“Snakes”

Lent 4B + March 11, 2018

Numbers 21:4-9; John 3:14-21

When I agreed to room with Greg Nelson my senior year at California Lutheran College, (back in the day before it was a university) I had no idea what I was getting into.  I will never forget the day I moved into that dorm apartment … 

I walked into the room and discovered that Greg had already moved all his things in, claiming all the good spaces.  That figures!  I had been in the car for the past six hours and my next step was to look for the bathroom.  On the bathroom door I found a note that read, "Don't let Sid out of the bathroom."  Who is Sid," I wondered?  Well I really had to go to the bathroom, so I cracked the door open and peered inside.  I didn't see anything, so I opened the door a little bit more and stuck my whole head inside.  I still didn't see anything.  I wondered, "What is this Sid stuff all about?” I was thinking it must be some kind of joke about one Greg Nelson’s favorite musicians “Sid Vicious.” I thought I might see a life sized cut out of him standing next to the sink.  But no, there was no Sid Vicious.  Seeing nothing I stepped into the bathroom and looked around some more, once again, I saw nothing. 

I was standing next to the bath tub when all of the sudden I heard this noise, a "hiss."  I slowly looked up and saw this 8-foot long, 3-inch thick, python snake wrapped around the shower rod.  It was only about a foot away from my head.  I don't know what you would have done, but I freaked out.   My whole body jerked, my hair stood on end, my heart started racing.  You see, I don't like snakes, especially really big ones, hanging one foot above my head, hissing at me.

Every time I hear today's reading from the Book of Numbers, the story about the poisonous serpents that attack the Israelites in the desert, - I think of Sid.  It's a scary story.  Now I know there are a few of you, abnormal people, who for some crazy reason love snakes, but most people, (people with good sense,) would just as soon keep a very good distance from them.  Most people think snakes are dangerous and scary.  And I have a feeling that even the most ardent snake lovers would find this story of attack serpents, as found in the book of Numbers, a bit disconcerting!  It sounds an awful lot like a scene from a Stephen King horror movie, or worse yet “Snakes on a Plane.” 

Thankfully for the Israelites, and for us, the story does not end with people dying from these "attack snakes" seemingly sent by God.  God provides for them a way for them to be healed, a way to be saved.  The Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live."  God calls the people to face their fears, face the objects that have bitten them, poisoned them; and in that process, in the process of turning and facing the snakes, they find healing, they are made whole, and they once again discover life.

So what serpents have you found in your Lenten journey through the desert?  What snakes have come out to bite you, to tempt you, to instill fear in you?   What snakes have caused you to doubt?  What serpents have been daring you to stop, turn, and face them, - to look them in the eye?  What has been revealed as “poison” in your life? 

Meeting up with these “snakes” or “serpents” is what the Lenten journey is all about.  It is not an easy journey, but more often than not, a hard and painful journey.  Lent is about breaking up the comfortable routines in which we hide our brokenness and our pain; our incompleteness, our sin.  In Lent; in the self-reflection, the giving up, the silence, the retreats, in the fasting, in the prayers; we find ourselves in the midst of a conflict, we are called to confront our whole self, we are opened up to the heart; all that we move from death to life.

Carl Jung writes about such a Lenten journey, what he calls “the meeting of one’s own shadow,” Carl Jung, "This confrontation is the first test of courage on the inner way, a test sufficient to frighten off most people, for the meeting with ourselves (our true selves)  belongs to the more unpleasant things that may be avoided as long as we possess living symbol figures in which all that is inner and unknown is projected." 

Lent gets at the part of us that needs to be reconciled, the part of us that we often hide away, the part of us that is broken, the part of us that is even dangerous, the part of us that needs to be brought back to “life.” And that can be frightening, because snakes are scary. 

Thankfully these are not the only words that comes to us today.  Find courage in God's word of hope and promise from today’s Gospel.  We are reminded that God is rich in mercy and love, and that in grace we will be delivered up into new life.  Jesus lifted up on the cross, came into the world not to condemn but in order to save.  The light of God shines on the serpents and snakes of our lives - not to expose and humiliate us, but in order that we might see them clearly and thus be able to turn and face them, and in doing so find a healing that will bring about in us a bold and abundant life!

As your Lenten journey starts to come to a close, I encourage you to take the time in the remaining weeks to turn and face the snakes in your life, the things that frighten you, the things that have you on the run, the things that poison you.  If you've been hiding from them on this journey, step out into the light.  If you have been running from them, stop and face them.  Fear is only increased and exaggerated in our hiding and in our running,

altering our perception of the world and our self-understanding, even distorting our understanding of God’s grace and mercy.  In the light of truth, the light of the cross, we are defined not by doubt and fear, but only by God’s unconditional love.  This morning we are called to gaze upon the cross, upon the one lifted up on the cross, and remember that we don't have to run and we don't have to hide.  We just need to look up, look deep into love, grab hold of that love, - and live.  Amen!

John 3:14-21

14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. 16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. 17 "Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already, because they have not believed in the name of the only Son of God. 19 And this is the judgment, that the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. 20 For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed. 21 But those who do what is true come to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that their deeds have been done in God." 

Numbers 21:4-9

4 From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom; but the people became impatient on the way. 5 The people spoke against God and against Moses, "Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food." 6 Then the Lord sent poisonous serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many Israelites died. 7 The people came to Moses and said, "We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord to take away the serpents from us." So Moses prayed for the people. 8 And the Lord said to Moses, "Make a poisonous serpent, and set it on a pole; and everyone who is bitten shall look at it and live." 9 So Moses made a serpent of bronze, and put it upon a pole; and whenever a serpent bit someone, that person would look at the serpent of bronze and live. 

“The Ten Commandments”

Lent 3B + March 4, 2018

Exodus 20:1-17

What comes to your mind when you hear, “The Ten Commandments?” 

I always picture Charlton Heston in the 1956 classic by the same name, standing on the holy mountain praying to God when suddenly God appears in a swirling flame of fire that carves out the ten commandments into the stone.  I also think of the social-political battle and those who want to post the Ten Commandments in our civic places, believing that simple act might bring some kind of righteous peace into our society.  I also wonder, who actually knows all ten of the commandments?  I can probably list most of them, but I always seem to forget one or two.  And I, like many, perhaps like some of you, have an uncomfortable reaction to the whole “Thou shall not” approach of the commandments, the feeling that they are more about condemnation than salvation.

The scriptures tell us that the Ten Commandments were written into stone by the very hand of God. (Exodus 31:18) They were intended to be a gift to the Israelites, to God’s people, a gift by which to organizes themselves, a gift by which they might live, a gift to keep them in relationship with God, and with one another, and even those they encounter, as they continued their long journey from slavery to the promised land.

Unfortunately, it over time, humanity seems to want to focus more on the notion that they “written into stone” and less on the promises of the actual words.  It seems that humanity has more use for “stones” than the “living word of God.”  So it is, the Ten Commandments are often used only as stone, stones to build walls.  Walls that we hope will protect us, walls that we might use to judge others and somehow justify our ourselves, walls that separate us from each other, building walls, that in the process, separate us from God. 

Ironically the Ten Commandments, written by the hand of God, are actually all about tearing down the walls humanity tends to build between each other.  God knows that our “hand-made” walls never truly protect us, never set us free, and never give us life.  The Ten Commandments were actually designed by God to make sure that we would not build walls, but rather tear down every wall that separates us from each other, and thus separates us from God, separates us from the life abundant that God would have us live.

So, this morning, let’s take a closer look at The Ten Commandments!

The Ten Commandments begin, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” 

The commandments begin by declaring that we are in relationship.  They begin by tearing down “the wall” between heaven and earth.  God is not distant and uncaring, God is our redeemer.  God heard the Israelites “cry out” under their slavery in Egypt.  And God responded!  God initiates the relationship, and the relationship is not between God and the individual but between God and the whole community.  There are to be no walls between heaven and earth, between you and I, and between you and your neighbor. 

The commandments continue, “You shall not make for yourself an idol, ....” 

Idolatry, back then it had to do with Baal, and golden statures.  Today it has to do with anything that demands our “primary allegiance.”  Almost anything can be become an idol.  Jesus pushes this commandment to the limit, as his life and ministry tears down the walls between God and the walls between people.  Anything that cuts us off from our neighbors in the human family, even strangers, even enemies, is idolatry.  

What cuts us off from God and from each other?  It could be materialism; it could be extreme nationalism; it could be blind allegiance to party affiliation; it could be religious denomination; it could be racism, sexism, homophobia, xenophobia, it could be many things, anything that separates us from each other and limits our understanding of community.  God's relationship is demanding, Jesus' definition of neighbor is demanding, the call to love even the stranger in our midst is demanding; there is no room for walls in the great community of God.

“You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, ... ”   

This commandment is about much more than “swearing!”  How often have we built walls in the name of God, condemned people for the sake of the Gospel despite the nature of the Gospel?  Historically and even today we can be self-righteous and arrogant in our faith.  The cross is a symbol of God unconditional love, not a battle cry to be used against others.

“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”

How often have we destroyed community and relationships by simply not taking the time to just rest with each other, by not taking the time to "recreate" with each other.  The so called "rat race" in which we live contributes to the building of walls.  We don't have time for each other, we don't make time for each other, and I'm just talking about family and friends, let alone our neighbor and God.  This commandment reminds us that “time” belongs to God.  “Creation” is finished with a day of rest, the Sabbath makes our life complete.  We need a day of community, not as a function, but as "simple gift" to be enjoyed.  We all need to just “hang out” more, engage in conversation with each other, discover each other, discover God in each other!

“Honor your father and your mother, ....”  

“Honor” has the quality of relationship about it.  It does not mean, or demand, blind obedience.  We are people born out of relationships and into communities, - we are not islands unto ourselves.  Surely, we are called to grow up and move on, to be transformed, yet we are also called to remember and stay connected.   Honor and respect breed honor and respect.  Jewish theologian Martin Buber wrote that we are called to be in “I – Thou” relationships, not “I – It” relationships.  To “honor” someone is to recognize their humanity, acknowledge in them the image of God.  A world of honor and respect has no need to build walls.

“You shall not murder.  You shall not commit adultery.  You shall not steal.  You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house;”    

Commandments five through nine cover some of the basics of life.  There is no sense of community without these things.  But let us remember that Jesus pushes all these commandments as far as they can go.  To hate your neighbor is to murder him or her, to lust after someone is to commit adultery.   God is always calling us to a higher love.  And though it is often impossible to achieve in our sinner-saint existence; it is still our calling.  We are called to overcome our doubt and fear, to let our faith become active in love.  And it is only in the experience of God's grace that we can begin this journey, and I am convinced that such grace happens primarily in faith communities, in vibrant communities that are wonderfully diverse, in the very Body of Christ. 

And finally, the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor. 

This is a rough one for me, you should see my neighbor’s ox!  Yes, aspects of the tenth commandment make it hard to relate to in “our” current context.  Most of our neighbors don’t have livestock that make us jealous!  Our neighbors don’t have “obvious slaves” serving them.  Yet at its heart this is still a very relevant commandment.

To “covet” is to “envy,” or be “jealous,” of another - for their things and their life.   The Tenth Commandment calls us to remember that God has given each of us a role, a place, a gift to share in community.  We are not to spend our time wishing that we were someone else or wishing we were in another situation, rather we are called to discover our own unique gift, the giftedness that God has given each of us for the good of all of us, for the good of the whole community, for good of the entire world.  Each gift is necessary, each gift is needed, you and I are both invaluable to the common good, we are all part of the body of Christ.  Even if we don’t have an ox!

The Ten Commandments may have been “written in stone,” but they are not to be used as stone!  Don’t let the “thou shall nots” fool you, they are not about judgment, they are not bricks to be used to build walls.  The Ten Commandments are a gift of life for all the people of God, a gift that reminds us and challenges us to live in a great inclusive community.  In this way, and in the places created by such living, we are the church, the body of Christ, a community with no walls, the place and the occasion for God's salvation and peace.  Amen.

“Pick Up Your Cross and Follow Me”

Lent 2B + February 25, 2018

Mark 8:31-38

The central visual symbol in almost every Christian place of worship is the cross, the cruel instrument of torture and death which the Roman Empire reserved for rebellious slaves, violent criminals, and political subversives. The cross is central because Christians confess that it is here on the cross that God meets us, it is here where God is made present for us. Heaven and earth connect at the center of the cross. Of course, God is also present with us in our mountain top moments, in times of great joy, in our relationships with others, but God is most profoundly present here on the cross, the point of our deepest reality, our honest confrontation with weakness, pain, solitude, and death. While we are often able to see God in a great sunset, or in the magnificent night sky; God finds us in our own darkness, our own pain, our own emptiness, our own loneliness, our own weakness, on the cross!

Lutheran Pastor and Theologian, Mike Coffey, in his book “Renounce, Resist, and Rejoice,” reminds us that the cross is a necessary part of the Christian faith, that it is necessary for something new to happen, that is necessary for true liberation, that it is necessary for transformation, that it is necessary for us to experience God’s love.  However, he adds, “Except, don’t mistake it: It wasn’t necessary for God.”  He reminds us that God’s mercy, love, grace, and life-giving power doesn’t depend on some contrived system of offense and retaliation, the need for some kind of debt to be repaid, or as the appeasement of some kind of divine anger.  God loves us, because God loves us, God is love, God’s is truly unconditional love, “nothing can separate us” from that love, and so it is that the cross is not necessary for God.  But once again, it is necessary for us, for on the cross God in Christ Jesus exposes the emptiness of this world, the emptiness of the principalities and powers, the emptiness of violence, the emptiness of every human idolatry (money, things, power, government, anything) that seeks to replace God.  On the cross they are revealed for what they are: distortions of truth, outright lies, the work of doubt and fear.  Every time we gather around the cross “these things” are “exposed” in order that we might be changed, made new, made alive in the love of God.  We “need” the cross, and we are called to engage the cross, not that we might die, but that we might “die to sin” and rise again to life abundant.

In today’s Gospel this call to “engage” the cross is very clear, Jesus tells us straight away, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”  We are reminded that the cross is necessary, and that “engagement” with the cross is necessary, this is what it means to follow Jesus.  The question that remains is this, “Which cross have you been called to carry?”  Which one is yours, which one speaks to you; which cross can you carry to the depths of your soul, to the center of your heart; which cross, if engaged will bring about in you “new” life?

The Crucifix

During the season of Lent, the tradition here at First Lutheran is take the silver cross off the back altar and replace it with a “crucifix cross.” The crucifix is a cross with the corpus, the body of Christ, attached. This type of cross can be hard to look at, hard to engage because it reminds us of the awful death that Christ died. It reminds us of how violent humanity can be.  Jesus identifies completely with the pain and sorrow of our existence. And from here, he brings us into a relationship of love.

One of my best friends in college died in an automobile accident. His name was Sven. At the funeral we all were devastated, we were angry and confused, we wondered where God was at the time of the accident?  The preacher reminded us that, God was in the seat beside him. Sven was never alone, Christ was present even in the accident. The crucifix reminds us of this truth. Yet so often we deny our pain, we try to cover it up, we pretend it doesn't exist. Do we cover up God's most profound presence in our life? In the avoidance of pain and death do we cut our selves off from the love of God?

Perhaps this Is this the cross you have been called to carry?

The Silver Cross

And then there's “this cross,” the one we hide away in Lent. It’s very different, there is no “corpus.”  This is the cross of God's victory! It's an empty cross, it reminds us that this cruel instrument of death could not destroy God. In fact, this cross has been transformed from a symbol of death into a symbol of eternal and everlasting life. It has become a piece of art, jewelry, cast in valuable silver. 

Perhaps this is the cross you were meant to carry? Maybe you need to “adorn” your life. Sometimes human nature gets the best of us and we end up defining our self as something less, less than perfect, less than ordinary, less than acceptable. We can be hard on our self. We believe the lies of this world that seek to define us as losers. The glass is half empty, the situation is hopeless. We look in the mirror and we find every fault. But the reflection in “this cross” is different, if you look closely you will see yourself in its beauty, as God’s beloved you are a piece of art, a jewel, you belong to this cross of victory. 

Perhaps, this the cross you have been called to carry?

The Peasant’s Cross

This is a peasant’s cross from El Salvador.  In this cross, where God and humanity intersect we discover scenes of everyday life.  This cross reminds us that God is present in the ordinary human places.  Sometimes we forget this simple truth and we spend our time and energy seeking out “super” spiritual experiences, we seek to climb mountains, cross oceans, we “fast” in the desert.  All the while God is waiting for us in our own back yard, perhaps in the garden? “This cross” calls us to “just be human” and to find God in everyday “human” experiences.  

Perhaps this the cross you have been called to carry?

First Lutheran Processional Cross

Here’s a familiar cross, the First Lutheran Processional Cross.  This is one cross that you might have actually carried at some point in your life?  In the center of the Cross we find the Greek letters, Chi and Ro, the first two letters of Christ.  Once again we are reminded that Christ is found in the center of the cross.  And the Chi-Ro is flanked by the Greek letters Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.  The Cross reminds us that Christ is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, that all of life is held by God, held in the “sacrificial hands” of the one whose hands were pierced by nails on the cross.  “This cross” invites me to “let go and let God,” to trust in the love that was lived out on the cross, and to reject the doubt and the fear and the violence that the cross exposes.  To engage “this cross” is to trust in love and forgiveness, to trust in humility and grace, to trust in the way of Christ.

Perhaps this the cross you have been called to carry?

Large Wooden Cross

And finally there is this cross, a large wooden cross.  Rough, simple, solid, sturdy, and heavy.  It’s the cross that used to stand in front of the church.  As many of you know, the bottom became rotted out and it recently fell over.  What might it mean to carry this cross?  I am going to suggest this morning, that this is the cross “we” have all been called to carry, this is the cross the “belongs” to First Lutheran Church.  I believe it is symbolic of our mission here in this place, “Called to be the Heart of Christ, feeding our neighbors with Grace, Mercy, Love, and Justice.”  We’ve “all” been called to carry this cross, it’s too heavy, too large, for one individual, we’re going to have to do this together.  And to where shall we carry it?  I would suggest we carry it back outside and put it back in its proper place as a witness to God’s love, the love that empowers us, and the love we seek to share though the ministry to which we have been called.  Yet before we can put back where it belongs we need to provide a solid foundation on which it might stand.  We can stick it back into the dirt but if it’s going to last we really need to build a cement (stone) foundation for it.  This morning this cross invites us all to share in the work of building a sure foundation for our ministry: to share our gifts and our resources, our time and our talents; to create that sure foundation, where we can carry and place this cross and lift it up for all to see!

Perhaps this the cross “we” have been called to carry?

Let us pray. You call your disciples to pick up their cross and follow. Grant us the grace and courage to pick up our cross knowing that you have gone before us, that you are beside us, that you watch over us, that you are within us, that you are between us, and that on the journey you will find us. Amen.

Mark 8:31-38

31 Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32 He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. 33 But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." 34 He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. 35 For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.36 For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? 37 Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? 38 Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."