What's Your Story? (2)

This summer, at First Congregational UCC, we will take a break from the Revised Common Lectionary and create our own list of biblical narratives for worship, study and prayer. You are cordially invited to participate in the formation of our "uncommon lectionary."

During worship on May 23rd, the congregation spent some time meditating on these questions: What is your biblical story? What inspires you? What troubles you? What are the core stories of our scripture? This exercise prompted some thoughtful responses. A sample of the responses I've received so far suggests we are on a similar plane of thought, regarding what puzzles us:

I have been thinking about the story of Elijah's contest with the priests of Baal. What does this say to us about relationships with Muslims, Jews, Hindus, etc-- Do we have to "win"? How about our relationships with "the evangelicals" Are we right and they wrong, or visa versa? Or does that miss the point of the story?

Another wrote,

"No one comes to the father but by me." Fundamentalists often throw this up when someone suggests Gandhi might be in heaven (or nirvana?). There are a few other verses like this that people use to justify mission work that resembles more the crusades than the work of Jesus.

There are also some similarities in what inspires us: the sermon on the mount, the beatitudes, "the one that says, God is Love." As the youngest of three children, I particularly appreciated this submission:

(Significant in learning to deal with two older brothers) "A harsh word stirs up wrath, but soft words turn away anger."

What is your story? What biblical story most informs your life? What scripture got you through a crisis? What scripture did you select for your wedding? What comforts you in grief, what burbles up from the depths of memory when you are struck by beauty and grace?

To help us form this uncommon lectionary, comment on this post. Then check back, as the weeks progress, to see what comes of our efforts to make our own, homemade and locally grown lectionary.

Flaming Disciples

The story goes that the disciples were on fire that day.
They were celebrating the day of Pentecost, which commemorates the day Moses brought the commandments down from the mountain of the Lord. When Moses came down from the mountain, his face was radiant with the presence of the Lord-- so shiny the people couldn't bear to look at him and asked him to cover his face. Moses was the one who first heard the voice of God coming from a burning bush that was not consumed. God was present with Moses, and through the law which Moses brought to the people, God was present with all the people who followed Moses, and with their descendants forever.
As they were all together, praying, and celebrating how God was present with Moses, suddenly they experienced the powerful presence of God for themselves, first-hand, in the wind and the fire. It was the gift of the Holy Spirit, the same spirit which was with Moses and Elijah and Jesus.
That is the second chapter of Acts, the Acts of the Apostles, which really ought to be called the Acts of the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit is the power that inspires and moves (sometimes literally moves) every act in the book. The Spirit moves like a fire, setting hearts aflame with passion for God and for each other and for all the people, friend and foe, slave and master, prisoner and jailer. The Holy Spirit seems to have no standards at all. Whatever, whoever is combustible will catch the Holy Spirit's fire.
The real wonder is why some people seem to be flame-retardant.
When the apostles received the Spirit they began to tell the story of God's saving love, and everyone could hear and understand. Except those who couldn't. Some people just thought they were aflame with a different kind of spirit, the kind that comes in wine skins.
But note that the apostles didn't spend a moment agonizing over those who didn't "get it." They continued to move with the Spirit, to speak as the Spirit gave them the ability, to go wherever the Spirit led, and to allow that they did not own the Spirit of God, rather, the Spirit used them. As the Spirit of God uses us, to reach others.
We burn with the Spirit and yet we are not consumed-- like the burning bush in the Moses story. When we come together to worship, we devote yourself to prayer, which is perhaps the drying room for damp tinder, and perhaps lifting our voices in song is the bellows that makes the flame burn brighter. So we can go out, flaming with the Spirit of the Lord, ready to share the love of God, in ways that all people can hear and understand, and catch fire. Amen.

What's Your Story?

This summer, at First Congregational UCC, we are going to take a break from the Revised Common Lectionary and create our own list of biblical narratives. Our own Uncommon Lectionary will become the focus of our worship, study and prayer.
So what's your story? What story would you like to hear read and unpacked and examined in a sermon? What story would you like to pray or sing? What story would you like to share with the congregation?
How about an examination of the creation stories (yes, there are more than one)? What about that guy who got swallowed by a whale? What about Ruth and Naomi, the two widows who throw their lot in together?
Take a few moments to think about it. If you were browsing through a used book shop, and the guy looking through the shelf next to you picked up a bible and said, "Do you know if there are any good stories in here?" What would you recommend?

What's a Witness to Do? Love Everybody.

Acts 11:1-18, John 13:31-35

"Meanwhile, Peter stayed in Joppa with a certain Simon, a tanner." That's where the Book of the Acts of the Apostles left us, last week, in the exciting saga of the first Christians. Peter and all of the disciples were just figuring out what to do, post-Jesus. When Jesus was with them, he was at times incomprehensible, maddening, but at least he was there, and they could follow him. In this post resurrection world, they were finding their own way, with the help of the Holy Spirit and angels and visions. Like us, they were sometimes blind, but sometimes they could see.
And I truly see, Peter said in the 10th chapter, that God shows no partiality. This is not new information, this is something from way back in the law and the prophets, that God is the God of all the people, not just "us" but also "them." God is the God of Naomi of Bethlehem and Ruth of Moab; God is the God of Jerusalem and of Nineveh. God is the God of Judea and Samaria. Love your neighbor as yourself, Jesus said. How simple is that? Simple, to understand. As we know, difficult to practice. Because, it just seems like there is something at work in us that looks for somebody to hate, somebody to blame for all our troubles, somebody to stand against. The gospel writers themselves could not avoid demonizing somebody. In the gospel of John it is "the Jews," for which I prefer to substitute the term "the religious authorities" because, really, almost every character in the gospel is a Jew, including Jesus, and his mother, and the beloved disciple John, and Peter and all of the disciples. Except for a few minor Roman characters, everyone in the gospel is a Jew. Two thousand years of Church-sanctioned but not Christ-sanctioned violence against Jews and Muslims, women and homosexuals: this is evidence of how difficult it has been to follow this simple commandment, love one another. Love your neighbor as yourself. And who is my neighbor?
Into the mind of Peter, the one who denied Jesus three times, into the mind of Peter flowed this vision, three times. The vision seemed to be all about food, and it was puzzling. But when the messengers came from the centurion's household, perhaps Peter remembered what Jesus had taught him in the parable of the good Samaritan. Who is my neighbor? Whoever is in need, whoever shows compassion. Cornelius is both in need of and a provider of compassion. Aren't we all?
We need the church, as much as Cornelius needed the church. Cornelius didn't need conversion, the way Saul/Paul the persecutor of the church needed conversion. Cornelius was already a righteous man, a worshiper of God, a generous man full of good works. And yet, he lived on the margins of the community of faith. Until he sent for Peter, and became a part of the vision of the church without boundaries.
The church needed Cornelius, as much as the church needs us. Peter needed Cornelius to complete the interpretation of his vision. We need each other, we all need each other.
As we come to this table today, we remember that we feed each other with the presence of Christ. We are Christ-bearers and interpreters of visions to each other. In our relationship to one another we practice Christ's command to love one another, because as simple as it is, it is so difficult. Beloved, let us love one another.

Flock Together

For "Good Shepherd Sunday," April 25, 2010

What is a witness to do? is the question we are exploring together in this Easter Season. We are witnesses to the risen Lord: That is what we proclaim on Easter Sunday: "Christ the Lord Is Risen Today, Alleluia!" The life of Jesus changed everything for the first disciples. In the company of Jesus they experienced the presence and the power of the living God. And then he was killed. And then, they experienced his presence after death. They were witnesses of the presence and power of the Christ and as witnesses they were obliged to tell others how they have seen the Lord.
These miracle stories from the Acts of the Apostles proclaim that the power that was in Jesus is now in the church. It isn't Peter who raises Tabitha, but the power of Christ working through the church that raises Tabitha as Jesus raised Jairus's dauthter. "Talitha, get up," Jesus said. "Tabitha, get up," Peter said. And the miracles that Jesus accomplished echoed back to the stories of Elijah, the prophet. The raising of Dorcas/Tabitha is a testimony that the presence of God which has always been at work in the world continues through the church.
The Acts of the Apostles also testifies that being part of the church meant being subject to suffering. The church endured persecution from the start, and we know from multiple sources that the persecution of Christians and Jews intensified after the Roman-Jewish war. The gospel according to John and the Revelation both arose out of this period of intense persecution.
This is important. To read scripture without an inkling of the experience of the writer and the intended audience is like listening to half of a phone conversation, without knowing who is on the other end of the line. Context matters.
When we hear Jesus say, in the gospel of John (and only in the gospel of John, Jesus doesn't say anything like this in the other three gospels), "You do not believe, because you do not belong to the sheep," it is vital to know that John was not addressing a congregation full of prominent, privileged citizens of the Empire. John was addressing a people who were under siege, a people who were forced into hiding, a people who were as likely to wake up in jail as to wake up at all. John's gospel is about comforting believers, confirming their faith, and assuring them-- during a period of intense persecution of the church-- that though they suffer, their suffering is not evidence of God's abandonment, or of their failure to believe strongly enough or correctly. My sheep hear my voice (I know them) and (they) follow me. In other words, because you belong to the flock, you believe.
We need each other. When our faith founders, when we wonder if there is any point to this life at all, when we are moved to shout with the psalmist and with the crucified Jesus, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," we need the church to believe for us, and to assure us again, that God is for us, God is with us, and God will be with us always.
What is a witness to do? Flock together, and follow the Christ. Even when the way leads through suffering, follow the Christ. Stick together, help one another. Come together regularly to drink from the streams of the water of life. Feed the lambs. Carry the old sheep. And follow.

What is a witness to do? Get up and go!

Now there was a disciple in Damascus named Ananias.... The Lord said to him, ‘Get up and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul. At this moment he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.’ But Ananias answered, ‘Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints in Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who invoke your name.’ But the Lord said to him, ‘Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and kings and before the people of Israel; I myself will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’ So Ananias went and entered the house. He laid his hands on Saul and said, ‘Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus, who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.’ And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and his sight was restored. Then he got up and was baptized, and after taking some food, he regained his strength.

What is the Holy Spirit saying to the church through the stories of Saul and Ananias? "Get up and go." Get up and go, and wait for instruction. Get up and go greet your enemy as a brother. Get up and go, and make the blind see. Get up and go and make your witness in the life that you live together.
Responding to God's call requires a certain amount of vulnerability. To witness to the living Christ, we are called to behave in this life as if the promises of God are true and can be trusted. That is daunting. To reach out our hands as Ananias did for Saul, is to risk having them cuffed. To head out on the open road is to risk losing everything we leave behind. But the witness of scripture, and the witness of the saints among us, testify that in the balance the reward outweighs the risk, and that reward is life in the presence of Christ, today and always.

What's a Witness to Do?

On Easter Sunday we celebrated the resurrection, and in my Easter sermon I gave some examples of where I have seen the risen Christ. HowI have seen the risen Christ in the pictures from Haiti-- Christ in the faces of those who had suffered, Christ in the joy and laughter of the people who had been entombed in the rubble and yet still they rejoiced, and danced and sang. Weeping lingered for the night but joy came with the morning!
I explained last week that I have seen the risen Christ in the church basement, serving and being served through the Interfaith Hospitality Network. An infant Christ napping on a cot in the Sunday school room, a Christ serving hot dish. I have seen Christ in the kindness, Christ in the courage, Christ in the love of people giving and receiving hospitality.
I have seen the risen Christ in you. I have seen the risen Christ in church, slipping into a rear pew after the first hymn. I have seen the Lord in the breaking of the bread, here in the sanctuary and downstairs in the fellowship hall, and at the soup kitchen at Temple Baptist Church, and on the job site with Habitat for Humanity. I have seen the risen Christ at your neighbor's house, visiting the sick, comforting the afflicted.
I have seen the risen Lord, and I am confident that you have too. Maybe you didn't recognize Jesus at the time, maybe like those disciples on the road to Emmaus in Luke's story, you didn't realize you were talking with Jesus until after he was gone from your sight.
We are witnesses. We have seen the Lord. Now, what's a witness to do?

What is a witness to do?

That is what the second volume of Luke's gospel is all about. Unlike the other gospels, Luke doesn't end with the resurrection, or even with post-resurrection appearances. Luke wrote a sequel which we know as the Acts of the Apostles. It is the "what next" part of the story. Jesus has ascended into heaven and what next? The Holy Spirit comes upon the apostles on Pentecost and what next? Believers live together and share all things in common and there is not a needy person among them and what next? What is a witness to do?
According to the story, the first disciples felt an urgency to tell it like they saw it. That's what a witness does. If you are sitting on your front porch and you see a car speed by and then you hear that horrible sound of horns and tires and metal against metal and broken glass, you have an obligation to tell the officer what you have seen and heard. That's what the first disciples did. They went to the temple where they were sure to find people to tell and they told their story. And it got them into a lot of trouble.
Which is why some of us hesitate to bear witness. The first disciples were thrown in jail. When they were sprung from prison by a miraculous intervention, instead of going home, they went right back to the temple and picked up where they left off, telling everyone what they had seen and heard about Jesus. And when the arresting party asked them, "Why do you keep doing this?" They said, "We must obey God. Rather than human authority." That is dangerous territory. But dangerous territory became home to the first Christians. Regular law breakers, they were. The first Christians did a lot of jail time, as a consequence of bearing witness to their Christ encounters.
Like Nelson Mandela, who bore witness to the Christ who shows no partiality, but expects justice from and for black and white alike, the disciples went to jail. Like Mary Benson, who bore witness to the Christ who rejected violence and preached love of enemies, the disciples went to jail. Not everyone had to suffer such severe consequences for their testimony, but thank God for those who were bold enough to do so.
So, what is a witness to do? That is what we continue to discover together, as a church. Like the first disciples, we are called to bear witness, simply to tell what we have seen and heard. As we worship and meet together during this Easter season, let's try to help one another answer that question. How do we best bear witness to the presence of Christ in our midst, in this world today? How do we tell the story in ways that people can understand what we are talking about?
Let us tune our ears to hear what the spirit is saying to the church. Amen.