Tag: Bible

Banning Books

Removing books from school libraries because they might offend someone has become the new political boogeyman. In fact, Texas lawmaker, Matt Krause, has a list of 850 books which he says should be removed because they might make students feel uneasy.
I wonder if this book is on his list?
After all, it talks about prostitutes and entire cities being destroyed.
And, includes instructions on the redistribution of wealth.
And an account of a friend having his friend murdered so he could marry his wife.
And, of people who were enslaved using the story of their enslavement as a lens through which to look at who they are and what they value.
And, rich people being told to sell all they have and give it to the poor.
And, redefining who our neighbors are and how we are to treat enemies.
And, don’t forget that “camel through the eye of a needle” part.
I don’t know about you, but a lot of that (and more) makes me feel “uneasy.”

If all those other books are on his list and the list of others, and not this one, they are being hypocritical and their lists are just a ploy.

Mary

This morning’s sermon was about Mary.
About God choosing Mary.
And Mary saying yes to God.
If one of the purposes of sermons is to make you stop and think, this morning’s sermon did just that, but maybe not in the way intended.

I stopped being traditional a long time ago.
Maybe I never was to begin with.
My take away from this morning is this.
God was always asking.
God is always asking.
Looking for a way to break into
Be born into
This crazy, screwed up, broken, awesome, wonderful world in which we live.
Mary said yes.
And so we have the story of Jesus.

But when we deify her we miss the point.
And, keep it safe.
And, keep God at arms length.
(Which is where most of us like to keep God because if God comes too close watch out!)
Because God still asks.
Still waits for someone to say yes.
Still waits for you to say yes.
Still waits for me to say yes.
Because hope needs to be born again.
(Don’t we know it!)
And, because peace needs to be incarnated.
And, feeding the 5000 needs to happen again.
Because opening eyes and sight being restored needs to happen again so we see ourselves and others for who we really are and who they really are.
And, the broken still long to find wholeness.
And, the despised and forgotten and excluded still long for welcome.

If it is only about Mary, it is too easy.
And, too safe.
Instead, it is about you and me.
And God.
And the world as it is.
And, how it might be.
And yes.

Memorizing Bible Verses

I don’t remember much about our teacher.
But I remember the room where our Third Grade Sunday School class met.
If you entered the Aspinwall Presbyterian Church from Third Street, our classroom was on the second floor, halfway down the hallway on the right. Our chairs were set up in rows facing the black board and bulletin board which were on the wall in the front of the classroom. On the bulletin board was a piece of oaktag laid out in grids. Our names on the left side. Sunday dates across the top.

In our Third Grade Sunday school class we were encouraged to memorize Bible verses. If you memorized a verse and could recite it in front of the class you got a star after your name for that Sunday. Memorizing verses was pretty easy for me and so I had several stars after my name. That was not the case for my friend who had a harder time memorizing and so had less stars.

Each Sunday, the class began with the teacher asking if any of us had verses we recite. On this particular Sunday, my friend’s hand was the first one up. He took his place in front of the class and began.
John 11:35
Jesus wept.
We waited for a second expecting something more, but that was it.
Jesus wept.
Two words.
My friend smiled and got a star after his name for that Sunday.

I am sure we were encouraged to memorize all those verses you might expect.
Psalm 23 – The Lord is my shepherd…
Psalm 100 – Make a joyful noise to the Lord all the earth…
John 3: 16 – For God so loved the world he gave is only son…
I didn’t appreciate the impact and importance of memorizing those verses until much later in my life. By that time, other verses had locked themselves into my memory…
Treat others the way you would like to be treated.
Love God and your neighbor as yourself.
Blessed are the peacemakers for they shall be called the children of God.
God has told you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require? To seek justice. To love kindness and to walk humbly with your God.
Whatever you do to one of the least of these, you do it to me.
Verses which have become a touchstone for my life.

Somewhere along the way all these verses and others have buried themselves in my heart, soul and mind. Often forgotten, until that moment when one of them pushes its way to the surface of my awareness. Often unbidden. Sometimes at just the right moment.

In the congregation I served as Pastor, each spring we would have a special class for Third Graders in preparation for receiving Bibles from the congregation. A couple of weeks before they received their Bibles in worship, the Bibles were laid out on tables in our Fellowship Hall. Members were encouraged to write their favorite Bible verse in the Bibles the children would receive. Which leads to this…

If you had to write one verse in a child’s Bible, what verse would you choose?

If you would like to see and listen to the video, here it is.

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.

Remembering What is Important

As soon as he could, he got up to leave.
He was not happy with the sermon my colleague had preached.
“You have a good heart,” he said.
“But bad theology.”
I wish he had lingered for a moment so we could talk more, but he was out the door and down the walk before I could say anything else. If he had stayed a bit longer, I could have listened and responded to the concerns he had. I could have suggest he talk with my colleague to get to know her a bit and better understand the point she was doing her best to make. If he had stayed a bit longer I could have suggested both those things, but, the truth is it wasn’t until today that I realized how I would have liked to been able to respond.

If he had stayed long enough…
If I had been wise enough…
I would have liked to say something like this.
“I know you and I disagree on how we read and understand the Bible.
And I know we disagree in our theology.
But I wonder…
In our worship this morning was there any time when you think someone who needed it might have come close to God? In our worship this morning was there a time when the children in our midst knew they were important and that we cared about them and that this was their church, too? In our worship this morning, were you able to pray for those in need? Did we make space for you to pause long enough to pray for yourself and for those whom you love and for the world God has entrusted to our care and keeping? If you can say Yes to any of that then maybe that is enough. You and I can sit and debate Bible and theology. Agree on some things and disagree about others. Christians have done that for two thousand years. But that moment of grace which that one person needed…that could only happen today.”

For All The Saints

Here is a story from the Bible.
From Matthew’s account of the life and ministry of Jesus.
And, just in case you were wondering or interested, this is the Paul Alcorn version of the story.

After Jesus and his disciples had been with the crowd of people for several days, Jesus instructed his disciples to get into a boat and travel to the other side of the lake while he dismissed the crowd. After the disciples had left and the crowds had been dismissed, Jesus went off by himself to pray. Morning found the disciples still far out on the lake because they had been battling wind and waves all night. As the darkness gave way, Jesus appeared walking across the water towards the boat. When the disciples saw him they thought they were seeing a ghost and were deathly afraid. But Jesus called out to them saying, “Fear not. It is me.” Peter replied, “Jesus if it really is you (and you are not just a ghost) bid me come to you walking on the water like you are walking on the water. Jesus said, “Come.” So, Peter got out of the boat and started walking on the water towards Jesus. But, then, instead of looking at Jesus, Peter began to look around at the wind and the waves. And, in that moment he began to sink. As he was about to sink beneath the waves, Jesus reached out his hand and caught him saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt.”

This is a wonderful story we would do well to remember.
The question it poses to us is this:
When the wind and the waves threaten to undo your life and pull you under, where do you look?

I share this story with you this morning because, while we are 9 days late according to the Christian liturgical calendar, this morning we remember and celebrate All Saints Day. And, not just the great, well known saints – St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Francis – who are a part of our religious history as Christians, but the saints who make up that cloud of witnesses who surround our lives.
Those saints who saw in us something beyond what we, at the time, were able to see in ourselves.
Those saints whose faith and witness and commitment inspired our own faith and witness and commitment.
Those saints who, as long as we keep our eyes looking in their direction, help to keep us on track rather than sink beneath the wind and waves of our lives.
For me, among those people are Richard Bell and Sister Pauline and John David Burton.
Ordinary people who were and are saints in my life.
I wonder who they are for you.
A teacher?
A parent or grandparent or aunt or uncle?
A mentor?
A friend?
Who?
Since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses;
May we remember and give thanks.

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Several things I believe: