September 16th, 2012 Mark 8:27-38

September 16, 2012

Mark 8:27-38 NRSV

27 Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that I am?’²⁸And they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’ ²⁹He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Peter answered him, ‘You are the Messiah.’^* 30And Jesus sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him.

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. ³²He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. ³³But turning and looking at his disciples, Jesus rebuked Peter and said, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. ³⁵For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. ³⁶For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? ³⁷Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? ³⁸ Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

***

          I, Peter, and the other disciples and a small crowd were following Jesus around Caesarea Philippi. This Roman city was adorned with enormous statues of god’s and kings. I could not help but to be in awe of their construction, and it seemed to fit that Jesus would be here, smaller in scale than the statues but greater in purpose, for he is like a king and a God. I think Jesus too noticed the juxtaposition because he asked the disciples, “Who do people say I am?” They started to rattle off names, “John the Baptist, Elijah, a prophet…” Yet, none of their answers seemed to be the one he was looking for. I thought for a moment, and the word, “Messiah,” came to my heart and I spoke it aloud even before I realized what I was saying. The answer surprised me, and I think it surprised Jesus too because he sternly told us not to tell anyone. Somehow, I had been right, but I did not understand my answer.   

          A little on down the road where the streets seemed quieter, Jesus started teaching us. In his cryptic way he began to make predictions about himself, ‘The Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, and the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed…’ and I tried to pull him aside as he was talking. There were so many reasons I disagreed him.

Firstly, and most importantly, Jesus is powerful, like a King, people follow him, how could he be killed by an outsider, they would never get to him. Why on earth would his suffering be necessary anyway? Suffering is not to be glorified. Jesus himself speaks of ending suffering, why would he take this on as some kind of martyr? I also believe, as is common in this day and age, if your prophecy, it just might come true. Besides, I don’t think anyone has ever loved me as much as Jesus does, and I love him with my whole heart. I have left my family and created a new one with these brothers and sisters following him. If he dies, what would happen to our family?

I tried to tell Jesus all this away from the crowd, away from the disciples, so he would not be embarrassed. But when I did this, he looked back at the other disciples, and making an example of me, he rebuked me saying, ‘Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’ Any pride I had felt from proclaiming him the messiah was now buried in shame. He called me Satan. I wondered if this was an analogy or if Satan was actually in me, and he was exorcising him out. I felt so defensive; I was only trying to help in the best way I knew. I was caring for him, and he pushed me away. I wonder if his prophecy is true, about him being killed, if hearing other options, and hearing the pain of those left behind seemed too much to handle. As if his death would not conquer our human pain in the present, and in that pain Satan is still winning because suffering still exists. Maybe that’s why he said, ‘For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.’

Then as if to make an even greater example of me, he called not only to the disciples, but also to the crowd and said, ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.’ It seemed like a charge, an instruction. People buzzed. When he said this I felt a little better. He was rallying all of us together, not just singling me out. Besides I am following him, and I have given up everything I have to do so. I have brought nothing but the shoes on my feet and the clothes on my back. My family is far away, and I may never see them or my home again. I also carry a cross of persecution. Amidst these great stone carvings, of Pan, the Roman God, I chose a different God. I chose a God who does not promise that kind of power, I choose one no taller than me, no better dressed than me, but so far greater than me. His power is one of love, of good news.

Jesus continued and made promises saying, ‘For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?’

Yet, before I got ahead myself, feeling proud, Jesus again rebuked me; yet not by name. He said, ^‘Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.’

I had been ashamed of his words, and tried to change them, but maybe because I did not let him finish I did not hear the promise that came after death. I did not hear about his rising. That one day Jesus will bask in the glory of his Father, surrounded by holy angels, and that while he is there he will remember us. Just imagining him there with God, and holy angels, and even thinking of us amazed me.

I still have much to learn. I’m still a little hurt by the whole thing. I keep thinking it over and over in my head, and each way I look at the situation something new appears. I suppose one could look at this story for thousands of years and still find something new. What you think? What do you make of it? 

September 9th, 2012 James 2:1- 9 & 14 – 17 NRSV

James 2:1- 9 & 14 – 17 NRSV

2My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ? ²For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, “Have a seat here, please,” while to the one who is poor you say, “Stand there,” or, “Sit at my feet,” ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 

⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

⁸You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill,” and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

***

Whew boy, I don’t know if you want to hear what is going to come out of my mouth today, because I don’t know if we in this church really want to hear what this passage is saying. It was said in 46 C.E. but it applies to First Presbyterian Church, Baker City, Oregon, 2012 just as much as it did in then. We can relate to this passage. This passage is talking straight to us, both to our strengths and our weaknesses. We are a church that feeds people, but we are also a church with a money problem, and our money problem is keeping people hungry.

First, let me tell you what I’ve seen about this church feeding people. Downstairs a few nights ago there was meeting for the Open Door Program. Church members and community members spanning seven decades in age gathered around a table for a covenant meal. Promises were made to be there for one another and for our community’s children. Excitement buzzed with organizing and planning, and solidarity was agreed upon when a member said, “Our job is to love them.” That love was split into two teams, one that fed the kids, and one that sat with them to listen. This church feeds people with love.

Let me tell you what I’ve seen about this church feeding people. On Wednesday night the Christian Education Committee met. Ideas for planning Young Family Events swirled around yet there was a common thread of deep need and hard work. There was also talk of the people who have agreed to serve on the search committee for a youth director. Every one of those people is busy, including the youth on the committee, but their commitment to their faith is tangible in their works. Their faith is alive to feed those around them.

Let me tell you what I’ve seen about this church feeding people. We have a Worship Committee who sat down and helped pick hymns for this month. They sought to fill a void of a pastor who can’t read music, and congregation who is touched by song.

Let me tell you what I’ve seen about this church feeding people. We have little girl, who felt so welcome and loved in worship that last week she helped light the Christ candle, and by the smiles around the room Christ’s presence was visible.

Let me tell you what I’ve seen about this church feeding people. Before Mildred Rogers stock was found, this church pledged to build our fellowship hall. I would have liked to witness this church’s faith at that point. Sure the debt and financial commitment of a new building is a money problem, but it isn’t a faith problem.

Unfortunately, today, this church’s commitment to stewardship is at a frightening low. We are only about 60 members off of the national average for church size, but we are more than $157,000 under the national average for our total financial contributions. If you want that broken down into a more personal amount, our average pledge is $580. The national average is $1,100. We would have to about double our pledges to be on par with our church membership. Even if we had those 60 more people still pleading at our amount we would be under the national average by about $120,000 dollars. You may say Baker is not a wealthy town. But why can’t we be a church whose stewardship reflects our hope and our faith rather than our fearful circumstance? Why can’t we be the exception to the rule? Why can’t we be exceptional? Why can’t we be the ones pulling up the average rather than bringing it down? 

Many suspect what we have said is, “We have an endowment.” This is true, and by God’s grace we do. But does this endowment reflect your giving back to God what God has given you, or are you more willing to let Mildred Rogers do that and claim it as you own? I don’t believe that this church hasn’t been blest because its faith can be witnessed by those who are feeding people. There is an uprising of meals both literal in the Food Bank, Learn and Grow to Go, and Open Door, and metaphorical in our commitment to young people, in our commitment to worship, in our commitment to care for one another from stalks of rhubarb at the fellowship hall, to members visiting down the halls of our hospitals. No, I know this congregation is blest, I know this congregation wants to feed even more people, but we have a money problem.

I look at this congregation’s history; you gotta look at family history when you’re looking a church dynamics. You have had a hard history with money. You had a pastor who asked for personal money from the congregation and it literally split the congregation down to one vote. You were given a million something dollar endowment with at least three different stories about how it was found and its purpose. You have fought over how this endowment should be spent, and how it should be kept, and who should keep control over it, and for how long should that control last? You have in part lost a pastor over this conflict and that grief still lies within you. Folks we are a family, and whether or not we remember this history with our own eyes, it affects the vision of our church today. It will continue to affect the vision of our church for generations until we are able to stop the cycle. We are church who wants desperately to feed people, but we have a money problem.

A person with gold rings and fine clothes walks into our assembly, and we say here is our endowment, keep it safe, and they have, faithfully, for years and years, but faith isn’t about being safe. Its about feeding people, its about loving our neighbors. And that’s why when you look in your newsletter each month you see that the session is spending more than it is bringing in in pledges. It is spending that endowment, because the people who are down in the kitchen at 7am on school days know that it costs money and risks financial security to feed people. You have to break five loaves and pray they will feed 5,000.  When the plea was given for money for VBS you emptied your pockets because you knew it took more than the line item on the budget. You have to have the hope of the poor woman who gave two small copper coins. You have to have the hope that giving all you have will further the kingdom. The deacons each month give gas money to Arlita, our Parish Health Advocate, so she can visit the sick and together we can give communion to the shut-ins. You have to remember the promise that lies in the breaking of bread and the sharing of the cup. The people preparing for a youth director with no line item and only a promise from session know that it takes faith and money to pay someone a living wage to do God’s work. They are not playing it safe; they are trusting in faith.

I wonder what our endowment would look like, I wonder what our stewardship would like, if we followed that hope, and created a vision for our church? Our hope should not follow our finances; our finances should to follow our hope. I imagine that was the feeling when this congregation chose to build the fellowship hall before the endowment was discovered. I have heard that the fellowship hall breathed new life into the church, and I don’t think it is because of the endowment, I think it is because of the faith and the vision that pledged to build it. Yes, the endowment was a faithful gift, but it was a gift from God, let us return those gifts to God. Let’s stop worshiping the endowment with gold rings on its fingers, and start feeding the poor who are sitting at our feet. Let’s stop walking away from our own stewardship, and instead work to supply the bodily needs of our brothers and sisters. Lets create a vision. Let’s put our money where our hope is. Let’s be a congregation that feeds people and not a congregation held back by our money problems. 

This scripture is speaking to us friends. It is a hard word in truth and love. It is also a glimpse of the kingdom; the kingdom which is already breaking in, in this church. Do you see it? People are being feed. Do you see it? We have begun. Let us continue in faith and in hope and in love. Amen.

September 2, 2012 MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

GOSPEL MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 

(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 

So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"  He said to them,

"Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

SERMON

Part of me wishes the Pharisees were right. That all it took to be faithful was to follow the rules. Can you imagine how much easier it might be if instead of, “Love the Lord God with all your heart, your strength and your might,” we had, “Wash your hands before you eat.” The Pharisees followed the church elder’s rules, whose temple ritual was to wash their hands and food from the market before they ate, and to wash the pots afterward. These days we know those things are a good idea, and that in some ways they do make one pure, or at least healthier. What they don’t make is someone a Christian. It would be a whole lot easier to be a Christian if all we had to do was to wash our hands. It would be a whole lot easier if all we had to do was follow the rules.

We have these types of rules and Pharisees in our Church today. Some people believe you must end yours prayers, ‘In Christ’s name we pray.’ Others believe you cannot wear a stole unless you are ordained. Still others believe eating without first praying is some kind of grave sin. Some say you must be baptized to take communion. Others think that cussing will keep you out of heaven. Still others find guitars in worship unpleasing to the Lord. We all have these rules for our faith of what being a good Christian looks like. And as your pastor, one who has broken all the rules above and many more, I don’t much believe in the rules. I do think it would be easier.

Instead, somehow our heart has to follow the rules. For example, it is easier to wash our hands than it is for our heart not to be prideful. It is easier to wash our hands than it is for our heart not to envy. It is easier to wash our hands than it is for our heart not to slander. It is easier to wash our hands than it is for our heart not be greedy. It is much graver for our heart to steal, to murder, to lie, to trick, and to commit adultery than it is to not wash our hands.

 Jesus is asking the Pharisees do something much harder than the Pharisees are asking him. He is asking the Pharisees and us to have clean heart. He is asking us to worship him in all our thoughts and our feelings. He is asking us to be like him - a task too deep to ever achieve, yet a task too worthy not to try. For not to try would be to give up, to be satisfied with the status quo, to be hopeless for change in the world, to think that simply washing our hands was enough. It is a daunting task before us, a task we can never fully fulfill, but it is not a task we are left alone to try.

Somewhere buried in the text Jesus is showing us how. It is not what he is saying that matters as much as what he is doing. He is sticking up for his disciples for they have done more than wash their hands. They have left everything and followed him, and in turn he is showing them the way. Amen.