God Works in Miraculously Silly Ways

Luke 18:9-14

Jesus told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, `God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, `God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

For many years I worked in a Godly Play classroom, in the preschool room. You never know for sure how your morning will go when telling stories to three and four year olds. On many occasions we would get to a place where we were all engaged, and attending to the task at hand, while keeping our hands to ourselves, and not distracting our neighbors. On other occasions it would be obvious early on that listening quietly to a story would not be the primary objective of the morning, instead we would learn what it meant to be together. I would have to follow the flow of the children, trusting that although not much attention was being paid to my prepared story, that we were doing the worthwhile work of learning to be in community with one another. After working in these classrooms I've come to learn that in either situation the spirit is present and flowing between us, sustaining us in that circle of love and giggles. But there is one morning that has stuck with me, and that I continue to learn from. The story for the day was the parable of the deep well. This is not a parable you will find in scripture. This is an enrichment parable through godly play. A parable which is used to explain what a parable is.

During this story a person, who has been wandering through the desert comes to a great well. Unlike others who have passed by quickly, this person doesn't hurry, despite the dangers of the desert, the heat, and the lack of water and shelter. Eventually this person finds a bucket, and various pieces of rope, which he ties together in order to draw up the water. The story says, “The person drank the cool, refreshing water and was changed.” During our wondering time open ended questions are asked, I wonder what your favorite part was, I wonder which part was most important, I wonder where you are in the story, etc. When I asked the children what part they like best, a three year old girl raised her hand. She had been quite enthralled with the story, and I was curious what her responses would be. She answered, “My favorite part was when the person drank the water and was changed.” Then she got a magnificent smile on her face, and she added, “I wonder if he changed into something silly!” We finished our godly play session, and as anyone who has worked with children in a spiritual setting knows, I left full of joy, and with the impression that maybe I was the one who was being mentored and spiritually directed.

In today's gospel we are told a similar story, of two men, who are or will be changed. At first we are introduced to characters we are already familiar with. “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” It only takes a few glances at the New Testament to get an idea of what kind of person a Pharisee was. We know them to be strict keepers of the law, and often used as an example by Jesus of what not to be. If the saying went “What would Jesus not do?” Then perhaps the answer would be, “Ask a Pharisee.” Likewise, we know the tax collector, maybe not this specific individual, but we know his type. We know that he and his cohort were often the chosen company of Jesus, while being despised by others. So perhaps this story is not as shocking or astonishing to us, as it would have been to first century listeners, who would have viewed the Pharisee as a well-respected member of the community, and the tax collector as foe, someone who took advantage of others, and was loyal to the dominant power of Rome. We can try to relate more to the story by identifying today's Pharisees and tax collectors, which in our diverse world, would be varied and would change depending on who you ask. Pharisees might be described as a respected parishioner, someone who fills out their pledge card in a timely fashion, or any other respected member of our community. And the tax collectors of our day, would be anyone on the outskirts of not only our society, but of our specific social groups. The aggravating boss or co-worker, the ex-husband or wife, the homeless individual that we don't feel we have time to deal with in our hectic schedule. Any individual with characteristics that might cause us to utter the words, “Thank God I'm not like that”

After Jesus introduces these characters he tells a story which reiterates his way of turning everything upside down and inside out. We have a pharisee which we can all relate to: A man who takes his job seriously, goes above and beyond the call of duty, and who truly believes that by doing so he has been raised above his peers. In our American culture we understand that, we feel for him. We study for exams, create impressive resumes, and work hard to stand out from our peers, all of which are good things when trying to secure a college acceptance letter, a job interview, and other temporal recognitions. However, sometimes when we are preparing ourselves to come before God, we forget that it is not about us, and that far more is at hand than we can take credit for.

Likewise, we can relate to the tax collector, both of Jesus' time, and of our own time, as the disdained individual that God openly advocates for. He is assessed not on his own merits or blunders, but because he had the courage to pray, “Here I am Lord, what a mess.” He had found the great well in the desert, abandoned himself to the life giving water, and was changed. Through the trans-formative power of God, rejected tax collectors are exalted, and self-righteous Pharisees are humbled. God works in miraculously silly ways.

On some days we might be the Pharisee, and on others the tax collector, but what we have to remember when we are getting ready to come close to the sacred, is that if we hold on to our own concepts and perceptions how of God works we can miss the point. When we walk up this aisle and kneel at the altar rail together, it is not because we have earned our right to be here, nor will we be turned away because of our faults. God loves us enough that he is not amazed by our successes, or frustrated by our failures.

There is a text from the 14th century titled The Cloud of Unknowing which states, “It is not who you are or what you've been that God sees with His merciful eyes, but what you want to be.” I hope for all of us that when we leave this place, whether from worship, a bible study, or fellowship activity, our goal is not simply to be able to say “There is another church attendance to mark in the record book.” But rather, “I have been refreshed, and renewed, and I am now more prepared than I was before to go out, and do the work which God has given me to do.”

Chocolate Chip Cookies and Faith

You are one smart cookie. If you haven’t heard that before, I am telling you now, you are one smart cookie. To the untrained eye, a chocolate chip cookie is a chocolate chip cookie, but that is completely false.

Let’s examine the humble chocolate chip cookie. In every basic chocolate chip cookie recipe there is flour, baking soda, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, vanilla, eggs, butter, and of course chocolate chips. Each ingredient has its own unique properties. Flour; it provides structure, sugar; it adds sweetness, baking soda; leavens, etc. These single ingredients are mixed together in one bowl and come together to form a dough. The dough is portioned out and baked, sometimes. I say sometimes only because sometimes a batch of dough never reaches the oven, its eaten straight from the bowl, no judgment there.

Regardless, the ingredients have been thrown into a single bowl and transformed from single ingredients into delicious chocolate chip cookies. The ingredients alone are nothing spectacular, but when they come together they turn into something quite delicious. The whole cookie tastes better than its individual parts.

The sum is greater than the whole. Last week during Morning Prayer, the reading for the day reflected this simple idea. The reading was a letter from Paul to the Corinthians, and stated, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses. For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body so it is with Christ.” Each individual has their own gift. It may be something as simple, like drawing a funny cartoon or calling a friend, but it is a gift to embrace and share. That gift is important to everyone. These different gifts, support all individuals in their daily life and work whether we recognize it or not. We are connected by these gifts through the Holy Spirit, God.

Come back to the simple chocolate chip cookie. Yes, the ingredients are different, and perhaps they can stand alone, but it is when they come together that spectacular things happen. Remember we are all smart cookies, we all come from one bowl, and through faith in God; we will never crumble.

On Preaching (plus one sermon)

I was given the honor of preaching last week at All Saints, the church that I am working at. At All Saints, we are praying together as a church using a program called "Unbinding Your Heart." This program is designed to give parishioners and clergy the techniques and vocabulary necessary to more effectively evangelize: to share their faith with others and, through the experience of sharing their faith, grow the church. The staff had their final Unbinding meeting this morning, so the ideas are still fresh in my mind. Anyway, here is my sermon text, along with a few of my thoughts afterwards.


2 Timothy 1:1-14
Luke 17:5-10
 

Shame is an interesting emotion. All of us, I am sure, have experienced shame to some degree, for a multitude of different reasons. People’s negative responses to shame are often, however, similar enough to break them down into three broad categories.

Some people Move Away. They hide, or withdraw. They tell no one.

Some people Move Toward. They try as hard as possible to please people, to make everyone like them.

Some people Move Against. They try to lord over people, try to hide their shame by making others feel shameful.

There are healthy ways to handle feeling shame. To understand why one is feeling the emotion, and to take steps to avoid feeling it again. To acknowledge that a mistake was made, and to learn and grow from the mistake.

In the letter to Timothy, Paul implores Timothy to not hide away; to not be ashamed. Clearly, Paul is worried about the first common response to shame. The inclination to run away and hide your head, and hope that no one ever finds you. The inclination to move to another city, another state. The inclination to simply not tell people that you are Christian.

The inclination to say nothing about Jesus, when the context allows it.

A few years ago, I was driving home from work, I believe. It was late, and I saw a car stalled on the side of the road. I pulled over, and helped this guy around my age jump his car and head off. In my rear view mirror, I saw his car die, so I spun around and jumped it again.

We ended up jumping his car close to ten times between the two miles that he had to go. Each time, we would lean against one car or the other and simply talk. We talked about his work, our families, school, how much cars frustrated us, anything that came up.

He finally got to his house, and came back out. He shook my hand and offered me money for my trouble which I naturally declined. I looked him in the eye. And I didn’t say God Bless You.

Sometimes the readings each week seem like they were chosen with someone specific in mind.

“Do not be ashamed, then, of the testimony of our Lord.”

Yes, God, I am listening.

It is so easy to say nothing. It is so simple to hide the fact that we are Christian because it would be inconvenient, or awkward, or inappropriate.

Yet we are given the grace of Christ. Who are we to keep silent about it? We are called to go share the grace of God and the joy that we find in our relationship with God.

I realized right away that I messed up. I prayed, then, to not be ashamed, to have the strength to share what I believe. I imagine that that is similar to what the disciples were asking Jesus in the gospel. Lord, Increase our Faith!

Jesus responds by basically telling them all off. “If you had the faith of a mustard seed you could do remarkable things!”

Jesus responds by telling them, “You have the faith. Do remarkable things!”

This Gospel is a call to action. This Gospel is Jesus saying that a little faith could do a great work. The mustard seed is tiny, and the mulberry tree is huge; but with a little faith, God will do great things. All you have to do is start.

The disciples had all the faith that they needed in order to go and do things that are remarkable. We are called in a similar way to go out and do things that are remarkable.

This passage is telling me that I have the ability to be not ashamed, if I would only try.

Right here in Omaha, I got my chance to make up for my previous mistake. The situation was so similar, I couldn’t help but make the connection and know that I would not be ashamed.

There was someone on our road whose car ran out of gas. I invited him onto our porch and gave him a glass of water and some food (a banana and a cookie for those interested) and went to the gas station to fill up the the little can he had.

He filled up the car, and shook my hand and said thanks. No problem, I said God bless you. He hugged me and went on his way.

YES! Thank you God, you gave me another chance, and I didn’t mess up this time. Didn’t I do good? High five! Come on, God, you can tell me, I did good, right?

Right?

The second part of the gospel speaks to that. Clearly.

“So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, “we have done only what we ought to have done!””

We should not expect God to shower us with praise for doing what we are supposed to be doing. When we feed the poor, help the needy, do we expect a choir of angels to sing our praise?

Did I feel intense pride over doing what is expected of me? Yes. Should I have?

Oh, someone needed help, and I helped them. That is not in doubt. That should not be cause for celebration, though; that should be a Tuesday.

Part of why this Gospel reading is challenging for me is because there seem to be two unrelated passages. There is the passage about increasing faith, and Luke makes a reference to the mustard seed that plays a prominent role in other Gospel readings.

Then, there is the “second” part of the reading where Jesus is telling a parable about the relationship between a slave and his master.

The relationship between a master and his slave is so hard for us to wrap our heads around, to comprehend on an instinctual level because the idea of slavery is so anathema to us. To the disciples, this would have been as similar as talking about a waiter who brings you water at a restaurant.

Do any of us invite the waiter or waitress to eat before us when we go out to Olive Garden?

Do we profess our gratitude with songs of thanksgiving when they bring us the dinner that we ordered?

If we say anything at all, a simple thank you is sufficient. Personally, I haven’t showered any of my servers with praise for doing what is expected of them. I am always polite, but it is expected of them.

It is expected.

God expects us to serve others. It makes him happy when we do so, of course, but it is expected.

Jesus often answers his disciples in parables. It is not common, however, that he completely ignores his disciples. The disciples ask for more faith, and Jesus says that they only need a little faith to do marvelous works: faith the size of a mustard seed.

Jesus tells his disciples that they should not expect undo praise for doing what is expected of them; that the slave that serves his master does not get rewarded for doing what is his duty.

It seems likely that the parables are related then, that Jesus is still talking about how to increase our faith when he is speaking about the slave and the master.

The relationship of a slave and master is not a perfect analogue to the relationship that we have with God, but it serves as an illustration to how we relate to God. We have a relationship with God, and certain things are expected of us. Simply by being in church, we are attempting to increase that fullness of that relationship.

How do we increase our faith? We do it by doing what is expected of us. We increase our faith by serving God and each other. We increase our faith by being not ashamed.

Many of you have spent the last month in the “Unbinding Your Heart” program, praying together as a church. This is a fantastic way to be in relationship with each other and relationship with God. The unbinding program calls us, as God does, to be unashamed of who we are as Christians.

If we pray to God, our prayers will be answered in one way or another. If we are praying together as a church about ways to be unashamed of God, of ways to serve God, how then might those prayers be answered? What might we be called to do?

Jesus calls all of us to serve one another.

God, please help us to be unashamed of you. God, please help us to have faith.

Amen.

I have been fortunate enough to have been given the opportunity to preach at several different churches at this point, and all of them have been different. I love feeling out the character of a church as I am preaching; finding what they are connecting with, and letting God speak through me, and changing how I preach for each service. I don't think that I am skilled at this by any means, but I definitely felt the Holy Spirit when I was preaching this sermon.

I have been given very constructive feedback on how to improve my preaching (I keep lowering my voice as I make a point) and how to improve my writing (MANY different suggestions) and improving my preaching is one of my goals for this year.

God bless you!

Jeremy

Finishing the World

"The question for the text is not so much "How did the world begin?" but rather "What sort of world do we have?" -Walter Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament

I read these words last week while preparing for Resurrection Ministry Formation (RMF), programming through Church of the Resurrection that is very similar to EfM (Education for Ministry). The quote is in reference to the creation story, and implies that if we try to use the early stories in Genesis to tell us about the physics, chemistry, and biology of our world, we are missing out. If we instead view the stories in their traditional and cultural context we are opened to a world of wonder, where questions of deep meaning can be asked, such as "What sort of world do we have?"

Well, whatever sort of world we live in we know it's a good one. We know this not based on poverty statistics, or crime rates. We don't turn towards reports of abuse or the inequalities of our time, whether they be based on race, gender, or sexual orientation as a way to reassure ourselves of the fairness of our world. We know that our world is good because of one sentence, repeated over and over in the creation story, "And God saw that it was good."

"It is Good."

This is not to say that God is not in the chaos, because he is. In Godly Play the words are, "In the beginning there was nothing, except maybe an enormous smile, but nobody was there to see it." God is in the chaos. He is with us when we listen to the serpent, and with us when the good is so hard to see. So in this world of Good, that is full of good and bad things, how do we cope? What is our role in creation?

There is another creation story that I like. It's a Jewish midrash, and it asks a very important question. Essentially the angels come to God and tell him that this swirling glob of rock and water is quite a mess, and they suggest he clean it up a little. So after a while God begins creating, and after each piece is made the angels come to God and ask, "God, is the world finished now?" Each time God answers, "Nope!" and continues creating. After he has created man and woman He tells them, "I'm tired, will you finish the world for me? It's almost done." The man and woman react with frustration, "We are too small!" God makes them a deal that if they promise to keep trying to finish the world, that He will be their partner. They end up all agreeing to this deal, and some time passes. The angels come back to God and ask, "Is the world finished now?" And God answers, "I don't know, go ask my partners."

As interns, we at Resurrection House see loving, kind people everyday trying their best to finish the world. At our non-profits there are individuals seeking to build relationships with children, while creating a safe, nurturing environment for them at an after school program. There are individuals seeking to ensure that all children, youth and their families, regardless of socioeconomic status are able to receive health care. There are individuals working to provide homes to the homeless, and a place where those who have abundance, can donate to those who are in need. At our parish placements we interact with individuals trying to finish the world by praying and serving together. Serving one another, those in the local community, and those around the world. It is inspirational, and perhaps finishing the world can be related to fulfilling our baptismal covenant: to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and striving for justice and peace among all people, while respecting the dignity of every human being.

I wonder what you would do to finish the world?"

What Do You Do When You See Jesus

One of the questions that we as a house focus on is where we see Jesus in our lives. Specifically, we are called to find where we see Jesus in our non-profits, our church placements, and through living in community.  This is an incredible discipline to focus on; intentionally noticing where God has an impact on your life allows you to be more intentional about prayer, more intentional about serving others, and more intentional about serving God. This year I am going to be working at Miller Park After School Program as my non-profit site, a wonderful ministry for the kindergartners through sixth graders that want to take advantage of the program.

I started my first day just over a week ago. One of the ministries that is offered through Miller Park Elementary School is in conjunction with various food banks. The food banks donate bags of food that is then passed out to the kids every weekend. There is no application process to be considered to receive a bag. If any teacher notices a need, the kid is placed on a list, and then that child receives a bag of food for the weekend. In general, the bag is placed in their backpack which is in their locker while everyone is at class. This affords anyone that wants it privacy, though from what I could tell, there was little to no stigma attached to getting a bag of food.

As we were going around the school, putting bags in the kindergarten and first grade lockers, one young boy was getting picked up early. He and his Dad were going to his locker, and the child asked if he was getting a bag this weekend. As we said he was, he began jumping with joy and turned to his Dad. The joy in both of their eyes would have been inspiring, if it wasn't completely heartbreaking. So much joy in his Dad's eyes, because his son would be able to eat this weekend.

When was the last time you ever went hungry? When was the last time that you ever accepted help joyfully? When was the last time you ever fed a child that would be unable to eat otherwise? Jesus has called us to feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, and clothe the naked. When was the last time you fed the hungry? Jesus was present in those who donated the food. Jesus was present in those who accepted the food. Jesus was there, and I saw him. What do you do when you see Jesus?