Thompson's Blog

The Godliness of Unfairness
Matthew 20:1-16

20:1 “For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire laborers for his vineyard. 2 After agreeing with the laborers for the usual daily wage, he sent them into his vineyard. 3 When he went out about nine o’clock, he saw others standing idle in the marketplace; 4 and he said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard, and I will pay you whatever is right.’ So they went. 5 When he went out again about noon and about three o’clock, he did the same. 6 And about five o’clock he went out and found others standing around; and he said to them, ‘Why are you standing here idle all day?’ 7 They said to him, ‘Because no one has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You also go into the vineyard.’ 8 When evening came, the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the laborers and give them their pay, beginning with the last and then going to the first.’ 9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each of them received the usual daily wage. 10 Now when the first came, they thought they would receive more; but each of them also received the usual daily wage. 11 And when they received it, they grumbled against the landowner, 12 saying, ‘These last worked only one hour, and you have made them equal to us who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat.’ 13 But he replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am doing you no wrong; did you not agree with me for the usual daily wage? 14 Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. 15 Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ 16 So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

I can’t read this parable without thinking of the way United Methodist ministers are compensated here in Arkansas because it’s equally odd. We preachers aren’t paid the same amount for unequal amounts of time spent in the vineyard. The amount of time we spend at work may vary a bit, but it’s roughly the same. The amount of work we do has little bearing on how much we get paid – what we are paid depends on the vineyard we are working in.

And there is wide variation in the amounts we are paid. I don’t know the full extent of that variation because you can’t get a copy of the salary sheet anymore. The salary sheet is the document that shows the breakdown of all the clergy salary packages in the state. Of course we aren’t supposed to care about such things, but I think it’s information that should be available. When I last tried to get a copy of that document I was told that I could find that information in the Annual Conference Journal, but that really isn’t true. Each church reports these lump sum amounts paid for clergy support without identifying who gets what.

My retired preacher friend refers to the salary sheet as the sin-sheet – which is exactly what it is. Any preacher who looks at that sheet becomes fully engaged in one of those official types of sin. The sin-sheet immediately elicits things like pride, greed, envy, jealousy, anger, or outright malice. And then those sins become compounded by the phone calls that generally follow a view of the sin-sheet. As soon as you see it you are compelled to call another preacher to engage in what Wesley might refer to as non-edifying conversation. I fully understand why our conference administrators keep the salary sheet under tight control. That’s what you call a sin-reduction plan.

I can generate some righteous indignation about the unfairness of our compensation system. And I tell myself that it’s not that I feel under-compensated. I like to think I get worked up about the over-compensation of some of my peers, but when I start ranting about the unfairness of our system I can’t help but notice how much I sound like one of those workers in this morning’s parable – one of those guys who got hired first thing in the morning.

While I really don’t trust the motives of those who keep the salary sheet under tight control I’m honestly sort of grateful they won’t let me have one. I wish we, as a Conference, would engage in some honest analysis of the impact our arbitrary compensation system has on the health and vitality of our denomination, but I’m sure my lack of access to that information reduces the rate of my sinning. And what I also know is that compensating pastors for the work of ministry is always going to be an odd and arbitrary undertaking. How much should you pay a person not to have a regular job? It’s no wonder that the figures are all over the place.

But this isn’t just a problem for United Methodist preachers. It’s hard for anyone to untangle their sense of worth from their compensation package. How we are paid gives some people an inflated sense of importance and it robs others of value. It creates painful divisions among us, and it disturbs our souls. Apparently it’s an old problem because I think these are the issues this parable raises and addresses.

I believe Jesus told this parable to reveal the way in which money messes with our hearts and minds. I don’t think any of us can read this parable without being a bit disturbed by the unfairness of the way these workers were paid. I think most of us could argue that this employer engaged in an unfair business practice, but what it primarily exposes is how much importance we place on our desire to get what we deserve – when we think we deserve more than others.

Because this desire to get what we deserve can evaporate pretty quickly when you fully examine what it is that we actually deserve. When you take in all the factors that impact who we are and how we have what we have I think most of us would be happy to get what Jesus said we all deserve – which is daily bread. In a business sense, it was unfair to pay those who worked a short time the same amount that those who had worked all day, but Jesus wanted those of us who have an inflated sense of what we deserve to let go of our obsession with what we sense to be fair and to recognize that none of us actually deserve to have more than others.

I’m not sure how you put this kind of economic system in to practice. We’ve seen some pretty bad examples of what happens when countries claim to have equality within the marketplace. So-called communist countries might argue that they have established more equality between workers, but as George Orwell said in his allegorical dystopian novel, Animal Farm, which critiqued the Soviet Union under Stalin — all animals are created equal, but some are more equal than others.

We human beings have a hard time creating fair economic systems. And what constitutes fairness looks vastly different depending on where you are standing. Fairness means one thing to people who have more than they need and a far different thing to people who don’t have enough, and how you define fairness will determine how important you think fairness really is. The workers who were hired last and paid first weren’t so concerned about fairness – they got what they needed and were grateful to have it. And I think that’s the attitude Jesus was trying to promote in all of us with this parable.

Fairness is a fine thing. I don’t think any of us need to be quiet about the various forms of unfairness that surround us, but none of us need to harbor the illusion that we have what we have because life is fair. If you think the world we currently inhabit and the good fortune that some of us have is a product of divine fairness you need to meditate for a moment on the history of the native Americans or the plight of African Americans. Our country has not been shaped by fairness, and it’s not currently guided by fairness. I’m not saying our country is any worse than any other nation that has ever existed, but it’s not fair.

I just finished listening to a book called The Journey of Crazy Horse, by Joseph Marshall. Crazy Horse was the Lacota warrior who is best known for leading the Battle at the Little Bighorn where Gen. Custer had his last stand, but Crazy Horse was known within his tribe as someone who was totally focused on the well-being of his tribe. The clash between the native Americans and the European Americans is a tragic story. I’m not sure how it could have played out in a better way, but I wish we had been more sensitive to the way they lived on the land.

The native Americans had their issues, but they had some good values. They valued courage and honor and the skills of both men and women. They valued having enough meat to get them through the Montana winters, but they didn’t waste meat or any other resource. And they had no idea what this obsession with gold was all about. Unfortunately I think we immigrant Americans have done a better job of teaching the native Americans the value of gold than we have learned from them how to live well on the land, but how to live with others will always be a problem.

It’s hard not to live with an eye of judgement toward one another. We have this inclination to measure ourselves against each other and to get bent out of shape by pride, jealousy or shame. We rationalize where we are by pointing out the fairness or the unfairness of it all, and I think Jesus calls all of this measuring we do in to question.

Jesus turns the world as we know it upside down. By saying the first will be last and the last will be first he messes up all of the ways we generally sort ourselves out. He wants those of us who have much to question the value of our things and our positions, and he wants those who don’t have enough to know that they deserve more. Jesus told this unsettling parable so that we would question the way we see the world and to take note of how much we rely on this concept of fairness or unfairness to make ourselves feel better about what we have or angry about what we don’t.

Jesus didn’t seem to care very much about fairness. Jesus cared about faithfulness. Jesus wanted to produce faithfulness to the God who loves us all equally, and who wants us to do the same. Loving us all equally isn’t an act of fairness – it’s an act of generosity, and that’s what we need to value more than anything else. We don’t just need to treat each other fairly – we need to treat each other generously.

The kingdom of God is such an odd place. All of the standards we use to measure ourselves and one another simply go out the window. What goes on in the kingdom of God isn’t fair – it’s glorious! And we are invited to abide there. It’s an odd journey we are challenged to take, and if you don’t feel qualified you can take comfort in knowing that in God’s kingdom the first are last, and the last are first.

It’s not fair – it’s gracious.
And thanks be to God for that. Amen.

The Fixer?
Psalm 103:1-13

1 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name.
2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and do not forget all his benefits—
3 who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the Pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who satisfies you with good as long as you live so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
6 The LORD works vindication and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses, his acts to the people of Israel.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 He will not always accuse, nor will he keep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west, so far he removes our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion for his children, so the LORD has compassion for those who fear him.

There was a tweet I never did figure out how to formulate while I was on my two week bicycle trip last spring, but I remember spending a lot of time trying to figure out how to articulate it. What I wanted to be able to communicate in a few words was the sweet sensation of diminishing pain. I remember searching for the perfect words to express the wonderful feeling that washes over you when your suffering subsides. Because when you are about half way up a steep hill on an overloaded bicycle, and you are in your lowest gear, and you are only going fast enough to keep from falling over, and you seriously wonder if you have enough left in your burning legs to get you to the top – that first sense of relief is such wonderful sensation. And as the hill levels out and the pain subsides you begin to have this sense that the world is a beautiful place again.

I am convinced that one of the sweetest feelings in life is that experience of diminishing pain. Another thing that plagued me on my trip was cold hands. I didn’t think I would get cold hands in Mississippi in May, but I did. There were a couple of days when I was longing for some scorching heat because my hands were wet and cold. I hate it when my hands get cold and it’s so easy for me to get cold hands. And it would be so nice when the sun would finally come out or it would at least quit raining and the temperature would rise and my hands would begin to feel normal again. I just love the way it feels when pain goes away.

I never did get that tweet written. I guess the sweet feel of relief only lasted so long before I would become distracted by the sight of another hill. And once my hands got warm I probably began to get hot. The sensation of retreating pain is an illusive moment.

And as far as I can tell life is sort of made up this dance between the jabs of pain and the balm of relief. There are all kinds of variations of this theme. Certainly some people live in incredibly harsh situations or are dealing with situations where it’s hard for me to imagine that there is ever any kind of relief, but I’m guessing that in every circumstance there is an occasional sense of release.

And there are other people who don’t appear to have any pain at all. It seems like there are some people out there who have all the things most of us think we need to make us happy, but I’m pretty sure there’s not anyone with enough fame, fortune, health, beauty or charm to eliminate all the pain of life.

Suffering happens. Pain is part of the landscape for all of us. But I’m thinking we all know the feeling of relief as well. It may just be a blip on the suffering screen, but that sense of being delivered from something horrible is a wonderful thing. In fact, I believe what we have in today’s Psalm is the heartfelt expression from someone who had somehow been delivered from a terrible circumstance. What we have here isn’t wishful thinking – it’s genuine thanks to God for deliverance. This person had been on the brink of the Pit, but was back on solid ground and grateful to be there. And this person was giving God all the credit for getting them back to a good place.

This person didn’t get distracted by the sight of a new trouble before he could get this Psalm written. This person was out to remind people of how good life can be and of the God who is behind it all. This Psalm is full of good news – even for people who are still on the edge of the Pit.

After reading this Psalm a couple of times I found myself thinking that many of the characteristics that are attributed to God are in common with the character of Olivia Pope on the tv series, Scandal. I’m a recent convert to that television show, but I’m not just a fan of that show – I’m addicted to that show. I lost a good amount of sleep last week because there were nights when it came time to go to bed but I just had to watch one more episode – which sometimes turned in to two more episodes.

Those of you who have actual lives instead of Netflix don’t know how this works, but when you find a television series that you like you can watch years of a given show within a few weeks. And it can mess you up. I actually skipped the first season of Scandal, but Sharla filled me in on the essential details, and I got hooked on Season 2. Olivia Pope is a woman who heads a company, that finds ways to get people out of trouble. Olivia Pope is what you call a fixer. And as you can imagine, there’s a lot of business for a fixer in Washington, DC.

After watching that show, I highly suspect that that Roger Goodell, the NFL Commissioner has employed a similar agency after all of the ugly publicity the NFL has experienced this week. I feel sure it was a fixer who suggested that they hire Robert Mueller, the former director of the FBI to investigate what happened in the domestic abuse situation involving the Baltimore Ravens running-back, Ray Rice. I feel sure the commissioner knows exactly who knew what happened and when they knew it, and if he doesn’t he could walk down the hall and find out what happened, but that wouldn’t take long enough. It’ll take months for Robert Mueller to generate a report, and no doubt someone else will have done something far more regrettable by then. And maybe by then Commissioner Goodell will have generated a plan that will enable him to keep his $44 million job.

I’m happy to say I’ve never done anything bad enough to need the services of a fixer, but from what I can tell, people who get themselves in horrible messes often get redeemed in dramatic ways. A good fixer doesn’t just get you out of trouble – a good fixer can turn your troubles in to gold. Of course you have to pay the fixer their share of the gold, but on television, and perhaps occasionally in the pseudo-real worlds of business, politics, and the church – people who get in to big trouble often end up in bigger offices.

That’s not such a good thing, but in the truly-real world – the world that God created, loves, and continues to touch – I think it’s also our troubles that can lead us in to a richer way of living. It’s often within the context of suffering that we develop a greater sense of awareness of the loving-kindness of God and compassion for other people. We are more likely to desperately scan the horizon for the illusive nature of God when we’ve put a foot in the muck of the Pit. We search for the forgiveness of God when we come to see how shallow and selfish we are capable of being, and that often leads us in to becoming more forgiving toward others.

And the good news is not that there are people out there who can help restore our public images when we do ridiculous and scandalous things – the good news is that we are more likely to find true life after we have destroyed those illusions that we harbor about how wonderful we all are and how perfect our lives are supposed to be.

I went to a series of lectures last Wednesday at 1st UMC here in Little Rock. The lecturer was a man named Peter Rollins, who is a young philosopher/theologian from Belfast, Ireland. I never had heard of him before seeing a flier about the event, but it sounded interesting, and it was interesting. He spoke three times last Wednesday, and what he had to say really spoke to me.

I can’t easily summarize what he had to say, but one of the things I think I heard him say is that it’s an illusion to believe that we will ever arrive at a perfect reunion with God in this life. This may not sound like a profound thought or even good news, but it feels like the truth to me. In both overt and subtle ways I think we church people often generate the false expectation that you will find yourself in perfect union with God in this world if you will practice all of the right things, and have the right beliefs. I may be totally wrong about what he was saying, but I think he sees faith as the exercise of carrying on with faith and trust in God without the expectation that all the pieces of life are going to fall perfectly in place for us.

This is not to say that this image of God as the One who saves us, and protects us, and guides us, and perfectly loves us is not an accurate image of God, but we should let that image of God be our guide for how we should treat one another and not be an excuse for doing nothing for ourselves.

I think Peter Rollins wants people of faith to be realistic about what we expect God to do, and to take seriously what we think God expects from us.

This Psalm is a beautiful portrayal of God. It provides us with a clear portrayal of what God is like. God is sensitive to who we are. God exudes deliverance, healing, redemption, justice, mercy, forgiveness, and compassion, but we don’t generally experience these things apart from the actions of others or ourselves.

We are all in need of some fixing, and as long as we live on this earth there will be something that needs to get fixed within ourselves, within our communities, and within our world. God is on our side, and somehow God is there for us, but don’t count on God to repair your marriage, your workplace, your children, or your parents. God is a helpful presence for us all, but I suspect the most dramatic thing God is going to do is help us understand what it is we need to do.

God doesn’t fix things the way Olivia Pope does, and I sort of hate that. It would sometimes be nice if we could get God to make some clear adjustments for us, but it wouldn’t be so good when we are the ones who need to be adjusted. Whether we deserve it or not, God has largely entrusted this world to us. Our merciful God is with us, but we need to pay attention to what we’re doing. God is in the fixing business, but I think God is counting on us to do that good and holy work of redeeming, healing, forgiving, and caring for one another.

This may not be the good news you were hoping to hear today, but I’m thinking it’s the truth, and it’s not all bad.

God’s steadfast love does endure forever. And thanks be to God for that. Amen.

Holy Diplomacy
Matthew 18:15-20

18:15 “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one. 16 But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church, let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. 19 Again, truly I tell you, if two of you agree on earth about anything you ask, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.”

The first thing I want to say about this passage of scripture is what it’s not. It’s not advice on how to get your fellow church member or even your pastor to repent and do what you expect them to do. This is not to say that I or anyone else in the church is incapable of behaving badly, but the intention of this teaching was not to provide practical strategy on how to get other people to act right. I’ll try to say what I think this passage is about in a moment, but I first want to let you know what I don’t think it’s about. This may be disappointing to some of you, but you personal offenders out there can relax. This really isn’t advice on how to extract repentance.

In fact the oldest manuscripts don’t include the words: against you in verse 15. The oldest texts just say: If another member of the church sins, go and point out … The original teaching doesn’t seem to have been about addressing personal violations. At some point along the way some scribe decided it would be helpful to turn this in to advice on how to address interpersonal conflicts, but originally this teaching seems to have addressed those situations where someone was behaving in a way that violated everyone’s sensibilities.

In all honesty it’s not easy to see how that translates in to our day and age. It takes a lot to distinguish yourself from the average pack of sinners. And if you are compelled to take a step beyond the normal range of bad behavior – it’s probably not going to be a fellow church member who pulls you aside and points out to you that it’s not so good to get drunk and dance naked on Main St. – it would be on youtube – along with lots of comments from people you’ve never met. We live in a far different society than Jesus did, and it affects the way we relate to each other, but I’m sure there’s a principle here for us to observe.

On one level, this passage comes across as straight forward advice on how to maintain proper behavior within the church, but on another level it raises the question of what kind of community the church is to be. Is it just to be a group of well-behaved citizens who deal with each other in properly measured ways? I’m thinking this passage does have something to say about how we are to relate to one another, but I suspect the message has more to do with maintaining relationships than with controlling behavior. It’s not instruction on how to get people to quit behaving badly – it’s advice on how to promote reconciliation and to maintain a Christian community.

What we have here is some instruction on how to exercise holy diplomacy – which is a very satisfying phrase to say. Holy diplomacy – it just sounds like a good thing to do. Whether I am able to define what it is or not I feel good about sharing that phrase with you. Holy diplomacy is something I want to learn to practice, and I’m thinking you can spend a lifetime learning to practice this ancient endeavor.

It’s interesting to note that the lesson from the Hebrew Scripture or Old Testament that is recommended for us to read this week is perhaps the most famous case of holy diplomacy — the story of the Passover. The original telling of this story is found in the 12th chapter of the Book of Exodus. That’s where you find the instructions God gave Moses and Aaron to give to the people of Israel for the final meal they were to have in Egypt before God led them out of slavery.

The people of Israel were instructed to select a lamb of a certain age, to gather in family groups at twilight on a particular night, and to prepare that lamb for dinner. After they slaughtered the lamb they were to smear some of it’s blood on the doorpost of their house, and then they were to cook that lamb in a very specific manner. God provided instructions for how to cook that lamb, what they were to eat along with that lamb, and what they were to wear to this dinner. It was to be a meal to remember.

They would remember this meal because of what happened after dinner – which is when God sent the angel of death over Egypt to strike down the first-born males of all the people and the animals in the households that didn’t have the blood of the lamb smeared on the doorpost of their houses. It’s a gruesome story, but it wasn’t an arbitrary act on the part of God.

The events of that evening followed months of diplomacy. Moses and Aaron had provided the Egyptian Pharoah with some seemingly persuasive reasons to let the people of Israel go, but he wouldn’t do it, so God arranged this final dinner in Egypt. And to this day the people of Israel – wherever they may be living – are to prepare a very similar meal on that particular evening of the year and to recall what God did for them.

Unfortunately this isn’t a meal that is able to pull all communities of the world together. It functions as a very particularly Jewish celebration, and that’s understandable, but the intent of this meal has never been to highlight the privilege of the people of Israel. God’s intention was for this meal to remind the people of Israel of their salvation. This meal was to remind them that their deliverance was not earned or deserved, but graciously provided. And they were never to forget that. God didn’t act on behalf of the people of Israel because they already knew how to act – God provided them with a way out of slavery in order for them to experience redemption and to become redeeming people.

This is the essence of holy diplomacy. It’s the story of the way God intends for us to relate to one another. We are to remember what God has done for us and to treat others with equal graciousness.

The story of the Passover is good background for what we have in today’s scripture. The community that Jesus established was to be a community that was not about excluding unredeemed people, but to be a community of people who make a great effort to redeem lost people.

I believe God established the people of Israel to be a source of redemption for the world, but I’m not saying God is always behind the actions of the nation of Israel. The nation of Israel has a well documented history of not doing what God expected, but God has a longer history of providing redemption in ugly situations, and certainly the current state of the world isn’t unredeemable. I really don’t know what to say about what’s happening in the Middle East right now – it’s hard to see what God is doing there now, but it’s clearly a place in need of some holy diplomacy.

The world is a hard place to fix. The difficulty of that undertaking becomes clear when you think about what it takes to retrieve a lost friend, but the starting point of every act of redemption is to remember who it is that calls us all to life.

What Jesus was instructing us to do in this passage is not to ramp up the pressure on people who are somehow living out of bounds, but to be relentless in our efforts to achieve reconciliation. The easy thing is to give up on people, and Jesus wants us all to stay in touch.

I’m not sure how you translate these particular instructions on how we should resolve conflict in to actual church policy. Perhaps one thing Jesus was saying is that whenever two or three have gathered in his name you have achieved the most optimal church size. It seems like things get complicated whenever you get more than four or five people involved in an undertaking.

But the more people you have the more important it becomes to engage in holy diplomacy. And the primary principle of holy diplomacy is to remember that none of us stand in the position of God, but when we gather in the name of Jesus – when we seek to be the body of Christ – Jesus is with us and Jesus is there to help us find our way.

Jesus instructs us to be honest with each other, to be clear with each other, to be relentless in our efforts to be redeeming to each other, and always to be kind to one another. Even when we can’t find satisfying resolutions to strained relations with others we are to treat them as gentiles or tax collectors – as Jesus treated people who were gentiles or tax collectors – which was as people who were worthy of attention.

To live as a disciple of Jesus Christ is to live a life of holy diplomacy. It’s not easy, but it sounds like such a good thing to do – and it is a good thing to do. It’s what holds us together. It’s what sends us out.
It’s what God has revealed, and it’s what we are called to practice. It will enable our church to thrive, and it will enable our world to survive.

Thanks be to God for this ancient and timely gift of holy diplomacy!
Amen.

Who Do YOU Say That He Is?
Matthew 16:13-20

16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Jesus found the perfect person to build his church upon. Peter was perfect because he was one of us. We don’t know how the other disciples reacted to this big announcement that Peter was the rock upon which Jesus would build his church, but I’m thinking there might have been a group double-take. This is not to say that Peter was any less qualified for the job than the others, but it’s not like he had distinguished himself as the most thoughtful member of the group.

In fact he might best be described as the most impulsive of all the disciples. A couple of weeks ago I diagnosed him as being someone who tended to live a step ahead of the moment as opposed to a person who was fully present in the moment. But willingness to leap before looking seems to have been a characteristic Jesus valued for this job of building the church.

Peter wasn’t perfect, but he had the most essential quality – he loved Jesus. Peter recognized the uniqueness of Jesus and he wanted to serve Jesus.

Peter didn’t fully understand what he was saying when he first identified Jesus as the Messiah. In fact, he would later announce that he had no idea who Jesus was, but Jesus saw that coming. Peter wasn’t perfect, but he became perfect for the job. More than anyone else, he came to experience and to recognize the perfectly forgiving love of Christ, and through it all he developed perfect trust in the resurrected presence of Jesus. Following Jesus Christ isn’t anything any of us are fully qualified to do, but Jesus can do a lot with imperfect people who love him and who want to put their love in to practice.

Peter was the first person to announce his trust in Jesus as the Messiah, and in so doing he became the founding member of the church, but the church stays alive because this question remains alive – who do we say Jesus is? And living people continue to answer this question in the same way Peter did. The church is a mysterious body, and you might even say it’s an ailing body, but it’s a living body. It’s alive wherever there are a few imperfect people who are trying to live with trust in the perfect love of Jesus.

And Peter is our perfect leader. Peter wasn’t paralyzed by his desire to be perfect – Peter didn’t let his fear of doing the wrong thing stop him from doing anything. Peter was going to do something – right or wrong that would reveal his trust in the living presence of our loving messiah. And that is the kind of person Jesus can work with.

Jesus knew not to choose a more thoughtful person as the rock upon which to build the church – if he had done that it would have died during the planning stage. And what I think Jesus understood and accepted was the fact that the church is a living organization. Like us as individuals who continue to grow and evolve – the church is a living body. Jesus chose a rock-like person to be the first leader of the church, and that was a God-inspired decision, but the church is not a stone-like structure – it’s a living creature.

There are many stone structures that bear the name of Jesus, and in some ways the living body of Christ is weighed down by these stone structures. I know we have to spend a lot of our time and energy taking care of these bricks and mortar, but we’ll be ok as long as we know not to serve the stones. A good structure is a fine thing to have, but if it doesn’t contain the spirit of Christ it’s nothing but a pile of stones. A church building without people who love Jesus and who practice their faith is more like a corpse than a living body. A body is a fine thing to have, but when it quits breathing it’s not much use.

I’m in no position to judge between the quick and the dead, but I believe it’s possible for a church to become a dead body of Christ, and that’s the last thing this world needs. Of course there’s always this possibility of resurrection, but our calling is to be a living and breathing body of Christ.

Peter was granted the power to bind and to loose, and we who follow in Peter’s steps are to share in that authority. And while there are people like me who wear official churchy titles – I believe this authority to bind and to loose is a responsibility that all aspiring Christians are to bear. Peter represents all people who make this confession that Jesus is the Messiah – the son of the Living God, and it is up to all of us to bear this responsibility.

The language that Jesus used to describe the authority of Peter to bind and to loose is very connected to some traditional Jewish terminology. It refers to the way in which the leaders of Israel were to guide that community. One of the responsibilities of the Jewish rabbis was to determine which ordinances were binding and which ones could be released. The rabbis were charged with determining proper doctrine and authority and it was often described as a process of binding and loosening.

As much as some people want to portray the Christian faith as an unchanging set of doctrines – the truth is that it’s in our roots to change and to adapt.

The arrival of Jesus himself was an exercise in adaptation. God wanted the people of Israel to go in a new direction – a more open-hearted and loving direction – and that’s what Jesus brought. The self-serving leaders of Israel wanted their petty rules to remain primary, but Jesus replaced their endless ordinances with one ruling principle – the need for love to prevail above all else. This is the message of Christ and Peter got it. Jesus empowered Peter to build the church on this one essential principle, and this power has been passed on to us.

And speaking of passing, a very significant person passed away last week. His name was BKS Iyengar and the fact that there are multiple yoga studios in places like Little Rock, AR can be traced back to his life and work. Iyengar was born into an impoverished family in India 1913, and he was a sick and malnourished child. During his childhood he suffered from typhoid, malaria, influenza, and tuberculosis. They didn’t expect him to make it to adulthood, but at the age of 16 he began practicing yoga, which was about the only form of healthcare that was available to him, and over the next 6 years he regained his health.

He became a very accomplished practitioner of the discipline, and he made a living as a young man going around India demonstrating some of the astonishing yoga postures that he had learned. In 1952 he met a European violinist named Menuhin who was impressed by him and he brought him to Europe where the popularity of Iyengar’s teaching began to grow. He wrote a book in 1965 called Light on Yoga that became the foundational book of yoga instruction for many Europeans and Americans, and it has never been out of print since then.

Iyengar was committed to helping people integrate their minds, with their bodies, and their emotions. He wanted to help people develop a deeper level of consciousness, and he believed that there were these exercises of breathing and stretching that could help people become more physically and spiritually healthy. He once said: How can you know God if you don’t know your big toe?

Another interesting thing about Iyengar was the way in which he understood yoga to be an evolving practice. While conducting a class one day a student pointed out to Iyengar that something he was teaching was contradictory to what he wrote in his book, and he responded by saying he was a living teacher and that was a dead book.

I think BKS Iyengar brought a great deal of light in to the world. He wasn’t dogmatic about a particular belief system, and he brought a nice tool for spiritual growth that fits with any healthy belief system. I’m not what you would call an avid yoga practitioner, but I am a regular yoga dabbler, and I fully embrace the notion that a healthy spiritual practice continues to grow and to evolve.

I don’t believe that the Bible is a dead book, and one of the things that makes it a living book is this message that Jesus passed on about the authority we have to bind and to loose. What is the bedrock of our faith? And what is the fluff? These are essential questions for us. They are essential for us as individuals – they are essential for us as a congregation – they are essential for us as a denomination.

Our denomination is struggling to find it’s way. And we need to be involved in that struggle to help it find it’s way, but we also need to tend to our own church, and to our own selves.

I’ve often heard yoga instructors remind people to breathe as they embark on various yoga postures. You can’t hold any position for long if you hold your breath.

In the same way, none of us are of any use to our congregation or our denomination if we forget to breathe the living breath of Christ. Who do you say that he is, and what is Christ calling you to do? That’s a question we must always continue to ask of ourselves. I think this is what it means to be a practicing Christian, and this is the practice that will keep us alive on every level.

Following in the footsteps of Peter and all the others who have kept this living body of Christ alive is a high calling. It’s a life-long challenge. It’s a life-giving practice.

Thanks be to God for the divine opportunity we have to be a part of this living organization that leads to true life. Amen.

Instinctual Faith
Matthew 15:21-29

15:21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23 But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24 He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26 He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27 She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28 Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.

While we only read the story of Jesus interacting with this woman from the region of Tyre and Sidon, it’s very connected to the interactions that preceeded this story. It turns out that this Caananite woman wasn’t the first person he had recently offended. Just prior to this particular verbal sparring match, Jesus had encountered some Pharisees and other elders who wanted to know why his disciples didn’t follow the proper eating protocols , and that conversation hadn’t gone so well. Jesus responded to them by asking them why they had replaced God’s commands with human rules – complete with an example and a verse of scripture. He told them they were just like the hypocrites Isaiah was talking about when he said: These people honor me with their lips but their hearts are far away from me. Their worship of me is empty since they teach instructions that are human rules.

Jesus didn’t just pick on people who were below his social standing –Jesus was an equal opportunity offender.

Actually I don’t think it’s accurate to think of Jesus as picking on the Caananite woman. While it’s hard not to wince at the way in which Jesus spoke to her, I think it is important to see how this story fits in the larger picture, and when you do that, what stands out is the very positive way that this woman responded to the challenging words of Jesus – as opposed to the defensiveness of the Pharisees and the other Jewish authorities. Today’s story is not so much about who Jesus was. It’s primarily about the way that he was seen by other people, and who was most able to see the truth about him.

In some ways, it just repeats what we already know about the different ways people responded to Jesus. There are numerous cases where the people who were supposed to be the most attentive to the ways of God were the least likely to recognize the arrival of God’s most perfect representative, while those who were official outcasts were quick to recognize his godliness. That is also what we see in this story, but there is a nice nuance to this particular story. What we have in this story is not just the contrast between the blindness of the Jewish leaders contrasted to the attentiveness of the official Jewish sinners. What we have here is the spiritual attentiveness of an officially pagan infidel – someone who’s faith even Jesus seemed slow to recognize.

I think it’s helpful to know a little history of this northern part of Israel which was near the Phoenecian cities of Tyre and Sidon. Tyre and Sidon were on the Mediterranean Coast. Early on, the Israelites had considered that to be part of their promised land, but the Phoenecians had successfully resisted the conquest of Israel. They had rejected Israel in a variety of ways, so for the Israelites, the residents of Tyre and Sidon had come to exemplify God-forsaken gentiles. There was a clear division between them, and the Israelites considered the people of that region to be particularly hopeless.

It’s not obvious why Jesus intentionally stepped in to this notoriously un-Jewish part of the world, but this is where he was, and what transpired is quite compelling.

When Jesus first encountered this boisterously begging woman from that traditionally gentile place he responded to her as if she wasn’t even there – which is what you might expect from a self-respecting Jewish man. And I guess that’s where this story would have ended if his disciples hadn’t offered to get rid of her, but when they did, Jesus was moved to at least address her. And what he said to her was that he had been sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

His words seemed to have encouraged her to make an even more desperate plea for him to help her – she said, Lord, help me! and when she did Jesus responded with a line that sounds more like something you would hear from Archie Bunker than from the savior of the world. This is when he said it wouldn’t be fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.

Undeterred by these seemingly inhospitable words, the woman responded by saying that even the dogs get the crumbs that fall from the master’s table, and with that, Jesus enthusiastically commended her faith and announced that her daughter had been healed.

In some ways I think this story functions like one of those Zen Buddhist koans. A koan is a phrase or question that students are to ponder in which traditional logic is not much use. The most familiar koan I know of poses the question: What is the sound of one hand clapping? There’s not a clear answer to such a question, but by pondering a seemingly unanswerable question you can be moved to a new insight.

I don’t think there is a logical answer as to why Jesus went in to this part of the world where he said what he said and did what he did. In some significant ways this story just doesn’t make sense, and there’s not an obvious lesson to extract from this story. You can say it’s a lesson about the value of persistence, but that’s a bit of a stretch because if Jesus had been persistent in following his stated mission there’s nothing this woman could have said that would have altered his course. Clear logic doesn’t propel this story.

But if you toss out the need to follow clear logic (which is what I feel liberated to do) what stands out for me in this story is the way in which Jesus talked about the animals. Jesus brings up two different animals in this passage. He talks about sheep and he talks about dogs. Jesus said he was sent to the lost sheep of Israel but he nourished a hungry dog in Caanan. He said he was most concerned about the lost sheep, but he seems to have valued the instinct of a dog to discern who is in charge and to know how to get what it needs.

Sheep have the strong instinct to follow the animal in front of it. Sheep will follow other sheep to slaughter. Being a good follower is a fine instinct when you know who best to follow, but sheep aren’t known for having such wisdom. There were a lot of lost sheep in Israel because they had bad leaders. My sense is that Jesus stepped out of the official territory of Israel in order to find some fresh faith.

We don’t normally cherish the thought of being called a dog, but dogs have a pretty keen sense of understanding who’s in charge. This Caananite woman had a keen sense of who Jesus was, and she responded to him without any doubt that he could provide her with what she needed.

This woman didn’t just have persistence – she had a powerful sense of discernment. She knew he was the Lord of Life – regardless of what he said to her.

In my way of thinking, faith is not so much something we learn to have as much as it is an instinct. In fact if we put too much stock in learning what it means to serve God I think it can have the impact of dulling our instinct for faith. This is not to say we shouldn’t try to study and learn more about our history and our theology, but we should never engage in mindless following of rules and traditions. We should never replace our natural instinct for the ordinances of God with the rules of human beings. This was the nature of the conflict Jesus had with the Pharisees and the other leaders of Israel. Good teachers are valuable, and what good teachers do is to empower students to think for themselves.

Unlike sheep, who are inclined to follow whoever is leading — dogs are only responsive to their one true master. And we would all do well to have a dog’s sense of obedience to the truth of God in our own hearts and minds.

Jesus was sent to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, and the truth is that we all come from that house. Not everyone knows this, but Jesus knew it, and he revealed it when he encountered this Caananite woman. May we all nourish and cherish this instinct of faith that has been placed in us all by our one true common ancestor – the God of all animals, all people, all places, and all times.

Thanks be to God – Amen.

The Lurch of Faith
Matthew 14:22-33

22 Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. 23 And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up the mountain by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, 24 but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from the land, for the wind was against them. 25 And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. 26 But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. 27 But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” 28 Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” 29 He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” 31 Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” 32 When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. 33 And those in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

What kind of preacher calls his sermon, The Lurch of Faith? This is probably the most unappealing sermon title I’ve ever come up with, and it may represent a lurch on the part of this preacher, but it’s a line that speaks to me in a significant way. To lurch is to make an abrupt, unsteady, or uncontrolled movement, and I’m thinking that’s a pretty good description of Peter’s action in this story.

I must admit that I’m very influenced in my thinking about Peter’s behavior by a sermon I read that was written by Rev. Barbara Brown Taylor, a preacher and writer for whom I’ve grown to have great respect and appreciation. Rev. Taylor points out in her sermon on this text that when Peter sees Jesus walking on the water toward the boat all the disciples were in, he addresses Jesus in a manner that is very similar to the way that satan addressed Jesus when he was tested in the wilderness. Right after Jesus tells the disciples not to be afraid and he identifies who he is, Peter says, Lord, if it is you command me to come to you on the water. It sounds like more of a test for Jesus than an act of faith on the part of Peter.

Now I’m not saying that I would have known how to best respond to the sight of Jesus coming toward me on the water, but I’m not convinced Peter was operating with his highest mind when he said what he said and did what he did.

The more traditional interpretation of this story identifies the response of Peter to Jesus as a powerful expression of faith, and I can go with that line of thinking as well. I can think of Peter’s reaction to Jesus as a bold display of faith, and as a model of how we are all to step out of our comfort zones and on to the unknown waters of discipleship – complete with the proper way to act when our bold efforts fail. But I’m more inclined to think Barbara Brown Taylor is on to something when she identifies the devilish nature of Peter’s request.

She says: We have all got a little bit of devil in us, asking Jesus to prove himself by doing something spectacular for us. We want the burden of proof to be on him, not us. We want him to single us out for special treatment, to let us climb out of the boat and do a solo no one else gets to do – and maybe even get special credit for volunteering to do it (look at him, so brave, so faithful, such a spiritual warrior).

I love the way Rev. Taylor puts things, and the way she finds ways to bring texts to life. I don’t exactly know what Matthew wanted us to glean from this story – and in particular what we are to think of Peter’s adventure on the water, but I think it’s safe to say that what Peter does is not a perfect portrayal of faith. Peter may not have been badly motivated, but this is not the action of a man who had prayerfully considered what he jumped up to do. This was not so much a leap of faith – I’m thinking it was more of a lurch of faith.

And certainly a lurch of faith is better than a lack of faith. We don’t know what Peter was thinking on the front end of this episode, but we are told that at some point he began to think about where he was and what he had done, and at that point the normal forces of nature took charge of the situation. Peter was going down, but he had the good sense to cry out to Jesus, and Jesus saved him.

You might say that Peter became a model of faith – he became a person who knew he needed the hand of Jesus, but I’m not sure he is the best model of faith that we see portrayed in this story. There was another model of discipleship exercised on this boat and it came from the rest of the disciples who quietly stayed in their seats and paid attention to the situation. The other disciples didn’t add to the drama of the situation, but they all experienced the same sense of peace and deliverance that came to Peter.

It may seem odd that a story as supernaturally bold as this one would be a call for us to keep our seats and pay attention, but I’m not seeing that it’s particularly fruitful to simply jump up and do something without a clear sense of purpose. Actually it’s not accurate to say the disciples were just sitting still waiting for something to happen – they had been rowing in the direction that Jesus had instructed them to go all through the night. They weren’t being passive in face of the storm that had arisen, but they didn’t respond to the sight of Jesus approaching on the sea with anything other than reasonable fear and heightened attention.

And I like that. Now, I’m probably a person who is guilty of setting my sights too low, and of harboring overly modest visions, but I have no great love for grand displays of faith. Honestly, my passion is not so much to transform the world but to put together a worship service that makes someone’s life a little more bearable. I’m not out to whip up enthusiasm for the man who was so awesome he could walk on water and calm a turbulent sea, but I do hope to create some curiosity about Jesus in the heart of someone who isn’t seeing much hope coming from anywhere else.

Extraordinary feats of faith just aren’t my thing. I don’t even think it’s essential to believe that Jesus could alter the rules of nature, but I am inclined to believe that Jesus was so determined to reveal the truth of God there wasn’t anything that could prevent him from delivering that message. I don’t know what transpired on that stormy night on the sea in Galilee, but this story leads me to believe that Jesus can calm any storm that may rage in our lives. It also makes me think that in order to experience such calm we will probably need to exercise more patience and consistent effort than to jump up and launch a new initiative.

What jumps out at me from this supernatural story is the calm that came to the rest of the disciples who are hardly even recognized in this story. We know they were terrified. They didn’t know who he was or what was going on in the beginning, but they listened, they believed, and they were blessed. Maybe our calling is not to seek out our own dramatic displays of faith, but to have radical trust that God can come to us regardless of where we may be or what we are having to deal with.

I read a great quote last week by the Buddhist Monk, Thich Nhat Hahn, who is a person who has great love for Jesus as well as for Buddha. He said: The miracle is not to walk on water. The miracle is to walk on the green earth, dwelling deeply in the present moment and feeling truly alive.

I think he is speaking to the need for us to pay more attention to the ordinary things we are currently doing than to focus on the extraordinary things we hope to one day do. And I know this is something I need to hear. It’s easy to let the what if’s of life determine what I’m doing in the here and now, and when you give too much attention to the coming crises you spend a lot of time looking for miracle cures. When you forget to pay attention to what you are doing in the moment your life can become defined by one lurch after another.

I’m not particularly qualified to do a psychological analysis of Peter, but I will proceed to do so anyway. In some ways Peter strikes me as someone who tended to jump ahead of the moment. He didn’t pay as much attention to what was happening as much as he was thinking about the next step. There’s also this story of Jesus taking Peter, James, and John up the mountain where Jesus was transfigured before them. Jesus became dazzling white as he spoke to Moses and Elijah, and Peter immediately starts talking about building shelters for them. In that story, Peter’s words were cut short by God telling them to listen – don’t do anything – just listen to Jesus.

Of course we need people in the world who make things happen, but none of us need to get ahead of ourselves. We need to pay attention to where we are and what is happening before we spring in to action. Today’s story begins with Jesus going up the mountain to pray. And if prayer is anything it is a time of listening and paying attention. It is an effort to not get ahead of what God is doing, but to live in response to God.

Certainly there is a need for action in this world. There is an abundance of strife in the world right now. As we gather in our safe sanctuary this morning there are bombs are dropping in several different places in this world, and it’s hard to see how that’s going to stop before it gets a lot worse. It’s hard to know what to do about these large scale disasters, but we certainly need to be paying attention, and we need to encourage our leaders to pursue just policies – even if those policies may be costly to us. God’s will is not just for things to go well in the United States.

And these poor children who have been driven by poverty and violence to our border from their homes in Central America certainly need our attention and compassion. Once again, I don’t know how to fix that problem, but these are God’s children, and we need to respond to them in a godly way. I don’t know what the long term solution to that problem is, but in the meantime you can send some money to the United Methodist Committee on Relief who is on the scene providing some much needed assistance. In fact you can write those checks this morning – make them out to our church and write what they are for on the memo line.

There is a lot of work that needs to be done in this world. And of course we all have our own individual crises as well. Paying attention is not an alternative to taking action – these things go hand in hand, but we primarily need to remember that if we aren’t also reaching out for the hand of God we are sunk.

Our efforts to be faithful to God may well proceed with awkward lurches and misguided heroics, but God’s love for us remains consistent. The reign of God prevails over the power of bombs or the rules of nature. This is what we are called to remember, to trust, and to give our constant devotion. In times of peace, war, sickness or health – God is with us and is worthy of our attention.
Thanks be to God.
Amen.

God’s Eat Place
Matthew 14:13-21

14:13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15 When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18 And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21 And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

In light of this story of a miraculous feast in the wilderness, it’s interesting to note that one of the very first things reported about Jesus was his refusal to turn stones in to bread when he was alone in the wilderness. If you remember, right after his baptism we are told that Jesus was driven in to the wilderness for 40 days by the Holy Spirit. He was hungry. He needed some bread, and while the devil’s suggestion that he turn stones in to bread doesn’t sound like a terrible abuse of power – Jesus knew that it was not the Holy Spirit talking. Those 40 days in the wilderness provided Jesus with great clarity of the difference between the promptings of Holy Spirit and the suggestions of an evil spirit. Jesus knew that there are times when we just need to feed on the word of God – he also knew that there are times when someone needs to show up with some actual bread.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had the pleasure of eating at Doe’s Eat Place, but I think I’ve eaten at Doe’s four times – twice at the Doe’s down on Markham and twice at the Doe’s in Fayetteville. It’s memorable to eat at Doe’s. They serve the largest steaks I’ve ever seen in my life. I think they also serve tamales, but I don’t like tamales. I don’t know what to say about their tamales, but I’ve shared some memorable steaks at Doe’s. And one steak can feed four people – especially if those other people like tamales. You should go to Doe’s with people who like tamales – they’ll fill up on the tamales and you get more of the steak.

Maybe they serve other things at Doe’s Eat Place (I know there have been some political deals cooked up there), but they are known for their steaks and their tamales. I like the elemental nature of a place like Doe’s. Like their name indicates, their objective is to serve food – it’s a place to eat, and it’s a good place to eat. It’s not cheap, but they serve good food.

But today our focus is to be on God’s Eat Place. Unlike Doe’s Eat Place, you never really know what’s going to be on the menu at God’s Eat Place, but when you feast at the table of the Lord you know you are going to leave satisfied. God’s Eat Place serves up a wide variety of sustenance, and while it’s not easy to find your way to the spot where God is serving, you don’t have to worry about the bill. God’s Eat Place is quite a place – it’s not easy to get there, you never know what’s going to be served, you don’t have to pay, and you leave with leftovers – abundant leftovers.

This is what I see happening in both of these feeding stories that are set in the wilderness. God provides, but the menu is different. On one occasion God chose to provide Jesus with the wisdom he needed to do battle with God’s adversary. On this other occasion God heard the prayer of Jesus for actual food to feed the desperate people who had followed him in to the wilderness, and God provided bread & fish.

I’m not saying that our God is fickle, but clearly there isn’t just one policy in heaven for dealing with hungry people in the wilderness. This has got to be maddening to people who want God to be represented by clear and consistent rules. We worship a God who is only consistently insistent upon one thing – that we love God and we love our neighbors. I know that sounds like two things, but those two things are so tied together they qualify as one thing. You will always find grace to be served at God’s Eat Place, but you won’t find it to be served the same way on every occasion.

God rarely cooks up the same thing twice. And it sort of drives me nuts when people try to define the nature of our faith with a bunch of rules. According to the Bible, God has been revealed in a wide variety of ways throughout time, and every time we become overly dogmatic about what God requires it begins to look a whole lot like the practice idolatry and that isn’t a good place to go. You don’t want to eat at The Dogmatic Eat Place – you fill yourself up with malnourishing food and you leave with a bad attitude.

But those of us who want to define Christianity in more open ways have to be careful as well. Even open-minded people can find ways of narrowing the nature of faith. It’s easy to turn good causes in to little gods, and it never works out well when we try to tell God what needs to be on the menu. The only way any of us get to enjoy the feast at God’s Eat Place is to show up with empty hands and a hungry heart.

Christianity is probably not the right religion for anyone who wants a set of unwavering directives. The way I read the Bible, God is consistently compassionate toward all people, but God’s compassion takes on many different forms. Sometimes God’s saving action takes the form of hard lessons. Sometimes it shows up in the form of bread and fish. Sometimes faithfulness to God requires us to engage in acts of self-denial – sometimes we need to have a party.

I guess there have always been people who have tried to define Christianity very narrowly and establish a clear set of rules that define the nature of Christian discipleship, but the God that Jesus revealed provides for people in different ways in different situations.

This is true of Jesus himself. He wasn’t unfamiliar with the importance of self-denial and fasting. He exercised self-control, but he could also appreciate a good meal with wine. Jesus didn’t despise this world. Jesus sought to integrate life on earth with life in the kingdom of God. He loved life. He loved people. He loved the earth and all of it’s inhabitants, but he also was willing to die – to leave this earth prematurely.

The importance of living with reverence for God and compassion for our neighbors never subsides, but people who live with sensitivity to these holy objectives find themselves travelling in a variety of directions. People who love God are often driven to extreme places to find satisfaction for their hungry souls. This was certainly the case with this crowd that followed Jesus to this desolate place. Jesus had gone in to the wilderness in hope of having some down time, but he couldn’t shake the crowd – and it created the perfect setting for one of the most memorable meals ever served at God’s Eat Place. This is the only miracle story that is recorded in each of the four gospels. This was a meal that no one wanted to forget.

Of course timing is everything, and they needed such a feast. Jesus had just heard about the death of John the Baptist and that was an ugly turn of events. John the Baptist had been imprisoned for speaking ill of Governor Herod who had married his sister in law, Herodias, after orchestrating her divorce from his brother, Phillip. In fact this particular manifestation of God’s Eat Place in the wilderness is in direct contrast to the story of the feast at Herod’s Eat Place.

Caught up in the revelry of his extravagant party, Herod had announced that he would grant anything to his newly acquired wife’s daughter because she had danced so well for his guests. Prompted by her mother, the young woman asked for John the Baptist’s head on a platter, and Herod had to comply. John the Baptist’s head was delivered to the party.

The contrast between the slaughter at Herod’s Eat Place and the grace of the feast at God’s Eat Place couldn’t be greater. Herod had tremendous political power, a beautiful home, and excessive wealth, but his party ended with the sickening sight of a righteous man’s head. The world was diminished by the feast of Herod – the world was renewed by what happened in the wilderness. People’s bodies and souls were nourished by the feast that Jesus hosted. He and his followers were in the middle of nowhere with 5 loaves and 2 fish, but Jesus prayed to God, and God provided them with more food than they could eat. Those who ate at Herod’s Eat Place were left with an unappetizing sight — while those who shared food at God’s Eat Place were fortified for a lifetime.

Faithfulness to God can carry us in many different directions, and God can nourish us in many different ways. Sometimes we find ourselves is circumstances of plenty, and when we do we must do as Jesus instructed his disciples to do and share what we have with others. Sometimes we find ourselves in circumstances of scarcity – of not having all that we need to address the demands of life, and God is there for us then as well – reminding us that sometimes we are to feast on nothing but the word of God.

Jesus was very clear about the need for us to live with sensitivity to one another. People don’t dine alone at God’s Eat Place. If we want to be faithful to the God that was revealed by Jesus Christ we are not just to partake of the bread and juice that represent his living presence – we are to be that same bread for the world.

We have gathered today at God’s Eat Place. I pray that the words, the sounds, the people, the bread, and the wine that we are sharing this morning will provide the sustenance you need for your journey. God is a remarkable chef. God knows what we each need, and God knows how to nourish our hungry hearts. Thanks be to God for cooking-up all that we need as we journey through life. Amen.

The Aches and Pains of Creation
Romans 8:18-27

12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ–if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. 18 I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; 20 for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

I’m not an avid reader, but I am a voratious listener of books. I acquire them either from the library or from an online book service called Audible.com. I recently listened to a non-fiction book called Astoria which was about a trading enterprise that John Jacob Astor envisioned around 1810. His intention was to create a global trading network that involved acquiring furs from the American northwest and shipping them to China where they could be sold for exhorbitant prices. While in China they would purchase spices and silk which were products he could sell for exhorbitant prices to the Europeans and Americans.

It was a large plan, and in theory a good idea, but it’s not a pretty story. Getting across the North American continent in those days was a treacherous undertaking – as was the journey by sea around the tip of South America. Astor sent one expedition overland and another one by sea, and they both made it, but the men who survived the journey were pretty much suffering from what we would call PTSD by the time they got there.

Had his global trading network materialized we might be sharing this continent with another nation called Astoria, but that didn’t happen. John Jacob Astor went on to generate huge wealth off his various enterprises in New York, but his northwest enterprise failed. It’s an odd chapter of American history, and it’s a story that portrays some of the aches and pains of creation. Between the suffering that the explorers underwent and the suffering they inflicted on the Native Americans that book wasn’t what you might call – easy listening.

But hearing that story made me want to know more about the history of our nation, so now I’m listening to a book entitled: The People’s History of the United States – which isn’t a book the kind of book you want to take to read on the beach – talk about the aches and pains of creation. The first chapter documents the plight of the native Americans who Columbus first encountered in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus had promised the king and queen of Spain to bring home gold and spices. About all the natives had to offer were really nice bird feathers, but that didn’t stop Columbus from trying to extract some gold from them.

There was a bit of gold on the Island of Hispanola, which is the Island we know of as Haiti & the Dominican Republic, and Columbus instituted a brutal system of mining that decimated the population. Between outright slaughter, slavery, disease and suicide – the native population of those Caribbean Islands was cut in half within two years after the arrival of Columbus – and the story get’s worse.

The aches and pains of creation.

Chapter 2 documents how the slave trade operated, and that about did me in. I’m only about 2 hours in to this 34-hour book. I don’t know if I’m going to be able to listen to the whole thing or not. I’m sure I’ll have to sprinkle in some fluffy detective fiction to my listening mix.

Human history is riddled with unfathomable suffering. And much of that suffering has been created by other humans. Christianity isn’t the only religion that has blessed bad behavior, but it has done it’s share of damage to the human family.

As Paul willingly suffered the consequences of his faith in Christ in a world that demanded obedience to Augustus Ceasar – I think he had a far different vision of the church than the empire-building and slave-blessing institution that emerged over the next few centuries.

Although even in his day, Paul wasn’t unfamiliar with misdirected faith in Christ. Paul was a compulsive letter writer because the churches he started were filled with people who didn’t know how to behave. You’ll find encouraging words in his letters, but you primarily find him providing advice on how to resolve conflicts within those young churches. Paul wrote perpetually because there were these ridiculous situations that needed to be addressed. You can read in 1st Corinthians how the Lord’s supper had become a situation where the people who got to the assembly first got full and drunk before the late comers arrived and found nothing to eat or drink. And of course the late comers were the people who had to work the longest hours.

Paul wasn’t naive about the nature of the early followers of Christ, nor was he flawless in the advice he shared, but he held out a good vision of who we should be. And he had hope that God’s Kingdom would one day prevail in this world.

His theological formula isn’t perfectly accessible to me, but the overall image that he provides in today’s passage makes some sense to me and gives me hope.

I find his concept of the world groaning in labor pains prior to the arrival of Christ to be really powerful. It’s an image that points to the way in which something new arrived in this world in the life of Jesus Christ, and through Christ we have this opportunity to become the adopted children of God, but he also speaks to the way in which this process of becoming incorporated in to the family of God is not yet complete.

I know this to be true for the world as a whole – I also know it to be true for myself. I have a sense of being fully accepted as a child of God, but I also know that I don’t fully accept all of the rest of you as my brothers and sisters. I want to be a good member of the family, but I’m still watching out for myself. I don’t want you to get in to my stuff.

But I also know how good it feels to share and to care for one another. Going to camp last week was a good experience for me. When I was asked by the director of last week’s Jr. High Ozark Mission Project Camp to be their construction coordinator – I knew it would be an experience of trying to put a puzzle together without all of the pieces, but I also trusted that I would find it to be gratifying, and I did.

The way OMP works is that kids come from different churches along with an adult driver for every 3 or 4 kids, and everyone is put in a family group that ideally involves people from different chuches. So each family group is made up of an adult driver with 3 or 4 kids that have never met each other prior to arrival at camp, and they are sent out to work on the yard or home of someone they don’t know. It is very much an experience of stepping in to a new family, and often it becomes a very rich experience. Sharla got recruited at the last minute to replace a driver that had a family emergency, and I think it’s accurate to say it wasn’t just a memorable experience for her – I think there was some richness to it as well.

I wasn’t in a family group, but I worked with different family groups who were trying to figure out how to build wheelchair ramps, replace fencing, or to build steps. It was pretty challenging, but it was very gratifying as well. I think it gives you hope when you do something helpful for other people.

We are all touched by the aches and pains of creation. We probably all contribute to those aches and pains as well, but we have also been touched by the redeeming love of Jesus – who revealed to us that this world is not ultimately ruled by tyrants. We aren’t all on our own to look out for ourselves. We are one family, and there is one God who loves us all and wants us all to love one another.

Aches and pains aren’t all bad. I came home from camp with some new pains and some familiar aches and they served to remind me how good it feels to work for someone other than myself. And while Paul makes an appeal for us to wait with patience for the new day that will come, I don’t think he is telling us to sit still and wait. I think it’s a lot easier to have patience when you keep yourself well occupied, and there’s a lot of good work we can be doing. It’s not within our power to fully establish the Kingdom of God on earth, but we can make this world a more hospitable place for someone, and when we do that we are both providing and being provided with a taste of the first fruits of God’s kingdom.

There are some ugly stories out there of the ways in which people have failed to share Christ in a Christlike manner, but there are some beautiful stories as well. Our calling is to learn from the past and to go forward as those who have hope for a better day, who wait with patience, and who work with diligence to serve God and our neighbors.

Thanks be to God for our calling, our hearing, and our doing.
Amen.

Spiritual Horticulture
Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23

13:1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea. 2 Such great crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat there, while the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell on the path, and the birds came and ate them up. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and they sprang up quickly, since they had no depth of soil. 6 But when the sun rose, they were scorched; and since they had no root, they withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 Let anyone with ears listen!” 18 “Hear then the parable of the sower. 19 When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in the heart; this is what was sown on the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; 21 yet such a person has no root, but endures only for a while, and when trouble or persecution arises on account of the word, that person immediately falls away. 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the lure of wealth choke the word, and it yields nothing. 23 But as for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

My recent bicycle trip has really messed me up – I’ve had a hard time readjusting to normal life. I sort of ducked-out of reality for two weeks, and I’m still recovering from that. The problem is that the most difficult moments of that trip were relatively light-weight troubles, and now, even the smallest obstacles get me all tangled up.

I really did take a break from actual problems during my trip. For two weeks I didn’t open any bills or other weighty paper epistles, nor did I check my email. I had some kind of automatic notice saying I was unavailable, and I just never checked it. I normally feel sort of bad if I don’t check it every few hours, but I didn’t open it for two weeks. I spoke to Sharla regularly on the phone and I had a few other phone conversations and text messages during that time, but I basically checked out for two weeks. Of course nothing did collapse. The world didn’t fall apart. The church stayed intact. My fantasy baseball team didn’t even fall to last place.

And I didn’t really plan to do this, but I decided not to watch any television while I was on my trip. I took a break from CNN and every other station in the world that wanted to get me to surrender my mind for a little while. I didn’t even listen to NPR.

I’m telling you, I entered a very different world for two weeks. It was a lovely experience, but reentry has been painful. Don’t get me wrong – it’s not all bad. I love being back with my family and friends. I like watching television and listening to the radio again. I’m happy to have lost my daily compulsion to eat convenience store fried chicken wings. And I’m grateful to have a job that enabled me to go ride my bicycle for two weeks, but honestly, that trip sort of ruined me.

I was reminded of how good I am at playing. I’m not a lazy person, but I’m good at pouring a lot of energy and effort in to things that don’t really matter. And real things can get me all wound up.

I don’t know about you, but there’s something in today’s scripture that I need to hear. I’m particularly sensitive to what I hear Jesus saying about the cares of this world. What I hear is that there are some of us who’s souls are particularly vulnerable to the concerns of this world. What I know about myself is that it’s hard for me to be properly responsive to the demands of this world without letting them choke the life out of me. And while taking a significant break from the regular responsibilities of life isn’t a bad thing to do, I don’t think escape from reality is the avenue that produces the abundant yields that Jesus spoke of.

It’s not easy for some of us to sort out the essentials from the incidentals, and it’s easy for me to feel like I’m living in the Little Shop of Horrors with all of life’s little tentacles wanting to swallow me up. Jesus was well aware of this problem, and this parable contains a clear warning to not let our lives be invaded by the thorns of worldly concerns. Keeping the demands of this world in perspective is much like the process of weeding a garden, and it’s probably a skill we can learn to develop.

When I was a child I didn’t know the difference between poison ivy and any other plant growing in the woods, but I didn’t have to have more than one horrible case of poison ivy before I learned what it looked like. I’ve had many outbreaks through the years, but I try to watch out for it and to stay out of it. Likewise, I think I probably recognize the difference between those opportunities in life that will feed my soul and help my neighbor and those that just feed my own flesh and ego, but I’m just not as quick to protect my soul as I am to provide comfort for my body.

These figurative weeds that keep us all tangled, twisted, distressed, and distracted are what you might call first world problems. These are the kinds of problems that come with a relative degree of affluence. When we give an overabundance of our time and attention to preserving and expanding our comfort, security and entertainment – we are allowing the weeds to take over the garden. When we become overly concerned about non-essential matters we are allowing the most valuable plant to wither. Jesus was very clear about this possibility. I believe this is a huge problem for many of us who orbit around our various devices and who feel the need to respond to every little piece of information that comes our way.

But there are these other obstacles to becoming well-rooted in the garden of God. Jesus spoke of the possibility of being gobbled up by birds or parched on arid rocks. We have an explanation of the parable in our scripture, but I find some additional meaning behind this image. I’m thinking that the seeds that fall on the path that never even have a chance to germinate are much like the people who hardly have a chance to take root in life. There are people who never have to deal with the weeds of life because they don’t get a chance to grow.

I don’t believe any of us are ever out of the reach of the Holy Spirit, and because of that I think abundant life is within reach of any of us, but I also have a hard time seeing how a person can ever mature and flourish when they grow up and live in the midst of nightmarish circumstances. I don’t worry about the eternal soul of a person who simply never has a chance in this world, but I believe God wills for us all to have daily bread and nurturing relationships.

I believe all of us who have been well nourished have a responsibility to help improve the conditions for those who are born in to hostile environments, and I believe this is a clear avenue for spiritual development.

I went on a tour last Thursday of the nearby non-profit organization called Our House, and I was hugely impressed by what they do there. I’ve known about Our House for years, but I had never actually been through the facility. Basically it functions as a homeless shelter for people who are trying to find work, but it’s much more than a place to spend the night – it’s more of a home for homeless people. They have services that help unemployed people become more employable, and they have programming for the children of the men and women who find themselves without homes. I love what they do there, and I want us to be a good neighbor to them. Like every other institution that’s operated by human beings I’m sure they fail in some ways to meet their high objectives, but it’s so good that there are places such as this that are trying to help uprooted families and individuals sink some roots and find new lives.

And of course, that’s hard work. And I think it’s the hard-work aspect of spiritual development that Jesus was talking about when he spoke of the seeds that fall on rocky ground. Such seeds sprout fast, but die quickly because they aren’t able to put down any roots. A seed that falls on rocky ground doesn’t really have a chance to put down roots, but Jesus wasn’t talking about the problem of people who never have a chance to sink roots. What Jesus was talking about here is the problem of people drifting away from living lives of faith because it’s hard.

And it is hard to be a person of faith. I know last week I talked about how easy it is to follow Jesus, but that was last week. I was just hoping to get you to come back this week, and this week I’m telling you the truth. Actually, what I believe is that following Jesus is easy when you find the path and you know you are on it – but that path is narrow, and it’s not easy to find.

Faith is hard because it requires us to work with our imperfect selves and our imperfect neighbors in our imperfect world. It’s hard to know how to manage our own lives and resources, and it’s hard to know how to help other people who are dealing with seemingly insurmountable problems, but we are to do all we can to love our neighbors as ourselves. It’s hard and it’s not full of immediate gratification.

Sometimes serving God means serving on a committee in the church and having to wrestle with roof-leaks and budget issues – which is about the last thing most people ever want to do. I don’t think anyone has ever joined a church in hope of becoming involved in church administration, but I do know there are people who leave the church when it gets hard and mundane, and while that isn’t always a bad reason – it’s not necessarily a good reason.

Unfortunately we don’t really get to choose what it is that makes our spiritual journeys difficult. It wouldn’t be so hard if we got to choose, but we don’t. In the parable, some seeds are said to have landed on fertile ground and took root without trouble, but I don’t think the point of this parable is to say that some people automatically develop rich spiritual lives. I believe what Jesus wanted us to know is that it’s a relatively small group of people who are able to navigate the perils of this world and to bountifully produce the grain of true life.

I don’t know, but I’m hoping the real problem my bicycle trip produced for me is not just the realization that I like to play more than I like to work. What I like to think is that it gave me a small taste of a more bountiful way of living, and I’m not content to go back on a diet of plain old life. I don’t want to get all wound up in bad weeds and vines, and I believe Jesus is the one who can help me find that fertile ground.

So many people came out to hear what Jesus had to say he had to go out on a boat to address all of them. People have always been hungry to hear what he had to say. It’s not always easy to hear what he’s saying, but he wants us all to sink deep roots in the richest soil there is. We are not to be ruled by our computers, our televisions, our finances, our animal instincts, or our political persuasions – we are called to abide in the Kingdom of God. It’s God who calls us, and it’s God who will enable us to find our way, but we won’t get there without putting out some effort – more effort than we think we can bear, but there’s more opportunity than we can even imagine.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to be a short-lived sprout or a weed infested garden. I want some of those deep roots. I want to bloom and flower and produce. And I hope you do too! Amen.

Easy Jesus
Matthew 11:16-19, 25-30

11:16 “But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another, 17 ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we wailed, and you did not mourn.’ 18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon’; 19 the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.” 25 At that time Jesus said, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent and have revealed them to infants; 26 yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. 27 All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

I mentioned last week that I was presenting you with the easiest aspect of discipleship which is what you might call check-writing ministry. I think there is some truth to the ease of giving money as opposed to getting your hands really dirty, but today’s passage of scripture points to another way in which discipleship becomes easy – it becomes easy when your calling becomes clear.

In my way of looking at things, one of the hardest things to deal with in life is the ongoing confusion I have in regard to what I need to be doing. Often it’s not the tasks themselves that I find intimidating – it’s determining what I need to do and how I need to do them. We live in a very complex world, and it’s hard to know how to focus in on the most essential matters.

I made reference to this in the sermon I preached just after finishing my bicycle journey – how liberating it was to have such a single task each day, but that wasn’t the first time I encountered that truth. I’ve been put in touch with this truth on previous occasions.

I recall having such an experience a few years ago when I was the director of the Wesley Foundation. I had gotten our Board of Directors to sign-off on building a yurt – which is a round dome-type structure that is made from what you might call minimalist materials. I had navigated the process of obtaining a city building permit — which was no small task. It didn’t really fit the standard construction project, but the round platform that would be the floor of the yurt was much like a deck, and when you build a deck the posts are to sit on concrete footings that are 2’ x 2’ wide and 18” deep. And that’s no big deal for most decks. But this yurt platform was designed with 30 posts underneath it. And it needed six more posts to hold up the entrance ramp and rear steps. This project was going to require us to dig 36 large and square holes in a yard that was filled with tree roots and large rocks.

I agonized over how to get those holes dug. I went to a couple of tool rental companies to see what kind of equipment they might have to expedite that process, and no one ever presented me with what I considered to be the magic power-tool. But one day a friend brought a man over to talk about the project, and this man assured me that he could dig those holes just like I needed them with a small back-hoe. He was so confident – and I was so relieved. We drew up a contract and I paid him a portion of the fee on the front end so he could go rent what he needed.

My friend and I arrived at the Wesley Foundation early the next morning before the man was due to arrive. I remember sitting outside drinking our coffee in great anticipation of what was going to happen that morning. About 30 minutes after the man was due to arrive we both began to have that sinking feeling you get when you begin to suspect that you have been conned. That man never showed up that day or any other day. He did make the mistake of answering his phone a couple of days later and I at least had the opportunity to ask him what he thought God would think of him stealing money from the church, but that was the last communication I ever had with him.

But that experience had one other unintended consequence. I felt so angry and humiliated by the scam it gave me the determination I needed to get those holes dug. With the use of plain old shovels, picks, go-devils, axes, a sawzall, post-hole diggers, and a couple of big heavy iron poles we got those holes dug. And when I say we, it was me and whoever happened to drop by during those hole-digging days, and there were quite a few people who got in on that activity. It was an epic undertaking and a glorious experience. For about two weeks I had an incredibly clear agenda. The work was hard, but the yoke was easy. I had no doubt what needed to happen and we got it done. I almost felt grateful to that man who ripped me off. I don’t think I would have had the wherewithal to engage in that undertaking if he hadn’t lit that fire in my belly.

And I’m thinking this is often the way it goes with our efforts to follow Jesus. We spend a lot of time and energy in relative states of confusion about what it is that we need to be doing. Good cases can be made in regard to the various directions we need to go – there’s always a lot of information to be gathered before we actually take action in some way. There’s always something else to be considered before we move in a bold manner. Stalling often seems like the prudent thing to do. But gratefully there are these people or circumstances that come along that call us to action. The situations aren’t always pretty, but the need becomes clear.

It’s interesting to think about the people and circumstances that helped shape John the Baptist. John the Baptist was a pure hearted man, but he grew up in the midst of a highly compromised religious community. I’m guessing John the Baptist became as extreme as he did because he saw how phony and distorted the religious executives of his day had become. The scribes and Pharisees were so proud of their vestments it made John the Baptist want to wear untailored hides. They were so careful to observe their food laws it propelled John the Baptist to eat bugs. They used their authority to keep people under their control and confused about who God was and what God required it lit a fire in his belly that enabled him to speak truth with power to all the people.

We think of John the Baptist as being a bizarre character, and certainly there were people during his own lifetime that thought he was out of his mind, but it’s not that hard to see that he was driven to those extremes by the maddeningly unfaithful nature of the religious culture of his day. John the Baptist didn’t decide we wanted to go do something unusual – he simply couldn’t be a part of what was going on in Israel at the time. There comes a time when action becomes easy.

John the Baptist went to extremes to express his faith, and certainly he was considered too extreme for some people – people who were more concerned with the way things looked than with the way things were. And those same people considered Jesus to be too common. They weren’t prepared for their messiah to eat and drink with anybody – especially with nobodies. We United Methodists didn’t create the notion that religion should be for respectable people who behave well. This has been a problem for a long time.

But it’s still a problem. People who go to church are often more interested in maintaining the way society operates than in challenging the evils of our day. People often go to church in hope of improving their standing in society as opposed to standing against policies that protect the privileged and victimize the poor and disenfranchised.

But you know about this problem. You know how distorted it all can get, and you don’t come to this church to improve your standing and maintain order. If that’s why you are here you are confused. This is not a good place to make business contacts. I wish it was, but it’s not.

The fact that we are a struggling and marginalized church makes me think we are doing something right, but I don’t take too much comfort in that. I think there’s some truth to the fact that our numbers suffer because of the ways in which we try to accommodate distressed people. And no doubt we have put some people off by embracing the label of a Reconciling Church. But these things have their appeal as well.

I honestly can’t blame our struggling nature on our bold faithfulness. Our frailties are also due to lack of organization and clarity of purpose, and as the senior pastor of this church I feel a large share of responsibility for this problem.

But I also believe that growth and vibrancy are more dependent upon faithfulness than to effort. I believe our task is more of an exercise in hearing what God needs for us to do than it is an exercise in doing anything. This is not to say that we don’t have work to do – hard work. But if it’s God’s work it’s also easy work – the kind of work you do without question and without hesitation.

I’m praying for that kind of clarity for us. I want this church to grow. I want it to be vibrant, and I believe that will happen when we have a renewed sense of calling and understanding of what we need to be about. Faithful following of Jesus isn’t easy like it’s easy to sit and watch television, but it’s not without it’s own form of ease. The ease you have when you are working as hard as humanly possible at the most important thing you can possibly do.

Please join me in praying every day for this church and for your own sense of calling. Pray for guidance and understanding and for a renewed sense of what you can do to help sustain and strengthen the body of Christ that this world so desperately needs.

It’s really quite easy – thanks be to God. Amen