11/30/2007

Second Advent Candle Lighting


Reading from Isaiah 11:1-10

A Green Shoot from Jesse's Stump

Pastor: Something new is coming. Something humanity has not yet experienced. A green Shoot will sprout from the old stump we thought was long dead.

Congregation: The life-giving Spirit of God will cover the land and the Spirit that brings wisdom and understanding, the Spirit that gives direction and builds strength, the Spirit that instills knowledge and awe-of-God, will be our joy and delight.

Pastor: This Spirit of God won't judge by appearances, won't decide on the basis of hearsay but rather will judge those made needy by what is right in God’s understanding of right, render decisions on those made poor with justice, God’s justice.

Congregation: All of humanity will pay attention. A mere breath of the Spirit of God will topple the wicked. Each morning the Spirit will work alongside the children of God to help build righteousness and faithfulness in the land.

Pastor: In this newness we will see things we have never seen before. The wolf will romp with the lamb, the leopard sleep with the kid, Calf and lion will eat from the same trough, and a little child will tend them.

Congregation: Cow and bear will graze the same pasture, their calves and cubs growing up together, the lion will eat straw like the ox, a child will be able to play with snakes, and neither animal nor human will hurt or kill.

Pastor: As we light the candles of Hope and Peace this day we remember that the coming of Christ brings to the world the Hope that Peace will reign once again in the world.

Congregation: As we light the candles of Hope and Peace, we will pledge ourselves, as the children of God, to work bringing Hope and Peace, that is more than just the absence of conflict, to all people, everywhere.

Pastor: All creation will be brimming with knowing, intimately knowing God.

Congregation: On that day all of creation will gather around the love of God and there will be peace.


Advent Song
“A Little Light” #146 in the Dakota Road Anthology
http://www.dakotaroad.com/

11/29/2007

Happy Birthday Jesus

There are things I remember about Christmas. Mom would always put the tinsel on the tree. Not that she loved to put the tinsel on the tree, but each piece was to be hung, one at a time, perfectly straight. This was not a task any of us children were gifted at, and dad would always find some chore, and on a farm there were many, to do. I remember lying under the tree and looking up at the lights. I remember the thick stockings with the vinyl bottoms from my grandmother. I remember milking the cows took longer on Christmas Eve because there was always extra effort put into making sure each cow had a generous helping of hay and grain on that night. There were always boxes under the tree that were the shape and relative dimensions of a brick, only a bit larger, they were the chocolate covered cherries.

Some things get passed on, some do not. I don’t use tinsel. Socks may not have the vinyl bottoms, but are usually included under the tree. The dog gets a special treat. And for at least one of my sons, Christmas is not complete without the chocolate covered cherries, not the expensive ones that come from the chocolate shop, but the sweet gooey ones with the fake looking red cherry juice, that come in the slightly larger than a brick shaped box.

I have a new memory for Christmas for this year. I went to Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus in Luke (Matthew indicates that he was born in a house in Nazareth). I saw the marble slab, with the Silver Star, with the glass plate in the center where you can look down to see the rock on which the birth was to have taken place. You can look down through the glass, that is if no one is pushing and shoving you so they can have a chance to also see the marble with the silver star and glass. The star is located in a room under the altar area of three churches that share the space. The place is dirty because no one can agree on who’s job it is, or privilege it is, or method to be used, or time of day to, or what kind of sponge to use, or what songs to hum, if indeed one is allowed to hum, while centuries of soot is removed to reveal the beauty of the place. Happy Birthday Jesus.

To get into Bethlehem, you have to go through security. Bethlehem is surrounded on three sides by a twenty-five foot high cement wall topped with concertina wire, complete with armed guards, security towers, gates, fences and a large sign that wishes you peace, from the Israeli department of tourism. On the other side of the wall there is a sign that says, “American money, Israeli Apartheid. Soon the fourth side of the wall will be completed turning the birth place of Jesus into a prison. The wall is paid for with U.S. money, you know, the bills that say, “In God We Trust.” Proving that is easier to say we trust in God than to actually “trust” in God. Interesting, in the first century BCE Christ was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn, in the twenty-first century CE, Christ would be born in a prison. In the first century BCE Herod tried to control the new born king by killing the young male children in this area. Today the powers that be try to control the place of the new born king with concertina wire and armed guards. Humanity really has not come very far and may have actually gone backwards.

Right now the powers that be are working on solutions to the Mid-East “Problem.” The biggest success so far is that they have agreed at the last minute on the wording of the press release saying they are willing to sit down and discuss the problem. There is the two state solution, the three state solution, the Palestinian problem, the West Bank Problem, and the problems with the Gaza Strip and the Golan Heights. Everywhere you look there are problems and proposed solutions. And of course you can’t have a solution unless there is a problem to be solved.

While traveling in Germany there was one holiday when the busses did not run full schedule. It was German unification day, the day they celebrate their wall coming down. I know we traveled into former East Germany, but I couldn’t tell you where the border used to be, it is not something they want to keep track of. The people were happy it was down. Friends and relatives could get together, infrastructures built, jobs created, and relationships formed. Here in the U.S. we were happy when the wall came down also, and even tried to claim some credit for what churches and crumbling economies did in bringing down the wall. I have to ask myself a stupid question, “If we were so happy about the German wall coming down, why are we spending billions building walls in Israel/Palestine and our own southwest?”

Perhaps it is because we see these areas as problems to be solved rather than relationships to be mended. What Christ came to teach us is that we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Being a Christian means we spend each day discovering in a bit broader sense, just what that means. In our southwest, families are divided because of the wall. In the Mid-East families are divided also. If we go back to Abraham, we see that Ishmael and Isaac, the progenitors of the different factions in the Mid-East, were brothers. Instead of walls of separation, perhaps what is needed is new ways of seeing one another as brothers and sisters. Perhaps our tax money could be better spent buying slightly larger than a brick shaped boxes of chocolate covered cherries for everyone divided by walls, and maybe throwing in some hammers so they can start tearing them down. After a long day of beating on cement, they could get together with their brothers and sisters on the other side of the walls and share the sweets with one another. Tired bodies, laughing, fake looking red cherry juice stuck to their teeth and tears of laughter running down their faces. Brothers and sisters together again, looking forward to the holiday that celebrates their wall coming down, memories loosing track of where it used to be, and a society learning with it truly means to say, “In God We Trust.” Happy Birthday Jesus.

11/28/2007

1st Advent (2)


Matthew 24:37-44

What time will you pick me up?
When will it happen?
What is the moment?
I wonder
I need to know
Lord
You who are most gracious
I need to know
So that
I
May control
You
When will it be
When you return
(of)
And all that I base my life on
Is gone
It’s not fair
To play these games
To make me
Read and write books of
What if
When
(that hour)
As if the world
Revolves
---- and
-------- evolves
around Your timetable
Your thoughts
Your words
Lord
Why won’t you tell me
I could better plan
(you)
Then
And live my life
My way
How can I live
With so much to worry about
How can you make me guess
O lord
When you know
(do not know)
I
Just want to be
free

1st Sunday in Advent


Matthew 24:37-44

Watch
Be ready
(when???)
for the Son of Man to come
(when???)
be ready
for you do not know
(when???)
and the small child looked into my eyes
and said she saw butterflies
and the clouds were beautiful
and the wind made here giggle
God made a wonder place
She knew
She could see God’s hand at work
And loved God’s creation
In her smile was God’s love
Her words also
Filled those who heard
With the Holy Wonder of God’s love
When did I lose that???
When did I move from the innocence
Of being ready
In God’s love
To getting ready
Wrapped up in me???
Christ is coming
Live once again in the readiness
Of now.

Active or Passive?

Saturday December 7th, Matthew 24: 42 "Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. There are two different kinds of waiting, active waiting and passive waiting. Passive waiting is the kind where you know the thief or the end times are on their way and so you stockpile your food, get yourself set, and wait. Active waiting can best be expressed by Luther’s statement that if the world were to end tomorrow, he would plant a tree and be about the business God put him on earth to do. There are many sad examples throughout history of passive waiting and I am sure many of you can name someone who did just such a thing, especially in Alaska. There are also some shining examples of the active waiting, we usually call them saints.

I'm with Matthew

Friday December 6th, Matthew 24: 36 "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. With all the focus on the end times and when it will be, how it will be, and who is in and who is out, we are only turning our focus away from what it means to be a child of God and back to what it means to take care of “old number one.” The Rapture is a racket (The Rapture Exposed, Barbara Rossing) and the losers in this racket are the millions of Christians who lose their way and their money on the way to helping others. This phenomenon was first spoken of in the second story of creation, with the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In this story, Eve, the mother of all, and Adam, the creature made from the adamah, are tempted to take things into their own hands, gain all knowledge, and be like gods. In the end all they found was shame. In the rapture, we attempt to decipher the end times so we can be on the inside track and others will be on the outside looking in. Humans are the actors in a script that God wrote long ago and has no control over. Matthew tells us that no one knows, except the Father. He hints that God set things up this way just so there would not be all this speculation and avoidance of what it means to be a child of God. I’m with Matthew on this one.

11/27/2007

Process

Thursday December 6th, Romans 13: 14 Let the Lord Jesus Christ be as near to you as the clothes you wear. Then you won't try to satisfy your selfish desires. Followers of Christ go through stages. First they discover this loving Christ and are in love. Then they learn about this love of Christ and are in awe. Then they get busy being a Christian, studying to be a Christian, discovering what it means to be a Christian. Eventually they ending up not working so hard, studying so hard, trying too hard, and they just fall back in love again. It is then that others discover what a Christian is. Someone who simply wears this Christianity as a part of who they are and are not even aware of the wonderful love they show in the process. They no longer even try to satisfy their selfish desires.

What's in your closet?

Wednesday December 5th, Romans 13: 12 Night is almost over, and day will soon appear. We must stop behaving as people do in the dark and be ready to live in the light. 13 So behave properly, as people do in the day. In Biblical writing, darkness is a way of indicating chaos, evil and fear. As we are called to live in hope, we are called to live in the light. We are called to live in a place where things are not hidden, back room deals are not made, full disclosure is the norm. Christ came to offer forgiveness and hope for a world caught in the darkness of despair. What’s in your closet? Christ will not only help you clean it out, he will even find a way to make good use of all stuff you feel so ashamed of. Live in hope and let Christ help turn that shame into blessing.

Show me the money

Tuesday December 4th, Isaiah 2: all nations will turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; nor will they play war anymore. Come all you people let us let's live in the light of God. As we bring the message of Hope this first Advent, one of the things we hope for is a change from the ways the world deals with differences. Throughout history the tendency has been for a little effort to be put toward peace for a while and then a lot of effort and money put toward war. War makes more money for a few people even as it destroys the economy for the majority. It is those few, with the right connections, along with the human tendency to lash out and strike back that fuels war. Largely our children and the children of others give their lives so that a small number may maintain power and reap profits. What would happen if the nations put as much time, effort, GNP, labor and resources into building up, caring for, and innovation as they do for destruction and death? Let us hope that at lease our grandchildren may live to be able to answer that question.

11/26/2007

Balancing act

Monday December 3rd, Isaiah 2: God's Message will come forth and He'll settle things fairly between nations. God will make things right between all peoples and true justice, God’s justice, will prevail. In the realm of power structures in this world, those with the power and money always think they are being more than just, and the powerless and poor always know they are once again getting screwed. God’s justice is not like human justice. God’s justice gets at the why, not just the who and with God’s justice hope is born. God’s justice deals with both sides of the equation and may not look like justice at all for those in power. It is comfort for the afflicted and affliction for the comfortable. The comfortable sometimes have a little trouble seeing that as good news. The will, in time. God’s love is all, It is just that in balancing the scales (God’s justice) one side doesn’t like the way things move and both sides have yet to experience what a God balanced life is like.

Tired yet?

Sunday December 2nd, Isaiah 2: There's a day coming when the mountain of God's House will be solid and towering over all mountains. All nations will be drawn to it and people from all over the world set out for it, saying, “Come, let's climb God's Holy Mountain, and go to the House of the Lord. In that day God will show us the way He works so all can live the way they were made." It was seventeen years ago on this date, that I was ordained at Christ Our Savior Lutheran. It was after many years of running. I was drawn to the ministry at age seven, decided to be a pastor at fourteen, and wanted nothing to do with it at twenty one. It was years of running until the dead end roads lead me back to that calling. The years of running didn’t erode the mountain and probably helped get rid of some of the rough edges in me. That calling of the Lord, no matter what form it takes, is there, and will be there for you throughout your life, and the lives of your children also. What does God have in mind for you that you are running from? How much more honing do you have to do before you respond?

First Advent Candle Lighting


First Advent Reading from Isaiah 2:1-5 Climb God's Mountain

Pastor: There's a day coming when the mountain of God's House will be solid and towering over all mountains. All nations will be drawn to it and people from all over the world set out for it, saying, “Come, let's climb God's Holy Mountain, and go to the House of the Lord.

Congregation: In that day God will show us the way He works so all can live the way they were made."

Pastor: God's Message will come forth and He'll settle things fairly between nations. God will make things right between all peoples and true justice, God’s justice, will prevail.

Congregation: As we light this candle of Hope, we look with longing and hope for that day when all nations will turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes.

Pastor: No more will nation fight nation; nor will they play war anymore.

Congregation: Come all you people let us let's live in the light of God.

11/24/2007

Good riddance to them all

Article in todays Anchorage Daily News
Can also be found through the news site at McClatchy Newspapers
www.mcclatchydc.com

Joseph L. Galloway
McClatchy Newspapers

November 21, 2007

There was little for the unindicted co-conspirators of the Bush administration to give thanks for this week as the clock winds down on the 14 months they have left in power.

With former White House press secretary Scott McClellan spilling the beans on who told him to lie to the American people and cover up the White House's responsibility for the criminal act of revealing the identity of a covert CIA officer, it clearly was time for some folks to begin drafting their requests for presidential pardons.

McClellan, in a forthcoming book that will tell some, if not all, reveals that his 2003 statements absolving top White House aides Karl Rove and I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby of any involvement in leaking the identity of CIA officer Valerie Plame were untrue — and that the orders to make those statements came from President Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, White House chief of staff Andrew Card, Rove and Libby.

McClellan's revelation makes it abundantly clear that a subsequent statement by Bush that White House aides had no involvement in outing Ms. Plame, and that anyone who did would be fired was also, shall we say, inoperative.

It also confirms long-held suspicions that the whole despicable affair — an attempt to punish former Ambassador Joseph Wilson for debunking a bit of the bogus intelligence the administration wheeled out to justify invading Iraq — was orchestrated in the offices of Bush and Cheney, and with their knowledge.

It also might shed new light on why Bush quickly commuted Cheney’s hatchet man Libby's prison sentence after he was convicted on four counts of lying to federal investigators. It simply wouldn’t do to have Libby rolling over on his bosses.

Somehow, I have a strong feeling that this isn't the only or the last revelation of wrong-doing and criminality that we're likely to hear before and after Bush and Co. leave office, or that additional presidential acts of clemency will be needed to spare other top administration officials from prison and buy their silence.

What we've witnessed and endured during seven long years of the Bush presidency is the inevitable consequence of bringing vicious and unprincipled but successful political campaigners — attack dogs — into top White House jobs.

The idea that a political campaign should address any and all criticism by going for the throats of those who dare to question it may work on election day but it doesn’t work, or shouldn’t, when the full weight and power of the federal government is put behind it.

We are a better people and this is a better country than that, and this is why, when it's weighed and judged, the Bush presidency will be found to have perverted not only our system but also the very principles on which our nation was founded.

We don’t rush into a war that has cost so many lives and so much national treasure, and has so damaged our standing in the world, based on a tissue of lies. But under the leadership of George W. Bush, that's what we did in Iraq.

We don’t stand idly by, backs turned and eyes closed, while in wartime our friends and political contributors loot the national treasury of billions of taxpayer dollars. But the Bush administration and a Republican-controlled Congress did just that.

We don’t send our soldiers and Marines into combat without enough of everything they need to fight, survive and win. But that's what this administration and its political operatives in charge of the Pentagon did.

We don’t turn the office of the attorney general and key parts of the Justice Department into a branch of a partisan political campaign — gutting offices charged with protecting the civil rights of minorities and directing the prosecution of those of a different political party — but this administration did.

We don’t declare war and then expect that the entire sacrifice will be borne by the half a percent of our population who wear uniforms. We don’t fight a long and costly war by cutting taxes on the wealthiest Americans and borrowing trillions of dollars to finance it from foreign competitors such as China. But this administration did.

We don’t prosecute a war to spread democracy by curtailing democracy and suspending the Bill of Rights at home. We cannot promote our principles abroad by denying the same principles — the right to a lawyer, the right to a fair trial, the right to be secure in our homes — to ourselves. But this administration did.

We don’t beat or torture confessions out of prisoners in violation of our laws and the laws of the civilized world. We don’t lock people up and hold them incommunicado for years without charges or trials. But this administration did and does.

We don’t applaud and cheer an administration and a Congress that make the rich vastly richer, the middle class less secure and the poor even poorer. But this administration has done just that, in violation of our principles and the principles of love, peace and charity that are engrained in the Christianity that these rogues and charlatans embrace so publicly but violate every day.

It will be a good day when they are gone, and good riddance to them all.

McClatchy Newspapers 2007

11/21/2007

Puppeteer

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said Tuesday that it will be hard for him to argue that Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf is still trying to advance democracy if he doesn't lift emergency rule before the elections.

Bush said the embattled Pakistani leader has been a loyal U.S. ally in fighting terrorists, has vowed to step down as head of the military and has promised to hold parliamentary elections. The president, in an interview at Camp David with ABC's "World News," also noted that Musharraf freed thousands of opponents from jails Tuesday in a sign he is rolling back a wave of repression under emergency rule he declared on Nov. 3.

"So far, I've found him to be a man of his word," Bush said.

Just as children tend to learn more from their parents actions than from their words, perhaps the actions of puppets have less to do with the words spoken than the strings pulled. It is hard to criticize a puppet when you are the one pulling the strings. One could even argue that a puppet is merely a more visible extension of the puppeteer.

11/19/2007

Christ the King


Luke 23:35-43

Even on the cross
with the whole world of power
mocking
laughing
in the folly of our pride
humanity
the creation of God
put up the sign
King of the Jews
King of us all
and in the midst of the mocking
and pain
Christ looked on the one
who turned to him
and pronounced t he blessing
Today
You will be with me in paradise
And in that moment
gave hope
life
to us all

Shepherds

Sunday November 25th, Jeremiah 23: What sorrow awaits the leaders of my people—the shepherds of my sheep—for they have destroyed and scattered the very ones they were expected to care for,” says the Lord. How often has the word of God been used for control and power rather than good? The metaphor of shepherds is used extensively in scripture. A shepherd cares for, nurtures, and does what is best for the sheep. A shepherd also learns that helping and cooperating with other shepherds is a good thing and that if all work together, the sheep are better off. A good shepherd does not scatter the sheep. All too often the word of God has scattered. Jesus calls us to bring together, nurture and care for one another. Wouldn’t it be nice of the political discourse took on such a tone, we might actually find someone worth electing.

New shoots, new life

Monday November 26th, Jeremiah 23: 5 “For the time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will raise up a righteous descendant from King David’s line. He will be a King who rules with wisdom. He will do what is just and right throughout the land. 6 And this will be his name: ‘The Lord Is Our Righteousness.’ In that day Judah will be saved, and Israel will live in safety You cannot easily kill an olive tree. If you chop it down, it won’t be long before a shoot will come up out of the dead looking trunk. In our lives too, even when things seem to have hit bottom, a new shoot of life can come forth. God sees in our lives and in our souls, that spark of life that was from the dawn of creation and called good. Each and every life, no matter how much it may appear to be just like an old dead stump, can bring forth wonderful life and an abundance of fruit. Help us to see one another through the eyes of the creator who call all creation good.

How does God work, ask the lion and lamb in heaven

Tuesday November 27th, Colossians 1: 9Be assured that from the first day we heard of you, we haven't stopped praying for you, asking God to give you wise minds and spirits attuned to his will, and so acquire a thorough understanding of the ways in which God works. What a blessing that would be able to have one’s mind attuned to God’s will. Not the will we would like it to be, but the will that is the will of God. Maybe then the preferred vision of God could come to past, the lion and lamb lying down together, swords turned into plow shears and all of creation seeing one another as part of the creation of God that is called good. How can you help bring about that vision in your life today?

Seeing God

Wednesday November 28th, Colossians 1: 15 We look at this Son and see the God who cannot be seen. Jesus is for humanity, the manifestation of God. All we can know of God, all we need to know of God, all that is helpful for us to know of God, we see in Jesus. When one thinks of Jesus, what do you see? A Warrior? A Power monger? No, what you see is the empty cross. What we see of God is the totally giving, forgiving bringer of new life. No matter where you are in life, no matter what situation you are in, no matter how much your life may seem like the pits some days, God is interested only in you discovering full what it means to be created in the image of God. Part of what that means is to recognize that everyone else is also created in the image of God and treat them accordingly. Perhaps in doing so, we begin to see the God in us also.

Forgive us all, for we know not what we do

Thursday November 29th, Luke 23: 33When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. 34Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. And they divided up his clothes by casting lots. Christ the King Sunday and the place called the skull? Totally outside of what we would consider Kingly. And, yet, such is the giving nature of God. Can the God who created all and called it good condemn that very creation to the pit? Can the God who so loved the world he gave his only son, condemn anyone, including you, to the pit? That is not where God’s interest lays.

King of all

Friday November 30th, Luke 23: 38There was a written notice above him, which read: THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Jesus was also known as King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, Son of God, all titles attributed to Caesar whose power Pilot represented. The title “King of the Jews” was almost a way of shrugging off the idea that Jesus and not Caesar or Herod or Pilot did not represent the true Ruler of the world. Little did they know that Jesus was all that and more. The question is, is Jesus the king of your life? Well, maybe that is not the question, but rather the answer. The question is, do you know it?

Paradise

Saturday December 1st, Luke 23: 39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" 40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong." 42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." 43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise." The other criminal may take a bit longer to convince he is forgiven and usher him into the kingdom of God. We often take the other stance, that one made it in and one did not, period. The conclusion therefore is that some will make it in and many will not. Those who believe like me, which is the way God thinks, will make it in and others will not. Jesus said however that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That is why Jesus came to save us, we weren’t doing such a great job. Jesus’ gift extends to all of creation. Perhaps one of the things we need most to be forgiven for is thinking and treating others as if they might be outside Jesus reach. Today you will be with me in paradise, someday, all will be with me in paradise. How would that change the way you live today?

11/14/2007

Jesus, not the powers that be, is Lord

Saturday November 23rd, Luke 21: 12 "But before all these things happen, people will arrest you and treat you cruelly. They will judge you in their synagogues and put you in jail and force you to stand before kings and governors, because you follow me. 13 But this will give you an opportunity to tell about me.14 Make up your minds not to worry ahead of time about what you will say.15 I will give you the wisdom to say things that none of your enemies will be able to stand against or prove wrong.16 Even your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends will turn against you, and they will kill some of you.17 All people will hate you because you follow me.18 But none of these things can really harm you. 19 By continuing to have faith you will save your lives. When a follower of Christ in the first century says that Jesus is Lord, they are also saying that Caesar and all that stands for the powers that be, are “Not” Lord. By standing up for Christ as the Prince of Peace, they are saying that Caesar and the powers that be, at Not the prince of peace. Throughout history, there are attempts to meld together the powers that be and the word of god. It helps give the powers that be the illusion that they have more power. But Christ is counter-cultural. Our powers that be pass huge military spending bills the still don’t have the operating budget for the war in Iraq, Jesus says pray for your enemies. Very few heard the voice of praying for your enemies on September 12th. Instead it has simply been a cry for bigger and bigger budgets that are spent with less and less scrutiny in the creation of a war machine that can roll over any program having to do with children’s health, living wage, public education and the like. For those who do speak up, yes people will hate you because present the real Jesus rather than the one molded from iron to look like the military money machine.

The heart not the place

Friday November 23th, Luke 21: 5 Some people were talking about the Temple and how it was decorated with beautiful stones and gifts offered to God. But Jesus said, 6 "As for these things you are looking at, the time will come when not one stone will be left on another. Every stone will be thrown down." In taking a tour in Jerusalem through the excavations along the wall, one of the things that impressed me was the size of the stones. There was one stone that was 39 feet long, 9 feet high and over 7 feet thick, solid granite. The estimated weight was over 100,000 pounds. One of the hallmarks of Herod’s walls were the size of the stones in the lower construction. If an enemy were to come against the wall, they would not be able to chip away at the stones and remove them from the wall. Jesus prediction of the wall being torn down was almost beyond belief. But Jesus is not impressed with either the grandiose pretentions of our structures nor the grandiose pretentions of our programs when accompanied with an underlying lack of Gospel passion and grace. For Jesus it would be torn down, and in time that was true. It is not the thing that holds the love of Christ, it is the heart.

How big is your "us"

Thursday November 22nd, 2 Thessalonians 3: 11We hear that some among you are idle. They are not busy; they are busybodies. 12Such people we command and urge in the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and earn the bread they eat. 13And as for you, brothers, never tire of doing what is right. And for those who know what is the right thing to do, never tire of doing it. Good advice. Life is about your journey, and doing your journey right. Being a busybody is about someone else’s journey and your obsession with it. God calls us into an attitude of us. The world often pushes us toward an attitude of Me. What is your tendency in life, to look at what is best for the me, or what is best for the us? If it is the “us,” how big is your “us?”

Fairness

Wednesday November 21st , 2 Thessalonians 3: 6In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we command you, brothers, to keep away from every brother who is idle and does not live according to the teaching you received from us. 7For you yourselves know how you ought to follow our example. We were not idle when we were with you, 8nor did we eat anyone's food without paying for it. On the contrary, we worked night and day, laboring and toiling so that we would not be a burden to any of you. 9We did this, not because we do not have the right to such help, but in order to make ourselves a model for you to follow. 10For even when we were with you, we gave you this rule: "If a man will not work, he shall not eat." There are always enough examples of those who are cheating the system to provide cannon fodder for those who wish to get rid of it. Just look at that person or this person who is not working and could. What is ignored in this discussion are the many who are made poor by the system of power in place. Everyone who is able should pitch in and do what they can to contribute to the good of society. And by the same reason, no one should be making the enormous sums that are now prevalent in CEO wages. As William Sloane Coffin has said, if there are good arguments in favor of a minimum wage, there are more than good arguments in favor of a maximum wage. It is a sin to pay someone who works hard the minimum wage. It is also a sin to pay someone who works hard greater than a hundred times what the lowest employee in their organization makes. What Paul is calling for is fairness. We should strive for no less.

11/12/2007

Preferred vision

Tuesday November 20th, Isaiah 65: Their work won't be wasted, and their children won't die of dreadful diseases, stray bullets or lack of food and shelter. The Lord says, I will bless all children created in the image of God and their grandchildren, and answer their prayers before they finish praying. Wolves and lambs will graze together; lions and oxen will feed on straw. Oppressors and oppressed will finally see each other as brothers and sisters. We are living in the midst of a push to lessen the restrictions on carrying weapons. Whether we are talking about concealed pistols or the push for fully automatic weapons, the excuses are a combination of civil rights, hunting rights, and self protection. No one speaks of the civil rights of the children or adults who are shot by these weapons, no one uses them for hunting, and I certainly don’t feel any safer because any nut-job on the highway or at the mall may be packing something that has less to do with protection than it does with feelings of insecurity. In the midst of that fear based legislation and societal tolerance, the preferred vision of God is that wolves and lambs graze together, lions and oxen feed on straw, and oppressors and oppressed see each other as brothers and sisters (that last one is my addition) Where do you stand?

not just those with guns

Monday November 19th, Isaiah 65: People will live in the houses they build; they will no longer fear the bulldozers that come to destroy. They will enjoy grapes from their own vineyards and olives from their own orchards. In the Palestinian areas, if you are suspected of being involved in activities considered to be terrorists related, and let me emphasis suspected not proven, then the bulldozers come and destroy your home. If your son or daughter get fed up with the cement wall that separates your family from the olive orchard they have had for hundreds of years and you are unable to harvest your crops, you are hungry, there is no money and not enough food, and your child throws a stone, you may lose your home in addition to your orchard. How quickly, even here in the US we have learned to accept unjust situations under the guise of security. God’s preferred vision is one where all people, all those created in the image of God, can live in freedom and experience justice, not just those with the guns.

the Ladder


Sunday November 18th, Isaiah 65: I am creating new heavens and a new earth says The Lord; everything of the past will be forgotten. Celebrate and be glad forever! I am creating a New Jerusalem, full of happy people. I will celebrate with Jerusalem and all its people; there will be no more crying or sorrow in that city. In visiting Jerusalem, I was struck with sadness. It is a divided city. Many of the different religious factions can agree. The church of the Holy Sepulcher, where our Lord is supposed to have been crucified, died and risen is held by three churches that have so much trouble getting along that there is ladder on a second floor balcony that has been there for 100 years because the parties cannot agree whose job it is to move it. The keys to the building are held by a Muslim family because none of the three Christian congregations can be trusted to let the others have full access to the building. The situation is worse than the time of Isaiah, worse than the time of Jesus. In the midst of that, the Lord says, I am creating a New Jerusalem full of happy people (a small rewrite by me). In the midst of the conflicts in our lives, the Lord can also do a new thing. Always be open for God’s preferred future, for your life and for the world, and live into it.

Opening Litany for Nov. 18th based on Isaiah 65:17*25

The LORD's New Creation

Pastor: I am creating new heavens and a new earth says The Lord; everything of the past will be forgotten. Celebrate and be glad forever! I am creating a New Jerusalem, full of happy people. I will celebrate with Jerusalem and all of its people; there will be no more crying or sorrow in that city.

Congregation: No child will die in infancy; everyone will live to a ripe old age.

Pastor: Anyone a hundred years old will be considered young, and to die younger than that will be considered a curse.

Congregation: People will live in the houses they build; they will no longer fear the bulldozers that come to destroy. They will enjoy grapes from their own vineyards and olives from their own orchards.

Pastor: No one will take away or destroy their homes, vineyards or orchards, no one will build walls to separate them from their fields or friends.

Congregation: All who are created in the image of God will live to be as old as trees, and they will enjoy what they have earned.

Pastor: Their work won't be wasted, and their children won't die of dreadful diseases, stray bullets or lack of food and shelter.

Congregation: The Lord says, I will bless all children created in the image of God and their grandchildren, and answer their prayers before they finish praying.

Pastor: Wolves and lambs will graze together; lions and oxen will feed on straw. Oppressors and oppressed will finally see each other as brothers and sisters.

Congregation: Snakes will eat only dirt! They won't bite or harm anyone ion my holy creation. I, the LORD, have spoken!

Pastor: This is God’s vision for the future

Congregation: We will not fight against it but will work for its completion every day, in our lives, and in the people around us. Amen!!

Pastor: Welcome to Worship at Christ Our Savior Lutheran Church.

Congregation: Where we are Inspired by God’s Love to Praise, Nurture and Serve, and where we work out that mission in our day to day lives when we Delight in the Diversity of All of God’s Children.

11/06/2007

He is not here, He is risen

One of the common question asked upon my return from Sabbatical was whether it was spiritually rewarding. These inquiries often refer to our visit to the two Holy Lands, Germany and Israel. To be sure, we found many wonderful and inspiring sites, not the least of which were the birth place of Jesus, the Sea of Galilee, Capernaum, Masada and Mount Megiddo from which we get our word “Armageddon.” In Germany too we visited such awe inspiring sites as the Wartburg Castle where Luther translated the Bible into low German, the Augustinian Monastery where he trained to be a priest, the magnificent church were Luther was ordained and in Wittenberg, the Castle Church where Luther was married, the City Church where he preached and the parsonage where he and Katharina lived and taught. It was a trip well worth taking and one I would highly recommend to anyone interested in Christianity in general and Lutheranism in particular, but the designation of spiritually rewarding, in my mind is relegated to very few of the so called religious sites and a few holy surprises along the way.

In Germany, one such place was the oak tree planted where Luther burned the “Papal Bull” that was the call to knuckle under and go along with the status quo and established power of the day. The tree stands at an intersection and close to a main road, it behooves one to look carefully before crossing over to see the tree, and when you get there it is still just another oak tree in Germany. But there, next to the traffic, on the edge of town, with the world going by all around it stands, it is a reminder that in all the hustle and bustle of life, the proclamation of God’s grace in a world that is always drawn toward power and prestige can make a difference.
Another spiritual experience came in visiting my friend Guillermo in Spain. We stayed in the old city of Avila, spiritual centers for Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross, surrounded by the old city wall from the Roman era. We visited all the sites around the old city. We were given a tour of the University area in Salamanca, with buildings still in use dating back to the 12th century, and found ourselves on awe overload.

Of all the sites we visited, there was one that stood out. In Jerusalem there is the Church of the Holy Sepulcher where three different church bodies lay claim to the spot where Jesus was crucified and buried. Inside are masses of people all standing in line for a chance to glimpse the tomb. At another site there is a Protestant site that claims it might be the place where Jesus was crucified and there is a tomb there that might be the place where Jesus was buried and the whole site is presented in a very apologetic manner with words like “could have” or “might be” or “is similar to what might have been.” It is a wonderful site with not very assuring words, except, as you leave the tomb where Jesus “might” have been laid, there is a sign on the wall that says, “He is not here, he is risen.”

Some of the Spiritual parts of the sabbatical were moments of surprise and wonder. Driving in the dark in Washington in what seemed to be the middle of nowhere, praying and longing for a glimpse of light to indicate a town and hotel and nothing but static on the radio. Suddenly a channel comes in, it is a interview with a young man who is working on building an interfaith dialogue in Chicago. I focus on hearing the interview amide the occasional fade-outs and static, and it finishes just as I drive into a town, find the only hotel, with the one room left and turn off the car, he is risen and goes on before us. In Spain, Guillermo’s two young daughters, Lara and Alba, do not speak English, and yet they were able to show me with excitement the snails they had caught with their mother, So-Won, and placed in a covered dish with some lettuce, he is risen and goes on before us. There was a time when Alba, the youngest, took Jan by the hand and took her to her room where, without the use of verbal language, they managed to play a matching card game and dress several dolls, he is risen and goes on before us. Coming home, tired and excited, I went to choir only to be told that the congregation was having so much fun while I was gone they wanted to do another Sunday. On Reformation Sunday, I sat in the pew with my family and heard the Sunday School put on a skit that explained what Lutherans are all about, better than most books I have read, he is risen and goes on before us. The other night, several of the adult children were over and we all sat to a wonderful meal together and talked and laughed, he is risen and goes on before us.

The trip to Israel was wonderful, it gave a sense of place and people, it fleshed out the Gospel in ways books could never do and I would highly recommend such a trip to anyone who is interested in Christianity or Judaism or Islam, but if you are going for a spiritual renewal, remember the words on the sign, “he is not here, he is risen.” Christ is in the children, friends, the quiet, the surprise, the fear, the wonder, the drive back and forth to work, the home, your heart and the hearts of others, and always on ahead of you wherever you go. Let all who have ears to hear and eyes to see, experience the risen Lord in the world around you. Amen.

Pesky Jesus

Sunday November 11th, Haggai 2: 6 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. 7 I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty. This is the second rebuilding of the temple after the release of Babylonian captives. The goal is to build a house where God would dwell and where the people of God could bring sacrifice. In Jerusalem the people gather at the western wall of Herod’s temple, a former grand and glorious structure, as it is the site closest to where the Holy of Holies used to be to which they had access. Now there is a tunnel under part of the city and there is a new area where some who are about to be wed go to pray, it is the closest part of the Herod’s temple wall to where the Holy of Holies used to be. There is another site outside the city walls that come claim might be the place where Jesus was laid after the crucifixion. There is a sign on the inside of the door, it says, “he is not here, he has risen.” Jesus changed the scene. God never was confined to a place. God is where love is shown and justice practiced. It might be easier to confine God to a place, then we could just go visit when we wanted to. The trouble is that pesky Jesus keeps following us back into our lives.

Problems of peace

Monday November 12th, Haggai 2: 8 'The silver is mine and the gold is mine,' declares the LORD Almighty. 9 'The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,' says the LORD Almighty. 'And in this place I will grant peace,' declares the LORD Almighty." Here they are talking about the temple in Jerusalem. The temple is no longer there and neither is peace. Perhaps is the world pushed more for peace, the temple, as in the presence of God, would seem closer to home. How quickly we forget when money and power come into play. The glory of God’s presence will be greater than any temple ever built, past, present or future, but it comes at a price unwilling to be paid by most nations in the world, peace. War is the cowards way out for the problems of peace. “Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace.” ~Charles Sumner

The rapture is a racket

Tuesday November 13th, 2 Thessalonians 2: 1Concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered to him, we ask you, brothers, 2not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by some prophecy, report or letter supposed to have come from us, saying that the day of the Lord has already come. In Barbara Rossings book, “The Rapture Exposed,” she begins with her first sentence, “The Rapture is a racket.” Oh how we love to think we have the inside track, that we are in the know and others are out. All those visions of two men walking up a hill, one disappears and one’s left standing still, stir in our veins with all those visions of leaving this place behind, and in the process, those who didn’t see things the way we did, and fill us with joy. Sounds good, feels good, energizes individuals and congregations alike. Only trouble is, it is a racket and has more to do with power and money than with Jesus. There is no room from grace and rapture in the same church, and Jesus is the bringer of grace.

Don't let the rapture get you down

Wednesday November 14th, 2 Thessalonians 2: 13But we ought always to thank God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because from the beginning God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. 14He called you to this through our gospel, that you might share in the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15So then, brothers, stand firm and hold to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter. It has been hard being a grace filled Christian in the last 30 years or so, but I think, I hope, I pray, the tide is turning. O how the world wants to see the world as black and white, with those in and those out and justice defined as the other guy getting it in the neck. But, from the beginning God chose and saved you through the sanctifying work of the spirit. The You being majorly plural. In the beginning God created all that is and called it good, is God now going to the majority of those created in the image of God evil? I listened with sadness as our local TV preacher talked of his father, how he was not born again and therefore burning in hell. I wonder if you asked his now deceased father if he would condemn his son to hell for saying and believing that what the answer would be. I know my children have given me a fit from time to time, and some a whole lot more than others. Would I disown them and condemn them to hell? I don’t think so. How much more gracious is the loving God who went to the cross? And what would and did that loving God do from the beginning of time?

Still arguing

Thursday November 15th, Luke 20: 27Some of the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus with a question. 28"Teacher," they said, "Moses wrote for us that if a man's brother dies and leaves a wife but no children, the man must marry the widow and have children for his brother. 29Now there were seven brothers. The first one married a woman and died childless. 30The second 31and then the third married her, and in the same way the seven died, leaving no children. 32Finally, the woman died too. 33Now then, at the resurrection whose wife will she be, since the seven were married to her?" Since the Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection it comes out pretty strong that the motive behind the question was not to get information, but rather to try to trap someone else. Politics and power struggles. The Levirate marriage of which the speak was in place to bring justice and equality in the passing on of property rights by assuring that the widow had children to whom she could pass on her deceased husbands inheritance. It assured that the widow would be taken care of and not be left out in the cold. We have different structures in place to take care of the poor and needy, and it seems as if those in power are still pulling those power games to avoid having to pay and be responsible for those in need, can you say SCHIP?

Angels

Friday November 16th, Luke 20: 34Jesus replied, "The people of this age marry and are given in marriage. 35But those who are considered worthy of taking part in that age and in the resurrection from the dead will neither marry nor be given in marriage, 36and they can no longer die; for they are like the angels. As angels, equals, so maybe we should start treating one another that way now. All this wrangling for power and money, all you ever get out of it is heart trouble and more corpses. The gift from God is the gift of the resurrection, for all. All our speculation about heaven should start there.

All are alive

Saturday November 16th, Luke 20: 38He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive." In this life we are just passing through, sojourners one and all. All that is here belongs to God and we are able to use part of it for a while. For some it is a game to see who can get the most and then maybe somehow win. Trouble is, all they ever do is lose. God is not the God on earth only, but also in heaven. In Christ all are alive and are called the children of God.

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