbath is for slowing down and reflecting on who we are as humans and to go deeper into our humanity.  

And then there’s this interesting phrase, “the son of man is lord of the sabbath even”.  God, the divine, the Son, representing all of humanity, is over the sabbath.  It does not matter if you pick grain to eat when you are hungry or from the temple.  Humans who are struggling need healing all of the time, even on the sabbath.  

Thomas Aquinas says:   “The word ‘Lord’ means the maker of all creation as in Judith 16:

‘All your creation serves you.’”

Matthew Fox explains this in this way:  MANY PEOPLE USE THE WORD LORD in their prayers and also in their projections. Here Aquinas teaches us that the primary meaning of Lord is “the maker of all creation.” God the Creator is what the word Lord refers to. To love that Lord we must love creation, study it, listen to those who do the same. Otherwise we are trapped in projection alone. Instead of worshipping God, we are worshipping our own ego, the birthplace of our projections. To worship one’s projections is plain and simple idolatry. Individuals and also religious institutions and traditions need to be on guard against idolatry. Jesus warned: “Not all who say ‘Lord, Lord’ will enter the kingdom of heaven.”

We have created images of ourselves, and in our culture, that have dehumanized us.  Yet, all of creation, the Divine that lives inside and all around us, is urging us to let go of our egos and make them subservient to our true selves, to our humanity as God intended.  The “lord” is not an earthly ruler, it is the maker of creation, it is in whose image we have been given life.  And we are being loved, lured, reminded, to simply be who we were created to be…the persons, the humans, we’ve always wanted to be before the systems of this world began to tell us a different story filled with alternative realities other than the one reality of God’s union with us and love for and of and in us.

Choose.

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Acts 1:15-17

15 In those days Peter stood up among the brothers and sisters (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said, 16 “Brothers and sisters,the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus, 17 for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.”

Acts 1:21-26

21 “So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, 22 beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection.” 23 So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias. 24 Then they prayed and said, “Lord, you know everyone’s heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen 25 to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place.” 26 And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias, and he was added to the eleven apostles.

How do we make choices?  Many of you know my deep love for the University of Kentucky.  I’ve been an avid fan all of my life.  But, you’ll be surprised to know how I made my decision to go to UK.  I had applied to Belmont in Nashville, Georgetown College in Kentucky, even the University of Tennessee (God forbid!), as well as Kentucky. 

I made my decision to go to UK when I was walking down the halls of my high school in between classes when one of my best friends that I grew up with, Jeff Hume, yelled at me from across the hall and said, “Rich, are you going to room with me at UK next year?”  I quickly said “yes” without even flinching.  Decision made. 

Now, in life, we have all probably had different ways of making decisions.  With our kids, we always have the “pros and cons” list.  I also tell myself and others that, upon making a decision, if you have time, let it sit for a while, see how it feels and what is emerging within you, and then make the call.

Most of us probably don’t cast lots like the disciples did though as it says in our New Testament reading when replacing the disciple Judas.

Yet, I think that there was a lot of trust, a deeper trust, with the disciples.  Which is amazing, considering that you’d think their trust would be shattered.  One of their own, Judas, had turned in Jesus, had betrayed him.  Yet, they still trusted something deeper.  They trusted that God resided in them and in all things and people.  They trusted that they would be able to find someone to take Judas’ place and that God would lead them towards someone whose heart was good. 

It’s also interesting to note that they had a deeper trust that Judas’ actions were part of a larger flow of God’s imagination.  God does not want or condone violence.  God certainly did not send Jesus to the cross, that was a consequence of the pathologies of humans who would not let go of their worldly status and thought they had to kill Jesus in order to protect their way of living.

Yet, the story of Judas also fits within the story of Jesus…actually, all betrayals and sufferings fit within the story of Jesus, and, consequently, our story.  The disciples acknowledge that Judas was a part of them, was their brother, and, I believe, had a sense of grace for him even in his betrayal.

I often feel some sadness for Judas, he could not muster the courage to confront his betrayal and live into the grace that Jesus gave him.  He could not find a way to love himself after he realized what he had done. 

Yet, the story of Jesus and the story of God is one where love always wins and love moves us towards an acceptance of ourselves, and of others, and that God’s story and our story are one and the same. 

The cross, the death of Jesus, is part of the cycle of life that we all live in…life, death, resurrection and new life.  As a friend said this week, we need to come awake to the reality that we must die in this life before we die…that’s the way we move towards life, abundant life.

We know the Easter story, that love overcomes death, but we have to recognize that the choice that Jesus made is one that we all are called to make.  To count the cost of what it means to be truly human as made in God’s image.  And, that Easter is not a separate event from our experience.  It’s not just Jesus on that cross, it’s all of us. 

As the psalm passage says, our actions are thrown in the fire that are wicked.  It is meant to convey that we are not thrown into a fire, but that our actions that are wicked are burned away and put back into the earth for growth.

The Christ Presence that permeates all of creation, the Universe really, and resides within us is calling us to make a choice, or to become awake, and cultivate that awareness.  And, to trust a deeper trust than circumstances in our lives and culture.

That’s happening at Westwood First.  When I first came to Westwood First’s Session, we talked about this kind of deep trust.  And that it is a trust that is given, not really earned.  A deeper trust indeed…and one that produces fruit.  We are already seeing it…and living into it. 

There’s a great story here…and it’s a part of the larger story of God.  

I heard this quote recently:

“Unless Christianity is understood to be the most realistic and cosmic of faiths and hopes, nothing has been understood of its mysteries.” (Teilhard de Chardin)             

This quote reflects on the necessity of understanding Christianity not just as a religious faith but as a comprehensive cosmological perspective that addresses the real and vast universe. – Cynthia Bourgeault

We don’t know the future, nor should we, but we have a great story at Westwood First, a mystery, yes, and a faith that is universal and a deeper reality built on a deeper trust.

Let’s continue to choose to trust, to love, and to produce good fruit in the soil of our congregation and community.  And, my goodness, we are already seeing the fruit of the choices we have made together!  Amen?

Endgame.

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Jeremiah 31:31-34

A New Covenant

31 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. 32 It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt—a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 No longer shall they teach one another or say to each other, “Know the Lord,” for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and remember their sin no more.

John 12: 20-33

20 Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks.21 They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” 22 Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. 23 Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also. Whoever serves me, the Father will honor.

27 “Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say—‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. 28 Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heaven, “I have glorified it, and I will glorify it again.” 29 The crowd standing there heard it and said that it was thunder. Others said, “An angel has spoken to him.” 30 Jesus answered, “This voice has come for your sake, not for mine. 31 Now is the judgment of this world; now the ruler of this world will be driven out. 32 And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people[a] to myself.” 33 He said this to indicate the kind of death he was to die.

My kids have an amazing memory.  Especially my son when he was younger.  If I promise something to him, or even hint at a promise.  He doesn’t forget.  If something comes up and we have to possibly be flexible, Brennan will simply say, “but you promised” and that’s the end of that for him.

If you are a parent, you know that it’s not always easy to keep your promises to your kids, try as you might, you simply can’t always do it.  Grace then becomes a necessary gift to demonstrate and teach!

Our Old Testament lesson is about the promise, or covenant, of loving relationship.  God has made promises to the people of Israel.  A covenant of deliverance from Egypt, which God delivered on.  Now the Israelites find themselves in exile in Babylon.  God tells them that he has new promises for them.  A covenant of abundance, of Presence, of blessing, of relationship.  In this passage, God uses the term husband.  Now, this is not meant to be patriarchal, but it was written a few thousand years ago, and the author is trying to convey something deeper than a masculine or feminine expression.  This is a word of deep relationship, of connection, of relationship.  The author is saying that God has made a commitment to Israel, to us, God is with us in relationship.

The passage goes on to say that God’s law will be put on our inward parts, on our hearts.  It will no longer be about following a set of rules written in stone, but they will be placed on our hearts, they will become a part of us and lived out.  

This is demonstrated to us by Jesus.  Jesus embodied the law as we have said before.  God’s covenants to us are fulfilled through Jesus in deep and powerful, and loving ways.  We are called to cultivate, to discipline ourselves to follow Jesus, or, rather, to know what it means to “live in Christ”. But, this discipline is essential in growing in our understanding of our true selves as created, redeemed, and sustain by God.  The root word of discipline even comes from disciple.  A disciple is a student, a follower of Jesus.  Now, Jesus also reminds us alter, that being a disciple leads to be a friend of one another and of God’s at the Last Supper.  Living in Christ, and being a friend of Jesus is more about being than doing.  It’s living out the Presence of God that is within and all around…and cultivating an awareness of our deepest identity that is in Christ.  

In our gospel lesson, we hear Jesus talking to some Greeks, probably Greeks who were seeking to know more about God, who were drawn to Jesus’ teaching because it had power and demonstrated a challenge to the current system that governed culture.  Jesus shares with them a hard thing to hear.  That in order for something to grow, it has to die.  He goes on to say that you have to lose your life to gain it.

This is hard to hear, yet true.  When I was a kid, we lived on about 7 acres.  My uncle lived next door and had a few more acres of land.  We shared a large garden that was about 1/2 the size of a football field.  Every year, in the fall, the plants and veggies in the garden would die and go back into the ground.  He had a larger farm with cows.  In the spring, we would go to the cow field where we had a manure pile.  I hated this job, but we’d load up a bunch of smelly manure and spread it on our garden.  Before that we would have tilled the ground to loosen it up and to churn up all of the dead plants into the ground.  It was hard work, but when did that, planted the seeds, and then put the manure all over it, the nutrients that came from the smelly waste, would cause the ground to produce life.  In order to do some of the more mundane chores, I would simply have to follow my dad and uncle’s lead, and live in a trust that they knew what they were doing, yet I benefited from great food and I learned a lot.  

Jesus is calling us to be truly human and to grow.  The way of Jesus can be hard, it requires trust, sometimes we have to spread some manure, till the ground.  Yet, seeds are constantly being planted in our lives and in the lives of others that produce beautiful things.

Friends, we may have gone through some difficulties, or death, in the past…or even right now, we may be dealing with addictions, with broken relationships, or strained relationships out of the pandemic and the tumultuous years we’ve gone through, maybe we have experienced betrayal even, having been betrayed or the betrayer.  We may have a physical set back or even death.  We have fears, anxieties.  Yet, I’m here to tell you that’s part of life, it smells, it’s hard.  God does not cause bad things to happen, but know that God is working to produce good things, to restore relationship, in all of it.  If we can trust God, then we may be able to see and to hear what God may want to pull out of the waste, out of death. 

That’s hard for some.  I know there are probably some folks in this room who are ready to give up on their life with God and maybe even giving up on church.  I’d love to tell you about a God who is giving you, and giving Westwood First Presbyterian new promises of life.  Our future with God is filled with God’s intimate presence with us as we practice disciplining ourselves through community with each other, through reading the scriptures with new eyes, through practices such as contemplation, lectio divina, listening, sabbath, and service.  We will be starting some new things this spring with our adult education, which we will call the “Westside Abbey @ Westwood First Presbyterian,” where we will be cultivating some of these practices and teachings.  The word Abbey means “joy” in its Hebrew roots…it also denotes a space set aside for spiritual growth.  God is calling us to cultivate a life and love with radical inclusion in our communities and within ourselves.  There is grace, and there is trust…both go towards growth.

The title of this sermon is “Endgame”.  My son and I used to watch the Marvel movies when they came out, so I thought of that movie!  

Jesus talks about the “endgame” in the gospel passage.  But, it’s not like the endgame in Avengers.  Jesus is not a super hero in the way that we imagine super heroes.  He is not crushing enemies.  He is following the way of humility, of emptying, of dying, which is much more powerful than any Avengers movie storyline.  It’s a storyline of practice that has changed my life, your life, and the world.  

Jesus knew this, Jesus also knew that he had to die.  He died because of his challenge of a system that kept all of us enslaved to a way of life that was getting us nowhere…yet Jesus overcame that system, challenged that system, and invites us to love our neighbors as he did…Jesus even overcame death and is alive today, giving us hope that as he is lifted up, we are lifted up with him and are able to live full lives forever with him.  The Ruler of the world in this passage is both Caesar and a deeper ruler, some would call Satan or evil systems…Jesus came to usher in a new reality that is both spiritual and material.  A new way of living.   

Let us be a church that lives out this radical call on our lives to follow Jesus by living in Christ.  That in knowing our identity in Christ, we don’t have to force our God on others, just love others well and allow God to be shown through us!  

Consumed.

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John 2:13-22

13 The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. 15 Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, both the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. 16 He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!” 17 His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.” 18 The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?” 19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?”21 But he was speaking of the temple of his body. 22 After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this; and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.

It seems like I can be consumed by a lot of things at times.  I have a lot of interests.  If you go to my basement, you’ll see lots of hiking and camping gear, lots of fly fishing gear, rock climbing gear, and, of course, running shoes and clothes.  Just walk into my office, look at the shelves and walls, you’ll see a lot of interests.  Doing different things, having interests, are not bad in and of themselves, but, if they consume you, then, not so healthy.  We can even become enslaved to them.

Our Old Testament lesson comes from Exodus that we didn’t read this morning.  The Israelites had been held in slavery in Egypt.  They were oppressed and under a system that kept them from even imagining their potential.  A friend of mine, Walter Brueggemann, has some things to say on this.  Dr. Brueggemann is one of the world’s foremost old testament theologians. I also had the privilege of being in a small group with him for a year or so where we explored issues around Jubilee and legacy.

Dr. Brueggemann believes that the Exodus story has been played out throughout history.  The Israelites were reduced to producers.  The Egyptians were consumers.  They needed the Israelites to produce in order to maintain their lifestyle.  The Israelites were enslaved.  And, if we aren’t careful, we become producers and consumers and can become enslaved to either system, or even both at the same time!  We are so much more and God is the equalizer who called forth a new system that calls us towards true freedom.  Not freedom defined by doing whatever we want and ignoring the needs of others, but actually of being who we were created to be…persons in deep love with ourselves, others, and through the love that God has for us.

In that new system, God gave Israel some guidelines.  These are looked at as commandments, but they are deeper than that.  The Israelites had been living under an oppressive system, the law that Moses gave was meant to be deep abiding principles to live by that gave life and meaning to every relationship.  

The overriding principle is a deep passion for God.  To be consumed by God’s relationship with us and pursuit of us.  That love, that relationship that releases from slavery as producers or material consumers, to people filled with purpose, meaning, and the freedom to love ourselves, others, and God.  

Friends, we live in a similar system today.  The gap between the rich and those living day to day is getting wider, and the pandemic has actually highlighted that gap.  We are easily fooled by cultural, political and even religious manipulations that keep us from becoming the persons God has created us to be.  It has created bias within us and around us that we all need to sort through…I know I have my bias!  We are called to live into a new reality that is marked by God’s love for us and our love for God and others…and to have imagination for a better way of living!

Author and friend Brian McLaren says this:  

Jesus used imagination to punch a tiny hole in their walls of confirmation bias, and through that tiny hole, some new light could stream in and let them know of a bigger world beyond their walls.

Jesus came to us fully embodying the Law and with an expansive, divine and human imagination.  He was the law in human flesh, the example.  We have this account from his life in the book of John this morning.

The book of John, like the other Gospel accounts, is presenting the life of Jesus, while declaring that he is the Son of God.  After entering Jerusalem, Jesus goes to the Temple.  The Temple according to Jewish understanding in which Jesus was a part, was the center of religious life in Jerusalem.  It was a house of worship to the one God and at its center, was the very presence of God dwelling on earth.   There was a system of sacrifice where worshippers could come and purchase doves to make atonement for their sins at the temple.  Since they came from all over, they needed money changers to convert their currency so that they could buy what they needed to leave at the altar.  There was nothing wrong with this practice, it was a necessary function in the Temple to make sacrifices.  Yet, it had become a huge operation and was interrupting the practice of prayer.  It was a “busyness” that was distracting to those who were there to worship.    

Jesus was frustrated to see the Temple be a distraction, so he makes a point by driving them out all who were selling and buying.  The Greek work used in this text is a form of the verb “ekballo” for “drove out”, or literally to throw out.

Now, Jesus doesn’t hurt anyone physically in this text, he does no harm other than moving some furniture.  Nor was Jesus interested in starting a protest movement as he acted alone.  Jesus casts out those who were selling and those who were buying.  Folks had turned the temple into a place of consumption, rather than a place set aside for worship and community.  This didn’t set well with Jesus. He wanted folks to know that they are more than merely consumers…that they themselves are the temple of God and that this temple was a place to remind them of that.  

After throwing the folks out, Jesus sticks around and something happens:  others came and shared space with Jesus.  The lame and the blind, those who were not whole and felt marginalized, those who had nothing to give came to Jesus and were healed and restored into community. 

The religious leaders were angry when they saw what was happening. Jesus was threatening the status quo, the way things had been done.  

He even said that the temple would be torn down…that this system of consumption can’t sustain itself.  Tear it down and it would be rebuilt by him in 3 days.  The religious leaders mocked him.  But, in effect, Jesus was saying that this system of exploitation is ending, I am showing you a better way.  Your system leads to death, my life leads to resurrection.  The old way has to go, a new way based on God’s love for all is here.

Oftentimes, I meet folks who describe themselves as “church refugees”.  They long to know that church is more than just showing up on Sundays or simply about being busy, they long for a house of prayer where they can simply be and live, love, and serve others.  They feel like they live in a foreign country, longing to inhabit their promised home. 

You may be sitting here today feeling anxious, frustrated, or a “refugee”.  I believe that God is calling each of us to inhabit this church, to be a part of Christ’s body and consumed by a zeal to gather together and worship God in community with others, really to see and experience this God that lives within all of us and all around us.  God is probably not calling us to turn over any tables around here, yet he is calling us to not settle for the status quo.  God does not want us to be distracted from seeing God in everyone and being God’s body in this world.  We are called together to be God’s dwelling in which God’s very Spirit, God’s Presence lives.  We fill our lives, our temple that God has established, with so much that oftentimes we forget who, or rather, who’s we are.  God is calling us to be “consumed” by our identity as the body of Christ.  God calls us to not simply just go to a house of prayer, but for each of us, joined together under Christ, to be God’s house of prayer.  I tell folks all of the time to “own” the space God has called them into, to have agency.  In other words, to remember that we are not powerless, we have the very power of God within us and around us and that power is evident when we spend time in silence or with others in prayer and when we put our focus inside and outside on a God who animates who we are, our gifts, for the good of ourselves and others.

God has blessed this church in many ways and God calls us to be a foretaste of what his Kingdom will someday be.  I shared this with a friend recently, I had a very lucid dream about Westwood First Presbyterian.  I was walking into this building and it was filled with energy:  there was a coffeeshop, craft and food markets, a pub even!  There were also folks of all varieties in this place, a hub of activity for the community.  It was also filled with all sorts of non-profit and for-profit work that lined up with this notion of working for the common good.  I was looking for a meeting that I was supposed to attend and a group of folks from the church met me, so sure of themselves and their desire to be a welcoming presence.  They were consumed with a love of Self and Others and seeing God’s flow in this congregation and community. 

Friends, being consumed by the things of this world leads to a dead end…being consumed by God’s love leads to overcoming, even death…as we are consumed by this God who loves us so, may we be a beacon of hope to our neighborhoods and beyond by how we live and love each other, God, and the community around us.

Fulfilled this Day.

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Mark 1:14-20

The Beginning of the Galilean Ministry

14 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, 15 and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Jesus Calls the First Disciples

16 As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me and I will make you fish for people.” 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

In a little over a week, we have had a great…and amazing start!  As I was telling Mary Ellen, and others, I can’t give a word to what I’m experiencing, other than this call and getting to know Westwood First has been good, so good!  Mary Ellen had a great comment, instead of trying to give it a word or define, it, just experience it.  Love it!  Friends, we are experiencing a great new story that is emerging at Westwood First…it is good, and it has a great foundation, a history of those that are here now and those that have been with us in the past!  And, in the midst, we are already trying to figure out who we are as a church in this changing world, and who are as people and how we are getting connected and experiencing a stirring within our hearts, our very being.

In life, I oftentimes, maybe too much, try to figure things out.  I want to “know” and to work towards something.  My doctorate was in missional leadership to continue to understand church and how the church is shifting and growing.  You also may be picking up that I’m constantly working on myself.  I’m big on trying to figure out how I operate.  Which, can be good, but it really is simply allowing things to emerge, or to be birthed within me…and to live in awareness, or presence, of my self and others.   I think that’s part of my understanding of myself as being in God’s image and growing in my understanding of my gifts and talents and how God animates and even redeems them.  

I think it’s also part of being present, faithfully present, with myself, others, and seeing how God flows in and through all things.  Presence is a big deal.  When Jesus talks about Kingdom of God, or Heaven, or God’s reign as he does in this morning’s passage, he’s not talking about a nation or another place, he’s talking about  God’s Presence that is with us now, everywhere.  That God’s kingdom has been fulfilled and it’s our task to seek it, to live into it, and to try to be present with God as God is present with us.  We don’t build the kingdom, we live in it’s reality and let it emerge within and around us.  

One of the tools that I’ve used in counseling and in spiritual direction is the Enneagram.  The Enneagram is a model of human personality which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types.  It has been around for hundreds of years, and has evolved over the years.  My personality type on the Enneagram is a “3”.  That’s often called the “achiever” of the “effective person”.  I value getting things done essentially.  I’ll work towards whatever measure of success that I have for whatever I’m doing.  There is a lot of good to that, but there’s also some darkness with that.  The good is that I feel pretty confident in who I am, it’s not arrogance, I genuinely like being me.  The bad is that I can base my value on what I achieve rather than who I am.  I can also be a workaholic, just ask Debbie!

It’s important for me to be able to take time off.  That’s why it’s really hard to get a hold of me on Fridays, my day off, especially in the morning.  It’s also why I periodically go to the Abbey of Gethsemani in KY, just like I’m doing for a couple of days this week.  I need Sabbath rest.  I need quiet.  It helps me to cultivate this sense of presence, of seeing God’s Kingdom presence in me and around me.  It’s especially important to me in this season of transition. I want to stay present to myself, to creation, and to you…  

And I get it, it’s scary slowing down and simply “being” present.  Oftentimes, when left on our own, we begin the hard stuff of questioning ourselves, we see the dark places in our lives and in the lives of those around us, and we don’t want to go there.

WB Yeats wrote this:  “It takes more courage to examine the dark corners of your own soul than it does for a soldier to fight on a battlefield.”

I also think that it’s important for us to ask these questions collectively as a church.  We have to slow down, listen to each other, our communities, and to God.  That’s why I’m really curious and hopeful for what we are learning during this post pandemic world and with so much political and social unrest.  How are we growing? 

As a church, we’ve done a lot of stuff, a lot of it is pretty amazing actually.  But, I’m sure we also realized before the pandemic, that we needed to change, we realized that what we’ve done, doesn’t work.  The pandemic was a struggle, a lot of suffering, but it’s also forced me, and all of us, to ask some great questions.  

As we ask these questions, Jesus invites us, just as he invited his disciples, to be fishers of others, to invite others to live differently in this world, to be present with one another, to a ask deeper questions.  

I found this statement from our Presbyterian Book of Order of all things that I think resonates well with this morning’s message.

In Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all creation, the Church seeks a new openness to

God’s mission in the world. In Christ, the triune God tends the least among us, suffers the

curse of human sinfulness, raises up a new humanity, and promises a new future for all

creation. 

…a new openness to the sovereign activity of God in the Church and in the world,

to a more radical obedience to Christ, and to a more joyous celebration in worship

and work; a new openness in its own membership, becoming in fact as well as in faith a

community of women and men of all ages, races, ethnicities, and worldly conditions,

made one in Christ by the power of the Spirit, as a visible sign of the new

humanity; a new openness to see both the possibilities and perils of its institutional forms

in order to ensure the faithfulness and usefulness of these forms to God’s activity

in the world; and a new openness to God’s continuing reformation of the Church ecumenical, that it might be more effective in its mission.

Our scripture passages this morning give testimony to God’s Kingdom being made known and lived.  In our gospel passage, it says we need to repent.  We do.  The Greek word for repent is “metanoia”.  It means to change one’s mind.  We need to change as persons, we need ask hard questions.  We also need to do that as a church.  If we do repent, if we do change, together we can bear witness to God’s Kingdom around us and in us, God’s Presence rising up all around us. 

My bet is that if we do that, then others may want to join us…even in a world that does not join things as much these days.   Others may see the beauty within us and around us and contribute to that beauty.  It happened with the disciples…those nets!  Overflowing!  They had trust…a friend of mine told me once that an organization will grow, in some way, as fast as the speed of trust.  Well, if this past week is any indication at Westwood, then watch out!  We’ve handed over trust to one another and to God’s flow in a short time.  Thank you!  So, if the first couple of weeks is any indication, then fasten your seatbelts friends!  We may find ourselves in a place of Presence, of awareness, and of a different kind of growth as we become the persons, and the congregation, that we’ve always wanted to be…the one God created us to be.  Amen?

Come and See.

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John 1:43-51”

43 The next day Jesus decided to go to Galilee. He found Philip and said to him, “Follow me.” 44 Now Philip was from Bethsaida, the city of Andrew and Peter.
45 Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found him about whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus son of Joseph from Nazareth.” 46 Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” 47 When Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him, he said of him, “Here is truly an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” 48 Nathanael asked him, “Where did you get to know me?” Jesus answered, “I saw you under the fig tree before Philip called you.” 49 Nathanael replied, “Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 50 Jesus answered, “Do you believe because I told you that I saw you under the fig tree? You will see greater things than these.” 51 And he said to him, “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” 

Come and See.  Invitation.  It’s always good to be invited to something isn’t it?  We want to feel included.  It can also be a bit scary to accept an invitation or to come and see?  Yet, when we do, even thought we may not know what to expect, new things can bring growth.  

I’m sure we can all relate to new things…especially today, you have a new pastor!  Probably some of you even this morning are sitting here thinking, “Who is this new person?  What is this year going to be like?  Will it get better than 2023?”or “what is this sermon going to be like?  And how long will it be?  What is going to emerge at Westwood First Presbyterian this year?  What things can we depend on?  Where are we going as a community?  As a church?  What am I being asked to be a part of?”  

Well, trying something new or “experiencing” something different can be scary…it can also be deeply good as we allow others to see us and we want to see others.  Being open and vulnerable takes risk and willingness for growth and change. 

And, sometimes, change is necessary.  When I was first approached by Lisa Allgood, our general presbyter, and asked if I was open to a new call.  I told her I did not think so.  But, as time went by, I began to realize that I needed a change, that I needed and wanted a disruption that would take me out of something a bit comfortable and into something new.  As Westwood First opened up, and I opened up to a new invitation, I began to experience a deep sense that this invitation was one that I wanted to say yes to and to be curious and courageous about.  

Throughout our lives, we have invitations.  The question is do we say yes.  I was raised in the church and in my church upbringing, there was a lot of no.  It seemed like church was defined more about what we said no to instead of yes.  We did not want curiosity, we wanted comfort.  I remember thinking, as a kid, there has to be something more.

In high school, I was invited to a new campus ministry that was starting at my high school.  I was the president of our Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Good News Club at the time and I was first approached about helping to start this new thing.  At first I wondered what the catch was and I was hesitant.  But, when we started meeting at my best friend’s house, and I saw so many of my other friends who never went to church show up, I thought there was something to this.  I started to come alive through others seeing me and me being allowed to see them.  Not just a visual seeing, but really an invitation into deeper friendship.  

In short, I didn’t know what I was getting into…but I really enjoyed it and kept going back to this weekly club.  I had many more adventures and by the end of my senior year, I knew that my life was somehow dramatically changing!  It actually changed the trajectory of my life…I went into youth ministry the very next year while at UK and went on to seminary eventually and becoming a pastor…then some other adventures and misadventures in life and in the church…a doctorate and several lives later, here I am with you and Westwood First!  And I am so grateful.  In a few short days as your pastor, I have felt seen and have seen many of you and we are already on to a pathway of deep friendship.  

In our Gospel story, Jesus goes out and personally invites Phillip to hang out with him, to follow him, to enter into deep friendship.  That’s the only time that happens in the New Testament where Jesus personally invites someone.  Pretty wild.  This guy Phillip was kind of a reluctant guy, an over thinker at times, always trying to figure things out (I can relate).  Yet Jesus sought him out.  He was from an area called Bethsaida, not a local boy to Jesus, yet Jesus crossed over this boundary…Jesus seemed to always be crossing the cultural boundaries we’ve constructed…Jesus stayed curious about the “other”…  

Well, Phillip starts following this Jesus guy and starts to get his friends to come along.  Kind of like what many of you do, when you see something good…you may not completely understand it, yet you know you know it is good and want to extend invitations to others.  One friend in particular was Nathaniel.  Phillip goes after Nathaniel and brings him to meet Jesus.  At first Nathaniel wonders if anything good can come out of Nazareth where Jesus was from.  Now this isn’t a put down on Nazareth, it’s probably more like a community rivalry thing.  Kind of like Westwood…or name a neighborhood in Cincy…sometimes there is a bit of hesitation, but we can all come together when there is something curious that we know that we need to check out.  Yet Phillip persists and simply says “come and see”.  In this story, these words are what we call “imperatives” in the Greek translation, a command or invitation.  In this case, it is simply an invitation.  You see, Jesus never forces himself on anyone or tries to sell them on something, he simply invites people to check out what he’s saying and experiencing, what he’s about.

So, Nathaniel does.  Nathaniel was a good guy and Jesus comments on that…but, here’s the kicker, Jesus and Nathaniel had never met.  When Nathaniel asks Jesus how he knows him, Jesus responds that he saw Nathaniel under a fig tree.  Now, Jesus is not some kind of stalker, Jesus wasn’t at that tree.  Yet, he simply noticed Nathaniel from a distance and knew things about him.

This was a BIG indication to Nathaniel that there was something more about this Jesus guy.  It drew Nathaniel in…he didn’t understand it all, but he knew that Jesus was something special.  After Nathaniel’s statement of belief, Jesus says something else, in effect, you haven’t seen anything yet!

Jesus sees us…not just some sense of seeing us from a distance, like when we see a neighbor walking our way…but, really notices us, sees the deeper parts of us…and is drawn to us just as we are drawn to something deeper in Christ.  

You see, what Jesus was inviting Nathaniel, and all of us throughout history, is to follow him into a deeper understanding of ourselves, others, and our communion with the world and one another…we are all a part of the body of Christ, and the church is called to be an alternative community in the middle of the world’s systems.  We are connected to one another and, really, all of of humanity, all made in God’s image, all loved by God and called to live in God’s presence, God’s reign or Kingdom if you will, even as we live within a world dominated by narratives that are more about power, control, or even violence.  My hope is that we will “come and see” this year together what Jesus is doing in our lives and in our community, with our neighbors.  God has already noticed you.  

God wants be with you in the struggle of life…and to “abide” with you in more experiences than you could ever imagine, no matter what age we are…  Friends, I know that this church has taken lots of risks over the past years.  Well, I’m asking us to take some more risks, calculated risks where we are all openly communicating, being transparent and vulnerable and open to one another, to be curious, and to “come and see” what God has in store for us.  Even in our weariness of this past year, and the current events that we find ourselves, let’s take a risk of deepening our relationships with one another, and with a God who is with us and won’t give up on us and has invited us to journey together…and, as we journey together, being open to seeing greater things than we could have ever imagined come to fruition!