Category: Sermons - Page 3 - We Get There By Walking

Before You Go… A Reflection for the Sunday We Recognize Graduating High School Seniors

Four years ago, when you were in Confirmation, there were probably one or two times when I said to you: “I want to make sure that, at least once, you have heard a pastor say this…” Whether that was about ways to read and understand the Bible or about sexual orientation and being inclusive or about my understanding of and relationship to those whose faith tradition is different than ours. Today, I want to that again. Before you go off to college and step towards that new tomorrow, given the public perception of Christianity, in particular, and faith/religion, in general, I would like to remind you of this. To make sure, at least one more time, you have heard a pastor who takes God and Jesus and faith seriously say this. Four things.

First, God is…
Maybe it is easier to begin with what I think God is not.
A number of years ago I attended a national gathering of church leaders. One of the buttons being handed out read: God Is Not a Boy’s Name. The message of the button was primarily about the patriarchy which is still prevalent in both church and culture, but it also serves as a reminder that, even though he is the pronoun used far to often, God is not male. Or female. Or up in the sky. And, God is not Christian. Or Jewish. Or Muslim. Or…you fill in the blank.

So, if that is not God, what or who is God for me?
I can respond to that question in several ways, but for this morning let me remind you of what I probably said to you four years ago in Confirmation. What if we thought of God as more of a verb than a noun. More as an action than a person. What if God is the source, the inspiration, to be found in acts of:
Compassion.
Kindness.
Justice.
Forgiveness.
Peacemaking.
Gratitude.
In those moments when you do those things or experience those things or see those things, there is God.

Here are places I see and experience God.
I experience something of God when the Cherub Choir sings. I see God when meals and conversation are taken to someone who is sick. I stand in God’s presence when we stand in front of a house we have helped to build in Nicaragua and the family talks about their 16’x16’ home as their mansion and the gratitude they feel. I am surrounded by God when I leave my phone at home and walk in the woods or look up at the night sky. God is present when I and we work with others to make our congregation and our community and our country and our world a bit better today than it was yesterday.
In all those times and places God is.
Where is God for you?
I hope you take the time to notice.

Second, how large a circle and which way will you face?
Religion or faith or God…whatever word you would like to use…is about the circle around your life and about which direction you will face. Some people use their faith to make the circle around their life as small and as tight as possible in order to define who is in and who is out and who is right and who is wrong. Do it my way or our way and you are in. Don’t and you are out. Believe this way and you are in. If you don’t you are out. Look like me. Talk like me. Dress like me and you are in. If you are different you are out. I think, more often than not, that way of thinking about God or faith or religion is harmful and does violence to others. And, those who define God that way look like a football huddle.
Facing inward.
Only looking at each other.
Backs turned to the world.

My understanding of the witness of the Bible and the teachings of Jesus is that we are to make the circle around our lives not smaller, but larger. Not only inviting people in, but moving it outward until it encircles more and more. The witness of the Bible is that all are made in the image of God.
All of us are named as children of God.
And we are called to be neighbors to each other.
And rather than facing inward and walking backward, we are to face outward; to see and to recognize those in front of us for who they are. And to walk forward until they are encircled.

Third, know the story.
I have never read the Bible cover to cover.
I have tried, but I have gotten bogged down in genealogies and lists and laws.
And, I am not asking you to.
But, I am encouraging you to know enough of the story that when those moments of decision or judgement or choice come up in your life you have a touchstone and a point of reference which will help you decide what to do or how to act or which can be a source of understanding and strength.
That story…
Our story…
Includes what I read this morning.
Blessed are the merciful.
Blessed are the peacemakers.
You are the light of the world.
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
And, what about the stories in the Bible about confronting giants, because there continue to be giants in our world. Or, what about the stories of not wanting to do what you know you are supposed to do or called to do? For those moments will arise in your life. And, what about the stories of sowing seeds of making a difference or being blind and then being able to see.
Know those stories.
And, notice I said story and not Bible.
That is intentional.
Again, going back to Confirmation. I urge you to read the Bible as story and poetry and not as science or a newspaper. The Bible is inspired and contains truth, but it is not meant to be read literally.

Fourth, community.
Look around you.
You probably know some of the people here.
You probably recognize a few others.
But there are many here you probably don’t know.
That is okay.
But, here is the thing.
All these people are the ones who, in ways large and small, have cared for you and prayed for you and supported you. These are the people your parents chose to stack around your life to help you grow up to who you are today.
As a community, we are far from perfect, but we try.
We try to care for one another.
We try to support one another.
We try to challenge one another.
We add our faith and our hope and our money and our energy to the community called Bedford Presbyterian Church in order to do what we can to make the world closer to what we think God intends.

The question I have for you is this. As you step towards what comes next in your life, what is that community going to be for you? The community which will support you and encourage you and challenge you to do and be your best?
Where are you going to find it?
What is it going to look like?
What values do you want it to hold out in front of you?
What I think I know is it will look different than this. Different from what I have known and from what you have known growing up here. What I hope is you is this:
That you have the vision and the courage to find it and shape it and to be a part of it. That it does for you tomorrow what this community has done for you as you grew up.

And finally…
The comedian, Jimmy Fallon, was the surprise guest speak at the graduation ceremony at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, FL. Do you recognize the name of the school? It is where, on Valentine’s Day, a fellow student killed 14 classmates and 3 staff members. Taking that that tragedy and pain, a number of those students launched the #NeverAgain movement and, this summer, will be traveling the country registering young adults and encouraging them to vote. I read Jimmy Fallon’s speech and would share this part of it with you because it applies to each of you, as well.

Most commencement speakers, they’ll get up here and talk in the future tense. ‘You will succeed. You will make us proud. And you will change the world. Most commencement speakers say, ‘You are the future.’ But I’m not gonna say that, because you’re not the future. You’re the present. You are succeeding. You are making us proud. You are changing the world, so keep changing the world and keep making us proud.

Don’t Fit In: A Reflection for Confirmation Sunday

I am certain you already know this, but just to make sure. I speak for Kathy as well as myself when I say that when she and I talk with you about what it means to follow Jesus or about how we think about and imagine God, it is more than just words and more than just what we are supposed to say or do. In all the conversations we had over the last year, we were sharing with you something that is an important part of our lives. Something she and I take seriously and, even though, like you, she and I still have a lot to learn, our faith is something we do our best to put into practice each day. For us God is not a man in the sky. Or a woman, for that matter. Or a person with a beard. Or a person period. A force, maybe. A presence, yes. At least for me. I can tell you there have been times in my life when I felt there was something more with me or around me or holding me up or pushing me forward.

But most of the time, for me, my faith in God and following Jesus is a choice I make. A choice about the type of person I want to be and about how I want to live and about how I want the world to be and not about believing a certain list of things or feeling a certain way or making it to heaven someday. Getting to knowing you from our Sunday conversations and reading through your Statements of Faith, I think you get that.

So, here is what I want to say to you today starting with a snapshot of the world in which you live.

From the hallways of your schools to the seats of power and probably everywhere in between there are people who put other people down.
Who think it is okay to make jokes about those who are different.
Or, exclude those who don’t quite fit in.
All to make themselves look better or feel superior or maintain their place in the pecking order.

And, racism is real and racist incidents are on the rise.
As are attacks, both physical and verbal, on Jews. On Muslims.
On immigrants. On those who don’t have what you and I have.

And, there are some people use religion like a wedge.
Or, a hammer. Or even as a weapon.
My way or no way.
My way of thinking or believing or acting or you are wrong or bad or going to hell. So, get out of the way.

And, all that is only a start.

I find all that hard to understand when I believe all of us
Each and every one of us
Is a child of God. Made in God’s image.
I find all that hard to reconcile with the Bible when it says God is love. And, with what I know about Jesus who included those whom others did their best to ignore or to turn away or to exclude.

So, I am going to ask you to do something and to be something I am not sure I was able to do or be when I was 14 or 15. But, I am going to ask anyway.
And, that is don’t fit in.
Dare to be different.
Dare to think differently.
Dare to believe differently.
Dare to act differently.
Take what we have talked about this year and what you wrote about in your Statements of Faith and transform those words into actions. Make them a part of who you are and how you try to live each and every day.

And, don’t just be kind.
Be courageously kind.
Even if it means standing up or speaking out.
Don’t just be nice young men.
Treat others…all others…with respect.
Treat others…all others…the way you would like to be treated if you were in their shoes.
Take what you know about God
Take what you understand about what it means to follow Jesus
And live it.
Lead the way.
Whether about gun violence or inclusion or the environment. Or, about racism or sexism or how you answer the question “Who is my neighbor?”

Do that.
Then, push me and others to follow.
Please.

7 Questions: A Conversation

Following worship this morning, seven young men, who since last October, have been meeting on most Sunday afternoons with Kathy and me as a part of our Confirmation program, will meet with leaders of our congregation to share their Statements of Faith which they have been asked to write, and to talk about what their experience in Confirmation has been like including what they have learned and what questions they still have. Next Sunday we will recognize them. And celebrate with them and their families who they are and the faith and the questions and the hopes that are a part of their lives. It is a wonderful moment for them and for us.

A couple weeks ago, as Kathy and I were trying to wrap up the year and to pull together threads of the various conversations we had had, we came up with seven questions for our evening conversation. One question for each of the students. We wrote the questions on note cards and placed them face down on the table. One by one, each student drew a card, read the question and shared their response. Then the rest of us were invited to add our thoughts as well.

Which leads to this.
One of the comments I regularly receive as we approach the end of Confirmation is how impressed adults are with the ability of 14 year olds to put words around their faith. So, as I thought about them and what we ask them to do and thought about you and our time together this morning, I thought “Why don’t we give you the opportunity to do what we asked 14 year olds to do.” So, here are the questions we asked:

How would you describe God to someone who had never been to church?
What do you think prayer is? How do you pray?
What does it mean to follow Jesus (vs believing in Jesus)?
How would you describe BPC to someone else? And, describe why you are a part of BPC.
What does faith mean to you?
What do you do or can you do as a reminder of what it means to follow Jesus?
Is it possible to be a Christian (follow Jesus) and also believe other religions are just as worthy, meaningful and truthful?

We had a hour with them.
We only have 10-15 minutes with you, but we will give it a try.
Kathy has the cards and a microphone.
Who would like to chose one and start the conversation?
Besides being respectful, the only thing you are not allowed to make in Confirmation is “I don’t know.” That rule applies to this morning, as well.

And so the conversation began.

Now What?

Last week, after a full and wonderful Easter Sunday morning, I went home and took a nap. After sleeping for an hour or so, I woke up to the realization that another Sunday was just around the corner. A Sunday which, with all my focus on Holy Week and on being ready for Easter, I had not given a moment’s thought to. So, on Monday morning scrambling to catch up, I put my boots on and made my way to the church through the snow. At my desk I flipped through my file folder of notes and scraps of paper looking for some spark of inspiration. Something which connected with the Sunday after Easter and which both caught my attention and tugged at my heart which is the only way I know to write and preach sermons.

What I found was this.
Scribbled sometime in the past on a scrap of paper.
Loaves and fishes. Not much. What the little boy had.
That note sent me flipping through my Bible to find the story. You can also find the story in Matthew, but John’s Gospel tells the story this way.

After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

Most of the time when we hear or read this story the focus is on Jesus and the size of the crowd and how there was not just enough food, but when all was said and done there was food left over. And, we are left to think about and marvel at how that all happened. But my scribbled note was not about the size of the crowd or about Jesus or about how it might have happened. My note was about the little boy and his five loaves of bread and his two fish. I don’t know whether, for him, that was a lot of food or not much. Was the five loaves and two fish enough to feed his family for the day or for several days or for the week? But it is what he had. And, what he had, he shared.

I can imagine the situation.
And, the naivete.
Most of us who have had children or been around young children have probably experienced something similar. Adults wrestling with an adult sized problem. A child over hearing what was being discussed and offering to help with what she has.
Her toy.
Her quarter.
Sharing her sandwich.
Sweet, but so insignificant when compared to the need or to the challenge at hand. Except here. In this story.
Here, two fish and five loaves…
What the little boy had and offered…
In a crowd of 5000 men, women, children, grandfathers and grandmothers, uncles, aunts and cousins.
Here, two fish and five loaves was enough.

I think this story and that scribbled note on a scrap of paper I found in my file folder resonates with me today because I am weary. I am weary from the winter and the snow. I am weary from the effort and energy of getting ready for Easter and Easter Sunday. I am weary from losing my Mom a couple months ago and from worrying about Shodie’s Dad. I am weary from watching the news. And the current state of our country and the dysfunction of our politics. I am weary from hearing about another shooting. And, our polarized shouting matches which keeps us from taking steps to address the issue. I am weary of our President bullying people and calling them names.
I am weary because I believe the world should be different.
And our communities different.
And our neighborhoods different.
And our schools different.
And our families different.

And, I am weary because I believe I am to be a part of helping to make them different.
Making them better.
Making them just a bit closer to what I think God intends.
Making them safer so children don’t have to be afraid in school or black families don’t have to have the conversation with their sons, which I never had to have with mine, about how they are to act when approached by the police.
I am weary.
And right now I feel I don’t have much to bring to the table.
How about you?

So, is it grace?
Or, hope?
Or, reminder?
Or, encouragement?
Or, promise?
Or call?
That two fish and five loaves of bread are not only enough, but more than enough.

Easter. Roll Back the Stone.

Easter.
And, April Fools Day.
Hmmm.
Where should I start? Let’s try this.
Knock. Knock.
[Who’s there?]
Jesus. Wait. Wait.
Or not Jesus?
Enough!
I think I should stop right there.
But my intuition tells me that somewhere in this complicated, startling, life and world turned right side up story is some sort of divine joke and God is laughing at the wonder of it all.

So, on this Easter/April Fools Sunday, I add my welcome as we gather this morning to celebrate Easter…beyond bunnies and baskets and decorated eggs.

As I read and reread and thought about what I wanted or needed to share with you this morning about Easter and about the message and meaning of the resurrection, I found my attention and imagination pulled in two different directions. The first was this. The realization that instead of this being one story – whether you read the resurrection narratives as something which happened to Jesus or something which happened to the disciples – the accounts of the resurrection, in fact, tell two competing stories. And you and I are left to decide which story will be normative for our lives.

The first story is one we know all too well.
It is a story about power wielded by violence and intimidation and fear.
All in the name of peace.
Rome with it legions of soldiers.
And, the roads of the Empire lined with crosses used for executions.
And, the Emperor named and treated as a god.
With those who had having more than what they needed.
And, those who did not, never having enough.

This story is not unique to the Bible.
It is the story of Empire which has been reenacted countless times in human history.
The Assyrian Empire. The Babylonian Empire. The Roman Empire.
The Inquisition. Nazi Germany. Syria today. The Philippines today.
Jim Crow. Segregation. The Ku Klux Klan. The Alt-Right.
We know it.
We live in it.
Its headlines fill the news.
Even today.
Again today.

Then there is this story.
The story of Jesus.
Who healed those who were broken.
Who fed those who were hungry.
Who welcomed those who were forgotten and pushed to the edges.
Who challenged the power and the story of the religious and political elite.
Who lived the reality that the circle which encompassed God’s children is larger. As a colleague said, “Moving the margins until there are no more margins.”

He said things like…
Blessed are the peacemakers.
Do not judge.
Treat others as you would like to be treated.
Be compassionate as God is compassionate.
Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you.
Blessed are those who are gentle, but strong. They shall inherit the earth.
And, as crazy as all that sounds given the world as it was and is some people actually believed him. And began living that way.

Two stories.
On one side is the cross and the power of the Empire.
On the other side is the stone rolled away and the tomb that is empty.
On one side is the finality of death.
On the other side is the women meeting Jesus in that cemetery and disciples running for their lives meeting him on the road to Emmaus.
One one side are the guards sent to protect the tomb falling over like dead men.
On the other side is Jesus who was dead experienced as being present and alive again.
And, like countless others before us, we are left to decide.
Which of these two stories will you use to shape the narrative of your life?
Let me ask that again.
Which of these two stories will you use to shape the narrative of your life?

And, my second pondering about the Easter story is this.
What came first?
Jesus’ resurrection?
Or, the stone being rolled away?
I think we often assume the resurrection came first.
Jesus ready or already gone when that entombing stone is miraculously pushed back. But, what if that not the case. What if Jesus remained dead until that stone was removed? If that is true, then what about today? I ask because I believe if the Bible contains any truth at all, it is never just about then, but also about now. And never just about them, but also about you and me.
So, back to the question.
What if Jesus remained dead until that stone was rolled back?
Then what does that say about today in all those places where Death still reigns?
And, violence still rules.
And, fear wraps itself around their lives strangling life until it is no more?
In Aleppo?
In Parkland?
In Paris?
In Sacramento?
In Sandy Hook?
In New York City?
Next door?
Any and all places where Jesus is still dead?
If so, who will roll away the stone?

So, here we are…
Easter 2018.
My prayer today for all of you…
For all of us…
Is this.
May whatever stones still entomb be rolled away that new life might emerge. And may the promises of Easter turn your world and our world right side up.

A Reflection for Palm Sunday

We know the story.
On the eve of Passover, Jesus turns towards Jerusalem. He enters that Holy City, carefully controlled and patrolled by the Romans always on guard for potential uprisings especially at this time of the year as the Jews remembered the Exodus and celebrated their escape from slavery in Egypt. Jesus enters the city riding on a donkey recalling the prophecy of how the King ordained by God would arrive ushering in an era of peace. Robes are laid on the road in front of him. Palm branches are waved in celebration. Pilate and the religious elite watch what is happening and plan their next move.

I know the story, but I wonder what it was really like.
Did the crowd of pilgrims recognize him?
And surround Jesus as he entered the city?
Did they see him on that donkey and remember the prophecy?
Did a shout go up passed on one person to another pulling more and more people into the crowd around him? Did their Hosannas match ours in the music sung here and elsewhere this morning all building to some sort of triumphant entry?

Was it like that?
Or, was what happened more muted?
A handful of Jesus’ disciples doing their best to be enthusiastic about going to Jerusalem in the first place and about entering the city the way he did? In a way they were sure would attract attention, if not of the other pilgrims, certainly of the Roman authorities who would be ruthless in their response. Were their somewhat timid shouts lost in the din of hundreds and hundreds of people also making their way into the city. Their hosannas swallowed up by the call of street vendors selling food or sparrows to be sacrificed at the Temple or parents doing their best to keep track of wandering children. But Jesus insists.
And they are his disciples.

Was it like that?
Or was the donkey and the palm branches which were waved a vision of God’s someday and the words Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord the mantra or the prayer Jesus whispered over and over to himself as he rode that donkey into that city all the while knowing the drama of the moment and that some response was sure to come.

Who knows?
But, I wonder.
As even today I try to understand and to walk alongside Jesus.
However it happened, there he is.
Riding that donkey through the gates and into Jerusalem.
And, the dominoes begin to fall.

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Several things I believe: