The Empire Strikes Back

“Is that all there is?” I can’t help it, that’s the question that I always have when Christmas Day ends. After 364 days of waiting, preparing, anxiety, anticipation and buildup when the 24 hours of Christmas Day come to a close I am left wondering, is that all there is? It usually only takes a couple of days to get all the mess dealt with, eat up the leftovers, get deep into the cookie and treat stash, the new stuff sorted and stored, the new video games played a time or two, and life’s routine to settle in. And of course you need to hit the stores for those after Christmas sales to round out the gifts and get a jump on buying for next Christmas.

And who can forget that in just a few short days we arrive at the momentous break where one year ends and the new one begins. After indulging in all sorts of less than the best for us activities for a week or a month or more we get to look back over our year and assess it for how well we did on our goals and plans; lose weight, get enough sleep, read important stuff, attend a lecture series, volunteer more, eat more vegetables, do more good, spend less, save more, work to bring about world peace…

No wonder the weeks after Christmas are seen as the darkness and most depressed weeks of the year. So you’ve come to Church today and I cannot help but wonder if part of the reason is to try and hold on to just a few more moments of Christmas. And instead you get me reminding you of all this and a passage of Scripture that is far from uplifting. I can hear you all whispering in your minds “What a bummer I’m already feeling low what with the post holiday let down and now you’re talking about death and tears.”

And like it or not, we’ve come to the harsh reality of Christmas: life goes on. Jesus was born but he was born into our world – a broken world filled with hurting people were the cries of mothers carry on the wind that just a few short days ago carried the angel’s chorus. Our passage from Matthew forces us to re-enter the real world, the world that is our everyday life.

This escape into Egypt story of Matthew is often lost or overlooked by most of us. We go straight from Wise Men and gifts to John the Baptist and Jesus’ baptism. We skip over this uncomfortable reminder of the harsh realities of human power and greed. But it is critical for us to not forget in our focus on angels and wise men and “Heaven’s all gracious king” that Jesus was born into our world, as one of us – into the rough world of political survival…of hungry people…of rulers and murder.

The reality of life, human life, our life, cannot be forgotten even on Christmas. The mundane stuff still needs doing – dishes, dogs to be fed, spills to be cleaned up. And the pains of the world still ache – wars, refugees, illness, suffering and death.

But the good news of all this bucket of cold water reality I’m dumping on you is that Jesus WAS born into the rough and mundane life we know. From his first breathe – who he is and what he represents – upsets the status quo – makes the powerful insecure and causes those in control to show their true colors. In this rough and mundane life where we know we can’t possibility make it on our own we don’t have too, God is with us, Emmanuel.

So this “First Sunday after Christmas” and often the last Sunday of the year we are reminded that life goes on. This story of the Holy Family escaping to Egypt is essential to the story of Christmas because it lets the reality of our lives and world into the crèche and places them at its core which is the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus came to help us understand that what God desires for all people is justice and peace, peace and justice not by violence and intolerance but instead through love. Jesus is the symbol of all that is right with human nature and challenges all that has been held up as our hearts’ desires. Jesus calls our ideas of power, status, wealth and peace through security into question and he makes everyone uncomfortable. This is the real story of Christmas.

The reality is that when the people who are in power see and understand that something else has come that will challenge or even displace them; they strike back, seeking to use violence and injustice to maintain their power and hold. The Empire Strikes Back! We see this all the time. We’ve even been a part of it, cheered it on, supported its efforts and felt justified in doing so. But whenever the Empire Strikes Back something always feels wrong, out of sorts, maybe even unclean about it.

The good news is that once a new way is seen, known, experienced the violent and unjust will be displaced by love, justice and peace. Rob Bell writes in Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived “Love frees us to embrace all of our history, the history in which all things are being made new.” This is why we have to hear the cry of Ramah. We have to be free enough to see the reality of what is and the reality of what Jesus is and how the one reality affects the other. We all know that there can be only one Lord. You cannot serve two masters. This means that people of faith – folks like you and me – have to ask ourselves, “How do I live in the world and still be a citizen of the commonwealth of God?” The New Year comes and with it a desire to be different, better, more. How do I be God’s partner when the world tells me it doesn’t work? How do I live in a world where violence and injustice reign and still practice justice and love?

The institutions, multi-national corporations, and governments are the ones with the power, they are the Empire. Anything that challenges their hold on things is suspect. When love and justice break out, they try to suppress, quash, and annihilate it. What can I do – what can we do, in the face of such power to bring love and justice into the world? As partners of God and Christ we live lives of love and justice, witnessing by our words and actions to God’s ways. Violence and injustice will not prevail when love is shared and justice is practiced. We are a community of love and justice; we show how it is meant to be in this world now that our King has come. Empire cannot, will not win if we love and work for justice. Our God calls us to lives of love and justice, today, tomorrow and forever. In the end violence, greed and injustice cannot prevail.

If you want peace, work for justice. If you want the world to change be the change you want to see in the world. You are the way to stop the Empire. The force is with you – the force of love and justice – use the force. Amen.

Love Changes Everything

I remember as a kid we use to get all over someone who would say “I love _____!” We’d say “Well why don’t you marry it?” Or “Should we leave you alone with it?” Or we’d say some other equally obnoxious thing. It did not matter what the item in question was – candy, fried chicken, playing basketball, going camping, sneaking into Grant Pool after hours, watching the stars, when you said you loved it you opened the door for swift and immediate sarcasm. You can only imagine what happened when we started to get interested in others in romantic ways the kind of mockery that came when you could not deny the dread accusation of “liking” someone. When the inevitable happened and we began to seriously fall in love it changed everything because love was no longer a source of scorn and disdain it became critical to our lives.

There are four basic types of love – the English language is woefully inadequate in words for love so we have to put adjectives with the word love to make clear what type of love we are talking about. These are four kinds of love are: agape, philia, storge, and eros. Agape is unconditional love, like God has for humankind and Jesus calls us to have for one another. There is philia the love that exists between close friends. Storge is the love that grows between family members. And eros is a special intimate love between two people that is often so deep and intense that it can last a lifetime.

Today is the final Sunday of Advent. Today we talk about the coming of Jesus as the coming of love, Jesus is the lord of Love, Love is king. How can we say love is king? How can we live as one who loves as Jesus loves? We love our families. We love our friends. We even love many strangers. But sometimes our love is limited, hedged, calculated. Jesus as Lord of the Universe brings love to the fore. No longer can we just love those that love us. We are to love everyone. But how do we do this? We are challenged by our Lord to love everyone.

The theological gymnastics of Advent sometimes means you have to play a bit fast and loose with the scriptures for a Sunday in order for the passages to match up with the theme word of the day. Today’s passages fit into this category. In Isaiah we hear about the sign God will send that will alert the people to the coming of their salvation. “Look, a young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.” Now Immanuel means God with us so it isn’t too much of a stretch to say that this young woman’s son as a sign from God is a sign of love because we can see how promising “God with us” would be understood as “because God is with us then God loves us.”

The passage from Matthew about Joseph and his reaction to the whole Immaculate Conception is a bit harder to bend around to the theme of love. It does contain the quote of the Isaiah passage about the young woman and her child Emmanuel so we can always carry to this passage the same argument we used for the one from Isaiah. But I think we can do better than that. Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic but I think regardless of the arranged marriage thing Joseph had feels for the girl. Why else would he seek to “dismiss her quietly”? Then there is the love Joseph had to have had for God since he so readily went along with the angelic dream. You can add to this the love Joseph felt for his fellow human beings because the name he gave his son, Jesus, means “the Lord is Salvation” or savior.

But the more reasonable way to get to the theme of love is through understanding the gift that is given and why it is given – the gift of a baby for our salvation. Today we celebrate the young woman’s son, this Emmanuel, this Jesus. It is the gift of love, God’s love given that we might find our way in life. God with us, savior are ways to see and understand God’s involvement in our lives and desire for creation. We have received a priceless gift, God incarnate, God with us, God as us, God as our lord and savior. This is all four loves tied up into a neat package and placed under our trees. This is why Joseph stayed with Mary and why 2000 later we still tell the story of Joseph’s angelic encounter.

This gift of Emmanuel, Savior is why we give gifts each Christmas. Ours are tokens, pale representations of God’s gift of love. But gift giving has become a problem, we worry about what we should give and how much we should spend when we aren’t sure who will give to us and how much they will spend. And if we allow this to be our gift giving mindset we have missed the point. The gift we give and the gift we receive are not mean to in any way have a value other than as a symbol of the love we share and as a reminder of the love God shares with us. It is the same with giving love. Our society is overly cautious about loving – trusting others. Love is calculated, it is used only as much as is needed to find security and comfort. We find that loving those who are strangers and even strange are beyond many in our world today.
We all know love is the answer. How do we love others so that they can love others and Jesus can be the Lord of love?
Our answer may be found in Joseph. He loves Mary but social convention and the situation seem to dictate that his love is not enough. But he discovers that love is enough. Everything changes with love. By our loving we show others how to love. It’s not the gift it’s the love that lies behind the gift that matters. We are partners of the Lord of love and our loving sets the stage for others to love. We love first, last and always. The best gift I can give, that we can give is love. What the world needs is love and we can give it.

Willie Nelson sings a song that catches the flavor of what it is I am trying to say.
Love is king.
He is born.
There’s a reason now to carry on.
Love is here.
Seated at your table now.
Not living in a stable now.
Love is here.

As partners of God and followers of Jesus Christ we profess that Jesus is the Lord of all there is, not the tyrannical despot but the serving, loving Lord who asks for our loyalty and our hearts. We love and by doing so we show the world how to love and we proclaim Jesus is the Lord of love all the various kinds and degrees of love. Love is here. Amen.

Joy, The New Way

In the Magnificat – Luke 1: 46-55 and the various classical pieces by that name – Mary, the mother of Jesus sings a song of joy at the coming birth of her child. She envisions a world turned on its head where justice and peace are the norm; a world where God’s mercy is known by all and where the promises of God come to be. It is a dream of what might be, of what God intends for God’s creation and humanity – a world, a universe of justice and peace. This dream is a reason to sing for joy to all the earth.

But is this dream of a teenage mother from a small country town still possible after 2000 years? We struggle to find joy in the world, in our lives. It would be easy to dismiss this young mother-to-be except we know her vision has merit we’ve heard stories, seen things and known firsthand the joy of which she sings. But Christmas is TEN days away and right now joy seems light-years from here. Where is it we find the joy Mary has in her heart? How can we sing for joy? As we walk through the mall or around downtown streets we see many faces locked in scowls, clouded over in a daze. We hear others talk about all that they still need to do and how they don’t have the time or energy to do it all. Joy seems far from them and their preparations for Christmas. And we ask how can joy be found among the hustle and hassle of the countdown to Christmas?

The thing is joy isn’t something that can be forced or manipulated. Joy isn’t something you dig up or plan for. Joy is something that you discover. It is something that just happens. It is something unexpected. Joy isn’t calculated it is spontaneous. Joy isn’t often reasonable or logical it is always surprising and special. Each and every one of us has known joy in our lives. That moment when you realize your love is being returned – that’s joy. The first sounds of your new born – that’s joy. The unexpected call or visit from family or friend – that’s joy. The lick of a puppy’s tongue as it vaults into your lap – that’s joy. The quiet moment when your favorite Christmas song plays – that’s joy. When you receive your one year of sobriety token – that’s joy. When the doctor says, “The tumor is gone” – that’s joy; when you hand a poor child a gift –that’s joy. When you smile and look at a homeless person who smiles back – that’s joy.

Joy is a hundred, a thousand, a million different moments, activities, actions, events, and each one is like the song Mary sings. Each one is a brief reminder that God’s promises are for real and being realized each and every day. Each is a glimpse of the commonwealth of God that is and yet to be. Each one is – even if it is very short lived – a peek into what God dreams for the universe. One moment of joy can erase hundreds of moments of despair and heartache. One moment of joy can give you strength to continue partnering with God. One brief encounter with joy can give you the dedication to push on in your efforts to transform your life, the lives of others and the world.
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You see, we are living in the world that Mary sings about: “He has…lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry.” When Jesus came joy came with him. With Jesus came a new world order – peace, hope, joy, and love were turned lose upon all creation and the priorities are no longer wealth, status and getting yours. Joy is the banner under which we face the world. It is our strength and shield. Joy colors all we see and hear and do. Joy that is untamed and unfettered; we know the secret, we have the answer, we get it.

The world of pain and oppression, the world of separation and injustice, the world of power and greed has already come to an end. That is the source of our joy. That is why we can smile at the insanity of our post-modern world and sing “Joy to the world the Lord has come.” If you didn’t join us at Vermont Hills Church for our Advent Afternoon “Carols, Cookies & Coco” you missed some moments of joy and the singing a relatively new Christmas song “If I Could Visit Bethlehem.” Part of the lyrics go:
If Mary asked me who I was and what her child would do,
I wouldn’t talk about the cross or tell her all I knew.
I’d say “He’ll never hurt or kill, and joy will follow tears.
We’ll know his name and love him still in twenty hundred years.”
We know that Jesus is the coming of joy – the coming of a new world order – the coming of justice and peace. We’ve know this since his birth twenty hundred years ago.

We know that time and time and time again injustice and violence try to take back the world but they cannot because joy has been released. Every time peace is found, every time hope is born, every time love is made real joy resounds. Every time someone, somewhere helps another, every time words are used instead of violence, every time someone responds to treatment joy is known. Every single time a smile breaks out on the face of a poor person or a person who is hurting in their soul, every time a species is brought back from the brink of extinction, every time someone says “why not” joy rains down from above.

So where do we find the joy Mary has in her heart? How can we sing for joy? How can joy be found among the hustle and hassle of the countdown to Christmas? Easy, just look around and you’ll find joy busting forth. Pause for a moment and you’ll even find joy leaking out of you. Be a secret Santa to everyone you meet giving the gift of joy. You know how to do this, you can make it happen. In case you’ve forgotten or don’t think you know how I refer you to the movie “Scrooged” and the ending where they sing together “Put a Little Love in Your Heart.” Here are the words: (Words and Music by Jackie DeShannon, Jimmy Holiday, and Randy Myers )

Think of your fellow man lend him a helping hand
Put a little love in your heart
You see it's getting late Oh, please don't hesitate
Put a little love in your heart

And the world will be a better place
And the world will be a better place
For you and me you just wait and see

Another day goes by still the children cry
Put a little love in your heart
If you want the world to know we won't let hatred grow
Put a little love in your heart

And the world (and the world) will be a better place
All the world (all the world) will be a better place
For you (for you) and me (and me)
You just wait (just wait) and see, wait and see

Take a good look around and if you're looking down
Put a little love in your heart
I hope when you decide kindness will be your guide
Put a little love in your heart

That’s what I’m talking about, living you joy each day. As partners of Jesus we share our joy with others as yet another way of celebrating Christmas – a way that emphasizes what can be when love and justice rule. Jesus is the coming of joy – the coming of a new world order that makes peace, hope, joy and love the priorities of our lives. Christmas is the time to reclaim joy as the banner under which we face the world. Joy to the world our Savior reigns! We celebrate the world of love and justice that comes into being wherever faithful people live out their joy, sharing it with others. The birth of Jesus is the birth of Joy.

Come Jesus, Joy of the world, come.

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Abounding in Hope

Hope, it’s so much a part of this time of year, the word appears on cards, in songs and in the hearts and minds of so many. Yet the opposite is also true. At this time of year so many are reminded of how hopeless their situation is, how hopeless their life is, how hopeless they are. It’s like a poor street kid looking into the window of a toy store and watching all the toys being played with my kids who will find them under their trees knowing that his or her hope for a toy will not be fulfilled.

I know about hopelessness. At one point in my life I was hopeless, alone, far from home and felt that I had lost everything, that my world had collapsed around me. A relationship that had pretty well consumed me fell apart. I had no place to live. I had no job. My family was 3000 miles away. And I was feeling pretty sorry for myself. I didn’t want to call my folks and ask for help, it would have been admitting that I was hopeless, a lost cause. But the kindness of a classmate, someone I didn’t know very well and his hopeful nature saved me. He got me a job, gave me his couch to sleep on, and made sure I had someone who cared. Slowly I came around, saved enough money, made some friends and found my way from hopeless to hope. One thing I forgot to mention, my classmate insisted that we pray together each morning and night, nothing self-righteous or preachy just prayers for ourselves, our co-workers, and our world. He kept me connected to God and helped me remember that God is the hope of everyone, me included.

Years later I find it is so hard to maintain a spirit and attitude of hopefulness in the deafening roar of the pain, torment and suffering of so many. The world seems to be tearing itself apart and hope seems so distant, aloof and out of reach. Look at the world: the rich are getting richer while the poor continue to lose ground. Fast food workers are trying to get a living wage. Millions of people are living in camps and with family and friends as they flee war, genocide, persecution and intolerance. Millions more are forced to live amid rubble and devastation caused by war or natural disasters. Children’s parents are deported, wives live in fear of abusive husbands, and children dread the exploitive boyfriend or relative. Veterans suffer PTSD and it tears their families apart. Add to all of this the apathy and indifference of so many millions of others and the hopelessness of life seems overwhelming. All around us people seem hopeless, apathetic, hardened against the storms of post-modern life. Where can they, we, I find hope this dark, dreary December?

And then you hear a song,
“O come, thou Dayspring, come and cheer
our spirits by thy justice here;
disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
and death’s dark shadows put to flight.”(1)
We sing a few phrases:
“Here is peace, when grace surprises
ignorance with words of hope.
Here is peace to light our senses;
see, God’s love has boundless scope.”(2)
We listen as people all over the world sing:
The colors of the rainbow, so pretty in the sky.
Are also on the faces, of people going by,
I see friends shaking hands. Saying, "How do you do?"
They're really saying, "I love you."(3)
And hope doesn’t seem so far off, unattainable or unrealistic.

The prophet Isaiah writes about the coming day when all will be as God intends and his vision is one of justice for the poor, of righteousness and faithfulness. He sees a time when the natural order of things will be upended when the wolf and the lamb, the leopard and the kid, the calf and the lion shall lie down together and eat straw. He sees a day when all people will come to know God’s grace and love, God’s justice and peace. (Isaiah 11: 1-10) This is a vision of hope, a prophecy of expectation that tells us what it is God envisions for creation, for this world and for you and me and everyone else. This is something to place our hope in, this God who wants the universe to be at peace, who wants justice and righteousness to prevail, who desires all people to know him or her not as some distant, unattainable other but as a father/mother/brother/sister/friend/co-worker and yes partner.
Every time I think about the millions of ways the people of faith bring hope to the devastation and devastated of the world I’m am hopeful. Every time I think about the hundreds of ways you who are Vermont Hills Church are the light that dispels the darkness of our world, every time I hear the thank yous read for Thanksgiving Boxes and Christmas gifts given to needy families by this church, every time I watch as the record of our giving to SW Hope – Feed the Hungry grows larger each week, each time I see pictures of our families working at the food bank or Neighborhood House, each time I sign a card which already has heartfelt and meaningful messages written upon it, each time I work with our youth on a Habitat for Humanity build, each and every time I come among you I am reminded that hope lives. I come face-to-face with God’s partners bringing hope to the world.

This is exactly what is needed to counteract the apathy and hopelessness that can grab a hold of you if you let all the troubles of the world crowd in. This is not ignoring or glossing over the real pain and need, it is a diving into that pain and need and pulling in with you the hope that is God for yourself and all others. It is the hope Paul wishes for the Christians of Rome when he writes the closing benediction; “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace…so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13) You see, we are the light that will dispel the darkness of our world. We are the hope, the harbingers of hope in a world of apathy and despair.

As partners of the Hope of the World we are the living, breathing hope that others need. Our ways of living and loving shine hope into the darkness of our world. We reflect the light of Christ into the lives of others. We will be the hope that our world needs. I am we are the hope that is needed. My faith, our faith brings light to the darkness of others. I will practice, we will practice hopeful living until it is my way, our way and then I and we will practice it all the more. This Advent and Christmas the message that Jesus is the hope of the world is needed now more than ever. As Jesus’ partners we must continue to be hope for others.

It is my belief that God is the hope of all people. As people on the way; people following Jesus’ example and teachings -not as an exclusive club but as a people seeking to live lives that glorify God and welcome others to glorify God with us in their own ways – we have an opportunity to make hope live. This is our hope that all people will be centered upon glorifying God and divisions will end. Jesus is the Lamb of God who comes to put an end to scape-goating and sacrifice once and for all and ushers in a new way of being that transcends differences and recognizes that all people are one.

We abound in hope because we know that life can be good, that divisions and differences can be celebrated not feared, that everyone can have enough and be freed to live up to their God-given potential. We abound in hope because we have seen how simple acts of kindness and generosity can change lives and change the world. We abound in hope because we have experienced the love and grace of God through the hopefulness of people of faith, of all faiths. We abound in hope because 2000 years ago a baby was born in the backwater town of Bethlehem and everything changed.

Come, Jesus, Hope of the World, Come.

(1) “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” vs. 6 Henry Slone Coffin
(2) “Here Is Peace” by Andrew Pratt
(3) “What a Wonderful World” by by Bob Thiele (as "George Douglas") and George David Weiss

Finding and Making Peace

We’ve come to the beginning of another new year. We Christians count time a bit differently than our culture. We start a new year with the First Sunday of Advent and use the Advent season as a time to reflect upon the dual nature of the coming of Jesus Christ into our world and lives. We remember the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem and we anticipate the final coming of Jesus Christ with the full establishment of the commonwealth of God. Each Sunday of Advent has a particular focus that calls to mind writings of the Old Testament prophets and early Christians. The traditional themes, which we will use, are peace, hope, joy and love.

So how do we prepare for the coming of Christ? Simply put, we are to live honorably as Christ’s partners loving others, making peace and finding peace in our lives. But the world is filled with violence – in the media, on the streets, in our families. How can we find peace, be peace in such a violent world? We have to look beyond what our society shows us, listen for what is sung on the night wind, feel what is vibrating in the soul of the universe, sense the possibility that God’s way will come, and live as if the end is already here and the commonwealth of God has been established. We witness to another way; show another reality that will help set people free from the violence around them and free them from the message of our society that the only way to win, to have peace is through violence.

One of the things we profess as Christians is that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. So what does that mean? What do we mean when we say this, when we sing that line and use it on our greeting cards? This title comes from the writings of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah who was writing about the coming liberator of the people of Israel, a savior that would free them from the oppression and tyranny of their captors and bring about the commonwealth of God, the original intent of the covenant God made with Israel. You hear these words in Handel’s Messiah often sung this time of year. But I like the verses from a different part of Isaiah, the ones that say:
“He'll settle things fairly between nations. He'll make things right between many peoples. They'll turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; they won't play war anymore.” - Isaiah 2:4 (The Message)
This is a foreshadowing of what the commonwealth of God will be like when the Prince of Peace comes.

But there is another aspect to Jesus being the Prince of Peace that is much more personal which we hear in these comments of Paul’s to the Romans:
“But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about!” - Romans 13:11-14 (The Message)
What Paul is writing about here has to do with how we are to be partners of the Prince of Peace; how we live, how we engage others, how we present ourselves and how we are in the world. We are to ask ourselves: In what ways do I live a peace-filled life? Do I make peace around me? Do I expect peace in this world? Do I call for peace and do I work for it? We who are partners of Christ recognize that we are set free from the cycles of violence that hold human society hostage. There is no other time to do this, the time is now. Jesus has come to show us the way and liberate us from the anger and violence that permeates our world. We are the peace that our world longs for because we are citizens of the new world order, the commonwealth of God.

Jesus, the Prince of Peace has come, born 2000 years ago in a stable in Bethlehem but he hasn’t come yet because our world still exists in a violent and fractured reality. We have encountered Christ; know him as a living part of this world as it is and as it will be. It is our calling, our vocation to live as peacemakers, as the light of peace in a violent world. As partners of the Prince of Peace our role is to practice peace in all the facets of our lives. We let peace be the way, the only way we interact with others and the world.

The message of this First Sunday of Advent and its focus upon peace is that we are to celebrate Jesus as the Christ, the promised liberator who frees us from our endless cycles of violence and that for this to be our way we must live as an ambassador for the Prince of Peace. To proclaim Jesus as the Prince of Peace and to be his representatives to a hostile and violent world means faithful practicing peace-filled living in all aspects of our lives.

There is no way to peace, peace is the way. The way of Christ is the way of peace. Come, Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace!

I Am a Christian! A Radical Confession – A Subversive Claim

Why do we call Jesus King and Lord? Why do we have a Sunday each year in the church calendar that is “Christ the King” Sunday? What does it mean for me to say that I accept Jesus Christ as Lord? These are questions that have haunted me ever since I had to give written answers to theological questions to the Board of Ordained Ministry as part of the review process for ordination as an Elder in the United Methodist Church.

It has only taken about 25 years for me to finally have some sort of reasonable and authentic answer to these questions. It goes to a book we used for the Adult Sunday School class The First Paul: Reclaiming the Radical Visionary Behind the Church’s Conservative Icon by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan. In this eye-opening and theological world shaking book I found out something that I either didn’t know or didn’t pay attention to and that is many of the titles we use for Jesus were in Paul’s time titles reserved solely for the Roman Emperor. Borg-Crossan write:
“…almost all the sacred terms and solemn titles that we might think of as Christian creations or even
Pauline inventions were already associated with Caesar Augustus, the first undisputed ruler of the Roman Empire, from 31 BCE to 14 CE.
Augustus was Divine, Son of God, God, and God from God. He was Lord, Liberator, Redeemer, and Savior of the World…Words like “justice” and “peace,” “epiphany” and “gospel,” “grace” and “salvation” were already associated with him. Even “sin” and “atonement” were connected to him as well…All those assertions, terms, and titles were at home within Roman imperial theology and incarnated in Caesar the Augustus before they ever appeared in Pauline Christian theology and were incarnated in Jesus the Christ.” (Pages 93-94)

All of a sudden the titles and terms I have been using all my life for Jesus were being portrayed in a very different light, the light of radical faith and subversive practice. You see Caesar brought about peace through violence. The title “emperor” is actually better understood in the Roman context as the “All-Conquering One” and in the light of a military victor as world conqueror. To be “Son of God” for a Roman Emperor was a title that came after Julius Caesar who was the first divine emperor and therefore every emperor after him would be known as “Son of God.” And just to carry this out further, Caesar was also known as “God Incarnate” which more accurately should be “God Who Is to Be Worshiped.” And the emperor is seen as God when living so therefore God incarnate. This is what is known as Roman imperial theology. One critical thing needs to be mentioned, worship of Caesar was mandatory for all people in the Roman Empire. The only person/God to have the titles of Emperor/Caesar/King was Caesar. They only person/God that could be referred to as “Son of God” and “God incarnate” was Caesar.

So we now know what is meant when we call Caesar Lord, Emperor, God; we mean the one who in Roman imperial theology was the bringer of victory and peace. It was ascension by way of violence. It was the thought process: “worship and sacrifice to the gods; with them on your side, you go to war; from that, of course, comes victory; then, and only then, do you obtain peace.” (Borg-Crossan pages 105-06). Because Caesar won and peace has come Caesar is now our god! This is the way of the world and of every empire, this path of peace through victory. It is the norm of civilization that to have peace one must be the victor and to maintain peace one must have violence or its very real threat.

So to call Jesus “the Lord” or “the Son of God” or “God incarnate” would have been to displace Caesar’s rightful place in life and worship worship and in your loyalty. When Paul greets his congregations in his letters he writes things that are subversive and radical. things like:
“…call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, both their Lord and ours…” (1 Corinthians 1:2)
“…to the church of the Thessalonians in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…” (1 Thessalonians 1:1)

These and many other statements like them are all statements of faith but also confessions of loyalty and acts of subversion. The first Christians were making a radical break with the world around them and defiantly proclaiming that “we have no king but Jesus” as a direct contradiction of the chief priests at Jesus’ trail who proclaim “We have no king but Caesar.” (John 19:15 NRSV) Christianity at its earliest was a faith that proclaimed openly and clearly that they worshiped only God and Christ and that God and Christ had their loyalty and allegiance not Caesar. From the start Christianity has been a faith of subversion.

You see we Christians proclaim a vastly different way for peace in our world. And the foundational difference between Caesar as Lord and Jesus as Lord is found in the difference between how peace comes. With Caesar you get peace through violent victory and with Jesus you get peace through nonviolent justice. As Borg-Crossan wrote:
“Caesar not only proclaims but incarnates peace through violent victory, just as Christ not only proclaims but incarnates peace through non-violent justice. There will be peace on earth, said Roman imperial theology, when all is quiet and orderly. There will be peace on earth, said Pauline Christian theology, when all is fair and just.” (Page 121)

So to confess Jesus as Lord; to call Jesus King; to proclaim Jesus as Son of God, as God incarnate, to confess to the world that you are a partner of Christ is to say that your loyalty and allegiance lay not with a nation, political party or person but with Christ. To confess your partnership with God and Christ is to proclaim to all that there is no king but Jesus. And to partner with God and Christ is to live as a subversive because your goal is peace through nonviolent justice; your slogan is peace on earth when all is fair and just. To be Christian is to be a subversive because you are not loyal to the powers of this earth that want to bring peace through violent victory, maintain peace through violence and injustice. There is not a form of government or an empire or nation that does not believe that security and peace can only come through violence and the threat of violence. To be Christian is to say that they are wrong, that there is another way the way of justice for all; the way of Christ our Lord and King.

From the start we have been subversives, radicals. From the moment Jesus began teaching about loving your neighbor and serving others Christianity has been a faith in opposition to the ways of the world. Every parable Jesus told about the Kingdom of God was a proclamation of what his kingdom would be; a place where justice ruled and all were equal. So on Christ the King Sunday and every day let us remember our radical, subversive roots and confess once again our loyalty and allegiance to Jesus Christ our King, Son of God, God incarnate, our Lord and THE Lord.

There He Goes Again

With Thanksgiving around the corner my thoughts naturally turn to family. Besides I’ve spent part of each of the last three weekends with my father and that will get you thinking about family too. Anyway, when my dad is with a group of family he will start to tell stories. Some are about his family, brothers and sisters and events in their lives. Some of the stories are about me and my brothers growing up. But when he really gets going he tells stories of his high school glory days. My kids have heard them all many times and it seems that over the years the stories have gotten, shall we say, expanded. So nowadays when he begins to launch into one of his glory days stories the kids will turn to me and whisper, “There he goes again!”

I think that this is exactly how the disciples must have felt whenever Jesus would go into a town or travel for a while because he would always find a way to end up in the wrong place with the wrong people. Jesus was a public relations nightmare. No matter where he was, no matter what he had going on, and no matter how many other options were present he seemed to always go with the seedier and despised members of society. He healed on the Sabbath. He touched lepers. He talked with Samaritans. He ate with sinners. He was always with the wrong people, in the wrong places, at the wrong times, doing the wrong things. There is this boundary that is as far as proper society said he should not pass. A line that is as far as the religious institution felt he or any other good Jew should go. Can’t you just hear the disciples saying to each other, “There he goes again.”

This is exactly the scenario we have in the story of Zaccheus. Jesus is traveling through a Jericho. He is attracting a crowd. People of religious and political standing are noticing him and many would be honored to have him for a respite in their homes. But Jesus sees a small man in a tree and he walks up to him and says “Come on. We’re going to your house for lunch.” And those that have been with Jesus begin to cringe. And the voices from the crowd once again rise up “There he goes again, off to be a guest of a tax collector, a sinner.” And Jesus’ reply, “Hear me, salvation has come to this house because this man, this sinner is a son of Abraham and I have come to seek out and to save the lost.” Zaccheus has encountered the divine and he is changed, never to be what he once was again. Whatever kept him from being everything he could be was removed or overcome and Zaccheus changes himself and the world.

So what is it that holds you back from being all that you could be? What keeps you from making the changes you want to see in yourself and the world? What gets in the way of your reaching out? We live in a culture that gets nervous when something unusual happens. People don’t like it when you do the unexpected or when what usually takes place doesn’t. We tend to want things defined, people categorized and our encounters predictable. We want our lives to unfold in ways that keep us from harm and don’t expose us to too much attention by others. Besides, many of us are comfortable with the status quo. Sure things could be better for others and for us but things aren’t that bad now. So long as everyone goes about their business in reasonable ways all is well. But right below the surface we sense that this isn’t really the case. Something lurks there that we know as a hallow place. A hole in ourselves that aches and to admit that it’s there and seek ways to fill it would cause us to mix things up, make life unease, and call attention to ourselves. So we try not to notice it until something unpredictable happens and everything changes.

We talk about these moments as awe-haw moments. Sometimes people speak of them as conversions. Others name them revelations. But what they all are is an encounter with the divine. Moses and the burning bush or Zaccheus with Jesus it doesn’t matter how it happens but it does and when it does everything changes. Another way to talk about this is to talk about engaging the spiritual aspects of life. And you know what, when people encounter the spiritual they hesitate, unsure of what will be revealed. But you cannot keep it from coming out, once you turn to look or climb the tree you can’t go back because you no longer can ignore that the divine is breaking out all around you all the time. And a truth is revealed; no one, not even you, is beyond the reach of God’s seeking love.

I know you’ve encountered the divine in your life. I may be a distant memory. It might be something that you have shoved into the dusty reaches of your mind. You could be something that you haven’t been able to comprehend and therefore have ignored. It might be a moment that caused you such awe and fear that you fight to keep it from resurfacing. The moment may come right before you are sent into harm’s way. Possibly it is the final, loving moments spent with the one you love. It could also be something simple and common place – a moment when the sun reflects on the dew covered leaves while walking the golf course – sitting on the sand late at night and watching the stars – rocking a baby held on your chest – a symphony playing or a country singer signing or a dance company dancing – maybe a painting or the hug of a friend – watching the family laughing and playing together at the cabin – sitting quietly with a cup of tea and a good book. Any and all of these can be times when you experience the holy, have a moment that changes you forever. Each is a moment that changes you forever.

People of faith know when they come into the presence of the holy that the things that once held them back dissolve away. We have experienced the millstone being removed from our necks and the hand extended to lead us forward. We know we are set free from whatever would hold us back from being all that we are created to be. We who are people of faith claim an encounter with God. We claim to be changed. We admit that every bush is burning and that a chance roadside encounter can change a life. We acknowledge that the holy is all around us and that every time we pay attention to it we are affected, altered and we affect, alter the world.

So I ask you, do people say “There he goes again loving others.”? Do they say “There she goes again changing the world.”? What does your life, your day-to-day living show about your life altering encounters with the holy? I think the goal of faithful living need to be to make sure people notice you are changed. Knowing God is to be transformed, altered in such a way that everyone will say “There he goes again” as you seek to bring love and justice to life all around you. Being a partner of God who is transformed by running into the holy you are changed and folks notice and say “There she goes again” as you practice mercy and seek the lost.

Don’t be shy about it; about these brushes with the divine, they are the necessary static spark that is needed to ignite change. Moses saw a bush burning and was changed and changed the world. Zaccheus saw Jesus and was changed and changed the world. You have seen God and you are changed, now change the world.

“Thanks for the Privilege of Being Able to Give”

We all have been told at one time or another “It is better to give than to receive.” When I was growing up this was often around the issue of my taking part of my hard earned allowance and yard care money and giving it to the church, a missionary, or other “noble” cause. It also often came to be spoken when I was trying to buy gifts for others and would complain about the fact that they didn’t give me anything or what they gave me was a lot less expensive then what I was giving. I have to confess that for me as a kid giving was not nearly as good as receiving.

This all changed however when I went on my first mission trip. It was as an associate pastor whose tasks included youth ministry. We decided a youth mission trip was a good thing and set about planning one for Seattle. One of the missions we set up was helping to prepare, serve and clean up a meal for street teens. A part of this experience was sitting with the street youth and eating together. As the kids filed in and got their food one of the kids in my youth group came up to me looking like he had seen a ghost and said, “Tim, I just saw Mike the older brother of my friend. I knew he was gone but didn’t know he was homeless.” I had him point Mike out to me and I went and sat with him and told him we were from Salem. He got a bit nervous but I told him we wouldn’t say anything about finding him if that was what he wanted. After we talked for a while he wrote a note and gave it to me and asked that I get it to his mom. When I called her to ask if I could bring the note by she simply asked me to mail it and I did. I never found out what happened to Mike but this event brought home to me the truth of that old saying, it truly is better to give then to receive. I was able to give Mike some comfort and his mom a connection. I gave my time and effort and didn’t ask for or expect anything in return. Being able to give was a gift.

Steve Goodier, an ordained minister and motivational author and presenter writes: “Money is not the only commodity that is fun to give. We can give time, we can give our expertise, and we can give our love or simply give a smile. What does that cost? The point is, none of us can ever run out of something worthwhile to give.” This is the gift of being able to give or generosity as it is commonly known. Wealth isn’t something that you hold on to, it is something you use and if you are a faithful person, partnering with God to transform lives and the world your wealth is used to bring about this transformation.

So I ask you, have you ever thought about how great a gift it is to give to others? Where have you been generous and why? Where have you withheld your generosity and why? Can you belief that giving is better than receiving, that giving is a gift? In our society we are taught to take, to ask for more and to hoard. We hear the message of take; take, take and we see the images of wealth as having more and more. Can we see in acts of generosity hope for a different way to be? Can we allow giving to be a meaningful gift? Can we see our wealth as a call to give and giving as a gift to us?

The Dalai Lama is often quoted as saying, “Generosity is the most natural outward expression of an inner attitude of compassion and loving-kindness.” We who claim to be children of God, we are to live our lives with an inner attitude of compassion and loving-kindness. We are to take whatever we have and see it as a resource in our ongoing efforts to bring about the commonwealth of God. Faithful people recognize how wealthy they are. Faithful people want to share with others so that everyone has enough. Being able to give is a gift we have been given and one we need to use as faithful partners of God in order to transform our world.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians: “The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. (2 Corinthians 9:6-8 NRSV). It is a gift to give. And once you realize this then it becomes an amazing thing to offer your treasures, resources, time and talents because you are set free to enjoy the gift of giving. It is never about what you have. It is always about what you do with what you have. It’s that old song “It’s just like a magic penny; hold it tight and you won’t have any. Lend, spend it, and you’ll so many they’ll roll all over the floor.” Or as Kahlil Gibran wrote in The Prophet: “You often say, "I would give, but only to the deserving." The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish.”

We know the simple truth of wealth; it only has meaning and significance if we use it to better the world. Another truth we all know is that everyone in this room is extremely wealthy. We have enough and more than enough even if we don’t have much money we still have riches beyond measure. And the other truth we know, having it isn’t what’s so wonderful, using it is what brings us joy. I’m not trying to justify wealth, what I’m trying to do is say that it is in giving that we are blessed. It is in sharing that we find our true selves. It is the gift that is giving that can be one of the best tools we can use in our labors to transform the world as we join our efforts with God’s. Once we can stop worrying about whether or not we have enough and instead concentrate on living a generous life we will realize that we have all we really need.

So today celebrating the gift of being able to give, thanking God for the generous heart we have and for the many places and opportunities we have to be generous with the gifts God gives us. To be a Christian Steward means being generous with what you have even if you don’t have much. Faithful living includes being generous because giving brings life. I have enough and more than enough. I have been given the gift of giving. As a partner of God I am to give; thank you God for the gift of being able to give.

Thanks for Being There and for Caring

One the best gift anyone can receive is the gift of a relationship with another person. This is especially so when that someone is a loving, generous, kind, gracious, forgiving, supportive, nurturing, strong, loyal, sensitive and confident person. And if you have more than one person in your live that has several of these qualities then you are truly blessed. And if you have someone with many of the qualities that you know intimately then you are adding blessings on blessings. Add to these human relationships a deep, intimate and meaningful relationship with God and you have a wonderful existence indeed.

Have you been paying attention to the people who are closest to you? Have you noticed their love, care and support? Have you thanked God for the blessing they are in and for your life? We often fail to recognize just how much these people mean to us and how much of a rare and special gift they are. We often forget to look around us to see the people that nurture and care for us. When life is busy or too routine we forget to pay attention to those who care for us, who are there for us. I know I am guilty of this on a far too regular basis. Everyone needs to know that their efforts make a difference especially those we love.

What is true for my relationships with others is also true of my relationship with God. Sometimes I take for granted that God is there and that God cares. I just expect it. I don't notice all that God does for me and I sure don't share my appreciation for the gift of our relationship. It’s like God is required to love me so why does it matter if I say “thank you” or not? While this may be true (I believe that God loves all creation equally, all people without regard to religion, belief system or life choices) it still is important to say thank you to God because it means you are paying attention, that you understand how much God brings to your relationship. Telling God thanks means you are aware of all that God means to you and that you know you are a more complete and better person for God’s being accepted into your life.

My basic theological take on why God decided to bring this crazy and often messed up universe into being is that God wanted to be more than what God was. And the only way to be more was to be in a relationship with another. So God had to create something that was truly, completely other and then allow this other to have freedom of choice so that they could choose to be in a relationship with God. Now the surprising thing is that whether the other choose to be in relationship or not, God would become more than what God was because God would have another. We were created for relationship with God and with one another. A human being cannot survive completely by itself. After a certain period of time they will just stop caring and die. The length of time someone can exist totally alone varies but if left alone, without companionship you will die.

And I know that the better the relationships one has the better life is. Quality relationships guarantee that you will have a quality life. Notice that I did not say an easy life. Nothing can bring about an easy life. Life is hard. And life is too hard to live alone. So the more quality relationships you have the better equipped you are for having a full life. And if you have a quality relationship with God that makes your life even better, something more.

Jesus commanded us to love one another. Jesus told us that all that God wants from us is to love God, love ourselves and love our neighbors. Said in a different way, Jesus has requested that those who claim his name and want to follow his path will be in meaningful, deep and intimate relationships with one another and with God. He taught us that all God wants from us is to be in a deep, meaningful and intimate relationship with God, ourselves and others. As the scribe said to Jesus (Mark 12:33) quality relationships, loving each other and God, are "much more important than all the burnt offerings and sacrifices" we could ever bring to God.

Faithful people make a point of recognizing those people that are important to them and who love and care for them. They also thank these people for being there and for caring. Thanking the people in our lives for their love and care is important. They are the ones that will see you through. Those we care about, those that care about us, those we love, those that love us, those that nurture us and those we nurture, those we support and those who support us, those people that help us not only survive but thrive are the people that bring us life. They are the ones that see us through, hold on to us, and push us forward. They are the ones that give meaning to our days. So say "Thank you!" to them. Show them you appreciate all they do and are for you. They are the true treasure in your life.

So we celebrate all the people who make up our lives. We offer prayers of thanksgiving and praise for them. We promise to thank them for being there and for caring. We also celebrate our relationship with God, all the ways we experience God, all the ways God is known in our lives. We offer a prayer of thanks to God for being with us, for caring for us and for loving us. We celebrate as well all the opportunities we have to share love and show our love to those we don't yet know or don't know well; especially those Jesus calls our neighbors.

So remember to say thank you to the ones that love you. They are the ones that will see you through. And don't forget to include God in your thanks. Faithful people say thank you!

Thanking God for Everything!

Back in 1970 Lynn Anderson released a recording of a Joe Smith song “Rose Garden.” It contains the line, “I beg your pardon, I never promised you a rose garden. Along with the sunshine there’s gotta be a little rain sometime.” When Ms. Anderson was interviewed about the popularity of the song she said, “I believe that 'Rose Garden' was released at just the right time. People were trying to recover from the Vietnam years. The message in the song — that if you just take hold of life and go ahead, you can make something out of nothing — people just took to that." I think she was talking about how to handle disappointments and discouragement in life. I have never really had it bad. I am among the most privileged people in the world. I am a white male of the middle class with an advanced degree and I live in the United States. I have had quality health care, dental care and education all my life; I have had all my shots and had access to good clean water all of my days. I have never wanted for shelter, love or companionship. I get 30 days of paid vacation a year and have the resources to spend it in places like Disneyland. I have a family without major problems and a wife who for some reason loves me even after 29 years together. I am the envy of billions of people and have nothing really to complain about. I am blessed. Now you would think that all that would somehow guarantee my happiness. You would wonder how I could ever feel disappointed or discouraged. You would think it impossible that I would sometimes find my life lacking. You would doubt how I could ever feel short changed or unloved or sorry for myself. You would question my sanity if I were to talk about being dissatisfied. You would speculate that I was not paying attention if I were to moan and bemoan my life. You would find it unimaginable that I would think I desired more. And you know what, you would be right. But still I do feel these ways at times. When I am dodging the curveballs of life I sometimes slip and fall into the pit of self-pity and despair. I sometimes do feel that life is out of control and I am a victim of forces to great to manage. And now it’s time for the truth. I feel these things, these ways. My feelings are valid. But when I feel life is too hard it isn’t to say that my life is hard like the life of a refugee in a tent city of 100,000 with no fresh water, handy food sources, health care or sanitation. And you know what; I often have to remind myself of the difference. I need to stop in my self-pity and disappointments and count my blessing. I need to stop and thank God for what I have and what I have been blessed with. I never have to feel badly about my feelings but I cannot let my situation, however painful or discouraging it truly is, gloss over the extreme suffering of most of the people in this world. Most of us don’t stop to think about how many gifts we have received and continue to receive. We don’t concentrate on how blessed our lives are. We often don’t bring our thanks to God in prayer. Why not? I think it is because it is far easier to count suffering and losses. It is somehow understood as acceptable to bemoan your tragedies and discouragements. It is ok to whine about disappointments. We all want to have people’s empathy and sympathy. Besides, when life is going along fine we don’t notice what we’ve got. As another song of the 1970’s said “You never know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.” And most of us don’t think much about the blessings of our lives until we are at risk of losing them. Like the people of God who were saved from slavery in Egypt and led by God into the wilderness who forgot how blessed they were when they allowed their need for control and security to overcome their faith (Exodus 17:1-7). We must keep from whining to and quarrelling with God when our lives hit the rough spots. God is there to hear our pain and hold us in our suffering but God is also there refreshing us and reminding us that our blessings have saved us in the past and will save us again. As faithful people we understand that everything is God’s and that we have been given all creation as a gift to use wisely and prudently to see that all creation is cared for, nurtured and that all people have enough. We know that all we have is a gift and that one of our primary tasks is to offer God our thanks and praise. As a 1970’s play reminded us “All good gifts around us, are sent from heaven about. Then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord for all His love.” (The musical Godspell here is a link to a YouTube video of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_155n8qPd9A.) And we all know that we learn so much more about ourselves, others and the world from the tough times and the disappointments then from easy and comfort. We know that even the things that cause us the most hurt and grief are blessings when we move beyond them and realize that they too have brought meaning to our days. We must remember to pray the simple prayer “Thank you.” And we need to prompt ourselves with the knowledge that because of our blessings, our gifts we are to lift others up. Lift them from poverty, despair, anguish and suffering. Lift them from despicable, inhumane situations. Let them from their pain, loneliness, and discouragement. Our blessings are not meant for ourselves alone. They are given for the good of all. We are blessed so that others can be blessed by us. It really isn’t about what you’ve got; it’s about how you use what you’ve been given and the attitude you have when receiving and giving. The most moving stories are those where someone who has nothing can find a way to give – from the meager blessings of their lives they still can bless another and offer thanks for what they have and what they can give. So we are reminded once again of what it means to be faithful and that part of faithful living is counting your blessings and being thankful to God for all the good gifts you receive and using those gifts to lift others up. We need to make it a daily, hourly part of our lives to say, “Dear God, thanks for everything.” So I ask you, what do you have to thank God for? What blessings do you enjoy? What blessing can you identify that you want to offer a sincere and meaningful “thank you” to God? Take a moment now to count your blessings and then speak your blessing aloud for God and the world to hear. Dear God, thanks for everything! Amen.

Remember to Say Thank You

I have two stories I want to share about saying thank you. The first is how I was raised. My mom forced us to be polite; to say “please” and “thank you” and “excuse me” and all the rest of the social niceties. Whether or not you really felt grateful for something, wanted to receive what was offered, or liked what had taken place you said “thank you.” The second story is from my time in Boston when I was in seminary. I rode the “T”, the mass transit system to and from just about everywhere. I didn’t notice at first how people treated each other on the “T” mostly because I was so focused upon making sure I knew when to get off. But once I got comfortable with riding it I began to notice how people where indifferent or even rude to one another. I also noticed how people reacted when without realizing it my mom’s training kicked in and I said “thank you.” People stopped caught off guard and even a bit confused. They weren’t sure what I was doing or why. They then either smiled and replied “You’re welcome.” Or just slipped back into their Bostonian mindset and stomped away. Once I noticed this I made a point of saying “thank you” as often as I could. I like to think that in that busy, hurry-up, anonymous and often impersonal world of the “T” my saying “thank you” brought - however briefly - a moment of joy, connection, humaneness, or human-kindness to a person and to their day. I went online to a parenting forum and found out that parents today aren’t as willing to force the issue of politeness on their children as my mom was. Two comments are representative of what I found: • ”I don't force them, no. I don't sit there and hold back what they want until they say it, I don't think that's right. I use "Please" and "Thank You" in everything I ask of them, even when I'm reprimanding them. And my oldest has already started to say it back to me when he asks for stuff. He's two. I find it's a lot easier to model the behavior and have them follow suit then to bully them into it.” • “I ENCOURAGE please and thank you -- and demonstrate having nice manners myself, but force it? No.” And my daughter and her husband subscribe to this way of thinking. Which I find a little hard to stomach, again because my mom’s programming kicks in and if I’m honest because I used force on my kids and don’t want to admit I might have been wrong. But one thing I will not give up on is the simple fact that saying “thank you” matters. Why does saying thank you matter to me, you and others? Primarily I think it has to do with two things. First, we want to know that someone has noticed and appreciated what we have done for them, that what we have done matters. The second is that we like the feeling that comes with being thanked. What about saying “thank you” to someone else? We like to acknowledge a kindness or assistance given as a way of “paying the debt” we have incurred and we like to make the other person feel good about themselves and the effort they made on our behalf. And science backs me up on this. Jeremy Dean, a psychologist and writer of the award winning blog “PsyBlog” writes: According to positive psychologists, saying ‘thank you’ is no longer just good manners, it is also beneficial to the self. To take the best known examples, studies have suggested that being grateful can improve well-being, physical health, can strengthen social relationships, produce positive emotional states and help us cope with stressful times in our lives. But we also say thank you because we want the other person to know we value what they’ve done for us and, maybe, encourage them to help us again in the future. Since, for most of us, expressing our thanks is an everyday occurrence, we tend to think nothing of it. But psychologically it has a very important role to play for both the person giving and the person receiving. All four studies reveal that gratitude is more than just a social nicety, or a way of making the helper feel good; it reassures others their help was actually appreciated and it encourages further pro-social behavior. My favorite Biblical story about thank you is when Jesus heals the ten lepers (Luke 17: 11-19). Leprosy is a disease that causes a person’s skin to be covered in ulcers and disfigures and can cause the loss of fingers and toes. In Jesus’ day it made the infected a social outcast, ritually unclean and therefore an oppressed minority. Lepers lived on the fringes of society and were avoided and shunned. So in the story this group of lepers calls out to Jesus for mercy and without any other words or actions Jesus sends them to the priests where they are declared clean – healed. It is interesting to note that there is no talk of faith, no request for healing. The lepers’ aren’t praised for their righteous living and nowhere are we told of their sex, religious affiliation or nationality. They are ten lepers who ask for mercy and are healed; simple as that. Now this is where the story gets interesting; one leper realizes what has happened and he comes back to say “thanks.” And who is it that returns? It is a Samaritan. You know they are the hated, second-class, un-repentant black sheep cousins of the Jews who worship at the wrong place. This is a foreigner of the highest order who would normally give a Jew a wide berth because the dislike goes both ways. Those observing would have been shocked because Jesus has shown that God’s grace and love extends beyond their neat boundaries and comfy confines and faithful living means accepting the foreigner and loving them. But that’s not all, Jesus tells the Samaritan leper that “Your faith has healed and saved you.” What? Weren’t all the lepers healed? And a truth comes out; having a disease cured or an aliment corrected isn’t being healed. Healing is when the whole self – mind, body and spirit – is aligned and in harmony with God. And the only response we can have to this realigning, this return to harmony is to say “thanks.” Living faithful means saying thank you. It means saying thank you to God and to one another. We as a society and as a church don’t say thank you enough and we sure don’t let others say it to us. Faithful people need to practice saying thanks and being gracious – it can change the world. It’s up to us to be the people our world needs and one way we bring our faith to life is by thanking others for their kindness, their effort and their generosity. We say thank you! So, do you say thank you? Are there people you need to thank? When was the last time you thanked someone for the little things they do for you and others? Saying thank you matters to people and it helps make our world a more hospitable and kinder place. Besides, it makes you and the other feel good. It brings about wholeness and life. Jesus tells the Samaritan leper “Getup! Go on your way. Take your thanks and healing and live them out in your life’s journey.” Jesus tells us to say thanks to God for the gifts of grace and love and then show your thanks through the life you live. Faithful people say thanks. Remember to thank someone today. Thank you for reading this.

Welcome

You have found your way to my blog which focuses on my sermon from last Sunday. It is a place for you to read what I think and believe and have an opportunity to comment if you wish. I hope that this blog will deepen your relationship with God and open your heart, mind and spirit to the possibility of finding a way to live faithfully in your day to day life. Peace to you and God bless. Rev. Tim Overton-Harris