Always and Without Ceasing, all Circumstances

GaudeteSunday/Advent3B, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses Lake, WA by A, December 16, 2017 by Annette Fricke

This has become one of my favorite Sundays to preach.  It is the Sunday that is known as Gaudete Sunday with the optional change to Rose for it’s colors of paraments and vestments.  Paraments, of course that with which we adorn the altar and other worship furniture and vestments being what priests and deacons wear.  The candle on the Advent Wreath to be lit specifically for this Sunday is the rose-colored one. Gaudete is Latin and means rejoice and is thought to be taken from the second lesson appointed for today.  It has that ever-beckoning call to its wording, “Rejoice always!” which sits alongside the hymn we have been singing with every Sunday’s refrain, “Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel!”  The latter is a word of comfort to happen in the future while the context implied in the former is that of a lifestyle.  We ought always to rejoice.

It is thought that the verses of O come, O come, Emmanuel are composed from what is known as the O antiphons from at least the 8^th century and were sung at Vespers or otherwise known as Evening Prayer in the Anglican tradition before and following the Magnificat from December 17 through December 23, thus the dates written in for the corresponding verses in our hymnal, Hymn 56.[1]  This Sunday is to be a break from the usual penitential practice of Advent, yet the second lesson which begins with “Rejoice always!” is a short one.  Notice that both the hymn’s refrain and the first verse of the second lesson command us to rejoice!

The next phrase is also a command, “…pray without ceasing…”  About now we might be asking if this is necessary or even possible?  How can I rejoice always and pray without ceasing?  As a therapist, it is a typical approach of mine to sit with individuals seeking counseling and have them write about things in the past week that did not go right for them, then ask them what it would look like if what they did resulted in a good outcome.  That is where most of them are stumped because they have had failure in thinking and behavior for so long that they don’t know how it could look if all went well.

And one last command, “…give thanks in all circumstances…”  Wow!  What does Paul mean by that?  The only hint we get is that doing these things are the will of God.  Sometimes I give lists of healthy ways of interacting with others and ask individuals to practice.  We all have a sense that even with practice, we never quite seem to reach superior morality and finesse in our relationship to others. So, what does this mean?  It could mean these are things we should incorporate when we gather for worship, but then again, we are confronted with the words “always…without ceasing, [and] in all circumstances” so I think Paul means at all times.  It is not quite like taking a course of anti-biotics where it really is possible to take them all as prescribed by the doctor. It is not like doing these behaviors for a short time period.  Paul is saying this is a continued action.

People often talk about having bad habits like not eating a balanced diet or waiting till the last moment to write a paper for school or consulting the Cliff Notes instead of reading the whole book or expecting the movie to be the same as the book for a book report.  These are bad habits that can have negative consequences.  We are not asked to pray only when we are going through difficult circumstances or only if someone asks us to pray for them.  Rejoicing with those who rejoice is a difficult thing to do if we are secretly envious of that person, but this goes even a step further and commands us to rejoice ALWAYS. Giving thanks for losing our best friends and for sickness? 

There are both good habits and bad habits.  There are both good attitudes and bad attitudes.  When we are feeling insecure or depressed or perhaps being treated unfairly, it is a good idea to check with someone about these feelings to see if it is reality or our own imagination.  Negative thinking and feeling can have negative consequences.  Without discipline, we develop poor habits and repeat them over and over. As we think about the coming new year and what we might want for a resolution, it would be a step in the right direction to discover just how it is that we can meditate on and commit ourselves to Jesus Christ.  “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ for you.”  We have within us that first step and that first step is the most important one.  We also have other Christians around us to encourage us on our journeys with Jesus.  Most of all, we have the gift of the Holy Spirit if we but learn to listen.  God is faithful and God will carry us.

We are not God’s prophet like Jesus’ cousin John, but we can certainly learn from his tenaciousness and veracity. As God is faithful, so we also ought to be faithful.  We are not required to eat honey and locusts and wear scratchy clothes. Just as John pointed to Jesus as a witness to the greatness of Jesus, so we also, with our lives can live towards faithfulness.  We need not be distracted by all the parties, gifts, trees and wreaths. With God’s help, we can live out what Paul is saying to us. We can continue to sing “Rejoice!  Rejoice!  Emmanuel shall come to thee O Israel.  Emmanuel shall come to you O people of St. Martin’s.  Emmanuel shall come to you, O Moses Lake and Washington State and beyond.  God is not limited and neither are we. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”

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[1] http://liturgy.co.nz/church-year/o-antiphons-chants

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 [AF1]

Christians are not called to be a Mamamouchi

Christ the King Sunday, November 26, 2017, St Martin’s Episcopal Church by Annette Fricke

            Let’s have a little fun.  A friend of mine from high school English class sent me a ‘lost’ English word. The word is ‘Mamamouchi’ and it is a delight to say out loud, and has an equally delectable meaning: ‘someone who believes themselves more important than they really are’.[1] We have all met such people in our lives as well as those who have really contributed to our well-being without bragging about it to the whole world. Christians are not called to be a mamamouchi, but rather to be among the weak and humble.

What does it mean to enter the Kingdom of God? How is it that relating to the weak and humble are linked to entering the Kingdom of God?  One answer might be that one who has been a member of the church here on earth has died and gone to heaven.  That was something I was taught as a child and that somehow there is a direction we go when we die and it is up.  The problem with that thinking is that it talks about what happens later, not now.  The other problem is that what really happens in the afterlife may have no resemblance to daily living.  I think it is a misinterpretation of the gospel to think that this life-long hope in the resurrection is somehow not realized until we die and yet we continue to baptize and confirm and take Eucharist weekly, all of which come with the promise of entering the kingdom.

Just this past week, early on the morning of Thanksgiving, after plans were made to spend it with my girlfriend from first grade, her sister and their mom, I received the sad news that my second mom had died at 3 am.  Mostly, I thought about her generosity to me.  I travelled with her family to Spokane.  I played at her house. She was my Camp Fire Girls’ leader. She helped me learn how to sew clothes. It seems that when we are giving to others, we are most alive as persons, dispensers of God’s love as we live out our callings, our God-given vocations.  It is not so much what happens to people when they die as it is what happens when we are alive.  It is common to not realize God’s work in our lives through others till we reflect on it days to years afterwards. Yet we also must take care of ourselves as much as we are able, knowing that special people in our lives will not always be there. Self-care is a good thing as long as we are aware that being selfish and doing things only for our own gain is not.  A lost English word that comes to mind is ‘Mamamouchi’, ‘someone who believes themselves more important than they really are’.[2]

This parable seems to point out that all of our relationships are important, among believers as well as with people outside of the church. Indeed, this parable seems to imply that the outsiders will be judged by how well they treated believers!  We are weak in their sight.  We are not the powerful.  Throughout the ages, Christians have been persecuted for their beliefs, ridiculed or ignored. In times past, strong Christian leaders who defied the Roman Catholic Church were burned at the stake for their beliefs and declared to be heretics. At other times, it seems like we all must have something contagious, so others stay away. Helping out the weak means helping those in our midst as well as those who are not yet believers or simply do not feel comfortable coming through our doors. Jesus does not appear as a powerful presence in the world.  Instead, we get from others, “Where is your God?  God must be absent or out on a long journey.”  Some still want to believe that God will show up with a grand entrance back into our history, our humanity.  Instead, every prediction of Jesus’ return does not happen.  We also sometimes hold on to that idea that God will somehow definitively prove non-believers wrong.  We forget that God does not work that way.  God is not like that.  God is also the weak one.  God is the sick one in a hospital bed, the one incarcerated for life, the one on death row, and the poor, hungry and thirsty that are struggling to keep themselves and their families alive. God is the weak as well as the humble giver, loving us far more than we can either imagine or deserve.

In the days after Thanksgiving, when we are to remember all that God has given, I offer this poem:

The Gift by Mary Oliver

Be still, my soul, and steadfast.

Earth and heaven both are still watching

though time is draining from the clock

and your walk, that was confident and quick,

has become slow.

So, be slow if you must, but let

the heart still play its true part.

Love still as once you loved, deeply

and without patience. Let God and the world

know you are grateful. That the gift has been given.[3]

Let us go forward into Advent, thankful for what we have and for what we have in abundance and may we always remember to share with others our

God-given gifts.  There is nothing we can do to earn our way to salvation because it has been freely given and is already here. Jesus died on the cross to make that possible. We didn’t earn salvation, we inherited it.  We are not called to be a mamamouchi because it is not us who are great, it is God.

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[1] http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171122-twenty-six-words-we-dont-want-to-lose

[2]http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20171122-twenty-six-words-we-dont-want-to-lose

[3] https://wildandpreciouslife0.wordpress.com/2016/09/27/the-gift-by-mary-oliver/

A word of Peace in a Place of Turmoil

Proper22A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses Lake, WA by Annette Fricke

In the news, we heard about a shooting in Moses Lake, Columbine, Virginia Tech, Orlando, a small Eastern Washington high school, and a stabbing at Federal Way High school.  Unlike the other shootings, the shooting in Las Vegas was such a large-scale event that the US flag was to be at half-staff, to formally indicate a nation in mourning. On this day, the imagery of the Gospel text is no different.  Jesus tells a parable handed down to us in such violent language that one author deems it “murderous hostility.”  Turns out that this type of scenario is the type of thing that really did happen in Palestine in the first century.  Tenants were not paid weekly or at the end of the harvest, but every 5 years. So we can understand from an economic standpoint, it was literally a murderous reality in that day and age for many people.[1]

However, if you think just for a minute that this story is straightforward, you would be mistaken.  It is a mixed bag of reality and allegory with sentences thrown in that make no sense with the surrounding context. 

This is one of several vineyard stories in Matthew and talks about one of his frequent themes, that of bearing fruit.  It is common knowledge that Matthew was once used by the early church as a tool of instruction for those wishing to be a full member of the church.  It was expected by the church that becoming a Christian meant that you were joining a group of people meant by God to bear fruit.  In a very real sense, the early Christians understood Jesus’ teaching to mean that living as a Christian in God’s kingdom was both a present as well as a future situation.  This parable paints a bleak picture for those who do not follow Jesus. I don’t know that I particularly agree with the contrast. But then, this is a standard way to be presented if the understanding is that the kingdom of God will occur before the present disciples die. Thus, the continued predictions of the end of the world and so far, the predictors have not been accurate.

If we are to see the vineyard as the kingdom of God, this parable implies that God has supplied all that is needed, for example, the watchtower and the wine press.  God is the owner of that vineyard.  Every bit if it is God’s. People are used to the concept that 10% belongs to God.  Not so.  All belongs to God.  We are the managers or stewards of all that God has given.[2]

But there are two meanings of the word “fruit.”  Fruit can mean repentance as in the case of the baptism which John the Baptist talked about and the other is producing the fruit of love.  Being loved by God, we are invited to love others. It means that we have everything we need to produce fruit, yet all goes awry because we, the tenants, want more.  We can be selfish. Whether intentional or not, God’s goals for the kingdom appear often to be in a state of sabotage.  The servants or leaders that God sends are killed.  The people somehow do not see how the servants fit into the kingdom and perhaps are not even thinking about the kingdom or have a different concept of the kingdom of God.  Historically, those sent by God were the prophets God sent to the people of Israel. In today’s world, they would be the leadership of the Church. 

This is a small congregation and because it is so small, leadership needs to be expanded to include most of us.  We all have various gifts and talents that are given to us by God for the strengthening of our brothers and sisters, to watch out for each other, to build up the church and to support the mission of the church with UTO offerings, funding the utilitarian boat for Camp Cross, feeding the hungry, and tending to the decision-making process for the good of the diocese.  If we are not the leaders, our role could be that of helping the leaders.

It also means evangelism.  Reaching out is a natural behavior that follows all that God has done for us and it will also afford us the opportunity to grow as a local congregation.  If you have ideas for any of these areas, please share them with the leadership of this church.  Please volunteer your time and talent. We do want to keep our church.

Yes, the world still has a lot of violence, even in our own backyards, but we need to overcome the overwhelming impact and grief that it has had on us.  God is still calling us to respond in love towards our neighbors and to be a word of peace in a place of turmoil.

God has blessed us abundantly; may we also be empowered to share that abundance with others.  Let’s not keep this to ourselves. Even though we will sometimes get caught up in going awry and even participate in possible sabotage, it is our Christian response to God’s love in Jesus Christ who gave his whole self for us to be Christ to the world.

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[1] Barbara E. Reid, Parables for Preachers, 2001 by The Order of St Benedict, Inc., Collegeville, MN; The Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN 56321

[2] Brian Stoffregen’s exegetical notes on Matthew 21:33-46

Things are going to Change Now

Proper17A, September 3, 2017 for St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, Moses Lake, WA by Annette Fricke

Jesus said, "Things are going to change now." He heaved a sigh. We all were moving with him now toward the little spring of water. He said, "I have to go to Jerusalem. When I get there, I will suffer many things from the elders and the chief priests and the scribes. I'm telling you now so that you need not be surprised when it happens. It will happen."

Jesus knelt down by the spring, cold from the earth. He made a cup of his hands and scooped water. Just before he started to drink, he said, "I will be killed in Jerusalem, and on the third day be raised --"

I spoke again. I said the most natural thing there was to say.

Well, my feelings were so hurt by Jesus' words. Be killed? Was this the gloomy thing he'd been thinking about all the time?

I grabbed his wrist and shouted, "No!" The water splashed from his hands. "No, God won't allow it!" I cried.

On account of my feelings, I was gripping him with all my strength. But he started to pry my fingers from his wrist. He had terrible power in his hands.

I blustered on. Surely, he knew that I was arguing out of love for him! "O Lord," I said, "this can never happen to you!"[1]

            The immediate sense of this text is Peter’s reaction and comprehension of what Jesus was saying.  Peter, as a spokesperson for the disciples, understands that they will be losing a mentor, the one who has inspired them, the one they love most. But again, he does not fully get it. As "human beings," is it possible for us not to see with "human eyes? Is it possible for us to ‘get it’?

            Have you ever played or observed the children’s game called “Follow the Leader”? The "game" can get complicated if the leader goes where the followers don't want to go – crossing a narrow beam over a high crevice, running across a busy street, squeezing through the entrance to a dark cave -- or when it means going to Jerusalem, to suffer much, to be killed, and to be raised.

The "game" gets more complex if the followers can't actually see the leader. Suppose the leader disappears into a tall cornfield or into a dark cave. How do we "play follow the leader" when the leader is unseen? Where is Jesus leading us now? Where is Jesus leading our congregation now?

            And yet, someone from the outside looking in won’t see it that way at all.  They might wonder why we would follow Jesus at all and how it is possible since he is not visible in the way you and I are. Think about what it is like just observing what goes on between people. The same person we adore, someone else despises.  We are of a different ilk.  We are called to deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow Jesus.  Who is this Jesus and why do we follow him?  For some, it is a matter of time. The time may come when they do recognize the value of following Jesus.

            Think about the artist whose work goes unappreciated and dies in poverty who is recognized after death for his or her contribution and brilliant works of art.  Suddenly those paintings are worth a great deal of money—money that could have saved that artist from being a pauper while alive.

            Consider a man who goes unappreciated for his work by those who feel they are justified by racist attitudes, firmly grounded in scripture no less, simply because he is black and not white. The church of the past and present is often filled with contradiction. Of course, the natural thought is that the church before us was less enlightened. We believe many things in line with the gospel of love and justice, but do our actions say something different?  How do we distinguish between our “humanness” and truly following Jesus and sometimes can only tell in hindsight?

            Today, September 3 is annual UBE (Union of Black Episcopalians) Sunday. It is meant to be a celebration of the contributions of Black Episcopalians: People of the African Diaspora to the vibrancy of the Episcopal Church. Supporting UBE reminds and empowers us ALL to live into the fullness of following the Way of Jesus. In particular, there is much we can learn from Alexander Crummell.  Alexander Crummell lived from 1819-1898.  He was an Episcopalian priest, missionary, scholar and teacher, was born in New York City in 1819 to free black parents.  He spent much of his life addressing the conditions of African Americans while urging an educated black elite to aspire to the highest intellectual attainments as a refutation of the theory of black inferiority.  Crummell began his education at an integrated school in New Hampshire. He later transferred to an abolitionist institute in Whitesboro, New York where he learned both the classics and manual labor skills. However, after being denied admittance to the General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church because of his race, Crummell was forced to study privately.  Nonetheless at the age of 25 he became an Episcopalian minister.  From 1848 to 1853 Crummell lectured and studied in England.  He also graduated from Queens’ College, Cambridge University in 1853.  Crummell left England to become an educator in Liberia, accepting a faculty position at Liberia College in Monrovia.  From his new post, Crummell urged African Americans to emigrate to Liberia. Due to political reasons, this did not work out, so he returned to the United States, settling in DC.  When some Episcopal bishops proposed a segregated missionary district for black parishes, Crummell organized a group now known as the Union of Black Episcopalians to fight the proposal. From 1895 to 1897 Crummell taught at Howard University in Washington, D.C.  In 1897, the last year of his life, Crummell helped found the American Negro Academy and became its first president.  The point is this man was anything but selfishly inspired.  He responded to the gospel in a direction of social justice for his own minority group in a way that would benefit the whole of society.  He broke the barriers put up by the church and made the church better.  He is an example of putting your hands to the plow and never looking back.  Every day, like him, we should be listening for the call of Jesus and every day deciding what it is that we can do to preach, teach, and follow Jesus.[2]  He knew in his heart that his life mattered just as much as any white or other people who opposed him.

            We are free to disagree with others, but at the same time, we need to examine why we disagree.  If our disagreement is rooted in oppression and the denial of basic humanity to our fellow brothers and sisters, we need to be open to the point of view different from ours.  We are sometimes wrong as a church and as individuals. We must be willing to acknowledge that before not just God, but others.  We must be open to what Jesus is teaching us.  Peter learned from Jesus and this is where we should be, too.   Jesus said, "Things are going to change now."

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[1] Walter Wangerin, The Book of God

[2] http://www.blackpast.org/aah/crummell-alexander-1819-1898, Jeremiah Moses, Alexander Crummell: A Study of Civilization and Discontent (Oxford University Press, 1989);

Pbs.org/wnet/aaword/reference/articles/Alexander_crummell.html, 

Grasp Jesus' Hand and Never let Go

Proper 14A, St. Martin’s Episcopal Church, August 13, 2017 by Annette Fricke

This Gospel text is not just about the disciples, but about the early church. This is emphasized in Matthew. Matthew explains that the boat is "being tortured or tormented" by the wind. This word is normally used of people rather than a boat. The boat represents the early church whereas the wind and the sea are those things which toss us about in our daily lives. Matthew has a different take than Mark where this same word describes the disciples: "When Jesus sees the disciples being tormented or having difficulty in their rowing.” Matthew's addition of Peter's walking on the sea also supports the early church aspect of the story. It is no longer just a story about what Jesus alone can do. Courageous disciples can also walk on the sea -- and Peter both illustrates the faith to do this and the doubts that sank him.

Imagine, if you will, a priest who will soon lose his 53-year-old daughter, also a priest, to pancreatic cancer and whose wife has ever worsening dementia.  He continues to work hard providing pastoral care to the many folks who have decided to retire in a nearby retirement community.  Outside his family, there is an even younger daughter of the congregation dying of pancreatic cancer.  Of the many years I had seen him, this was one in particular in which the 2-month break in the summer was most needed. The sea can become stronger than the boat. The task of providing pastoral care is a daunting one, especially for someone who is going through his own walk with grief and loss.  A person in this situation is a prime candidate for both administering excellent care as well as succumbing to the hurt that is within, ever in danger of leaking out at an inopportune moment.  Worst case scenario, this can occur when someone who is really struggling needs us to be strong the most.  No one is immune, if indeed we have any feeling at all for another’s pain in life.  This is why there are spiritual directors.  There are certain predicaments in our journeys here on earth, which demand the assistance of others, most of which have an element of emotional pull.  To put it bluntly, we are all vulnerable to the temperamental waves of life’s ocean.  Most of us are fearful of climbing out of the safety of the boat, because we fear the force of the wind and the waves.  We may not be aware, as children, but as mature adults, we do know what’s out there, beyond our comfortable seats in the boat.  And if we don’t know, it is surely pretty close to our imaginations, based on our past experiences.

However, the church is not about just taking care of our own.  We are also called to pay attention to what it going on outside our boat.  A friend of mine writes, “This weekend I'm watching in horror as white supremacists descend upon Charlottesville, VA. Hundreds of them-- no doubt many who consider themselves Christian-- threatening with torches and hate, surrounding a church full of people praying for an end to hatred.”  And this week’s news topics also includes a possible conflict with the US, Guam, and North Korea.  I will not go into details.  It is in the news if further research is needed.  Still, we are called to push on.  Push on despite the pressures all around us, both personal and global. This is how life comes to us in reality.  The boundaries become blurred because at the same time we are in process of comforting someone in their painful moments, we are going through our own conflicts, our own struggles, and our own monumental strife.  As much as we might like to give as a valid excuse for not being involved in the pastoral care of those around us, that we have our own problems, that simply will not cut it. There are no credible reasons for not caring.  We are never off the clock because we are not called to compromise our caring for each other as well as the entire world if we indeed have decided to follow Jesus.  It is Jesus who has commanded us, like he did Peter, to come out of the boat.  Our attitude should be that of Peter’s, “Jesus, is that you?  I want to be where you are.  If that is you, command me to come to you.”

When we feel God’s absence in our lives, when it seems that everything is crashing down around us, when we are feeling totally abandoned, this gospel reading emphasizes that God’s presence is always there.  God is there even when we don’t feel that God is present.  God will do more for us than just be there in our joys and sorrows.  God will defend us and lift us up when our faith falters, just as he lifted up Peter when Peter began to sink.  God raises our whole beings to a new level of faith when we become weak, when we unite our lives to Jesus.

There is just one more thing that God illustrates for us in this gospel text and that is this: the importance of spending time in prayer.  If we follow the timeline, we will notice that it appears that Jesus sent the crowds away in the late afternoon.  We are told that Jesus was alone for most of the night.  He was there praying.  He does not come back to the boat where the disciples are until 4:00 am.  Prayer is our connection with God just as it was for Jesus while he was with us here on earth.  It is prayer that grounds us for ministry to and with others, allowing us to see that we are truly on equal terms with others.  There is no hierarchy of this or that person being of a higher spiritual plane, because we all have the potential, in our own lives, small as they may seem to the world, to help lift others when they are sinking from the turbulent waves of life.  The love of God in Jesus Christ needs to be our sole motivator for our actions towards others.

I can still see that priest as he moved about with the skill and resiliency obtained by practicing the principles of compassion learned by many years of listening to the story of others and countless hours of praying fervently both for and with them, unselfishly giving his all.  How does he do it? The message from this text is not, "If Peter had enough faith, he could have walked on the water," just as the message to us is not, "If we had enough faith, we could overcome all our problems in spectacular ways.”  Rather, the story about Peter graphically depicts what it means to be a Christian caught midway between faith and doubt. Peter represents all who dare to believe that Jesus is Savior, take their first steps in confidence that he is able to sustain them, and then forget to keep their gaze fixed on him instead of on the towering waves that threaten to engulf them. In the depth of crisis, when all seems lost, they remember to call on the Savior, and find his grace sufficient for their needs.  We are people who worship and doubt at the same time.  Our faith is like that of Peter’s, a person we admire and extol as an example, Peter the Rock.  Sometimes our rock is not so strong and becomes like putty.  That is when we need God and each other to maintain, to bless, to send forth into the world to be the presence of God to a people who really need to experience and understand God’s presence. It is up to us to embrace and take hold of that presence which holds us up.  We need to be reminded that God is always there to strengthen us to the end: in the midst of all that troubles us, in the ordinariness and in our joyful celebrations.  God never abandons us; and even though at times we sense that perhaps God is absent, God is not absent.  God is always there.  God will sustain us at all times, even when we are shattered by the realities of accident, disease, aging, hatred, oppression and other circumstances and we begin to sink. Jesus will hold out his hand to us when we call out to him.  It is our choice and wise decision to grasp onto that hand and never let go. Pray for Charlottesville and our country.  Do what you can to make this a better world. Hold on to Jesus' hand and don't let go!

Giving Simply What's Needed

Proper8A/Fourth Sunday after Pentecost, July 2, 2017, St Martin’s Episcopal by Annette Fricke

            The tone of this part of Mathew, chapter 10, is one of comfort when it talks about when a person does something good, a reward will follow.  However, if we are to step back just one verse, we hear quite the opposite.  Verse 39 reads, “Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”  It is important to read scripture as a whole, not just the little passages we listen to on Sunday mornings as though that is all there is in the Bible.  I once knew a student at the Catholic seminary who thought that the Bible consisted of only those Biblical passages read during Mass.  What comes before the gospel helps to illuminate the meaning of the present text.  Our gospel’s meaning is better understood in the context of what precedes; that half a sentence which says, “Those who find their life will lose it.”  The contrast compels us to think about our motivations in life.  To pursue anything irrespective of our relationship to God is always a mistake.  It will cost us.  We may be making new friends who we believe value the same things as we do, but at the same time without our rootedness in God, drive us further from God.  Our faith wavers when we grab onto such things as security—that better job, that better salary—that better position.  Are we doing it for selfish reasons or because we sense that God is pushing us forward in that direction?  Opportunities for change seldom come in a package where it is an easy decision.  The decision-making process is usually filled with all sorts of pros and cons, where when chosen one way or the other still makes us wonder if the decision we made was the right one.  Perhaps either way was the right one.  Perhaps either way was the wrong one. A friend of Dad’s once told me when he was over 90 years old, “I still don’t know if marrying Doris was the right choice.”  Despite that thought that he would mull over in his mind periodically, he remained faithful to her. Despite that our thoughts and behaviors may betray our loyalty to God, the choice to follow or not is always there.  The choice to follow will sometimes send us in a direction we didn’t really choose to go.  The way of God is the way of sacrifice.

            In today’s reading we hear the words, “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.”  For the day in which this was written, it was meant to be the same as if in the presence of the sender.  Whoever welcomes you, welcomes Jesus, and whoever welcomes Jesus, welcomes the Father; for all of these are one and the same.  These words bring to mind the Hebrew Scripture readings of sending messengers among kings.  They did not have newspapers, television, radio or computers then.  Everything was sent by way of a messenger and what was sent by messenger was the same as if that person was speaking directly to you.  Even in the middle ages, the tradition continued.  If the king sends a messenger, it is the same as if the king was speaking directly to you.  This tells us something very important.  If we see ourselves as disciples of Jesus Christ, our ministry is Jesus himself.  We are not just the messenger or gopher.  We are not simply middle management.  We are not simply the poor laborer or slave of our master.  Just as we are in Jesus just as Jesus is in the Father, we are God to the person to whom we minister.  People know God through us as Christian believers.  Yet even though we are in the community of Christ, we are amongst a sea of unbelievers and atheists which are quite numerous.  This may be cause to feel like one of the little ones, as the early Christians felt.  But God is with us in the most profound way possible.

            So, with that in mind, here is our challenge.  Our bulletin proclaims every Sunday, “St. Martin’s is a welcoming, vibrant community that fosters spiritual growth to serve Christ in all people.”  Will we walk away?  Will we take responsibility?  Will we see that this simple sentence and guiding principle is accomplished over and over so that our small Christian community will increase and the work God has given us to do will be done?  Do we not also pray every time we gather, “Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven?”  In order that our prayers be effected, action must follow.  We are to seek God’s guidance and go forward, as we proceed, discerning where God would have us be as a congregation, using the resources we have and trying different strategies.  We should be asking the questions as to how to make our ministry to others work.  A challenge requires a response, a united response where we work together, not each person doing their own little thing by themselves.  We are called to relationship and we are to be about the building of relationships with each other and our community, the local as well as the global community.

            We are called to meet basic needs, to see that basic needs are distributed and received.  That is the grace of God at work.  That is the reward of servanthood.  That is the reward of sainthood.  The life packs are a great example of meeting basic needs.  Outside our community were several places in need of drinkable water such as Airway Heights and Flint, Michigan.  Many during this time of the year are victims of house fires in need of temporary shelters.  We are not expected to meet everybody’s needs, but we do have the resources to meet the needs of many.  We are a strong congregation, but our strength is stronger when we unite in common goals, pitch in and work together.

            Matthew is echoing both Mark and John. The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many and from his fullness we have all received grace upon grace.   Is not our reward in serving others the grace of God which we ourselves have received?  Isn’t it God who makes us God’s righteous servants, to walk humbly beside God in service to others in need and giving them what they need?

            And how do we decide?  During my time as a Camp Counselor one summer, we had the kids make a list of “Needs and Wants.”  What do we really need to live on this earth?  We need food, clothing, and shelter—and I might add, drinkable water.  If the water is making us sick, it is not drinkable.  Basics.  Campers need to know that it is possible to live without a cell phone and other items they would be tempted to put on the “needs” side of the list. One counselor decided that he would wear the same pair of camp shorts for a whole year without washing them.  Many campers snickered and said things like, “Gross!” But he did make a valid point and thought out of the box. It is up to us as a congregation to decide. It's OK to think creatively.

We are called by God to give the simplest of things, like water, because the simplest is the most needed; giving water, a smile, a hand, a compliment.  Give that which will brighten someone’s day and make their load just a bit easier.  It doesn’t have to be big, just help where help is needed.  Listen where listening is needed.  Care where caring is needed.  Do the righteous thing and distribute God’s grace to all of God’s children.  We are all God’s children.  We are all brothers and sisters.  “Whoever welcomes you welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.  And whoever gives even a Dixie cup of cold water to one of these little ones in the name of a disciple---truly I tell you, none of these will lose their reward.”

We want a Monarchy!

Proper5BISam8 by Annette Fricke

"We Want a Monarchy!"

The citizens of the United States have just gone through the agony of another presidential election.  I think it would be accurate to say that many people wanted change.  Many in my circle were not really happy with either the Democrat nor the Republican candidates.  Some people equate socialism with communism.  For other countries, it is a no-brainer.  Some countries have had years of universal healthcare.  The main objection, it seems to that is the much higher tax rate of these countries. Demanding "radical" change in the way things are done in America seems to be almost unanimous. England had its own upheaval, leaving the EU. What they don't agree upon is what needs change, how to change it or even who should effect the change. And the conflict continues.

In the passage from 1 Samuel 8, we hear echoes of another divisive political climate in ancient Israel. Things have got to change, the system is broken, we hear the people telling Samuel, their aging statesman. What's hard for us to imagine, though, living in a 21st century democracy, is the kind of change that elders of Israel were urging.  "Give us a king to govern us!" they demanded in 1 Samuel 8:6. Unlike this proposed monarchy, this is not the government we have, but the government from which we fought to be free.

It is not entirely clear why the ancient Israelites transitioned from a tribal society into a monarchy in the early Iron Age (sometime in the late 11th or early 10th century). Up until this point, the most significant transition between leaders in the biblical text occurs when Moses dies and Joshua, Moses's assistant, takes over. After that, the biblical text describes a fairly haphazard state of affairs in which charismatic leaders (judges) rose up from time to time to lead groups of Israelites, generally into battle, culminating in the figure of Samuel. As the author of Judges records, "In those days there was no king in Israel; all the people did what was right in their own eyes" (17:6). 

Monarchy was certainly not a new institution in the Ancient Near East, having deep roots in Mesopotamia and Egypt, as well as nations surrounding Israel. Israel was perhaps unusual in not having instituted a monarchy. But King Saul rose to power in a period characterized by unprecedented upheaval among Israel's neighbors. "Throughout most of its recorded history," notes James Kugel, "the little strip of territory between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea had been dominated by its larger, more powerful neighbors...Egypt to the south, Babylon and Assyria to the east, Aram/Syria to the north, and still farther north, the Hittites." During the reigns of Saul and David, however, most of these nations were distracted by their own internal issues. It's possible that this reprieve gave the "tribes of Israel a unique opportunity, not only to cast off foreign domination but to form a mini-empire of their own..."

In addition to the opportunities created by this temporary power vacuum, ancient Israel was likely experiencing internal turmoil due to competing coalitions within the tribal society. The author of the text hints at this possibility at the beginning the 1 Samuel 8 when he frames the narrative by pointing out that Samuel had grown old and that he had appointed his sons as judges, "yet his sons did not follow in his ways, but turned aside for gain; they took bribes and perverted justice" (verses 1-3). 

This same information is immediately repeated in verses 4-5, when these words are put in the mouths of the elders of Israel who come to Samuel who tell Samuel, "You are old...  appoint for us a king to govern us, like other nations." 

For some, then, a monarchy might have meant a more reliable system of governance which might allow for more equitable rule than seemed probable under the leadership of Samuel's wayward sons. For others, and not as obvious in the text itself, it's possible that the elders represented an elite segment of society who would also stand to benefit under a monarchy, the 1% if you will. For them, having a king would create the possibility for significant personal gain, a society in which both power and resources were consolidated in the hands of a few.

The text doesn't provide any further clues as to who more precisely was interested in a king or even why, suggesting variously that "the elders of the people of Israel" (8:4), "the people who were asking for a king" (8:10), "the people of Israel" (8:22), or simply "the people" (8:19, 21). The only stated rationale for such dramatic social change: they wanted someone to govern them, they wanted to be like the other nations, and they wanted a king to go out before them to fight their battles.

It is also possible that not everyone was on board with the idea of monarchy. This becomes apparent in the sharp contrast in the text between the seemingly unified position of the people and both Samuel's and God's distinctly negative responses. Upon hearing the people's request, the narrator reports that "the thing displeased Samuel" and that "Samuel prayed to the Lord," presumably about his concerns.

God comforts Samuel, saying, in effect, 'Don't worry, this is not about you. Look what I've done for them in the past, and look how they've rejected me.' God continues speaking, "Now then, listen to their voice; only -- you shall solemnly warn them, and show them the way of the king..." (8:9). Samuel goes on, at great length, to demonstrate that a king is not necessarily the solution to all their problems. In fact, in his view, a king is just the beginning of a completely new set of problems. 

It's easy to side with Samuel and God in this passage, from our vantage point in a democracy, but we may not be giving the people the credit they deserve. If part of the reason the Israelites want a king has to do with justice and good governance, then Samuel misses this altogether. In his response, he doesn't recognize their concern, by either defending his sons or explaining past injustices. One almost gets the feeling that he is deflecting the legitimate concerns of the people by making it about him! Does he feel guilty about not being as attentive to these kinds of problems as he should have been? 

God's response is a bit strange as well. God, like Samuel registers the request as a personal attack, yet God tells Samuel to go ahead and give them a king. We are left wondering if God authorizes this change in affairs because God wants to punish the people or because God sees new potential, some fresh air, in a different form of governance. Maybe God is just as ready for a change as the people, but just wasn't willing to initiate it.

Just how do we see change?  Do we rail against it simply because it has not been done before?  Do we ever welcome change?  Are there acceptable ways to introduce change?  Do we fear the unknown and therefore cling to the past? There is one thing for sure found in this story about Samuel, the people supported him, but not his sons and gave him direction.  The position of a king here is not one of dictatorship, but of being humble enough to accept that perhaps the judgment of the elders is spot on.  Is the church where it needs to be or do we need to come up with something new?  You decide.

Breathe that They may Live!

5LentA Ezekiel 37:1-14 by Annette Fricke

Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath (ruah), prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath (ruah): Thus, says the Lord GOD: Come from the four winds (ruah plural), O breath (ruah), and breathe upon these slain, that they may live” (Ezekiel 37:9). The Hebrew word ruah, meaning “breath” and “wind” as well as “spirit,” is repeated ten times in these fourteen verses -- four times in the climactic verse 9 alone.  Breath, wind and spirit are thought to be similar terms denoting the same thing.  They are all approximations descriptive of what some would say is the grace of God.  On our own, we cannot give ourselves life, but God can.

Ezekiel insists that individuals are both utterly free to make moral choices and responsible for the consequences of these choices. Each individual is given the chance to make decisions that may be life-giving or death-dealing (Ezekiel 18). Yet Ezekiel sees little evidence that Judeans will choose more wisely in the future than they have in the past. Though blessed with moral agency, they are no more able to use this faculty well than lifeless bones are able to get up and walk.

But Ezekiel discovers divine grace instead. This grace initiated the whole human enterprise by making humans from dust and breathing into them the breath, ruah, of life (Genesis 2:7). God likewise initiated the entire Israelite project, choosing to take slaves from Egypt, giving them God’s own law, and bringing them to a good land -- and doing this with minimal cooperation (Ezekiel 20:5-14). Now, Ezekiel says, God will take the initiative yet again: God’s spirit will bring new life to a people dead as stone, dead as bones.

Divine initiative and human action are interwoven throughout this passage. It is God who leads Ezekiel to the valley and directs his attention and speech. It is the prophet who sees, and describes, the utterly dry bones, and responds by doing as he is asked, ordering the desecrated bones to hear God’s word. As he does so, with no help from the bones themselves (what could the dead do?), God brings them together.

God adds sinews, tendons to attach them; flesh, muscles to make them strong, and skin to give them form. Yet still they lie lifeless. It is only when God tells the prophet to speak to the ruah -- the spirit, or breath -- and Ezekiel does so, that the spirit breath blows from the four winds and the bodies live and stand. Divine agency and human response appear interwoven, if not inextricable. Initiative comes from God, who makes sure the prophet participates. Ezekiel calls to the spirit; the spirit enters the people; they come to life, a vast multitude.  What was once desecrated, without life now becomes holy with life and the potential to serve God once again.

It seems quite logical that the original giving of the Holy Spirit in early Christian rituals was not by the laying on of hands, but breathing on a person.  We now associate breathing on someone with spreading germs.  But think for a moment about the qualities of wind or breath.  A cold wind penetrates to the bone, doesn’t it?  Anyone who has lived in a damp, cold, humid climate knows this to be the case.  It makes sense then that God’s spirit penetrates to the bone and that is how dry bones can come alive!

God’s Spirit, which is really God’s grace is what fills the gap between what we are made for and putting that grace into action.  We are not meant to be dead pew sitters, but alive in Christ people who think and move and take action in the world about us.  Just as Jesus reached out to others, that also is our mission.

Jonah, a Whale of a Story

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                Before us is

Before us is the story of Jonah, a reluctant, unwilling, prophet of God.  He does not go out with the boldness of Peter, but is rather much more like Saul the persecutor of the early Christian community.  He does not pray to God for strength to carry out God’s mission, he does just the opposite and actually flees from God.  But God gets him to do God’s work anyway.  It is a story that many of us have heard from Sunday School or Vacation Bible School several times over.  “Jonah and the Whale” was what we were taught, but now it is “Jonah and the Big Fish.”  God wants to go one way and Jonah the other.  God finally wins out in the end with an ending that makes Jonah unhappy.  What can we learn from Jonah?

 “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time.” We know what happened the first time. God said, “Get up and go to Ninevah … and Jonah got up and ran away towards Tarshish, away from the presence of the LORD.”

He doesn’t leave what he’s doing and immediately follow God’s call. He jumps on the first boat going in the opposite direction and hides in the hold of the ship, hoping that somehow God won’t take notice. If compared to Jesus’ core disciples, it’s as if they, upon encountering Jesus, jumped into their fishing boats and rowed like madmen for the opposite shore, as far away from this dangerous itinerant preacher as they could get.

Jonah did just that, trying to get as far away from the LORD, and the LORD’s bizarre instructions, as he could get. Go to Nineveh? The capital of the Assyrian Empire, that destroyer of Israel, that brutal occupying force. It was unthinkable.

After Jonah runs away, God sends a storm. The sailors of the boat are more pious than Jonah, but they eventually they reluctantly throw Jonah overboard. The sea calms down immediately, and Jonah is swallowed by a big fish.

Jonah, totally surrounded by sea water and fish blubber, pleads to God: “You cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me.” The sea in the ancient Near East, of course, is the symbol of chaos, of danger, of wildness. But even in the heart of the seas, God hears Jonah’s prayer. God speaks to the great fish, and the fish spews him out onto dry land.

That’s where we enter the story. “The word of the LORD came to Jonah a second time, “Get up and go to Ninevah, that great city.” And, this time, still covered in sea water and fish regurgitation, Jonah obeys. He walks into the city, one day’s journey, and preaches the shortest sermon ever recorded:

It’s a sermon of just five words in Hebrew -- “Forty days more, and Nineveh will be overthrown!”

The response is electric. Immediately, the people of Nineveh believe God, and here’s where the humor of this story builds. The people declare a fast. The king, not to be outdone, orders human and animal alike to fast and put on sackcloth. Then all those sackcloth-covered cows and sheep and people bellow out their repentance to God, and God’s mind is changed about the punishment, and does not bring it about.

We would think Jonah would be ecstatic. After all, he’s the only really successful prophet in the whole Bible. He has brought about a mass conversion of which even Billy Graham would be jealous. Every inhabitant of the city, human and animal alike, has come forward for the altar call. Jonah should be ecstatic.

But Jonah is not ecstatic in any sense of the word. Jonah is madder than mad. “Ah, LORD, is this not what I said would happen when I was still in my own territory? That’s why I fled to Tarshish in the first place. Because I know that you are a God who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and ready to relent from punishing.”

Jonah, of course, is quoting the LORD’s own self-description (from Exodus 34:6) a description taken up by prophets and psalmists throughout Israel’s history to remind God of God’s own nature. But in Jonah’s mouth, it is an accusation: You, God, are gracious and merciful. I KNEW this would happen! I declared your judgment on this sinful city, and you changed your mind!

Here’s the thing, you see, this is what all of us have found out about following the call of God in and through the waters: God is God and does not act as we think the Almighty should act. In good faith, we follow where we hear God’s call, we go to the city, or the suburb, or to small town and rural America, and we are prepared to bring God’s word to that place, and what we find is that God is already there before us. We find that no people, and no place, not even Nineveh, can properly be called God-forsaken.

Often, of course, that lesson is hard to learn. A story I read comes to mind.  “A friend of mine whose first call was in a small-town parish. The council president in that parish was a very, very difficult woman who tried to sabotage him at every turn. He tried, he really did. He prayed for her. He visited her and attempted to reconcile with her. He prayed and prayed, and finally one day he started singing (to the tune of “Bind Us Together, Lord”): “Bind her and gag her, Lord, bind her and gag her with cords that cannot be broken …” It is a prayer Jonah himself might have prayed. 

Think now, if you will, of a person that you find difficult to love. (Now, I am not talking about an abusive situation.) Think about someone that you find irritating or annoying, someone you find difficult to be around.  They may hold values that you don’t hold.  Or perhaps those conflicting values are the cause of disagreements.  We all have that one person who is a challenge to us, that one person who throws us off to where we don’t know how to respond. But how do we treat someone like this with dignity and respect? There are no easy answers.  Sometimes it involves the slow process of getting to know that person and that person’s understanding of the world.  Certainly, praying about it and consulting others would also be of help.  Lastly, it facilitates the process if we remember that we are no better or worse than the person with whom we have a conflict.  Apologizing and forgiveness may also be in order to smooth out a relationship.

God indeed loves us.  That is also a message that we have been given several times.  However, we still have that tendency to draw some kind of line between us and them.  With God, there are no sides.  The same God who gave Jonah a second chance gives the people of Nineveh a second chance, and we can’t begrudge that kind of mercy. God gives all of us a second chance, a third chance, a fourth chance and ad infinitum. This God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, a God we know most fully in Jesus Christ. Jesus is our supreme model for our behavior towards others.

And that, my friends, is certainly a Gospel story worth preaching and teaching among all people everywhere.

Do you Walk away from Suffering?

PassionSundayAPsalm31

Exegesis: Psalm 31 is one of three psalms that appear prominently in the story of Jesus’ passion.

In the minds of the Gospel writers, this psalm along with Psalms 22 and 69, seems to have expressed better than any other passages the nature of Jesus’ suffering and his emotional turmoil while being rejected, betrayed, and crucified.

Psalm 31 appears explicitly only one time in the gospel writings, in Luke 23:46 when Jesus quotes verse 5a, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” The psalm is a prayer by one who suffers unjustly and in that suffering, puts complete trust in God.

Psalm 31 has both of these elements, and each is employed to full effect. These two elements go hand in hand, as the cry for help arises out of a place or state of deep need, and at the same time out of a sense or state of deep trust.

The complaint portion of this psalm elucidates a place in which there is “terror all around!” (verse 13). The source of this terror is the physical distress of the psalmist, and the feeling that “I am an object of scorn, dread, and the plotting of my enemies.” The call for help emerges first from the psalmist’s “distress,” “grief,” “sorrow,” and miserable sighing (verse 10). This deep emotional distress manifests itself in physical suffering: “my eye wastes…my soul and body also…my strength fails…my bones waste away.” And second, the call for help is uttered over the voices of those who see the psalmist’s misery, speak scornfully of the psalmist, and have begun to scheme against the psalmist.

Trust, which balances this cry for help is simple, yet profound. “You are my God,” and “My times are in your hand….”

There was much suffering during the time that the psalms were composed.  These sufferings were the raw material that inspired the writing of the psalms and their use in temple worship.  We continue to have much in common with the people of old.  We suffer, too.  Suffering is common to all, both the young and the old, the wealthy and the poor.  Nobody is immune to suffering, not even Jesus. As written in the passion narrative for today, Jesus was mocked, spat on, derided, taunted by many around him and crucified by the government officials.  Crucifixion itself was a very cruel way to die. “Most experts agree, though, that what ultimately kills a crucified person is suffocation. Either the body loses so much oxygen that the person smothers, or the carbon dioxide level in the body goes up so much that the body tissues turn acidic and destroy their own cells.”[1]  As to how this or any other suffering is experienced not only depends on the particular source of suffering, but each person’s perception.  One thing is for sure, it is quite painful.

This congregation has experienced the death of several members, members who have been pillars of the parish in their monetary giving as well as their sharing of their talents.  They have been the metaphorical bricks and mortar that have laid a solid foundation that has lasted for many years.  If it was not for them, we would not be here today.  Perhaps when we come forward to give thanks for our blessings, we should remember these people more often, not just on All Saints’ Sunday as is the tradition. 

In Jesus’ day, many people treated him cruelly and/or abandoned him when he was going through the process on the way to the cross.  We are told that there were few who actually stayed with him and watched him die on the cross. Many people hate nursing homes and hospitals and don’t even want to visit when death is not imminent, less so when someone is on hospice or actively dying. This is an important topic we should be discussing with our families and friends.  It is something of importance that we should be writing down, not just whether or not we want cremation or bodily burial and what kind of worship service we want.  This is the time to have those conversations. Today, at this moment.

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[1] http://io9.gizmodo.com/this-is-the-horrible-way-that-crucifixion-actually-kill-1477804826