Wow! (following all of the life and confidence of the Holy Spirit being poured into our lives… Jesus’s healings and teachings…) Today, we are given the storm!
But that’s reality… For so many of us… The storms come upon us both metaphorically and literally. Jesus is on the water with his disciples and many others who decide to travel with him across the sea. And they find themselves in a storm. Now there is some significance in this experience for fisherman who know (way better than us) what a real storm on the sea feels like. Water is in the boat. That’s panic time…They are experienced fishermen - they are terrified! And Jesus quells the storm. The psalm and the book of Job may be in their minds, when they say “Who is this?!” They know the sea They know scripture 3 He gathered them out of the lands; * … 23 Some went down to the sea in ships * and plied their trade in deep waters; 25 Then he spoke, and a stormy wind arose, * … 28 Then they cried to the Lord in their trouble, * … 29 He stilled the storm to a whisper * and quieted the waves of the sea. The disciples are on to Jesus… At the same time even while following “the way” with Jesus, they will encounter storms (as we know too well). The Book of Job is still so famous today that many people refer to the hardships of Job. Job is thought to be the oldest writing included in the Bible. While the very early stories such as Creation and others were gathered over time, Job is thought to have been the oldest actual manuscript included in the Bible. That is profound. It is a book about life. It is part of the wisdom literature which consists of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Job. The books have been broken down to represent different aspects of our growth into maturity. Proverbs reads as though there are rules to living. If you do the right thing you will be rewarded. Life is fair and you get what you deserve. While it is full of wisdom, it appeals to a youthful ideal about how the world operates. Ecclesiastes goes on to expose a level of cynicism, more attributed to one who has lived a bit - and experienced that “you can’t always get what you want.” as the Rolling Stones coined the phrase. Life isn’t always fair. “Everything is like smoke.” So enjoy what matters most: family, friends, conversation…God’s creation… And Job…. Job finally speaks to a very mature sensibility and wisdom….How do we live a good life even through suffering? In this portion of Job, God is finally speaking after 37 chapters of story. Job has lost everything. His family, his property, his health. He cries out to God in his distress; He still praises God, until one day he curses the very day he was born and demands God speak with him. Meanwhile his friends spend chapters trying to identify just what sins he had committed to deserve such a fate. And another intermediary speaks for several chapters about the merits of God’s omnipotence. Finally God speaks, but rather than providing an answer for Job’s suffering: Why a Holy Person should suffer?… God puts these cosmic questions to Job: “….who shut in the sea with doors when it burst out from the womb?-- when I made the clouds its garment, and thick darkness its swaddling band, and prescribed bounds for it, and set bars and doors, and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stopped’?" After many more illustrations of the cosmic nature of God’s work, Job replies with humility and awe. And God then tells the friends (who searched tirelessly for a reason that Job deserved his suffering) that God was angry. That they were wrong. But God says that if Job prayers for them their folly will be forgiven. And Job does pray for them. After this, Job’s life begins to thrive again…. It is a very mature story. Humans often blame the victim. We can’t seem to help it. It is so much easier to place blame than to grapple with the idea that the World throws storms our way. That is a scary scary place to find ourselves in. Some people naturally inherited good health, good teeth, the list goes on…Other people (as Craig would say) were born on third base… We often can’t relate to the trials of others… so we place blame instead. We act like devout disciples of Proverbs… an immature reading on life…believing we actually deserve the things we have. We look through our own lens… rather than looking at one another “not from a human point of view” as Paul said in our reading last week - but through Christ’s lens: with compassion and love - and a humility that suggests we don’t have all of the answers. We just celebrated Juneteenth this week - and for many of us, it is so hard to fathom the realities of those who have - and continue to live a very different and unfair reality. Juneteenth is important in many ways … It represents the explicit move of slave owners to the West, who relocated their slaves to Texas - a place far from the law’s arm. We’d maybe like to believe these enslaved individuals were unaware - that they spent two years in some kind of blindness. But all of their eyes were open… the slave holders and the slaves. Those individuals knew through their relocation what was transpiring - and others through underground channels of communication the “why” of their continued suffering. For those of us who have experienced illness or chronic pain - two years is a heavy burden with unanswered questions; fear of death before release; a life out of control - uncertain ongoing suffering. We may fall into the trap of Ecclesiastes: is there no meaning to life at all? The Story of Job is a mature story. It reminds us of our humanity - our lack of control. Why are we “good” ?- why do we care? - It is not to be self righteous…it’s not to get a reward from God - - but to find those modes of being that reflect the deeper reality of being truly human - and enhance the experience for others (to be like the Son of man)…as we say… the perfect human… the New Adam. A new creation…. Job is a mature reading of life. Job prays for those who trespassed against him. He didn’t have to forgive them first. Prayer in the true sense of opening our hearts - moves us to forgiveness. Moves us to transformation. Moves us to wisdom. We hope to experience this one precious life fully… which means to love fully. As Paul says, "our hearts are wide open to you - there is no restriction in our affection…” A lovely thing about Paul, is that he is always trying to help us live the message of Christ. What are the practical ways? I encourage you to pray for those who have trespassed against you… And in recognition of this federal holiday of Juneteenth… To participate in some of the anti-racism training and resources we have in the Episcopal Church. I’m on the committee. It is eye opening. It is important for us not to be blind to the continued suffering of others - not to place blame, and make excuses now because we can’t fathom the actions of our ancestors then; or because we fearfully don’t know how to repair things today. Our focus should be on how we are weathering it. We are trying to figure out reparations. We are in this boat together. As Jesus says, face into it with faith. And wisdom….As Paul says: “by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, and the power of God.” Amen.
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Happy Father's Day. And the collect is apt in suggesting that like the father - we lead and act with boldness, justice and compassion!
In the name of the father, the son, and the holy Spirit! This week in the Damascus I shared an image of a mustard tree growing in Israel. It is a huge Tree. And in other pictures I found sprawling unwieldy shrubs growing radically - almost in a crawling fashion taking over massive amounts of ground. This famous parable of the mustard seed doesn’t often make complete sense to us, because here we think of spindly weed-like mustard. As Billy said, at centering prayer - there aren’t any birds nesting in these mustard weeds… But the mustard Jesus spoke of indeed grows as a great haven for birds nests. And that is yet another teaching, that the Kingdom may not look like what you expect it to….but it nurtures and provides safe space for us to thrive. Last week I spoke about God’s time as eternal… and so we shouldn’t worry too much about the time in which our families or friends take to come to God. But rather than worry (remember Jesus said, “can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”) Instead of worry - our role is to plant seeds… …Physical and Spiritual and Loving. We already physically planted a pollinator garden with the kids! And it has sprouted into flowers! And next week we will observe our garden with Maribel and Elisabeth and do some more spiritual planting! These activities stay with us for a lifetime - and grow the Kingdom. When I was in college I did a wood cut of a tree and I wrote a poem to go along with it. I gave it to my sister as a gift. And she has always hung it over her bed. It wasn’t until years later when I was visiting- and saw it on her wall - that I realized my poem was completely inspired from scripture. Particularly this scripture of the mustard seed! (Apparently I was listening in Sunday School)… Many of my friends who grew up in faith communities, but no longer attend are faithful volunteers in food pantries and food drives and give to important charities. That influence almost always came from growing up in a faith community. That seed grew! And that is the Kingdom shining through. Remember St. Francis is attributed to saying, “preach the Gospel at all times, when necessary use words.” Payton helps at the food pantry sometimes… and I’m quite certain he will never forget it. The posters and pieces of scripture that I put in the classrooms and in the parish hall are designed to sink in for children - and for those who rent our space. Many of the things that they read may not fully make sense to them… but the seed is there. When I was a child my parents put up a cabin where they are now retired. For thirteen years, all we had was a one room cabin with a loft. I would lie there in the early morning and look at the red lettering stamped into the beams. Some letters were visible and others were not - I couldn’t put the words together. I would mix and match different letters until eventually I realized the letters spelled Kiln Dried. And that felt like such an epiphany after at least a year of staring at them. Wow: Kiln Dried! Awesome. Yet! My six year old mind had no idea what kiln dried meant… I’m pretty sure I asked my parents…. But it still was years later when it really meant something to me. It took time. Like Jesus said, “The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. And you know what… it was fine that I didn’t know what it meant. I knew my parents knew what it meant - that they had put those beams there purposely for the good of the cabin. They were in fact supporting the very cabin. We do not have to understand the works of God completely - to know that they are good - that they are supportive of us. So we give it over. We give over to our faith. And that relieves so much burden and worry. As we say: Let us cast all our cares on you, oh God. And Jesus speaks about the Kingdom in parables because it is beyond plain language. Parables help illustrate deeper Spiritual truths. The first parable in this passage reads…. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. basically whomever is planting doesn’t REALLY have any idea of how this all comes to be…no matter the science and the technology. The Mystery of God is at the center of all things. As the psalmist sings… All the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, I make high the low tree; I dry up the green tree and make the dry tree flourish. Life and death is our reality - but as Paul writes to the Corinthians we have confidence, “for the love of Christ urges us on… We are a new Creation…”meaning we no longer see anyone from a human point of view. A tall order: But remembering that we have died to Christ and are alive in Christ helps us to do as the collect says: walk and act with boldness, justice, and compassion like Christ… because Our seeds plant the Kingdom - and while God is at the center of all things….what we each do as co-creators with God really matters. The parables about the kingdom are the most beautiful to me: It is like the yeast that levens all of the bread. It is like a treasure in a field - and we sell everything to buy that field. It is like the pearl that we sell all our belongings to cherish… “The earth produces of itself, first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. [And]… “when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle, because the harvest has come.” Amen! I think there is a subtle connection between these readings. They may come across as a bit harsh… but with further reflection they reveal the Trinity at work… (but let's just say it takes a bit of reflection!) We may feel a bit jolted by Jesus’ statement that to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is an unforgivable sin.
I recently heard of a survey asking young people what they thought of the church. Most of the responses even from those who grew up in the church, were that “you lost me.” - “I grew up in the church… and yet you didn’t make it understandable.” [1] And worse: Some dismiss our faith as brainwashing, sleep walking, fear driven. This is certainly my generation’s general response. You aren’t seeing a lot of “Gen-Xers” in church. But at the end of the story - one of the interviewees said… “You may not have me now. Christianity is not aligning with everything else I’m learning about life… but that doesn’t mean you won’t ever have me.” [2] Coming to understand Christ… for some of us it takes a lifetime. And some of us yearn for our family members to “get it now.” …but coming to understand the meaning of Jesus is a journey. To quote Rohr: “Even the Gospels seem to jump over Jesus’ thirty years of uneventfulness, paralleling midlife for most of us, during which all the seeds are planted for a later sprouting.” In our Gospel, coming to understand Jesus was also something that obviously his generation is grappling with. His mother, who is possibly his greatest supporter and witness hesitates here. It is the only time we see this behavior. Is she really questioning his sanity? Or -are she and his family trying to protect him from the harsher charge of belonging to Satan?… This is occurring at a time when all we’ve heard about Jesus up until now, is his incredible ministry of healing. The claim is that he is empowered by Beelzebul, which means King of the dungheap! Lord of the Flies; the devil; Satan! Such accusation as Jesus sees it - literally goes against the commandments… Thou shalt have no other God’s before me… And thou shalt not take the Lord’s name in vain… unforgivable… And his statement emphasizes the ultimate claim that Jesus and his healing work is coming from God. —-- The Gospel writer of Mark used a specific style for story telling. He sandwiched parables to get his points across when telling a story - “the meat of the message” is in the middle. Jesus’s parable is about plundering the strong man’s house. “..no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.” He’s saying that that is what he is doing through the power of the Holy Spirit… The Holy Spirit has bound Satan…and the dark forces are fleeing, being cast out, or turning on themselves… He throws this parable into the middle of his teaching that a divided house will fall - and that those who suggest that his work is from Satan are blaspheming the Holy Spirit. Because it’s Satan who divides. And it is Satan who is falling… His logic is that Satan cannot cast out Satan. Only the work of God can do this! Within this suggestion - is that the breakdown of the family is occurring in real time because look what this blasphemy on the part of the crowd has created: Division. And the Holy Spirit is about unity. So, How does this apply to us?! How did Jesus’ message get so turned on its head that so many only heard a message of unforgivable sin instead of his claim to family…that we feel we were born sinful and need to be baptized to be cleansed of sin? This is what got so many of us lost…. Contrary to what many may believe about us blindly following Christianity out of fear… If you read the catechism, our outline of faith in the Book of Common prayer never mentions that baptism saves you from going to hell - nor does the rite of Baptism. Instead it says that baptism makes us a part of the family of God. It reads: “Holy Baptism is the sacrament by which God adopts us as his children and makes us members of Christ's Body, the Church, and inheritors of the kingdom of God. The inward and spiritual grace in Baptism is union with Christ…birth into God’s family the Church, forgiveness of sins, and new life in the Holy Spirit.” We are God’s family. Here is the union that Jesus was creating through his healings, the family he was building; what he meant when he replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” We are God’s adopted children. God’s time is eternal. And it may take some time for us to “get it.” And while we may want our families to get it now… give it time… Like our young interviewee said, the message of Jesus may not be lost on us forever. Our stories remind us today that God is the creator of all things… the one who casts out Satan as the serpent… and also the one who calls to us in the garden he made, seeks us so that we may in turn find “him”… Paul tells the community of Corinth…The Holy Spirit is working in us constantly even as we are passing away… “because we look not at what can be seen, but at what cannot be seen; for what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.” … an eternal family in those eternal dwelling places… And finally, from the Gospel: Jesus who commands us, heals us, forgives us, and breaks the chains of death… doesn’t work alone: his life isn’t the story of a strongman. Jesus’ power is in the power of the Holy Spirit who casts away darkness and brings us into life. That Spirit has been given to us and moves at the ground level. No matter the division we feel in our personal lives, we continue to plant the Spirits’ seeds through love and forgiveness in the lives of others… Not matter the division we witness in a World struggling to wake up, we can be assured that the power of the Holy Spirit is also working to unite us. This is our triune God, whom we worship because we are awake and in Awe, not because we are sleepwalking through life. To end with one of my favorite lines: “My soul waits for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning, *. (Awake) more than watchmen for the morning.” 1. This story was offered by Joy J. Moore https://www.workingpreacher.org/authors/joy-j-moore 2. Again: I am paraphrasing Joy J. Moore here. |
AuthorThe Rev. Heather K. Sisk Archives
July 2024
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WE ARE ALL MADE IN THE IMAGE OF GOD |
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