Sermon – February 10, 2019
 
The lessons today are filled with stories of people being called into God’s work: Isaiah. Paul. Disciples.
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For each of them, there was a definitive moment – a clear invitation to serve God. I don’t know about you but when I hear these stories about such a clear message from God…it sounds as fanciful as Jonah being swallowed by a whale.
(Which also was a call story but the reverse – running away from God’s invitation)
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I do know one thing I have in common with each of those people: they were not perfect. They were flawed, human. God doesn’t make us perfect and then invite us to do his work in the world. God takes us – warts and all. There are no distinctions or qualifications for who can serve God. God only asks an open heart for us to see people as they are – made in the image of God.

Some of our Biblical giants could be reminded of that!
Only a few verses before today’s lesson, Paul writes: “As in all churches of the saints, women should be silent in churches. For they are not permitted to speak, but should be subordinate, as the law also says. If there is anything they desire to know, let them ask their husbands at home. For it is shameful for a woman to speak in church.”

We can chuckle at that now and point our finger at Paul, but who has the church silenced in Christ’s name since then? Children and young people. Those with a different theology of God: Jews, Muslims, Native Americans. Our brothers and sisters in the expansive LGBTQ community. Those struggling with mental health issues. People with dark skin. And on and on….
I don’t mean to bum you out. I firmly believe in the transformative power of God through the church when we live with an open heart.
We all are called to be followers of Jesus. We are not called to be the same.

Maybe the first step is to imagine together what Jesus means when he invites us to follow him.
Different kinds of following come to my mind:
1.      I think of Hermione, Ron and Harry hurrying to keep up with Professor Dumbledore as he glides through the halls of Hogwarts, dropping bits of wisdom as he moves. They are hoping to just keep up and glean something.
2.      I also think of the faceless followers on social media, looking for a glib sentence or two that reinforces their own beliefs. And being willing to un-follow with one click when an opposing view is expressed.
3.      What about the followers in a crowd, blending in, trying to be anonymous so that they do not become the next target? They are following out of fear not love.

None of these are the type of following that Jesus calls us to. We are called into relationship, into community. As Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King frequently said: the Beloved Community. A way of justice, peace and harmony so every person has a voice, has hope, has dignity and is a part of God’s promise.

When Jesus says, “Do not be afraid. Come.”, he is saying: Join me. Live with me. Share in my life and my work.
Jesus’ invitation is specific and personal. It is to you and what you have to give to the world.
And…just like for those fishermen of Galilee, it is an opportunity for something new.
The call to follow Jesus may or may not take us to a new place, but it will always change our heart.
It was a huge leap of faith for each of the people called in today’s lessons. They were not given instructions like: Follow me and you will work in this way, with these goals and objectives. The invitation to the unknown did not stop them. They still “left everything and followed him.”
Can we do that?
Can we be like Isaiah and say, “Here I am. Send me!”

Unknown times are a difficult place to be and can be hard to hear God’s voice.
·       After the last child is grown and leaves home
·       After high school or college graduation
·       Retirement
·       The beginning or ending of a significant relationship
·       OR…every morning when we wonder – “What will today bring?”
 
We (me and y’all) are both in a place of wondering ‘what is next’. It will be something different, something new. The Spirit’s Holy Imagination will be guiding us. To what – I and you and we do not know yet, but with whom – is never in question!
Our “Yes” to God does not happen just once in our lives, it happens every time Jesus invites us into relationship with him and each other.
When Jesus invites us into baptism, we are called by name and begin a relationship with God.
When Jesus invites us to the table, we receive forgiveness so that we may then take the gift of reconciliation out into the world.
Our call from Jesus is like that of Isaiah, Paul and the Disciples: The Holy Spirit opens our hearts, puts us in the midst of God’s people and says – you have work do.

I want to close with a poem. The author is Susan Palo Cherwien. She is a writer and musician. And a Lutheran from Minnesota!

A Pilgrimage

In the beginning,
From the beginning
It becomes very clear
this is not a journey
we take on our own:
Someone brought us or carried us,
Someone soaked us
(Gasping, cold, wet!)
We welcome you
- someone said –
into the Lord’s family.
From the beginning
- one Lord, one faith, one baptism –
From the beginning
It was made very clear
This is not a race
but a pilgrimage,
not a biathlon,
but a cropwalk
Hand clasping hand.
From the beginning
It becomes very clear
this is not a journey
we take
alone
but a journey
we take
all one.
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Amen

When talking about honoring sabbath time, preachers tend to give examples of a younger generation who are caught on a treadmill of shuffling kids to a variety of activities, parents with non-traditional work schedules, involvement in classrooms or little league teams, etc.
Those are all valid. It is good for people who fall into that time of life to look critically at where they are not finding times of Sabbath rest.

Aging members of the Greatest Generation and Baby Boomers are slowing down. Physical limitations keep them at home more than they would like.
Because of cognitive limitations, they may select to limit activities because of embarrassment or confusion.
There are many folks (of all generations) who are lonely or alone, un- or underemployed, live with limitations or depression which take them out of their own community. What does sabbath mean to them? How do we reimagine Sabbath as more than only slowing down and doing less?
For people who wish they could do more(*) or those who feel abandon by God, what is the Good News of Sabbath for them?

“Sabbath was made for humankind, not humankind for the Sabbath.” Mark 2:27

Sabbath is not merely going to church. Sabbath keeping includes both our individual and communal ways of intentionally connecting back with God. Life can push God to the edges, the dark corners. Reconnecting with the grace of God in sabbath keeping pulls us back - to ourselves, the God-image in each of us.

Sabbath also reconnects us to the Body of Christ. So that solitary walk in the woods on a Sunday morning may be a beautiful prayerful activity, but does not address the fullness of Sabbath keeping. We need each other not just to lend a helping hand but so that we see Christ in one another. That “seeing” informs our “doing”.

Under this broad “both/and” definition, how does someone who is separated from their community and much of their previous freedoms participate in sabbath? Again, what is the Good News of sabbath for the not-so-busy?

At the heart it is the same: you are not loved and worthy because of all that you do. You are loved and worthy of love because you are you - Beloved Child of God. For the Too Busy that message helps reevaluate all the comings and goings. How much of what you do is so that you can be (or seen to be) good?
For the Not-So-Busy, you are loved and worthy for who you are now...including your limitations. Just as people’s divine goodness is not defined by what they do, that same divine goodness is not affected by what you cannot do anymore. (Drive. Remember your family. Leave the house. Clean yourself. Work.)

Sabbath is not about God controlling our Sunday mornings. Sabbath keeping is about receiving. It is good news for all of us: intentionally receiving the promise of connection with God in ourselves, in each other and in the world.

​~ Pam

*I want to acknowledge the work of family members who are full-time care givers. This is a reality beyond “busy”. (This maybe be worth its own blog post.)

On Ash Wednesday we are reminded that “we are dust and to dust we shall return.” This phrase is spoken in Christian churches throughout the world. In many of them, a cross of ashes is traced on one’s forehead as a tactile reminder of our mortality. I looked around the church at our noon Ash Wednesday service and realized that so many of our people do not need to be reminded that our lives are finite. Friends missing friends who have died. New widows sitting alone. Folks with canes and walkers feeling the full effects of aging. And then all the hidden health concerns people carry that we may never know.
Yeah. We know we are dust.
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Dust to dust. And yet…we are showered in mercy. And that makes all the difference.

I counted 23 times the word mercy was said at our noon service. It makes sense to have an abundance of mercy on a day we are minded that we are dust. God‘s mercy – loving kindness, compassion, pity, blessing – are given to us with no restraint. This day of ashes begins our journey towards the despair of Holy Week and the joy of Easter. God breaks through and gives us life. God does not wait to bequeath mercy at the end of our lives. God gives us abundant loving kindness every day.

Today we remember we are dust…but we are not mere dust. We are blessed children of God.

​~ Pam​

Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18
1 Corinthians 6:12-20
John 1:43-51
​(Sermon from Sunday, January 14, 2018)

These lessons for today have haunted me…challenged me.
The phrase that keeps coming back to me is…bodies matter.

Just two weeks ago we celebrated Christmas. Emmanuel – God with us. God chose to enter creation in a new way – embodied. God came to us in our own form, with our own challenges, joys and struggles of being human. This is a very personal gift. Intimate.

In today’s psalm we are reminded that we are marvelously made. (fearfully and wonderfully made) God’s works are wonderful. Our bodies and our days have been fashioned by God.
In the past, Faith held a human sexuality retreat for 5th and 6th graders. For many years, this verse was the focus of that retreat. It was a way to honor the changes as our bodies mature and in the same time acknowledge the awkward self-consciousness of puberty.
For adults, this is also comforting that as our bodies change and age….we can be assured that we are wonderfully made as God intends.
This feels good. Affirming.

Then Paul reminds us that the gift of Jesus, Embodied Love, is not just about me. It is not only personal. It is about us. Through the gift of the Holy Spirit, Embodied Love becomes the Body of Christ. That is less comfortable because in acknowledging that, we now have a responsibility for one another. We are all part of a One. The use and abuse of your body affects my body.

I imagine that in churches today where this second lesson is read, there is uncomfortable squirming in the seats. We don’t want to hear the words fornication or prostitution in church. I am sure Paul’s readers did not want to hear them either. Specifically, Paul was writing to the powerful men of that time. It was the custom of powerful rich men to flaunt their affluence by having sex with women other than their wives. These were not relationships. They were not about love. It was about power. The women, as individuals, were not important. They were just objects. They had no power, no say, nothing positive from the interaction.
Sound familiar?

I know! As I read this in my research, I couldn’t believe it, how relevant this is! In December, Time Magazine announced its Person of the Year – the #Metoo movement. This year women have been speaking up for themselves and for other women in record numbers. In speaking up, they are reclaiming their power over their bodies and their lives. They are being believed after many times years of silence in the fear of not being believed.
Their stories are right from the time of Paul. I have heard this moment in time called the “Harvey Weinstein moment” referring to the Hollywood producer who to date has had 84 women accuse him of sexual misconduct and abuse. Their stories have opened the floodgates. Stories of men, in all types of workplaces, treating women as objects for their own whim. These interactions are far from mutual. Men using their power to do what they want - in fact many times, threatening women to stay silent and compliant. Last weekend at the Golden Globes, women’s stories outshined the actual event. The conversation shifted from women as victims to women as powerful and valued – having a voice and story that needs to be heard.

Paul tells us that Bodies Matter. Sin and abuse to one body is sin and abuse to the whole body. We are to treat not only our bodies but OUR BODY as our most valuable possession. We don’t. It sometimes feels like we don’t even try.
·       We ignore the presence of lead in water systems until whole town’s like Flint, Michigan (poor unimportant towns like Flint) have no clean water to drink. None.
·       We ignore the cries of our brothers and sister of color when they are targeted by corrupt law enforcement – beaten, imprisoned, killed and then forgotten – remembered only as a hashtag.
·       We demonize refugees - escaping certain death in their own country, coming with absolutely nothing just themselves to offer - only to greet them with suspicion.

What would Paul say to us today?

We know what Jesus would say: “Follow me.”

Nathaniel asked Jesus, “Where did you get to know me?” He had never met Jesus. Jesus didn’t know him and yet, somehow, he does.
Nathaniel does not know it yet but he will learn how deeply Jesus knows him. Jesus – the one who is Embodied Love – has called him and in time he will see great things. Nathaniel will learn that he is a part of the One Body in Jesus. Nathaniel will see that it will come at a cost.

Jesus’s invitation to “Come and follow me” is not a simple feel-good statement. It is not meant to be easy or comforting. It is an invitation to a radical way of living in the way of Jesus. It is an invitation to step over the line of polite do-gooder society and speak the truth and…share our power so that those who have no voice can speak their own truth as well.

If we believe the Body of Christ matters to our world, then we cannot help but believe that all the bodies in the Body of Christ matter too.

The Embodied One is here with us, feeding us, forgiving us so that we can take the Good News of Jesus into the world.

On Monday we remember and are strengthened by the work, faith and example of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. In 1963 he wrote:
"The Gospel at its best deals with the whole person, not only his or her soul but also his or her body, not      only his or her spiritual well-being but also his or her material well-being. A religion that professes a concern for the souls of people and is not equally concerned about the slums that damn them, the economic conditions that strangle them, and the social conditions that cripple them, is a morally moribund religion."

Jesus’ words of “come and follow me” are an invitation for us at Faith. They are also a challenge as we imagine our future. In two weeks we will gather for our annual meeting. The business of the church may direct its focus at the bottom line, but the work of the church is about love. Embodied love.

How will we meet that invitation and challenge to be Embodied Love in this church, our community and the world?
Jesus knows us intimately from our mother’s womb, flaws and all, and still calls to us, “Come and follow me. Watch what I do. Learn.” Jesus says, “This work of reconciliation, healing, listening, feeding, noticing is not only my work. This is your work too.”

This is good news. This is THE Good News.
Amen