Ecclesiastes 3:1-15

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven. This text comes to us from the book of Ecclesiastes. It’s a part of the collection of Hebrew Scriptures known as “wisdom texts.” I will admit, though, that I sometimes have my misgivings about just how wise it is.

Let me quote the very beginning of this book: “Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity. What do people gain from all the toil at which they toil under the sun? … All things are wearisome, more than one can express…” This message of futility may sound right on to you, but it is not really consistent with the rest of the Bible. Many have wondered why Ecclesiastes was chosen to be included in our biblical text at all. Perhaps it is because it has been traditionally believed to be wisdom collected from the great King Solomon.

But this particular section of the text, the one that Annie read, has become very popular. It’s often chosen for funerals and memorial services. Others know it because of Pete Seeger’s song “Turn, Turn, Turn.” There’s something about this text that captures for us the great variety of human experiences, the mysterious patterns they make in our lives, and the difficulty of finding meaning in it all.

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven – A time to be born, and a time to die… a time to weep and a time to laugh… a time to keep silence, and a time to speak. There is a time for everything, it seems; except for rest. (more…)

Psalm 5:11-12
Mark 4:35-41

The scriptures this morning were chosen before we heard the news from Charleston; the news that nine black churchgoers were massacred by a young white man who had been warmly welcomed into bible study with them.

It is strange, now, to hear these words from the psalmist: “you bless the righteous, O Lord; you cover them with favor as with a shield.” It is strange, today, to hear the words of the Gospel, “even the wind and the sea obey him.”

Depending on how we hear and understand these words, we may feel betrayed. Because the faithful who were gathered on Wednesday night at Emanuel AME were not shielded from the violence of this young man, his ideology of white supremacy, or his gun. God did not still the storm of his rage. I can understand if you feel betrayed this morning. But I trust in these scriptures in a different way. I still believe that that God does protect and bless our souls, if not always our bodies. And I have seen and heard Jesus standing in the midst of this storm, rebuking the wind. I have heard Jesus saying “Peace! Be Still!” I have heard Jesus, in the voices of so many who have spoken out since this tragedy occured. (more…)

Isaiah 6:1-8

Today is a holiday feared by pastors everywhere; the day when we are asked to explain the Holy Trinity. It’s our job, apparently, to tell you how one God can have three persons, and why you should care that our God does. It’s a hard job, especially because most of the material we have to back us up is not particularly clear or compelling. We can choose between the highly technical writing of philosopher theologians, and the shorter, but generally even less poetic creeds written by committees of bishops. For example, I could tell you that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are consubstantial and coequal, co-omnipotent and coeternal (that’s according to the wisdom of the 4th Lateran Council). But I’m not sure that would enlighten or excite anyone.

The job for pastors on Trinity Sunday is hard. But perhaps even harder is the job of the people who designed our lectionary – the schedule of biblical readings that we follow each Sunday. On Trinity Sunday, they had to find a passage from the Hebrew or Jewish Scriptures (the Old Testament) that relates to the Christian Doctrine of the Trinity. This doctrine is certainly not a part of Jewish belief. It was not even accepted by a majority of Christians until after all of the texts in our bible had been written.

But these lectionary designers made a great choice. They chose the passage that Karen read from the book of Isaiah. It’s is the call story of a Jewish prophet, not a description of the Holy Trinity or an explanation of it. And yet, in this text from Isaiah we discover a root of our Trinitarian belief. (more…)

1 John 5:1-6

A community of Jesus-followers in the Greek city of Ephesus is in crisis. It’s the second century of the common era, and they are troubled by the central questions of the church at that time. Was Jesus fully human? And was Jesus truly divine?

The writer of the text of 1st John, believed to be a leader in that community, responds with a sermon driving home the message that has become Christian orthodoxy: Jesus was both! He was both fully human and truly divine. He was human, coming to us by water and blood: in the waters of birth and in the blood of his death. And he was divine, coming to us from God, born of God, a child of God.

There is so much in this short text, but the image of God as a parent is what really struck me this week. Of course, the idea of God as Jesus’ parent is very familiar; we know Jesus as God’s son. And the idea of God as our parent is very familiar, too; we call God “Our Father” at least once a week here in worship as we say the Lord’s Prayer. But there is something in the language of this passage that is particularly powerful, particularly poignant. Jesus is a child of God; and so are all of we. What does this really mean? (more…)

Acts  8:26-40

Has a stranger ever changed your life?

There was a man named Philip who taught many people about the good news of Jesus in the early days after Jesus’ death and resurrection. The Book of Acts tells us that Philip is travelling from Samaria when an angel speaks to him, telling him to go south on a wilderness road towards Gaza. Along the way, Philip comes upon a great chariot. Inside this great chariot is an important court official who oversees the treasury of Candace, Queen of Ethiopia. He is also a eunich: a man whose genitals had been removed at a young age.

The Holy Spirit tells Philip to go over to the great chariot of this important official from a foreign land; and Philip boldly goes. As he gets closer, he hears the stranger reading the words of the Prophet Isaiah; words Philip knows and loves. Philip asks him, “Do you understand what you are reading?” and the man replies, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” He invites Philip to get in and sit beside him in his great chariot, and they travel on together, discussing the scriptures. Over the course of their conversation, Philip explains the connection he sees between the prophet’s words and the life and death and resurrection of Jesus. Not much later, the chariot comes to some water, and the stranger asks, “What is to prevent me from being baptized?” So Philip baptizes him, and he goes on his way, rejoicing.

Has a stranger ever changed your life?

It’s hard to explain how amazing it is that this conversation ever happened. (more…)

Acts 4:1-22

Why do we bother with Jesus? That’s what I wondered,when I read the text from Acts this week. Why do we bother with Jesus? He makes so much trouble.

The name of Jesus makes trouble for Peter. Peter and John are healing and teaching in the name of Jesus in the days after the coming of the Holy Spirit, after the feast of Pentecost. They draw a crowd who are amazed by their work and their words (after all, they had healed a man who was more than 40!). But they also draw the attention of the temple authorities. They are, after all, preaching unorthodox ideas about the resurrection of the dead on the steps of the holy temple of Jerusalem; and they’re doing it in Jesus’ name. Peter and John are arrested, and brought before the rulers, and the elders, and the scribes.

The name of Jesus makes trouble for Peter. It makes trouble for Peter because Jesus had already made trouble for the temple authorities, the rulers,  the elders, and the scribes; for the whole Jewish community in Jerusalem. His movement of religious renewal had divided households and friendships. But more than that – it had threatened the status and safety of the Jewish community, their carefully brokered peace with their colonial rulers, the Romans. Jesus had made it even more dangerous to be Jewish in Jerusalem.

The name of Jesus makes trouble for Peter; because Jesus had already made trouble for the Jewish community; because Jesus had made trouble for the Romans. He was followed by crowds wherever he went. He was addressed by titles reserved for the emperor: Son of God; King; anointed one. He had all the markings of a revolutionary leader, out to challenge the Empire. He was causing trouble for the Romans, and so, in the end, he was crucified.

Jesus made trouble for everyone: disciples, fellow Jews, and the Roman Empire. And so when he was killed, many hoped that the trouble would stop. But Peter has another idea. Peter, the disciple who was always making foolish mistakes out of pure enthusiasm, finally finds a good outlet for his conviction and energy. Peter finally finds his purpose. Instead of a bumbling follower, he is suddenly a leader: the foremost leader of the fledgling movement that becomes the Christian Church.

Peter doesn’t care how much trouble he or anyone else gets into because of Jesus. He is still that same guy we meet in the gospels: all heart, full of love for his teacher. Peter can’t contain himself. He boldly declares to the leaders of his people that Jesus is the cornerstone of faith and the source of salvation. Luckily for Peter, the crowd is on his side; so he is released, to preach another day.

Why do we bother with Jesus? He makes so much trouble. He made trouble two thousand years ago. He makes trouble for us now. (more…)

Genesis 8: 15-22
Matthew 6: 25-29

It was Wednesday and I was driving my granddaughter Julia, about 2 at the time, to my house for an afternoon, as I did almost every Wednesday that year. We were playing our regular game called “is that Grummy’s house?” (I’m Grummy) I had created the game in order to forestall her asking, as children are wont to do every minute, “Are we there yet?” The game consisted of her pointing out to houses as we drove by and asking “Is that Grummys house?” (already knowing the answer of course) and I would answer, depending on the house, “No, it’s too big” or “No, it’s yellow and Grummy’s house is green” and so on and she would giggle. And so it went. Then we passed a temple.

“Is that Grummys house?”
“No,” I said, “that’s a temple?”
“What’s a temple?” she asked.
I answered, “Well it’s like a church, like the place you go on Sundays with Mommy and Daddy.”
“What do you do there?”
“You pray and sing and see your friends there, just like a church.”
“Oh… what else do you do there?”
(as most of you know, children have a way of not giving up.)
“You thank God for all the good things in your life…”
“Like what?”
(I’m still not off the hook!)
“Hmm, oh, your family and your friends and flowers…. “
A pause as I searched for more examples she’d understand … and then her little voice coming from the back seat:
“And woodpeckers!!”

Woodpeckers! Of course, why not?? Woodpeckers! Now how she happened to come up with woodpeckers at that precise moment I’m not sure, perhaps a picture book she had read recently, or her dad had shown her one at their feeder or maybe, being the diplomat that all children seem to be at that age, she said “woodpeckers” because she knows how much her Grummy loves birds.

Yes! Let’s praise God for woodpeckers, and for robins and red-tails, for deer and dolphins and moose and mice, praise God for them all. Consider the lilies, Jesus said, see the birds of the air in all their beauty…how God provides for them; for all their needs. I believe that if those beautiful black and white striped birds with flashes of red had been in Galilee, Jesus would have thanked God, as Julia did, for woodpeckers.
(more…)

John 20:19-31

Sometimes the church forgets to have fun.

Christians are not generally known for our upbeat nature; for our sense of humor; for being the life of the party. On the contrary. Depending on who you ask, you may find that Christians are known for being dour and serious; judgmental and hateful; or simply that we have bad music, and kitschy gear. I don’t think I have ever heard this: “I knew she was a Christian, because she laughed a lot.”

Our gospel reading today is a case in point. At this post-Easter gathering, the disciples are hardly in a festive mood. They are locked away from their friends and neighbors, paralyzed with fear. Jesus, the resurrected Christ, comes to wish them peace, to breathe the Holy Spirit upon them, to commission them in ministry; but they are still afraid.

Of course, it shouldn’t surprise us that these disciples are afraid; their leader has just been executed. The resurrection was amazing, yes, but it didn’t take away the rest of the story. 21^st century Christians have plenty things to be afraid of, too: poverty, climate change, racism, cancer. They say that if you’re not worried, you’re not paying attention. There’s a reason we’re sometimes so serious.

And yet. And yet, it is the Sunday after Easter, and we’ve just been reminded of some of the best news the world has ever heard. And yet our Creator has given us just this one, precious life. Don’t you think she wants us to enjoy it? (more…)