Birthpangs - The End Is Coming! 11/18/18 Pentecost 26B

Rev Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

Birthpangs – The End Is Coming!

Nov 18, 2018         Pentecost 26-B              Mark 13:1-8

           

            I’m going to start today by talking a little about the church year, and how the church orders time.  We don’t follow the regular Jan-Dec calendar - our New Year starts in 3 weeks, with Advent, which this year starts Dec 2.  The church year starts in preparation for the Messiah or Christ, to come, then Jesus’ nativity.  We travel through Epiphany with the Wise Men and then Jesus’ baptism; a month or so later we begin the 40 days of preparation for our celebration of Jesus death and resurrection.  After commemorating the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, our whole summer and fall explore other themes of the Christian faith, and usually we emphasize one of the gospels = this year its been Mark. 

            We are now approaching the end of the Church Year, and the readings generally speak to the end of times, and then next week, our church year ends by celebrating that Christ reigns over all.  So, every year, our readings take us through the whole of the Christian story. 

Most denominations follow what’s called the Common Lectionary (lection = readings), on a three-year cycle that covers a major bit of the Bible.  Most churches and pastors have hangings and stoles in the designated color of that part of the cycle.  We’re at the end of green today, and next week is white.  I like using the assigned readings, mostly because it makes me work on a wider selection of Scriptures than just my favorite soap boxes!!!  And because the hardest part of preaching, for me, is to consider this priceless book and try to choose a part to preach on that’s meaningful.  That’s not to say that sometimes I don’t break out and preach something that’s on my heart, or do a series about something, or because the assigned texts just don’t speak to me that week. 

This week's’ reading from Mark about the end times is difficult for me, because so many people in Christianity go crazy over prophecy of about end times, the book of the Revelation to John.  You might remember that series of books about being Left Behind when all the saints are raptured up from the earth to heaven.  I was raised on that kind of fear, the fear of missing the Rapture and being left behind, and the terrorizing time of the Anti-Christ until, in our scenario, Christ returns to wipe out all the bad guys and set up peace.  All of our talk was highly speculative, as the book of the Revelation to John is like a dream sequence - some parts a scary dream, and other times a dream of peace and solace when God wins, but its dream-like and difficult to pin down. 

In today’s reading in Mark, Jesus refers to when everything is torn down, and his disciples ask questions about it, like when will it be and how will we know its coming?  Same questions we’d probably like to know the answers to, today.  To me, Jesus’ first answer is an insight about the fact that everything created is finite - everything passes.  The Roman Empire of Jesus’ time is gone.  The empires of the Hebrew scriptures are gone - Sumerian, Hittites, Pharaohs - they are all archeological dig sites now, with pieces of pottery in museums and dead languages carved in rocks. African cultures, South America cultures, the Mayans - all subjects if research and Doctoral theses.  All their wars, all their achievements, all their kings and queens, all their architectural accomplishments - all gone, fallen, covered with sand & dirt, and buried in history.  Cultures rose and fell before Jesus’ time, cultures of Jesus’ time fell, and new cultures rose; and that’s just the way it is.   If that’s a sign of the end of time, almost any generation could claim their era was approaching the end of time.  Our own culture will eventually fall and turn into ancient history, too, because everything finite passes.  We know this.  Our movies like Star Wars and Star Trek have tried to think about a better future; Mad Max and all the Terminator movies have looked towards destruction - yet with hope.   So that’s Jesus’ first answer to his disciples - everything will pass. Everything changes, no matter when you live.

To me, Jesus’ second answer could also apply to any decade before or since - that there would be wars and rumors of war, earthquakes, famines, people claiming to be the messiah - Every generation of preachers could claim that it applied to their era!!!  And have.  So its not really definitive of anything, either.  Any time period can be seen as approaching the end - maybe that’s the point! 

Jesus calls these thing like wars and famines and earthquakes, ‘birthpangs,’ an interesting choice of imagery.  He’s using the idea of childbirth, ie labor.  Ask some moms about labor and birthpangs…..its not like TV shows, where the very pregnant mom grabs her belly and groans hard, and the next shot is of her holding a cute infant in the hospital.  Let me tell you, the producers skipped like 12-24 hours of increasing pain there.  Maybe even a couple weeks or more, because practice contractions start pretty early, and even early labor can start so lightly that one doesn’t realize it - except that it must be getting nearer that approximate 9 months..  There can be lots of birthpangs before labor actually takes off.  And even after it takes off, it still takes time.  So far, since Jesus said these words that Mark quotes, birthpangs have been going on for 2000 years.  In childbirth, those birthpangs increase in time and intensity as the birth comes near.  I don’t know how we tell about the birthpangs of the end of time - we hear of more nowadays, but then, we have global news coverage and 24/7/365 online information.  We hear information from all the continents and all the countries within hours, if not minutes.  It FEELS like more disaster and more war, but who knows? 

So what’s a follower of Jesus to do?  The way Jesus talks about it, the signs are always all around us, so it could be anytime - whatever it is that will happen.  So Jesus and the apostle Paul say, be prepared!  Be living right!  Be following Jesus, because no one knows much of anything about how or when.  And meanwhile, finite things around us are always falling down and moving back into history. And our children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren move forward into a new era.  The letter to the Hebrews, in the passage for today, is also about the Day when all Christ’s enemies are put under his feet an ending, but a positive one, as Christ wins. Therefore, we have hope - we should be bold in approaching God for forgiveness, keep our hearts true to the faith, hold fast to that hope;  don’t neglect meeting together, encourage each other….and I like this one - consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds;

Those are all good suggestions for the waiting period, which is every period…. - we are to keep our hearts true, which can be a struggle when 2000 years have passed already;  encourage one another, because its hard to keep living as a Christian with all the temptations around us; keep meeting together - ah, that’s one where we’ve been falling down as a larger community - embers go out more easily when they’re separated from the fire of others.  This waiting time we’re in is a marathon, friends, not a sprint, like early believers thought at first.  And its a a relay race marathon, too, with each generation running their long lap before handing off the baton - its easy to lose heart, lose vision - meeting together strengthens us all.  I like the line about ‘provoking’ one another to love and good works - usually I use the word ‘provoking’ about something annoying, or something that gets under my skin.  Used in this way, though, its about finding ways to pull out good works from one another, pull out or encouraging love on one another.  How DO we provoke these in each other?  That’s an interesting thought.  Maybe challenge each other?  Model for each other?  Correct each other?  Its worth pondering. 

Let’s go back to Jesus use of the word ‘birthpangs’ - and to the Hebrews passage about holding fast to our confession of the HOPE that is in us.  Birthpangs, of course, point to a birth! The point of labor is to birth the new life.  It can be a struggle, for sure.  It gets really painful, for sure.  It takes a lot of work, for sure.  Jesus uses the word ‘birthpangs’ for dire things like falling apart, wars and rumors of wars, and earthquakes and famines - yet the choice of that word indicates a hope and trust that something new is coming out of all of this.

That’s the way a follower of Jesus can find any hope in all of this we see around us - the wars and rumors of wars, the shakings of the planet, the climate changes and famines - fearful things to endure - yet if these are birthpangs, then there is a birth coming, a new life coming; a life that we long for and hope for and trust in and prepare ourselves for.  We cannot give ourselves up to despair; we cannot escape into nihilism or collapse in meaninglessness.  We Christians, of all people, have hope.  We are the followers of Christ whose promised birth was fulfilled, who was killed, but then was raised in another new creation - a resurrection.  Friends, our God is the One who is Life itself.  There are all kinds of promises and images about this in Scripture - that the desert will bloom like a rose, that a shoot will come from the stump of Jesse, that a valley of bones was re-animated into a people.

Christianity is a faith where what looks like death is actually the beginning of a new chapter.  Naomi and Ruth, of the last few weeks’ readings, remember, the first chapter starts with all the deaths and moves - then the story goes from there.  Jesus is killed, yet is raised, and the story of the church goes on from there.  This is a spiritual truth.  God, the creator of life, recreates and births new life. 

This truth of God as Life is embedded into the creation God placed us in as well.  Albert Einstein realized a truth of the universe, as he posits that energy cannot be created or die - it just changes form.  Fascinating connection, isn’t it?  We see it in smaller forms in the cycles of seasons, or in the chrysalis of the butterfly or other creatures that die in one form and re-emerge in another.  These aren’t resurrections, although they can evoke the nature of God as one who re-imagines and recreates life even in death.

So the truth that Jesus teaches today is that we live in a time of birthpangs, a time of labor towards something to be born.  We are moving towards the day of the Lord, albeit more slowly than we can perceive.  I guess I could use the word ‘Interim’ or ‘transitional,’ like a between-time.  We learn and practice our faith in the hope that the realm of God is near, and is even now in our hearts.  So have hope; trust in God.  Keep meeting together to encourage each other, and ponder how to provoke one another to love and good works.  Hold on to the faith.  AMEN.

Sister Jose's Dad Buys Ice Cream 11/11/18 Pentecost 25B

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

Sister Jose’s Dad Buys Ice Cream

Nov 11, 2018         Pentecost 25-B             Ruth 3:1-5, 4:13-17  &  Mark 12: 38-44

            I was blessed to meet Sister Jose Hobday when I was working on my D Min in CA.  Raised on a reservation in a family that had converted to Christianity through Roman Catholic missions, she took on a religious life as a young woman. However, she never forgot her Native American roots, and was a powerful teacher, powerful…..she taught using her stories, and incorporating the wisdom and ceremonies of her Native tradition.  It was a privilege to be in her class and her presence.  My sermon title comes from a story that sticks in my memory because it made me question and think.

One day, she says, in her poor and struggling family, they were down to their last few dollars with bills still to pay.  She heard her parents debating which bill to pay with their last dollars, and getting angrier as they debated which bill was more important. Finally, there was silence, and then she heard her father say that he didn’t like it that they were fighting over dollars, & that their voices were raised in anger over bills- this was not helping the family.  SO…. he was taking the remaining dollars and buying ice cream enough for the whole extended family; her mother was to invite people over, have a celebration.  So that’s what they did. 

I couldn’t understand the story – the first thing I resalized was that I’ve never been poor enough to understand.  I’ve had some hard, hard years raising my children as a single mom, even with regular child support from their dad.  We were both pastors, so it wasn’t like child support was based on a large salary.  And I was just working part-time at first; and while I scrambled to find more work, we qualified for free lunches and breakfasts at the kids’ elementary school.  I made too much to qualify for government assistance, but not enough to be easy.  I had to apportion the dollars carefully, and saved coins in a mayo jar that we used for a treat when I was out of money otherwise.  So I did understand the need for a treat - a treat raised our spirits when we were coping with a pair of sneaker with holes in the toes. We did the buy-one get-one deals, sales, thrift stores and coupons.  The worst thing I did was to send my kids to their grandparent’s house once with their worst clothes, hoping the grandparents would spring for some new clothes when they saw the state of things.  They did, but not as much as I’d hoped. 

But we always had a roof, we always had clothes & shoes, and we always had food, and welcomed their friends to our table, even if it was leftovers.  We had medical insurance so we could go to the doctor. I had enough to pay bills, although I prayed for no crises to happen.  I actually had great credit, and more offers coming in the mails regularly.  Since I managed to pay the bills, all the companies wanted me to go in debt to them…..

So I still don’t understand the level of poverty that Sister Jose lived in on the reservation, although I know how good it feels to have just a small treat when things are pinched all over.   I can’t imagine not being able to pay bills, or the stress and angst of the family as they tried to muddle through.  But I could just stretch my mind enough to understand Sister Jose’s father not wanting the family fighting and bogged down over this never-ending drama of bills due; I could just barely imagine how he felt to see the rancor and disintegration in his family all over money, and the lack of celebration of life.  

I also get the ice cream thing.  My mom’s family passed along to us a love of ice cream - after all, her dad’s name was Howard Johnson, although not the rich one!  Grandpa Howard, whom I never met, was a coal miner and a staunch union man during the Great Depression, and worked his hands to the bone. Yet on the 4th of July he’d go up to the store and get everyone in the family their own pint of ice cream in their favorite flavor.  My mom had great memories of sitting on the porch with a whole pint to herself.  So we had ice cream every Sunday after church, stopping at those old High’s Ice Cream stores and everybody getting one scoop. The first thing I did after the kids and I moved into our house without their dad, was to get ice cream for supper. 

When I approached the text in Mark, I made the mistake of wondering why it seemed to have two unrelated parts - the uppity scribes part and then the widow's’ mite part.  After studying, I realized that these 2 parts were connected, and had to rethink things.  Jesus is both contrasting the religious practice of the rich and the poor; and he is also showing the relationship of one person’s poverty to the wealth of others - a negative connection, but a connection all the same.  Jesus observes the religious higher-ups walking around in their own self-importance, knowing that they got that way through what he called “devouring widows’ houses.”  That is, taking advantage of the poor and powerless, demanding temple taxes on top of the unjust and increasingly punitive civil taxes people paid to Rome, finagling things that took advantage of the poorer folks who had no standing. The scribes evidently liked to be seen making large donations (with their names attached) and praying long, pompous prayers.  Jesus saw that the reason they could make those large donations was because the poor, like widows and orphans in that day, who had no power or voice, funded them…. Jesus judged that their wealth often came from gouging the pockets of the disenfranchised, or at least was augmented by these pretty much invisible people.  

Jesus, on the other hand, also observes the widow coming to give.  Evidently, the poor didn’t have to also make voluntary offerings in addition to taxes, but she came and did it.  I hear Jesus calling attention to two things (at least).  One, she was in the position of only having a couple coins left because of the injustice of the system, and those who benefitted from it.  With no men in her family to take her in, she was a marginal person, and the system did not work for her.  And two, she still wanted to give - its what made her human, what gave her dignity, despite it being her last coins. While those desiring attention gave large gifts that they didn’t need in order to keep up their lifestyles; she gave an extremely small gift that was, still, all she had.  What could she buy, anyway, with those small coins? Enough bread for one meal? I don’t know - but she decided it wasn’t worth arguing with herself over the best use of the last coins, and gave it to God.  That’s what reminded me of Sister Jose’s dad and the ice cream. 

When I worked in hunger ministry for a former presbytery, I had to give out two awards for our hunger giving.  We were doing a program called 2 cents a Meal, where folks in our churches were encouraged to give, yes, 2 cents towards hunger for every meal they ate.  Of course the largest offerings came from the largest churches with the most people.  But we also gave a second award, for the largest per-capita giving, which ALWAYS went to a small church.  Maybe because they knew what hunger was?  Maybe because they almost all gave?  I don’t know - it always worked out that way, though.  Even poor people want to give, and do their part of being compassionate humans.  That’s actually the origin of the Least Coin offering that our Presbyterian Women take up, and fund projects all over the world.  It started with a woman in Florida who didn’t have much, but who realized if we all added our least coins together, we could do something for God’s kindom. 

So this text is an economic commentary, and not just about stewardship, which is usually why its preached.  It goes along with the background of today’s reading from Ruth, and the practice of gleaning.  To help the poor under the Jewish Law, land-owners were not to gather all the way to the edges of their fields, and perhaps let the smaller fruits or grains slip through.  Folks with no fields of their own could come behind them and gather what they could.  Ruth went to glean in the fields owned by Boaz, who was evidently a righteous man who followed the practices of the Law. 

We might note that Jesus is equally aware of both the influential and the powerless.  Jesus is aware of human economics, and the way the system works for some and not for others.  Yes, there are people who take advantage of the system from either side - who know how to work it.  Yet there are many more who are simply its victims, born into countries of massive inequality, or families that have been on the fragile spiral of living week to week, where it only takes one tragedy to throw them into homelessness.   For Jesus, and for Jesus’ kindom, the answers are a compassion and caring where the abundance on one hand can bless the need on the other hand.  None of us are intrinsically worth more to God than another; none of us merit more from God than another.  We are one tribe, one humanity, on one planet - and the goal is for all of us to be well. 

I admit that’s a tricky balance to strike - there are those who are manipulative and greedy, and those who are lazy and shiftless.  In between are all the rest of us who are seeking to do well enough considering the circumstances of our birth, and willing to work.  There are the creative as well as the worker bees.  The apostle Paul talks of this artificial economic divide between believers, and chides those non-workers who come early to agape feasts to gorge and get drunk, making those hungry workers who come later, find the table empty.  And he challenges congregations that have extra to give generously for other congregations who are suffering persecution. 

Do we see how the scribes and the widow are connected, albeit inversely?  Can we see the way world economics that make for some to get wealthy also makes for others to be thrown into abject poverty?  Jesus observes the results of sin and lack of compassion just in that square in front of the Temple, a small picture of a large disorder. 

Jesus can have this kind of economic outlook because the kindom of God is different from the ways we’ve done things on our own - Jesus calls for each of us to see the other as our kin, our extended family, important strands in the web of humankind.  To call it robbing the rich to give to the poor is to miss the point of our kinship with one another, and our compassion for our own kind.  In Jesus’ kindom, we all need each other, and we all have to do well for humanity to do well.  Actually, its the only way humanity will do well - and it that sense, it is the way of our salvation. Its not Robin Hood, and its not socialism - it is, however, the love of God in each heart, loving each other. 

I guess I’ve been trying to figure out my feelings and thoughts brought up by this caravan walking up through Mexico to seek asylum here. I find myself understanding the fear that too many more hands in America’s pot might threaten my portion - the cookie may have to be divided and my part get smaller.  I want to hold on to what I have, and I find myself thinking, “They oughta work this out in their country like we did.”  Well, as our ancestors did, because being born here was certainly none of my own doing.  And our ancestors were not sinless in their eradication of the native peoples, the enslavement of others to their own economic ends in the pursuit of their own good and greed. 

I also see the pictures of the people walking, as well as the testimony of people like Rev Lisa about those seeking to get into Europe - I hear the conditions they are fleeing, I hear their desire for their families to be safe and have hope of a better future with the kind of healthcare and possibilities of education that we have.  So I have compassion - they are my sisters and brothers, my children and grandchildren, my aunts and uncles.  I mean, my people came here from Germany for the same ideals - just a few generations earlier, is all. 

Can it work?  Given what I hear in the scriptures, I have to work for that vision of the kindom, even if it means I learn to live with less. Our denomination, in its justice ministries, is already reaching out in compassion to refugees, and advocating for decent treatment. Just look around on our PCUSA website and see the outpouring of love and care already happening.  A lot of my personal feelings and thoughts are based in my view of the kindom that Jesus preached.  I think many people are feeling attacked in their own sense of worth and security - what has been called “lifeboat” ethics - push the extras out so we who are already in the lifeboat don’t get swamped.  But that’s a viewpoint based on fear, not trust.  That’s a viewpoint based on the myth of scarcity, that there’s not enough to go around so I better grab mine and hang on to it. 

And what do those attitudes do to our souls?  That’s what I hear Jesus posing to us in today’s reading.  How can we live with trust in God’s abundance?  How can we live so as not to damage our souls in discriminating, or in greediness?  How can we live with  the open hearts and open hands that God has shown to us?  How can we walk in the love and compassion that God has for us?  These are important questions - they were important in Jesus’ time and they are important in our time.  May God so work that love and creativity and new life in us, that it overflows to the world.  AMEN.

Two Most Important Aspects that Define Christianity 11/1/18 Pentecost 24B

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

The Two Most Important Aspects that Define Christianity

11/4/18           Pentecost 24 B                Ruth 1:1-18 & Mark 12:28-34

This past week I received a bunch of weird Facebook posts that claim their version of Biblical and Christian as the only right understanding of Christianity.  Well, I receive many posts about people claiming Christianity demands this or that, but these stood out.  The weirdest was about a guy who’s a state rep in Washington state, who issued what he called a biblical manifesto, in which (according to him) the Bible demands that any man who supports LGBT or feminist issues needs to be put to death. Of course, he’s also a guy who wants the northwestern states to be prepared to come out as a new nation if this one falls through…. The second weirdest was about Fox News proclaiming President Trump fulfilling Biblical prophecy as the Messiah, and claiming those who doubt this are serving the Devil.  Pat Robertson claims to have seen a vision of heaven with President Trump seated at God’s right hand. 

Then there are dueling posts on whether building the wall at our border is Christian; or whether it is Christian to accept immigrants seeking asylum; which candidates at this mid-term election are biblical Christians; and more.  There seen to be multiple Christianity's out there.  To say, “I am a Christian” means so many different moralities and beliefs in our era.  It can mean racism or anti-racism; it can mean a belief that women impregnated in a rape didn’t fight hard enough, and that they should not be eligible for abortions - or that listening to women with respect is what is Christian.  It can mean that I don‘t  have to make wedding cakes or sell flowers or rent apartments to people whose sexuality I deem wrong - or it can mean I believe that people who do these things are bigots.  Christians do not speak with one voice on much of anything; and we, the body of Christ, will disagree and therefor refuse to worship with others over almost anything. 

So how do we discern what the will of God is for ourselves and for our church?  Is there a way to think about the various positions posited as Biblical and Christian that can help us see some light? Everybody seems to quote verses for their side and to demean those who disagree.  Doesn’t the Bible speak a word to guide us?

            Our text from Mark this morning is such a guide, a plumb line, a bottom line to judge by. And in this text Jesus is not saying a new word, but repeating and endorsing the wisdom of the Hebrew Testament.  The gospel of Mark is the only one that has Jesus commend the scribe who asked Jesus pointedly, “Which commandment is the first of all?”  And I believe this is about the only time Jesus says such a positive thing to a scribe, too.  The scribe agrees with Jesus!  That doesn’t happen often in the gospels - usually their relationship with Jesus is pictured as more antagonistic and testing. 

            I’ve always thought that when asked which is the first of all, he meant “which one is the most important?”  I think the passage works for this interpretation - that Jesus’ answer about loving God with all the parts of ourselves, and our neighbor as ourselves, tells us the most important qualities of faith among all the qualities named anywhere else. 

            I was challenged to read the ponderings of a Christian Testament prof at Christian Theological Seminary (Evangelical Lutheran) who offered that “first” in this case means more “foundational,” than most important.  It’s an interesting distinction - it’s like, these are the cornerstones of all the other commandments or values or behaviors.  Everything else (which is also important) is built on this encompassing love for God and neighbor.  It goes along with what the apostle Paul says in 1 Cor 13 -- that even the most extreme acts of devotion are worthless, unless there is this undergirding and supporting love of God and neighbor.  They are just so much show, without growing out of this love. 

            And the word Jesus speaks which we translate as “love,” is the word ‘agape’ - not a physical or romantic love like in TV dramas, not a friendship kind of love that expects reciprocity.  Rather it is a self-giving love, a ‘putting the other’s good on at least an even par with my own good’ kind of love, if not the ‘willingness to sacrifice my own good so that the other may have good’ kind of love.  When Jesus says that the good shepherd lays down his life for his friends, when Jesus tells the story of the outcast half-caste man who helps out a wounded guy on the road, these are examples of agape love.  It’s that kind of love that sees Christ in the face of any and every human; the kind of love that can love its enemies and do good to those who despise us.  It’s the kind of love that asks, “But Jesus, when did we you naked or hungry or sink, and help you?” because they saw all as worthy and thought their acts were just what any well-minded person would do.  And Jesus says, “When you did it for one of the least of these you did it for me.” 

            The scribe talking to Jesus agrees (!) and adds that this love of God and neighbor is even greater than all the sacrifices and offerings.  To which Jesus says, “Ahhhh, you are not far from the realm of God,” and we can see him smiling and nodding because this scribe gets it.  Even offerings and sacrifices, if they are not built on love, are meaningless.  That’s a deep insight that this scribe has about his religious practice.

            It doesn’t matter if you work 60 hrs a week at a church, or make huge donations, or attend every service when the church doors are open, or vote a certain way, or follow a list of rules - well, these practices are important, but if love for God and neighbor isn’t the soil out of which those actions emerge, then they are nothing.  It’s like doing a complicated cello solo without tuning your strings beforehand.  It’s like coming in on your trombone part and screeching.  It’s like not playing in the same key as everybody else.  Something basic is totally off when love for God and others is absent – they are intricately and inherently linked, you can’t have one without the other.  True love for God always opens the heart to the rest of creation that God loves.  We simply do not find true love for God with one’s heart, mind, soul and strength - without that corresponding love of others.  To claim love for God and then mistreat others for whom Christ came is a clear sign that love of God is NOT present in a true form. 

The letters of 1,2, & 3 John, from which we read earlier this year, state this with clarity - the one who loves God without loving sisters and brothers is a liar, and the truth is not in them.

           

            The opening chapter of the book about Ruth reminds us that in the Middle East, families often moved across the borders of other countries due to things like famine, wars, or loss.  While there is certainly more to the story than this family’s migrant or refugee status, we realize that for many peoples, this is a normal occurrence in stressful times.  Certainly, Mary and Joseph moved within Israel for that census at the time of Jesus’ birth; they also left for Egypt when the life of young sons was threatened by Herod Agrippa, and returned later.  Even earlier in Israel’s story,  the family of Israel himself moved to Egypt in the time of famine, and stayed for generations before the leaving known as the Exodus.  Nations have always dealt with refugees and immigrants seeking better lives, or even existence itself in bad times.  This that is happening in our world today is no different.  The people of Israel were given specific instructions about the aliens sojourning (the Bible word for living) in their midst - they are to be treated well.  The reason is that the Israelites themselves knew what it was like to sojourn in Egypt, both when they were in favor of the Pharaoh, and especially when they were NOT in favor of the current Pharaohs, and mistreated. 

            This is, then, at least one current issue where we can judge whether claims of love for God by those claiming the name Christian is actually genuine.  Whatever political party’s primaries we vote in as American citizens, we who believe in Jesus Christ and love God, are first of all, citizens of heaven.  We belong, above all else, to the kindom of God and the pursuit of this style of this agape love.  Our true land is the abode of God, and our primary allegiance is to that true home. True Christianity will show both of these foundational and formative loves, i.e. the encompassing love of God that shows in love of neighbors - - and that is the litmus test for all else.

            Leaders who want to claim Christianity, and groups that want to claim to follow biblical standards, will show evidence of a care for the powerless, the poor, the suffering, the sick and the marginal persons in a society.  They will respond to others in the world as to Christ, considering all to be God’s own worthy children, and opening their hearts and arms to alleviate suffering in any other, as they would their own life and the lives of their DNA and racial tribes.  

Yes, working this out politically is not simple - yet it can be obvious to us if groups and leaders are working from a foundational care for others as they look for solutions, or if their hearts are closed towards those others.  We can discern those who seek solutions to their own benefit and enrichment from those with genuine love, by not just their claim of love for God, but the evidence of their love for God in their concern and care for what the Bible calls ‘the least of these.’ We will know they are Christians by their love.

As those letters of John stated, those who say they love God, but abuse, coerce, and oppress their sister and brother humans, lie - and the truth is not in them.  Make no mistake - no regard for the truth is a bad sign.  Yes, politicians do try and spin things, and choose to emphasize things that support their positions.  But making up “facts” and calling them “truth,” calling outright lies ‘truth’, is a sign of a person so confused by evil that they no longer care what the truth is.

As difficult as it may be to discern between all the voices claiming God, our Scripture today is a basic and foundational tenet of what constitutes a person following God.  We saw a clear example of both evil and foundational caring this this past week, as a man who called evil ‘good’, broke into a Jewish synagogue during worship and opened fire, killing 11, and wounding many more including armed police.  The antithesis was provided by three Jewish medical personnel, who were among those who treated the shooter even as he continued to scream about killing Jews.  One of those doctors was actually a member of that Tree of Life synagogue. “My job isn’t to judge him,” the doctor said, “my job is to treat him.  He is some mother’s son.  The problem we need to consider is how he got this way.”  That, friend, is love for God being shown by compassion for even those seeking to do us harm.  That is true devotion to God.  AMEN.

Blind Man Stood By the Road and he Cried 10/28/18 Pentecost 23B

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

Blind Man Stood By the Road and He Cried…. 

Oct 28, 2018         Pentecost 23-B       Mark 10:46-52

I like that commercial for an air freshener product that uses the words “nose blind” - like, this kid doesn’t smell his room anymore - but its full of old gym socks that almost make his mom pass out - he’s gone nose blind to the odor….There’s another version of a guy with a car he’s always carting his wet dog around in - his guests are overwhelmed by the odor.  But he was ‘nose-blind’ to it.  Its a clever use of the concept of ‘blindness’ to say that we get used to the smells around us.   And we do - we get used to behavior around us, too, or words used around us, or accepted attitudes around us.  In metaphorical usage, we are blind to them.

We use the concept of literal blindness to mean more than just literal blindness - we use it as a metaphor for things we can’t understand or comprehend - we can’t “see” them.  We don’t see the signs of our child’s addiction, for example - or we don’t see the connection of what we notice with drug use.  We don’t “see” the humor in certain jokes that we don’t have the context to “get.”  I hate explaining jokes to people - takes the fun out of them.  We don’t see that there are other layers going on behind the words people are using to explain their behavior - we’re taking it at face value, and not picking up the nuances.  We’re “blind” to it, in other words.  Other people can “see” it, or “get” it, or “hear” what’s going on, but others can’t.  We become used to cat calls at women, or sexual innuendos about women.  We become used to racial slights about “those people.”  We don’t hear them anymore as what they are; ear-blind perhaps? We take it for granted that a rich person in the church (not this one) verbally attacks people, and see it as just his normal behavior.  We become so accustomed to the privileges of being white in this country that we can’t see what white privilege even means. 

Until our eyes are opened or our ears unstopped by compassion for the other.

This man by the side of the road calling out to Jesus - he is physically blind, and the story is one of his healing.  It can work on us on many levels, like the word “blind.”  Let’s look at the literal story line for a moment.  When this blind man hears that Jesus the miracle-worker is coming by, he calls out and calls out, and Jesus stops. Its interesting that he calls for Jesus to have mercy on him. Then Jesus asks him an interesting question - “What do you want me to do for you?”  I wondered about this question - it seemed pretty obvious to me what the man wanted - to be healed of his blindness, duh!  Why did Jesus make him say it out loud before healing him?

After my year of chaplain training, it came to me that, “Jesus must have had CPE!” We’re taught, as a part of learning to really listening to the other person, not to let our own assumptions get in the way.  Like my take on what they want and need is good enough without hearing their take - I mean it IS their need and want, right?  I usually ask now if a person would LIKE me to pray  with them, and not just jump in with my religious language.  Some people do say, “No.”  Or “you can pray for me but not here and now.”  I’ve heard both of these, plus other responses.  The next question, if they say “Yes,” is to ask “What would you like me to pray for?”  I mean, its probably that they get better or that their family does okay, but again, its part of listening to not assume.  Once in a while the person says, “whatever God tells you to say” (that was a preacher); often, though, it opens up a path for what’s really worrying them. 

One time a woman said to me, “who’s going to do the barn chores with my broken leg? What’s going to happen to my animals? When I come out of this procedure, I’m going to have so much to do I’m just so panicked about it all already.” I wouldn’t have guessed that.  Another person, knowing she was the caretaker for her mother as well as some of her own grandchildren, knew that if she had ongoing heart problems, it was gonna really upset the delicate balance that they were keeping in their family, keeping mom at home, watching grandbabies. Things might have to really shuffle around. I wouldn’t have guessed that, either.  For both of these people, these concerns were weighing on them, even in their own health crisis.

A man told me, “my wife is having a really hard time with this - pray for her.” An elderly woman said, “Pray then I’ll go home soon.” I got a strong hunch that she might not be talking about the nursing home that sent her over.  So I asked her, “the way you said that, I’m wondering if you mean the nursing home…” She said, “I don’t mean the nursing home. I mean heaven.”  So I prayed for her being ready for her eternal home.  

One time I spoke with a person from a different denomination than I was, and she said I could pray for her as long as I didn’t say things like, “no matter what happens,” or to help her “deal with the outcome.”   She asked me to pray positively for her healing, and let no negativity or doubt in my words.  “Can’t let any of that in,” she said, “you have to keep focused on Jesus’ healing.”  That’s not really my belief system, so I was glad I asked what she wanted me to pray for.

So Jesus asks this man, and taking the story to be about any of us, asks us - “What do you want me to do for you?”   I mean, this man may have assumed he was blind for life, and was concerned for a daughter or son that he couldn’t provide for.  He may have wanted a place to live, or for his family to be more compassionate.  So Jesus doesn’t assume.  Jesus also knows that its good for us to be clear on what we want - its good for us to sort through our feelings and ‘see’ what it is we are wanting from God.  And own it.  This man asks, “Teacher, that I may see again.”  And Jesus makes it so. 

I have trouble linking faith with literal healing, like some denominations do.  I mean, sometimes there are physical  healings that amaze the medical professionals - mostly, though, we have to come to grips with our bodies and their health - or lack of.  Many people pray for their loved one to recover from desperate injuries or disease, and their loved one dies.  Sometimes someone beats the odds, but usually they don’t. And we all will die at some point despite prayers for life.  So mostly I DO pray as that one woman asked me not to - I pray that the person will rest in God’s care, feel God’s presence, be comforted and strengthened by God’s Spirit.  Sometimes, my supervisor says, the ultimate healing can only be done in heaven.  And there is certainly a difference between healing and cure - healing can be on many levels - relationships healed, peace made with the condition, fighting and denial finally ending so goodbyes can be said.  

Its good for us to figure out just where our blindness is…., so we need to consider carefully what we are asking God to do for us. It may be that our blindness is that we can’t accept what is inevitable, and we are, if not in denial, then in active avoidance.  Just what IS our situation?   This can be personal, familial, church related, employment related.  It may be that our eyes need to see and accept the reality of a current situation, or we seek to understand how this person so different from us experiences the world.

For a crass example, I’m struggling with turning 65 at my next birthday - all the Medicare information being thrown at my by mail and online, its like salt in the wound.  I know I have to face the reality that I am no longer 35, no longer with the same physical resilience, no longer the same degree of attractiveness or hire-ability.  Yes, there are other factors like accumulated wisdom and experience, but despite how my mind imagines myself to still be 35, no amount of praying will make it so.  Its reality, whether I see it or not.

Another crass example might be my struggle with weight loss - I can pray and pray for it, because I know I would be better off health-wise at a lower weight.  But have I “seen” the truth that this is a journey of breaking bad habits of a lifetime and truly making new choices?  Really, this is in my hands, for better or for worse, and part of my blindness is in hoping Jesus can somehow magically make it so.  Like any addict, I struggle to accept the real and difficult responsibility I have for the needed changes - which includes emotional healing as well as just better choices.  Sometimes our prayers for a better relationship with a daughter or son or spouse, might ask for us to change some of our own ways, not just the other person! Sometimes its not just doing the same thing harder and harder that’s going to work - sometimes we need a new approach.  We can be blind to a lot of things.  We can be too familiar with how we’ve always done it, and be blind to  other options.  We can be blinded by our anger and not be able to ‘see’ that our anger is keeping us from what the other side is really concerned with.  We may need Jesus to open our eyes to bad theology, like the theology that told us women are cursed because of Eve sinning, or that black people came from Noah’s son Ham and were cursed.  I was taught both of those things - and they were wrong. 

 Our denomination struggles to face the reality that somehow we have failed in passing along our faith in God in a way that will keep our churches at the same level of importance in people’s lives that it has been.  It may be that many people were just going through the motions, and we are just being pruned.  It may also be that we held on to too many extraneous expressions of “church” and failed to teach the meat of what faith is.  It may be that we quit reaching out to the rest of the world, and what we need is grief and confession, a change of heart and a new pair of “glasses” to see correctly what God is asking.

I ran into the word “presbyopia” a few years back, and after resenting that it sounded like our denominational name, I had to look it up.  I know we take our name from our system of having Elders, or Presbyters. Yes, we are named after our governance.  In terms of eyes, presbyopia refers to the way elderly eyes lose their ability to quickly refocus, especially on objects close up.  It reminds me of how, as brains age, that memories of older events may be clearer than our memories of recent events.  And I wonder if that says something about our denomination’s difficulty in seeing our current situation clearly. 

I think of our hymn Amazing Grace, that includes the line, “Was blind but now I see,” in terms of spiritual blindness, and the opening of the eyes of the heart and soul to the truths of God, sometimes called an awakening, or being saved, or scales falling from the eyes as Paul had happen after he was blinded by a vision of Jesus.  “Open my eyes that I may see,” we sing in another old hymn.  We’re talking about learning to ‘see’ the vision that Jesus wants to teach us, learning to ‘see’ the realm of God, the kindom of heaven, that is all around us, as real as these chairs and pews.  Jesus tells us to lift up our eyes and see that the fields are white and ready for harvest, not just cotton ripening…  Jesus is talking about the need of hurting people who are just ready to respond to God if we would take them the word.   

Have mercy on me, Bartimaeus cried to Jesus, and make me see again.  Maybe our cry needs to be similar - have mercy on us, O Christ, and open our eyes to your work.  Have mercy on us, O God, and give us courage to live your way. Have mercy on our weakness, Have mercy on our blindness, have mercy on our lack of courage, have mercy on our lack of faith - cure us, heal us, show us the way.  Maybe Bartimaeus, blind as he was, had the right idea to stand and the side of the road and cry out to Jesus. Maybe when we do see, we need the courage to face what we see, and the wisdom to know how to then live…   AMEN

Promotions in Faith 10/21/18 Pentecost 22B

Rev. Dr. Rebecca L. Kiser

PROMOTIONS IN FAITH

Oct 21, 2018            Pentecost 22-B         Job 38:1-7  &  Mark 10:35-45

            I talked with my son Joe a few days ago; he was happy with getting promoted - he’s a hard worker, dedicated, makes the effort to be there on time and be diligent about his job.  He’s been that way since he started at Ruth’s Chris as a dishwasher several years ago - the only position they had open at the time, and he had school loans to start paying off.  He’s been promoted through the kitchen as the maker of side dishes, then moving into grilling the steaks, then getting a key to close up and do inventory - all hourly wage positions.  He’s now going on salary and taking manger training, an all-expenses paid three weeks training down the coast in CA.  He’s working his way up the ranks, earning promotions and being able to meet the new demands.  Joe has a degree in philosophy, and in his personal philosophy, any work is work, even being a dishwasher - although he had his eye on promotions and better salary all along.  But he gave the same attention to detail and work ethic at every job he’s done, and gotten noticed.  He can get along with about anybody - he’s even picking up Spanish to talk with his co-workers. That’s the way things work in the world, mostly; Joe also knows that along the way there will be jockeying and political maneuvering and things that may seem unfair. Usually, though the way it works is that we begin our careers in the more lowly positions and work our way up.  We are taught implicitly, if not explicitly, that goodness and hard work are rewarded.  Its working for Joe so far. He’s young, white, male, nice-looking, smart, well-spoken and with a good personality and no health problems - which some people think have no impact….although they eventually do. 

            Our disciples of this morning’s text seem to have assumed that there is a similar dynamic in faith - a few weeks ago, Jesus caught them talking about who would be the greatest in this new kingdom Jesus is talking about.  In today’s text they’ve realized that its the Kings who appoint people to those positions of power, so they are lobbying Jesus to be the ones seated closest to him when he comes to power - sitting on his left and right hand, a visible symbol of power and preference.  Probably appointed as the head of the most important divisions of command, lots of money and other perks.  I can understand how this would appeal to men of a virtual slave population, who don’t have that kind of upward mobility even possible in their world; and they have to watch the Roman folks rule and gain riches and make orders about their life in which they have no input. At least in this new kingdom where they’ve been loyal to Jesus from the start, they might get that kind of power and influence!!! 

            Once again, like we do, they’ve taken the way the world “works,” and mistakenly applied it to the realm of heaven.  They’re not the only ones to have done this in religious history! And in current religious life, either.  It seems such a human drive to seek better position, better success especially in outward ways; better approval, larger spheres of influence, more responsibility and the perks that go with it.  To improve ourselves and our position as measured against others, to get the A’s, to get the degrees, the promotions, the visibility. 

Not that its such a bad drive, that drive to improve, to better ourselves, to seek more skill and mastery, to hone ourselves, to seek more insight and more consistent living in the kindom of Jesus, or better service to God.  To be a better musician, or a better craftsperson, or a better teacher, to know more about the practice of law, to become a more effective counselor - or whatever our calling or profession or talent is. Then its a joy in and of itself, a drive of our inner person to fully actualize the potential of our gifts. 

Where it slips off the rails is when it gets confused with outward recognition and power over others - these tell us we’re good, which is nice, but unnecessary to our inner drive; or confused with what it means to be a good person; or how much status we have - or power we have, especially over other people.  When we think being talented makes us superior or more important; or too important to take jobs that are ‘beneath’ us, as if it a wasted of our valuable time.  When we think that financial and status reward are what its all about.  

From an early age, I wanted to be God’s best Christian ever - faithful, attentive, keeping the rules the best, knowing Scripture, knowing doctrine, being a missionary to the most difficult places, never sinning.  Which isn’t a bad thing, except it was kind of grandiose  -  and I didn’t know what I was talking about in terms of spirituality, and what makes a person more spiritual.  And I associated it with being able to ask God for anything and getting it right away, which other people would see and envy, and I would be special, and everyone would know it,....   It was rather a comedown to realize just how much of a sinner I actually am, and how I’m just as average as the next person; and that there are people way beyond my gifts of music, knowledge, counseling, insight, writing and everything else.  I wasn’t the world’s best parent, I realized in college that I was not the next great piano performer, I realized in seminary that I was not the best Greek and Hebrew scholar - I was proficient, yes, but didn’t have that inner drive to strive for any of those things. Not like the drive I had to preach and pastor, or the drive to deepen my relationship with God.  Those were where my personal inner commitment lay. And to continue learning, exploring different subjects to see how they related to spirituality and church. Not that I’m a rock star in those things now, either.

Its been hard letting go of the companion desire that everyone see and acknowledge my greatness, that I become a sought-after speaker on the lecture circuit and make lots of money as well as recognition, be the first clergywoman to do this, that or the other.  Because that was in the mix, and, if I’m brutally honest, is still being winnowed out. 

You know, there is a career path among preachers, although preachers will state that all calls are calls, all equal before God. Here’s the path for Presbyterians - preferably you are born into a Presbyterian family, get a good undergraduate degree from a well-known college - in the southeast, its Davidson.  You have a good network among your home presbytery, and go to a Presbyterian seminary - in this area, its Union in Richmond, or maybe Atlanta.  Along with your upbeat dossier, your connections help you find a good starter church - a smaller church, of course, while you learn your craft and build your network.  After a few years, you find a good Associate position in a larger church, with a well-liked Senior Pastor, where you learn the dynamics of working with larger groups and committees, and grow your network in presbytery.  You attend some training events at Presbyterian places like Montreat, if you live in this area; and eventually you get connected to a larger and more successful church that’s still a single pastor church, or you become a Senior pastor of a medium-sized church with a Christian Educator, perhaps.  The pinnacle of your pastoral career is to be head pastor of a multi-staff church, write books and make one of the larger church salaries.  This mostly works for white males, unfortunately, although some white women have made some inroads, and some Asian peoples.  If you are a female pastor, you are told that all calls are equal before God, and that its a privilege to serve God in any church call.  Although the larger church seeks more equality and representation for minority racial and gender persons, and advocates for such, if you look at this presbytery, for example, our black pastors are at black churches, we have only 1 woman as an Installed Pastor although there are 10-15 other women clergy, we are all serving as stated supply or interim or chaplains, and mostly part-time.  And clergy women all over the country and in differing denominations are paid significantly less at every level of church size. 

I hate that there’s a career path in pastoring.  I’m glad our church has a minimum salary guide - I wish they also had a ceiling on pastoral salaries, with those congregations able to pay more are assisting smaller congregations or carrying more missions.  That would go a long way in convincing me that my denomination truly believes all calls of God are equal. 

So I have had to settle this within myself, and not let the folks who think they are better pastors because to their better salaries, define who I am and what I am worth to God.  And I have had to examine myself  to root out any bias or prejudice I might harbor that says smaller churches are worth less spiritually than larger churches. Being a smaller church is not a comment from God about the worth of this congregation; and being a pastor of a smaller church says nothing about my own call and competence in the realm of heaven.  I’m not sure our call system shows that equality of worth and competence of either church or pastor, and we need to tell ourselves this truth as often as we need to hear it!

            Jesus goes on to tell his two disciples, as well as the other 10 who are disgruntled and disgusted with those two, that they don’t know what they’re asking.  The kindom of heaven that Jesus is talking about is not like earthly kindoms.  And God tells Job that there are some questions his mortal brain just can’t answer or handle.  Its not a put down, its not a one-upmanship thing to shame Job, its just a statement of fact. We are not God; and its a struggle for us to get it through our brains that spiritual things are of a different order.  I mean, look at the folks considered holy in the Scripture - they sin, they pay the consequences, they suffer, they are tricked by others, they are killed by others, they are conquered and enslaved, and Jesus himself is executed by the government, and with the approval of the religious hierarchy.  In today’s lingo, assassinated by an unnamed government agency while the church leaders breathe a sigh of relief that this upheaval is over. 

            Jesus tells his closest followers, who we would expect to be those about to enter into a shared glory and shared power in a new realm, that to be the greatest in this new kindom is  the least of all - the servant of all - the slave of all.  We who follow Jesus, follow one who did not cling to divinity and power, but set it aside to be born in finite human flesh, and to serve our salvation by laying down even that human life.  People are that important to God; and service is that integral to spirituality.  Jesus cared about us even while we knew nothing and cared even less about God; Jesus served even the people we humans consider the most vile. That, friends, is our model of faith.  To give ourselves for the world; not as a doormat with no spine, but as a spiritual offering of great love and compassion.  That’s what we are each and everyone called to do as followers of Jesus the Christ, the Messiah. God’s version of sending a superhero to conquer all was to send Jesus, born as an infant to an immigrant couple from a country where they were maligned and misused.  Growing up in a small town community and learning a craft in his dad’s shop - and meanwhile obeying them, learning his Hebrew lessons and learning the words of the Scriptures in his heart. 

            This is our Savior, this is our leader, this is our teacher.  We will not be greater than him; if we’re able, we will follow his example and learn humility and compassion from him, and serve even the lowest among us.  This is just the beginning of what he called “drinking from his cup.”  I can look at my past, now, and see that the rough parts of my life,in bringing me lower and deflating my sense of specialness, made me more human, made me know I’m in the same boat, the same sinner, the same prejudices, the same contrary drives, the same ability to deceive myself.   They brought me to see my need for God in a more balanced and real way, and to be grateful and thankful for where I am and who I am.  I think its all made me a nicer and more approachable person, knocked off some of the rough edges, and made me care more for people’s troubles.  I thought I could get here by sheer will power, but actually its been from struggle and loss.  I get the feeling that this is somewhat more what Jesus meant than asking to be seated on his right or left hand.  

            AMEN.