Romans 14:1-12 NRSVUE

1 Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions. 2 Some believe in eating anything, while the weak eat only vegetables. 3 Those who eat must not despise those who abstain, and those who abstain must not pass judgment on those who eat, for God has welcomed them. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on slaves of another? It is before their own lord that they stand or fall. And they will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make them stand.

5 Some judge one day to be better than another, while others judge all days to be alike. Let all be fully convinced in their own minds. 6 Those who observe the day, observe it for the Lord. Also those who eat, eat for the Lord, since they give thanks to God, while those who abstain, abstain for the Lord and give thanks to God.

7 For we do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. 8 If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.

10 Why do you pass judgment on your brother or sister? Or you, why do you despise your brother or sister? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. 11 For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

    and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

12 So then, each one of us will be held accountable.

 

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon hosts a monthly gathering called Common Table.  It’s an opportunity for nonprofit and faith leaders to meet one another and share about various ministries that we are up to.

The August meeting was held, just down the street, at PDX Saints Love, so I figured, why not, pop over.

Ron was sharing about the opportunity for clergy to accompany immigrants at ICE.

I talked about my experience with that last week – the sermon is on our website, if you’re curious.

Kristle shared about PDX Saints Love’s $50,000 funding hole because the Mayor gave all 3.2 million dollars for Day services to Join… then told Rahab’s and PDX Saints that Join could share that money with them.  

Some community members shared about the Peaceful Interfaith Protest, scheduled for August 23 – that’s how that made it into our all Church email.

Then we chatted.

I met a very passionate young man whose goal was to recruit White Clergy to show up to public anti-racism events.  

I thought, OK, that’s interesting, tell me more.

So then he starts to basically shame white clergy, and me, by extension for not doing anything to work for justice.

I took a deep breath.  Remembered Rev Dr. King’s letter from a Birmingham Jail, and tried to open my heart to listen.

He kept going on and on about how it’s every Pastor’s job to show up in public spaces and be on the news standing up for racial justice.

And when I dared to gently suggest that public appearances wasn’t the only, or even the most effective way to work for justice, he declared the conversation “unproductive,” and walked away from me.

Honestly, I was kinda relieved that he moved on.

This isn’t the first time that someone has tried to tell me how to be a Pastor “the right way.”

I doubt it will be the last.

In times like these when there are soooo many good, and important, and worthy things to be a part of, discerning what I am called to do, and therefore what I am not called to do, is essential.

There are only 24 hours in each day and we should only be laboring 5 days a week – as John Wesley, the founder of Methodism wrote, workers should take 2 days off per week.  One day for God, and one day for our own business. 

And even if we were to work and volunteer 7 days a week, no one person, and no one church, can do all the Good that there is to be done.

We can only do all the good that we can do.

In the places and times that we can do it.

With the people we can do it with.

The Kingdom of God is like a choir.

Each singer sings their part.

And to sustain the long notes, we take turns breathing, resting and rejoining the choir as God gives us breath.

Today’s Bible reading is from Paul’s Letter to the Christian Community in Rome.  And we do think that Romans was written by the authentic Paul.  Some of the later letters ascribed to Paul, were not written by Paul, because he was kinda dead at the time.  But writing in the style of a famous leader and signing the letter as if the leader had written it was very common at the time.  So you can think of some of Pauline letters, like first and second Timothy and Titus, which were written after Paul was dead, as “Fan Fiction,” if you will.  They have some great content, but Paul didn’t write them!

Paul’s letter to the Romans was a letter of introduction.

Paul had never been to visit the Christian Community in Rome, so Paul was introducing himself for a planned visit.

Part of Paul’s introduction was an explanation of Paul’s beliefs.

So the book of Romans is Paul’s most theological letter – explaining Paul’s theology of Grace to try to convince the Romans to donate to a proposed mission trip to Spain, that unfortunately got cancelled by Paul’s arrest and execution in Rome.

So Paul is speaking generally about his vision of how the church should be, and in the process addressing some of the typical issues that most churches had.

In verses 1-4 the translators chose to use the word, “weak,” but what Paul was really talking about was the Newbies.

This translation reads:

“1 Welcome those who are weak in faith but not for the purpose of quarreling over opinions.”

In today’s language Paul might have said,

“Welcome the newbies, and don’t argue with them about opinions.”

The eating issue in verse 2 that Paul is referring to was a big controversy in the early church.  This takes some explaining, so here’s my modern interpretation.

You know how some restaurants are part of a larger corporation?

Like this McDonalds may be nicer than that McDonalds but they’re all McDonalds?

Back in the first century, Temples sold the meat that was sacrificed at them, like fast food.  Also, business owners, like restaurant owners, belonged to religious business associations, so that restaurant might not be a McAthena’s, but it’s part of the McAthena’s association.  Kind of like, Olive Garden and Longhorn Steak House are both owned by Darden Brands.  

Only the very rich had kitchens, so most people ate out or got take out!  

Which was a problem for newbie Christians who used to worship Athena, so now they didn’t feel comfortable eating at McAthena’s.

And, there were Jewish Christians who were still keeping Kosher, so they would not eat meat prepared by a non-Jew.

So some people ate only vegetables because they didn’t have a kitchen or didn’t trust others to cook kosher.  While other people, like Paul, ate anywhere because McAthena’s was what was handy and they didn’t believe in Athena, so it didn’t matter to them.

So Paul is saying – God has welcomed all these people, with all their opinions about food, into the community of believers, so don’t judge each other!  If God can accept them, so should you!  Or as my children like to say,  “You do you!”

In verse 5 Paul is addressing the controversy about Sabbath.  Jewish Christians observed the Sabbath on Saturday, as is still Jewish custom.  Some Christians had taken to observing Sabbath on Sundays, because that’s the day Jesus rose from the dead.  Still others just aren’t concerned about what day it is, as long as everyone gets a day of rest.

Paul is saying – for goodness sake Sabbath should be a source of rest, not a source of stress – this is not worth arguing about!

There have been arguments about matters of opinion in the Church since before there were buildings to choose carpet colors for!  This is nothing new.

I think it’s just human to have opinions.

It’s also human to debate whose opinions are better.

But let’s not major in the minors.

That young man who tried to tell me how he thought I should be a Pastor.

That was his opinion.

And it’s a valid opinion.

I agree that we do need more Progressive Christians in the public eye, so that people are not only hearing from the Clergy who espouse White Christian Nationalism that the press seems to love covering so much!

But… is being a public figure my calling?

Maybe at some point, but I don’t feel God calling me to do that now.

I work for Jesus.  Seriously.  The United Methodist Book of Discipline specifically states in  ¶ 143 that “clergy appointed to local churches are not employees of the local church, the district, or the annual conference.” because our ministry, “is derived from the ministry of Christ (¶ 301).”

I work for Jesus, not any of the people who like to tell me how to be a pastor.

And you work for Jesus, not any of the people who try to tell you what is your calling in this moment.

We are accountable to one another.  

Let me be clear, having our calling be defined by God is not an excuse for bad behavior!

And If I ever behave in a way that you feel is wrong, please do report it to my supervisor – District Superintendent Karen.  You can look up her contact info on the Oregon-Idaho UMC website.

But when it comes to our calling — the ministry we are meant to be a part of.

Every person, every church… we can only do what God is calling us to do.

We cannot do everything.

The Kingdom of God is like a choir.

Each singer sings their part.

No one can sing all the parts at the same time.

And to sustain the long notes, we take turns breathing, resting and rejoining the choir as God gives us breath.

Look at verse 10 and 11.

Why pass judgement on our siblings in Christ?

They don’t need to despise us for following our calling — for singing our part, anymore than we should despise them for following their calling and singing their part.

We are all God’s children, whether we know it or not.

So let’s leave the judgement to God!

If you ever feel pressured by me to do something that you don’t feel called to do, please say no to me!

Boundaries are holy!

Our callings are holy!

Too holy to spend our precious time doing things that are not ours to do.

And I will try to do the same.

I met a new community member for tea the week after the EMO meeting.

She was wondering what more she could do in these difficult times.

I shared the groups we are involved with.

Family Promise.

The Sewists Group

Montavilla Neighborhood Association

Rahab’s Sisters

Interfaith Movement for Immigrant Justice, 

who train the legal observers that I do Clergy accompaniment alongside.  Because she speaks multiple languages, Legal Observing was what she felt called to do, so I helped her connect with them.

Would I have preferred that she do something more involved in our church?  Yup!

But, that’s between her and God.

11 For it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,

    and every tongue shall give praise to God.”

12 So then, each one of us will be held accountable.

Romans 13:8-14 NRSVUE

8 Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery; you shall not murder; you shall not steal; you shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

Friends, it’s so good to be back with you!

 I hope you enjoyed meeting my fellow EPIC Clergy as much as I enjoyed getting to be with our other EPIC Churches!

But it’s good to be home.

Spirit was busy in my life this August, so I want to share with you a little mini-series for these first 3 weeks in September because, I think, maybe you can relate.

I was feeling kind of helpless, like there was nothing I could do about all the horrible things going on in our country, so when I got an email asking Pastors to volunteer twice a month to accompany immigrants to their Immigration Appointments, I decided to give it a try.  I attended a training.  I signed up for a shift at the ICE Building at Macadam one week and a shift at the Federal Courthouse, downtown the next.

On the day of my first shift I was sooo nervous!

I’m taking deep breaths.  I’m praying in traffic.

And I get to the bottom of the hill, at the intersection of 92nd and Flavel.

And right there in front of me.  

In my neighborhood! 

Is a Big Black Armoured vehicle, and a squad of people in camo fatigues with serious guns.  

And a big, unmarked, black pickup truck is blocking the road where the military looking action is taking place.

Unmarked vehicles and wrong for purpose uniforms are a hallmark of ICE right now.  In case you didn’t know.

So, I’m on my way to try to do something about the way immigrants are being treated in our city and our country and… “this” is unfolding in front of me?

Seriously, God???!!!

Is this a test?

I mean, the Good Samaritan came upon the mugged man after the attack, not during it!!!!

I’m sitting there in my car with my clergy collar on and wondering, am I seriously going to play the part of the Priest who doesn’t stop to help, because I’m on my way to perform my clergy duties???!!!

Seriously, God???!!!

I looked at the situation and saw that several people were already there videoing the incident.

And I realized that I was not brave enough, or maybe stupid enough, to try to interfere with a squad carrying semi-automatic military rifles with nothing but my clergy collar to protect me.

I take some more deep breaths and continue to Macadam Avenue.

I couldn’t find anything on  the news about what that was when I got home at the end of the day.

When I got there, things were in process.  

What happens at the ICE building, is that immigrants who are trying to do things legally, show up for their check in.  

Some people have yearly check ins – these are folks who have permission to be here legally, but have not been issued a Green Card or other official residency.

Some people have monthly check-ins – these are often the people who are seeking asylum, or are relatively new in their process.

As Clergy, my role is to support the Legal Observers.

The Legal Observers are a legally sanctioned role who do just what their name implies.  They observe who goes in and who comes out.  

They ask people if they would like to sign in with them, so that the Legal Observers can call their lawyer or family, or whomever their contact is, if they don’t come out within 2 hours.

Let me be clear: If you’re trying to sneak into the country illegally, you are not showing up at the ICE facility!  So these people are not criminals!

As Clergy, my role was to walk people to the front door, to prevent ICE officers from snatching them on the street.  That was simple enough, until, apparently, I was sooo threatening that it took 2 ICE officers to tell me that I can’t come on the property anymore.  So then I could only walk people to the sidewalk, not the door.

I also sat with family members as they waited outside.

Sometimes the ICE officers will try to bait people.

They shout the names of people on their arrest list at the family members of those going inside for their appointment.  If the person outside responds to the sound of their name, that might constitute grounds to arrest them, so most of them know not to respond in any way.

A young mother was there for her check in, with her baby and her husband.

Not even family is allowed to come in with you, so the husband was sitting outside on the high cement curb and holding their little girl.

ICE agents kept calling out different names at the father, so I sat with him.

That little girl was soooo cute!

She wasn’t walking yet, and she had big brown eyes, and glossy, black curls that floated around her little head.  She didn’t cry.  She just kept patting her father’s face and pulling on his hands, trying to get at the keys safely clutched in his working man’s hands.  She reached out to me, so I leaned in.  I let her pat my face and grab my hand.  She pulled at my ring and patted my watch.  She pushed my hand one direction and the other to turn it over.

And in between patting my face and her father’s face, ICE agents would periodically come out and look at her father and call out different names at him.  Her father never looked up. Never spoke.  Never gave any indication that they had anything to do with him.  Evidently he was used to this kind of harassment.

About 40 minutes later, her mother came out and the ICE agents tried to bait her husband one more time, so I walked them off the property towards their car.

I heard the ICE agents call in and report me for soliciting.

But as my 3 hour shift turned into 4 hours, because it was an overfull day of check ins, I felt a calm come over me.

They could accuse me of whatever they wanted.

Heck, they had the power to arrest me, according to the current administration.

Even though my actions were constitutionally protected.

But I was not afraid, because as Romans 13:10 reads:

10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law.

Today’s Bible reading is from Paul’s Letter to the Christian Community in Rome.  And we do think that Romans was written by the authentic Paul.  Some of the later letters ascribed to Paul, were not written by Paul, because he was kinda dead at the time, but writing in the style of a famous leader and signing the letter as if the leader had written it was very common at the time.  So you can think of some of the Pauline letters, like first and second Timothy and Titus, which were written after Paul was dead, as “Fan Fiction,” if you will.  They have some great content, but Paul didn’t write them!

Paul’s letter to the Romans was a letter of introduction.

Paul had never been to visit the Christian Community in Rome, so Paul was introducing himself for a planned visit.

Part of Paul’s introduction was an explanation of Paul’s beliefs.

So the book of Romans is Paul’s most theological letter – explaining Paul’s theology of Grace to try to convince the Romans to donate to a proposed mission trip to Spain, that unfortunately got cancelled by Paul’s arrest and execution in Rome.

So Paul is writing in volatile political times.

Writing about how to live as a Christian under the rule of a non-Christian, and sometimes even anti-Christian government.

Paul is also navigating the tensions between Jewish Christians, Gentile Christians and non-Christian Jews.  Trying to get all the worshipers of the same God on the same page by summarizing the Law and the Prophets as Love — Love your neighbor as yourself — Love fulfills the Law.

Paul, as a Roman citizen, honestly believed, at this point in his life, before he got arrested and executed for preaching and living the Rule of Love — Paul honestly believed that practicing neighbor-love would keep everyone in compliance with all the Laws.

Jewish Law and Roman Law.

Paul is witnessing the end of the Pax Romana – the Roman Peace.

Paul is witnessing armed rebellion in Judea.

Paul is witnessing the Roman Empire struggling to maintain its extensive colonized borders.

And Paul is thinking… Maybe this is it?

Maybe Jesus is coming really soon.

Many of the first generation disciples believed that Jesus would return in their lifetime and still believed that Jesus would restore the kingdom of Israel.

There are Christians today who support the genocide in Palestine because they think that the restoration of the borders of the Davidic Kingdom of Isreal will cause Jesus to return.

But Jesus himself said in Matthew 24:6-13

6 You will hear about wars and reports of wars. Don’t be alarmed. These things must happen, but this isn’t the end yet. 7 Nations and kingdoms will fight against each other, and there will be famines and earthquakes in all sorts of places. 8 But all these things are just the beginning of the sufferings associated with the end. 9 They will arrest you, abuse you, and they will kill you. All nations will hate you on account of my name. 10 At that time many will fall away. They will betray each other and hate each other. 11 Many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because disobedience will expand, the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be delivered.

The destruction of the Temple in 69 AD was not the end times.

The Great Schism of the Holy Roman Empire in 1054 was not the end times.

World War 1 and World War 2 were not the end times.

I don’t think that Trump is “THE Anti-Christ,” although his actions and policies are certainly not in alignment with Christian teaching.

 And I don’t believe that these are the end times.

And yet, Paul’s advice is still good.

Love your neighbor as yourself (vs 10)

And Wake Up!

Anybody who has eyes can see what’s going on around us.

The hour has come for the church to rise from her slumber.  

Look at verses 11-14 in today’s reading.

11 Besides this, you know what time it is, how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers;12 the night is far gone; the day is near. Let us then throw off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light; 13 let us walk decently as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in illicit sex and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

I don’t think that Paul is talking about purity culture in verses 13-14. 

I don’t think Paul was opposed to joyful gatherings and sharing some wine and laughter.  

I think that Paul was talking about Epstein style parties.  

The kind of parties that nobody who calls themselves a Christian should be at.

I think that Paul was saying that in times like these. 

Times when it feels like the world has gone crazy. 

This is when we need to arm ourselves with faith instead of violence.

Arm ourselves with Love, and put aside whatever petty disagreements we may have with our fellow Christians.

Put aside our preferences about the stuff that doesn’t really matter 

and focus on the mission of neighbor-love

It is from scriptures like this one that the term “woke” comes from.

“Woke” is a term borrowed from the Black Church.

A shorthand for waking up to see what is going on around us.

Woke is a call to justice and a reminder of the hope we have in Christ.

A reminder, as it says in verse 11, of:

how it is already the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; 

The God who delivered the Hebrew people from Egypt.

The God who hears the cries of the poor.

The God who came to the earth and rose from the dead.

Will hear the cries of the oppressed and invites us to be a part of God’s salvation.

Ezekiel 16:49-50 CEB

49 This is the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were proud, had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but she didn’t help the poor and the needy. 50 They became haughty and did detestable things in front of me, and I turned away from them as soon as I saw it.

Genesis 18:20-32 CEB

20 Then the Lord said, “The cries of injustice from Sodom and Gomorrah are countless, and their sin is very serious! 21 I will go down now to examine the cries of injustice that have reached me. Have they really done all this? If not, I want to know.”

22 The men turned away and walked toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing in front of the Lord. 23 Abraham approached and said, “Will you really sweep away the innocent with the guilty? 24 What if there are fifty innocent people in the city? Will you really sweep it away and not save the place for the sake of the fifty innocent people in it? 25 It’s not like you to do this, killing the innocent with the guilty as if there were no difference. It’s not like you! Will the judge of all the earth not act justly?”

26 The Lord said, “If I find fifty innocent people in the city of Sodom, I will save it because of them.”

27 Abraham responded, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, even though I’m just soil and ash, 28 what if there are five fewer innocent people than fifty? Will you destroy the whole city over just five?”

The Lord said, “If I find forty-five there, I won’t destroy it.”

29 Once again Abraham spoke, “What if forty are there?”

The Lord said, “For the sake of forty, I will do nothing.”

30 He said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak. What if thirty are there?”

The Lord said, “I won’t do it if I find thirty there.”

31 Abraham said, “Since I’ve already decided to speak with my Lord, what if twenty are there?”

The Lord said, “I won’t do it, for the sake of twenty.”

32 Abraham said, “Don’t be angry with me, my Lord, but let me speak just once more. What if there are ten?”

Luke 11:5-10 CEB

”5 He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. 9 And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

What I want to talk about today is persistence in the face of injustice, but because of how the story of Sodom and Gomorrah has been misused to villanize and criminalize gay men, I’ve got to address that injustice first.

You’re going to need the scripture, so keep your bulletins handy!

I chose to have us start with the Ezekiel scripture because Ezekiel, who was a Levite – that is, a person of the Priestly family, as well as a prophet, offers us the definitive interpretation of the story of Sodom and Gamorrah, as a message from God, written down as the duty of a prophet.

The English word, sodomy, is wrongly derived from this story, because at one point the people of Sodom and Gamorrah, threatened to rape Lot’s male guests.  Threatening rape, is bad.  Period.  The gender of the victim is not the important part here!  And gay marriage and consentual gay sex are not the same thing as rape!

Also, rape was not the only sin, for which God was planning to punish the Twin Cities.  Look at that Ezekial passage:

• They were proud in the bad way.
• They had plenty to eat, and enjoyed peace and prosperity; but didn’t help the poor and the needy.  
• They became haughty and did detestable things in front of God, and God turned away from them as soon as God saw it.

When you read the story of Sodom and Gamorrah, please read it in light of Ezekiel’s prophetic interpretation.  This story has NOTHING to do with condemning Gay love.  Nothing!

Having addressed that particular injustice, let’s move on to the topic of persistence.

I read a hopeful post on facebook the other day, insisting that the average dictatorship only lasts 3-5 years, but like so much that is posted on social media this little snippet of hope, was not exactly true.  Like so many things in life, the truth is much more nuanced.

What I was hoping for, was some clear, historically vetted timeline, to give me hope that it will only be a little longer before this season of ICE raids, defunding medical care for the most vulnerable, and Christo-facism defaming the name of God by praying over actions that Ezekiel would call detestable, will soon be over.

I cry out to God like a Psalmist, How Long, Oh God!

How Long, Oh God!

Will the taxes of the middle class be given to Billionaires while they raise the cost of living and pay their workers starvation wages?

How Long, Oh God?

Do you not hear the cries of hungry children?

Do you not see the sleepless nights of gay couples who wonder if they will still be legally married in the morning?

Do you not hear the cries of the asylum seekers snatched as they showed up for court?

How Long, Oh God!

Are you not a God of Justice anymore?

Will you let our entire country suffer for the sins of the 1%??!

OK, maybe more than 1% of us have supported these detestable actions.

Will you let the whole country suffer for the sins of 30% of the US?

What if only 50% of us are innocent?

What if only the children are innocent?

Abraham argued for the lives of the innocent minority in Sodom and Gamorrah because Lot was family.

Maybe Lot wasn’t the most innocent person, because, later in the story, Lot offers the crowd his daughters to assault in place of the guests, but Lot was family.

Have you ever had a relative like that?

Maybe they’re not smart.  

Maybe they don’t make the best choices.

Maybe you can’t agree with their values or their politics.

But they’re family, so you don’t want them to suffer.

Not even suffer the consequences of their own actions.

So Abraham, having heard that his nephew of questionable values and choices, is in the path of God’s wrath, is persistent in bargaining with God.

Now, personally, I think that Abraham questioning Lot’s life choices is pretty much the pot calling the kettle black.  After all,  Abraham was willing to pimp out his wife Sarah to protect himself, even after God demonstrated God’s protection.  Abraham kicked out his firstborn son, Ishmael and his baby-momma Hagar, straight into the desert to die with no child support or anything.  And Abraham got it into his head that God wanted him to sacrifice his second son, Issac… probably because sacrificing your children was a common religious practice in the area at the time, and God had to put a stop to that child-sacrificing nonsense by tangling a ram into a nearby bush, which is generally agreed on as the beginning of animal sacrifice as a replacement for child sacrifice – one of the greatest religious innovations of the time.

All of that is to say that, Abraham was no angel, because sometimes we think that we need to be worthy to pray.  

That we need to be extra holy to dare to question God, like Abraham or the Psalmists.  That it’s somehow dangerous for us to ask, How Long, Oh God? Because that is questioning God.

But persistence is Biblical.

Persistence is Biblical.

And not just Hebrew Bible Biblical.

Although, those who try to claim that the New Testament is somehow more valid than the Old Testament are ignoring the fact that Jesus himself said, in Matthew 5:17,  that he did not come to abolish Torah, but to fulfill it.

Jesus often referenced these Biblical concepts in new ways.

I’m going to have our Worship Leader come up here and read/

5 He also said to them, “Imagine that one of you has a friend and you go to that friend in the middle of the night. Imagine saying, ‘Friend, loan me three loaves of bread 6 because a friend of mine on a journey has arrived and I have nothing to set before him.’ 7 Imagine further that he answers from within the house, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up to give you anything.’ 8 I assure you, even if he wouldn’t get up and help because of his friendship, he will get up and give his friend whatever he needs because of his friend’s brashness. 9 And I tell you: Ask and you will receive. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened to you. 10 Everyone who asks, receives. Whoever seeks, finds. To everyone who knocks, the door is opened.

This passage comes right after Luke’s version of Jesus teaching the disciples how to pray – what we often call, The Lord’s Prayer.  So the topic is prayer.  

Jesus is telling them, telling us, to imagine that God is like a friend who has the means to help us with whatever unexpected visitor life has brought us, but might not feel like helping us in the moment.  

But because we kept asking…  

Because we kept praying…

God answered.

And as with so many things that Jesus taught, they apply on both a spiritual and an earthly level.

Yes, we must keep knocking on heaven’s door and asking for God’s reign to come and God’s will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

And, we must be persistent in accepting the freedom and power that God has given us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, as it says in our Baptismal Vows on page 35 of the hymnal.

Friends, one of the healthcare providers who donates his time at the free clinic that Rahab’s Sisters is doing a pilot program with this summer didn’t show up last week, because he was detained by ICE while dropping his child off at care.

They have asked us to pray.

So every Sunday, from now on, we will be praying Micah 6:8 – for our leaders to do Justice, act with Mercy and walk Humbly with God, and I ask you to join me in persistently praying throughout the week.

And we are also called to leverage whatever freedom, power, or privilege, we might have, to resist the evil, injustice and oppression that presents itself in our city, our country and our world.  

This can look like a lot of things. 

From being persistent in emailing your legislators.

To more direct actions such as protest, and boycotts.

I can’t tell you how long these evil times will last, but I can tell you that they will not last forever.

God will eventually inspire enough people and change enough hearts, to change the course of history.

Until then, we will persist in prayer and action.

We will persist in hope.

Matthew 11:28-30; 12:1-8  CEB

28 “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. 30 My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”

1 At that time Jesus went through the wheat fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry so they were picking heads of wheat and eating them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look, your disciples are breaking the Sabbath law.”

3 But he said to them, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and those with him were hungry? 4 He went into God’s house and broke the law by eating the bread of the presence, which only the priests were allowed to eat. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple treat the Sabbath as any other day and are still innocent? 6 But I tell you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what this means, I want mercy and not sacrifice, you wouldn’t have condemned the innocent. 8 The Human One is Lord of the Sabbath.”

Happy Portland Pride Church!

I love Portland Pride.

I love that so many people take public transit to watch the parade and attend the Pride Festival.

I love that so many different people show up, from Farmers to Drag Queens, to Bankers, showing the world that being LGBTQIA+ isn’t a just kinky lifestyle, it’s just life.

Every day, Queer folks: get up, go to work, pay their bills, kiss their spouses, pick their kids up from school, watch sports, go to the theater, pay taxes, and live with the existential dread that some politician on his or her 4th marriage will make same gender marriage illegal.

Or they wonder if the gender affirming healthcare that makes their life worth living will still be available and legal next time they turn on the news.  Or if their next doctor or dentist will treat them with basic courtesy.  Or will insist on mis-gendering and deadnaming them, “because we don’t do different names or pronouns here,” as the dentist’s office said to my foster young adult, who is Trans.  That happened here in Portland.  2 years ago.  It took us 2 more dentist’s offices to find one that would treat Them with the basic courtesy of using their correct name.

Sometimes people wonder why Pride?

Why call it pride?

Why celebrate who people love and how they identify?

Why Pride?

Because the opposite of pride is shame.  LGBTQIA+ folks have historically been shamed just for existing.  Shamed for just being who God made them to be.  

Sometimes people were shamed to death – brutally murdered, like Matthew Shepherd, or gunned down at the Pulse nightclub.  Murdered by the shame of angry young men who could not handle gay people existing.

During the first Trump administration, between 2017 and 2021, murders of Trans people nearly doubled, and while only 13% of the trans community is Black, Black Trans women accounted for nearly ¾’s of the known victims.

“In 2019, the American Medical Association recognized “an epidemic of violence against the transgender community,” who are over 2.5 times more likely than cisgender people — those whose gender identity aligns with the sex they were designated at birth — to experience violence, according to the Everytown report. 

Shame also causes suicide.  

“According to the National Center for Transgender Equality’s U.S. trans survey — the largest survey of transgender people to date, which was published in 2015 — 40% of trans youth reported attempting suicide in their lifetime. That’s nearly nine times the national average,” of all youth suicide.

(HMKP-118-JU00-20240321-SD011  PDF (www.congress.gov))

We call it pride because Pride is the opposite of shame and shame kills.

We mean Pride in the way parents are proud of their kids, or grandparents are proud of their grandkids, or when we are proud of ourselves for successfully adulting.

We mean Pride as in being proud of your friend who is celebrating 1 year of sobriety, or being so proud of you for still being here 1 year after a suicide attempt.

LGBTQ+ Pride does not mean arrogance, or haughtiness, or a lack of consideration of others.

LGBTQ+ Pride means celebrating that you’re Queer, you’re here and you’re finding ways to thrive with joy.

Today we also celebrate that we are a Reconciling United Methodist Congregation.

Reconciling, because we are a member of the Reconciling Ministries network, a coalition of United Methodists, and former United Methodists, who have worked for decades to help our Denomination and local congregations move from rejecting LGBTQIA+ folks, to affirming their belovedness and calls to ministry.

And we are still a United Methodist Congregation because of the tireless work of people like Rev Dr. Jeanne Knepper who persisted in standing up for inclusion long past the point where she lost the use of her legs, and thankfully lived to see the day that those who sought to exclude her left in frustration.

And even though the horrible exclusive language has been removed from the United Methodist Book of Discipline, it still matters that we are a Reconciling church.  It matters because even though last May, General Conference voted to “remove mandated discrimination, the option to discriminate is still available.” https://docs.google.com/document/d/1f-bQNSE2U9ykwdTJWhLJnuM2Zr7RBSQTjwv1Sy2sh_I/edit?tab=t.0 

Last week, while I was at Dakota Wesleyan University, doing some continuing education, I met the Pastor of the United Methodist Congregation where Rush Limbaugh’s family attends.  We had a civil conversation over breakfast, where she insisted that the focus of her church is about being welcoming to everyone.  I responded to her that while I agree that all people are welcome in Church, not all behaviors are welcome.  Behaviors, including speech, that threatens, demeans, and excludes others, is “incompatible with Christian teaching” in my humble opinion.

I believe that speech matters because the Centers for Disease Control have collected multiple peer reviewed research studies that demonstrate that LGBTQ+ youth have higher rates of depression, and suicide, as a result of “increased experiences of discrimination and rejection.”

The Good news is that “LGBTQ youth who report having at least one accepting adult were 40% less likely to report a suicide attempt in the past year.” https://www.thetrevorproject.org/research-briefs/accepting-adults-reduce-suicide-attempts-among-lgbtq-youth/ 

I don’t know if the positive effect of multiple supportive people is cumulative, because I couldn’t find that research, but I do know from my personal Pastoral experience that churches and clergy who not only “welcome,” LGBTQ+ youth and adults, but affirm and celebrate their gifts and graces, create positive outcomes in Queer people’s lives.

As a Pastor.  

As a mother of a lesbian daughter and a Trans/Genderfluid adult child.

As an ally.

I’m simultaneously  afraid to watch the news, and afraid to not watch the news.  

I feel like keeping up to date with the fresh horrors that each day brings is part of my pastoral responsibility.

I also feel like tuning out and taking a break is necessary for my sanity. 

And I’m straight, and middle class, and educated, and white.

I can’t even imagine the levels of exhaustion and fear and stress, that Queer and Trans, and brown, and hispanic, and poor, and unstably employed and unstably housed, and people on Medicare, are feeling.

In moments like this when we feel like we’re doing everything we can and nothing’s working, we cry out to God.

What in the Kentucky-fried-Crisis, Jesus!

We just can’t take this anymore!

And Jesus responds to us in much the same way that God responded to Elijah and Isaiah and Jonah when they got so sad and mad that they just sat down under a bush waiting for their doom.

28 “Come to me, all you who are struggling hard and carrying heavy loads, and I will give you rest. 29 Put on my yoke, and learn from me. I’m gentle and humble. And you will find rest for yourselves. 30 My yoke is easy to bear, and my burden is light.”

Come to me, all you who are struggling under the weight of the world.

Set that ish down because it is not ours to carry.

A yoke is a good thing because it redistributes the weight from the bags that cut off the circulation to your fingers, and puts it on your sturdy shoulders.  A yoke also increases and limits how much weight you can carry because the yoke will break if you overload it.

Setting down all the everything we are trying to be responsible for and taking up the better balanced and lighter yoke load that is our calling makes life manageable.

It’s not our job to save the world, Jesus is already doing that!

It’s our job to carry the lighter, better balanced load of our calling, which includes space for Sabbath rest.

I don’t think that it’s accidental that the next story after this passage is Jesus teaching about Sabbath.

For an editor, trying to stitch together a collection of second hand memories about Jesus, the transition from, “I will give you rest,” to teaching about the Sabbath seems like a nice segway.  

Because, just in case you didn’t know, nobody followed Jesus around and took notes while he was alive.  The gospels were written after the original disciples had all died, so everything we know about Jesus was passed down orally, then collected and edited into a semi-chronological order.  Which is to say, did Jesus actually go straight from offering a lighter load and rest to teaching about Sabbath?  Ummmm…. We have no idea.

What I can tell you is that part of the religious trauma of second Temple Judaism was that when they rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple, in Nehemiah chapter 13, Nehemiah enforced Sabbath by closing the city gates and posting armed guards to prevent any traders or sellers from entering the city during the Sabbath, and threatened the traders with violence for camping outside the wall.  Nehemiah took the gentle gift of rest and turned it into a threat of violence.

At the same time the “prophet” Nehemiah demanded that all Jewish men who were married to foreign women, divorce their wives and reject their children.  And if they refused, Nehemiah chased them out of the city.   Here’s Nehemiah in his own words:

Nehemiah 13:25-27

So I scolded them and cursed them, and beat some of them, and pulled out their hair. I also made them swear a solemn pledge in the name of God, saying, “You won’t give your daughters to their sons in marriage, or take their daughters in marriage for your sons or yourselves. 26 Didn’t Israel’s King Solomon sin on account of such women?… 27 Should we then listen to you and do all this great evil, acting unfaithfully toward our God by marrying foreign women?”

From the beginning of the second Temple era Sabbath was linked with violence, threats, and families divided by deportation.

A lot of people, especially LGBTQ+ people, suffer from religious trauma, because leaders like Nehemiah were so focused on enforcing the law of love that they missed that the point of the law is love.

Rest.  Sabbath rest and the rest that we find by accepting the lighter and more balanced load of our calling are meant to increase the love and thriving in our lives, not decrease it.

People should not be excluded for who they love.

People should not be excluded for practicing their faith a little differently, or bending the rules while maintaining the intent of love.

People should not be shamed for feeling overwhelmed or overburdened – they are not lacking faith, you are not lacking in faith, I am not lacking in faith!  Mostly, we are surviving in a world that is experiencing a severe shortage of justice and compassion.

People should not be shamed or excluded, period.

We should all be able to find inclusion, affirmation, celebration, Grace, and people who are proud of us for just being who God made us to be.

Be gentle with yourself out there.

Be gentle with each other.

Most Merciful God,

We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. 

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We have not heard the cries of the needy, 

and we have not responsibly stewarded your creation. 

We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, 

by what we have done and by what we have left undone. 

Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, 

so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, 

to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

Hear the good news: 

Christ came not to condemn, but that the whole world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)

In the name of Jesus the Christ we are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus the Christ, we are forgiven! Amen.

Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31 CEB

Doesn’t Wisdom cry out

    and Understanding shout?

2 Atop the heights along the path,

    at the crossroads she takes her stand.

3 By the gate before the city,

    at the entrances she shouts:

4 I cry out to you, people;

    my voice goes out to all of humanity.

22 The Lord created me at the beginning of their way,

    before their deeds long in the past.

23 I was formed in ancient times,

    at the beginning, before the earth was.

24 When there were no watery depths, I was brought forth,

    when there were no springs flowing with water.

25 Before the mountains were settled,

    before the hills, I was brought forth;

26     before God made the earth and the fields

    or the first of the dry land.

27 I was there when they established the heavens,

    when God marked out the horizon on the deep sea,

28     when they thickened the clouds above,

    when God secured the fountains of the deep,

29     when God set a limit for the sea,

        so the water couldn’t go beyond their command,

    when God marked out the earth’s foundations.

30 I was beside God as a master of crafts.

    I was having fun,

    smiling before God all the time,

31     frolicking with God’s inhabited earth

    and delighting in the human race.

Wendell Berry wrote,

“As I have read the Gospels over the years, the belief has grown in me that Christ did not come to found an organized religion but came instead to found an unorganized one. He seems to have come to carry religion out of the temples into the fields and sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and the banks of the rivers, into the houses of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness, toward the membership of all that is here,”

Hmmm. Did Jesus found an organized religion?

Or was Jesus more into

31     frolicking with God’s inhabited earth

    and delighting in the human race.

As we just read in Proverbs 8:31.

The founder of Methodism, John Wesley, certainly felt that we needed to share the gospel in “the fields and sheep pastures, onto the roadsides and the banks of the rivers, into the houses of sinners and publicans, into the town and the wilderness.”  Wesley wrote in his journal in 1739 that he had submitted himself to be more vile, after the first time that he preached in a field to a bunch of workers.

Wesley continued to be more and more vile over the years, preaching to factory workers on the street after work let out.  Preaching in fields to farm workers.  Even preaching on his fathers tombstone when he was not allowed to preach inside his father’s former church.

Wesley was an Oxford educated Anglican Priest, who very much believed in high church and ancient rituals, but while he was at Oxford, he made the mistake and actually read the Bible.

What happens when you actually read the Bible, especially the gospels, you start to notice that Jesus did spend time in the Temple and Synegoges, but Jesus spent most of his time hanging out with ordinary people, in ordinary places.  

Jesus didn’t sit in the Temple or the Synagogue and wait for people to come to  him.

Jesus didn’t assume that if they didn’t come to church, they weren’t interested in God or spirituality.

Jesus didn’t limit his interactions to people who dressed like him, spoke like him, or worshiped like him.  

Church, can I just say how proud I am of you?

The other day, Joanne commented to me that as she interacts more with the different people whom we have started engaging with…folks who wouldn’t normally come to church, like our Haven Dinner folks and our Rahab’s Sisters friends… the more she interacts with them, the more she feels comfortable.  Like we’re not us and them anymore, we’re just all of us.

All of us just trying to get through the day without watching too much news.

All of us trying to find some joy amidst the struggle.

All of us doing our small part to do all the good we can, do no harm, and practice love for God and our neighbors.

But people aren’t always easy to love.

I mean, have you met people?

Just try to drive across town and I guarantee that you will encounter many drivers who have not answered Wisdom’s call!

The Lectionary Committee decided to leave out verses 5-21, but when we’re talking about those who have not answered wisdom’s call, it’s kind of relevant.  I’m going to ask our Liturgist to come up and read verses 5-21.

5 Understand skill, you who are naive.

Take this to heart, you fools.

6 Listen, for I speak things that are correct;

from my lips comes what is right.

7 My mouth utters the truth;

my lips despise wickedness.

8 All the words of my mouth are righteous;

nothing in them is twisted or crooked.

9 All of them are straightforward to those who understand,

and upright for the knowledgeable.

10 Take my instruction rather than silver,

knowledge rather than choice gold.

11 Wisdom is better than pearls;

nothing is more delightful than she.

12 I, Wisdom, dwell with prudence;

I have found knowledge and discretion.

13 To fear the Lord is to hate evil.

I hate pride and arrogance,

the path of evil and corrupt speech.

14 I have advice and ability,

as well as understanding and strength.

15 By me kings rule,

and princes issue righteous decrees.

16 By me rulers govern,

and officials judge righteously.[a]

17 I love those who love me;

those who seek me will find me.

18 Riches and honor are with me,

as well as enduring wealth and righteousness.

19 My fruit is better than gold, even fine gold;

my crops are better than choice silver.

20 I walk on the way of righteousness,

on the paths of justice,

21     to provide for those who love me

and to fill up their treasuries.

I think we all have those moments when it’s just hard to watch somebody else’s choices.

Especially when it’s somebody you care about, 

and they won’t listen to good advice, 

and they keep making unhealthy choices, 

and you can see so clearly the consequences of their actions barreling towards them like a freight train of doom,

and you just want to yell at them, “that’s not the light at the end of the tunnel!!!”

Or as the author of this Proverb wrote:

5 Understand skill, you who are naive.

    Take this to heart, you fools.

And normally I would say that it’s the worst when it’s your kids or grandkids who are not answering Wisdom’s call.

But right now, I’m thinking that maybe it’s worse when the Leaders of Nations don’t answer Wisdom’s call.

And yet these people who seem not to be on speaking terms with Wisdom are also Beloved Children of God.

Which leaves us with important questions like: 

• “How do we love people while not getting hit by the train that is the consequences of their actions?”
• “How do we love people who are embracing hate, while also loving those who are being targeted by that hate?”
• “How do we resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves, without being filled with rage by those who have been deceived into participating in injustice?”
• “How do I accept grace for myself when I realize that I’m the one who has not been listening to Wisdom?”

The truth is that life is complicated.

That many issues have more than one right answer.

And if we are so worried about doing everything correctly, then we will end up doing nothing at all!

So we’re going to make mistakes.

We’re going to make mistakes.

Sometimes we’re going to make mistakes with the best of intentions.

And sometimes we’re going to choose to do horrible things because hurt people hurt people.

And sometimes people choose to do horrible things because they believe that the ends justify the means.

But God is still

 31     frolicking with God’s inhabited earth

    and delighting in the human race.

God still loves us, just as Jesus loved Judas.

So before we come to the Table of Grace, please join me in the spiritual practice of Confession and Forgiveness.

Most Merciful God,

We confess that we have not loved you with our whole heart. 

We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.

We have not heard the cries of the needy, 

and we have not responsibly stewarded your creation. 

We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, 

by what we have done and by what we have left undone. 

Have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us, and lead us, 

so that we may delight in your will and walk in your ways, 

to the glory of your holy name. Amen.

Hear the good news: 

Christ came not to condemn, but that the whole world might be saved through him. (John 3:17)

In the name of Jesus the Christ we are forgiven!

In the name of Jesus the Christ, we are forgiven! Amen.

Acts 2:1-21 CEB

2 When Pentecost Day arrived, they were all together in one place. 2 Suddenly a sound from heaven like the howling of a fierce wind filled the entire house where they were sitting. 3 They saw what seemed to be individual flames of fire alighting on each one of them. 4 They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them to speak.

5 There were pious Jews from every nation under heaven living in Jerusalem. 6 When they heard this sound, a crowd gathered. They were mystified because everyone heard them speaking in their native languages. 7 They were surprised and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all the people who are speaking Galileans, every one of them? 8 How then can each of us hear them speaking in our native language? 9 Parthians, Medes, and Elamites; as well as residents of Mesopotamia, Judea, and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, 10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the regions of Libya bordering Cyrene; and visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism), 11 Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the mighty works of God in our own languages!” 12 They were all surprised and bewildered. Some asked each other, “What does this mean?” 13 Others jeered at them, saying, “They’re full of new wine!”

14 Peter stood with the other eleven apostles. He raised his voice and declared, “Judeans and everyone living in Jerusalem! Know this! Listen carefully to my words! 15 These people aren’t drunk, as you suspect; after all, it’s only nine o’clock in the morning! 16 Rather, this is what was spoken through the prophet Joel:

17 In the last days, God says,

I will pour out my Spirit on all people.

    Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

    Your young will see visions.

    Your elders will dream dreams.

18     Even upon my servants, men and women,

        I will pour out my Spirit in those days,

        and they will prophesy.

19 I will cause wonders to occur in the heavens above

    and signs on the earth below,

        blood and fire and a cloud of smoke.

20 The sun will be changed into darkness,

    and the moon will be changed into blood,

        before the great and spectacular day of the Lord comes.

21 And everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Today we celebrate the birthday of the church on the Jewish holiday of Pentecost.  Pentecost is the Greek name for Shavuot, the Jewish celebration of the giving of the Torah.  Pente – means 5, for the 5 books of the Torah, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

Pentecost is a joyful celebration in Jewish tradition.  The Biblical story that Pentecost is connected to is the story of the giving of the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai.   It’s also a harvest festival, for the summer grain harvest, when the Jewish farmers would go to Jerusalem to bring the first fruits of their harvest as an offering to God.  https://www.jewishagency.org/what-is-shavuot-traditions-dairy-food-learning/ 

Although because Pentecost is a really fun holiday, with men dancing with Torah scrolls, families staying up all night to study Torah to make up for the people having been asleep when Moses came down the mountain with the 10 commandments, and the consumption of dairy treats,  more than just farmers would show up in Jerusalem for the party!

Jewish people from EVERYWHERE, farmers or not, would flood into the city to enjoy the party!

But the disciples didn’t feel like partying.

The disciples had followed Jesus around for 3 years,

They had done supervised mission experiences,

heard Jesus’ every teaching,

witnessed every miracle Jesus performed,

And had even performed some miracles themselves

So now that Jesus had ascended to heaven they were ready to lead the church, right?

Ummm, no.  

When the day of Pentecost – came they were hiding in the upper room together in Jerusalem.

They were afraid, confused, uncertain, clueless, argumentative, and didn’t know where to start.

They had lost their sense of direction when Jesus ascended into heaven.

They felt leaderless without Jesus,

 and I’m sure Peter felt like he was wholly inadequate to lead the church.

After all that time of having Jesus right there, 

telling them what to do, 

answering their questions,

drawing the crowds, 

healing people in mind, body and spirit, 

always doing the right thing at the right time. 

None of them felt ready to lead the church.

All they knew how to do was follow Jesus.

All they knew how to do was follow Jesus.

All I know how to do is follow Jesus!

Life feels strange right now, doesn’t it?

I mean, first of all, why does it feel like it’s the 1600s outside?  I mean, the kinds of daily questions we’re dealing with are so 1600s!  Like:

• Am I going to get the plague?
• Can I afford eggs at the market?

Or the 1930’s?

• Are masked men going to show up in my neighborhood and carry my neighbors away?
• Are we really going to have a military parade next weekend with tanks rolling through the streets?
• And we’re already 3 lines into Martin Neimoller’s poem, except for this time they’re coming for the immigrants and the government workers instead of the Jews and the trade unionists.

And what’s up with Costco changing the packaging on their rotisserie chicken!??!!!

The old clamshell design was so good!

You could pop the top and carve it right on the bottom part, no muss no fuss!

Those plastic bags are so easy to puncture with a knife and then I’ve got chicken goo all over my fridge!

Come on, Costco!  Life is hard enough right now! Give us back the clamshell!

But there are good things too.

I just spent the weekend at Camp Magruder with our Haven Dinner folks.  Spirit is always at work at Camp!

The sun is shining.  It’s funny how much the sunshine makes my day better.

We’re here, together, loving one another, as Jesus told us to.

Oak Street Pod Village, down the road is already helping people move into housing.

And y’all decided to move forward with Hacienda CDC to see if we can build some affordable housing!

And I feel just as scared and unprepared to lead y’all through this process as Peter felt on the day of Pentecost!

Because I’m not Jesus, I just work for Him, and I sure wish He was here to tell us all what to do right now!

Because all I know how to do is follow Jesus.

Jesus told us again and again to not be afraid, and He told us that in times that were just as politically volatile and violent as they are now.

— So I just do my best to choose to believe that God’s got this!

Jesus told us that whatever we do to the least of these, whom he considers members of his family — whatever we do to the hungry, the thirsty, those in need of the basics of life;  how we treat immigrants and prisoners and sick people, is how we are treating Jesus godself.

–so we try to care for the most vulnerable people as if Jesus, Mary and Joseph showed up at our door.  We try, and with our partners at Rahab’s Sisters, Family Promise, Leaven Land and Housing Coalition, and the Red Cross.  I think we’re following Jesus by showing hospitality to those whom God loves.

Jesus told us to love one another as God loves us.

Even when we’re annoying.

Even when we disagree.

Especially when love is a labor of love.

Jesus taught us to pray.

To pray for God’s will to be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

To pray that God would provide for our daily needs.

To pray for forgiveness for ourselves and to find within ourselves forgiveness for others.

To pray that we won’t be deceived by the temptations of this world.

To pray that God will save us from all kinds of evil.

All I know how to do is follow Jesus.

To remember the things Jesus taught and did and when I can’t think of something that applies to a particular situation to spend some time in the Bible looking for something that applies until Spirit speaks.

So the Disciples were sitting in that same upper room they’d been staying in since they shared their last Passover dinner with Jesus and it was the day of Pentecost.

So they did what they always did with Jesus.  They went to the temple to celebrate Moses coming down the mountain with the law.

And God showed up.

The wind of the Spirit blew the fear and indecision from their minds.

The fire of the Spirit melted their frozen hearts and frozen limbs.

The tongues of flames loosened their tongues to speak the story of what it was like to follow Jesus in every language to every person…not just to those who were gathered in Jerusalem on that day of Pentecost, but to all the people on all the days that came after.

This same Spirit is still pouring out upon us!

Giving us a way to respond when we have no words!

Causing our elders to dream dreams of things that they may not live to see.

Inspiring our youth to catch a vision of what the future could be if we try to live as if God’s reign is happening here on earth.

Calling sons, daughters, and siblings to prophecy: 

• Thus sayeth the Lord who hears the cries of the needy!
• And, let everyone who is weary and heavy laden come and find rest.

The real miracle of Pentecost is not that the sound like a rushing wind blew the Disciples out of hiding, nor that the brightness came over them like tongues of flame, or even that the gospel was proclaimed in many languages.  The real miracle of Pentecost is that the Spirit of God is still at work.

Still whispering through all the noise of life.

Still blowing us out of hiding and into ministry!

Still bringing us light in our darkest nights. 

Spirit is still moving us to love our neighbors — Jews and Gentiles – immigrants and native sons, rich and poor, men, women, and genderfluid, gay and straight. 

Spirit is still moving us to love our enemies, to turn the other cheek and accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice and oppression.

Spirit is still speaking.

Just follow Jesus.

Ephesians 1:15-23 NRSVUE
15 I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, and for this reason 16 I do not cease to give thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers, 17 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, 18 so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may perceive what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. 20 God put this power to work in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule and authority and power and dominion and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come. 22 And he has put all things under his feet and has made him the head over all things for the church, 23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Paul didn’t write what we just read.  Bible scholars know this because Paul was kinda dead at the time it was written.  Also, the earliest known copies of this letter are not addressed to the Ephesians.  They aren’t addressed to any particular community of faith.  The oldest copies of this letter are addressed, “to the saints who are faithful.”

So in a way this letter was a creative writing project by some unknown second generation Christian.  As if the author of this letter sat down, around the year 90 (we think), to write a sermon based on the question: if Paul was alive today, what would he write to the “saints who are faithful?”

If Paul was alive today, what would he write to us?

What would Paul say to us, the faithful saints of Montavilla UMC who have continued to show up and be the church in a time when being a part of a church isn’t a popular choice?

And let’s be honest.  This lack of popularity is intimidating.

Many of us can remember a time when this sanctuary was full on Sunday mornings.  When the basement classrooms were crowded with children.  When the church was the center of family life and a good influence on the community at large.

There are some who remember those times with joy and gratitude.

And there are others who remember those times with hurt because they were excluded from the in-group.

Our Bishop, in his Episcopal Address — there’s a link to the whole thing in the All church email and it’s on the Greater Northwest Website if you want more–

Our Bishop, in his Episcopal Address, wrote to us:

This season demands courage—not just from leaders, but from every United Methodist. We need courage to release what no longer serves, to embrace new models of ministry, and to stand firmly for justice and compassion in every aspect of our common life.

The reason this season demands courage is because we’re all a little afraid of the future right now.

We’re afraid about the future of the church.

The future of this country.

The future of the economy.

Our own personal futures.

All sides of All the arguments are afraid of the future.

• The people who want to turn back time to some idealized version of past greatness are afraid of the future.
• The people who want to preserve hard fought gains in civil rights are afraid of the future.
• The people who benefit from the way the economy works now are afraid of the future.
• The people who are being crushed by the current economic system are afraid that the future will only be worse!

We have experienced so much change, so quickly, over the past few decades and even the past few years that even people who like change are tired of all the change!

It takes real courage to look at the future with hope instead of fear.

It takes courage to give thanks for what used to work really well.  To honor the courage of those who came before us and did their best to adapt to the challenges of their times.  And it takes courage for us to admit that some of our ancestors’ choices no longer serve us.

It takes courage to honor the hurts of those who were excluded and harmed by what worked for many, but not for all, and to choose to stand firmly for justice and compassion in the ways we move forward together.

It takes courage to make intentional choices about how we feel called to approach the future.  It takes courage to recognize that the choices we make now define the future we give to the next generation.  

And it takes courage to recognize that not making a choice is a choice.

We can, we absolutely can, choose to do nothing, to change nothing, to wait until it is once again 1956 outside.  But I’m pretty sure that it will never be 1956 again….

But I think this letter to the Saints who are faithful, written as if Paul was here to talk to you today, instead of just me, is for us.

You can open up your bulletin and follow along, because I’m just going to join in on this exercise on what Paul might write to us if he was here today.

Having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love towards all the saints, wouldn’t Paul give thanks for you?

I believe that Paul absolutely would give thanks for you, the faithful saints who are still here practicing the teachings of Jesus more than 2000 years later!

I think that it would bring Paul to tears to know that we are still here and we are still faithful to Christ Jesus.

Paul would not cease to give thanks for you and remember you in his prayers, that God would give us a spirit of wisdom and revelation, because we definitely need God’s wisdom and revelation now!

So that…with the eyes of our hearts enlightened we may see past the fear, see past the past, see past our own comforts and preferences…

And perceive what is the hope to which God has called us.

What is the hope to which God has called us?

Because, Beloveds, we are called to hope.

We are called to hope.

We are called to hope.

What are the riches of Christ’s glorious inheritance that we are called to leave to the next generation of saints?

And what is the immeasurable greatness of God’s power for us who believe?

Don’t we share in Paul’s courageous hope that the God who got us this far, can carry us into the future according to the working of God’s great power???!!!

Isn’t the power that raised Christ from the dead enough to give us hope?

Isn’t the power of Christ seated in the heavenly places, far above all rules and rulers, all authority figures and all earthly powers and nations, and above *every* name, not only today, but yesterday, today and tomorrow…

Isn’t God’s well demonstrated power enough for us to listen to Jesus telling us again and again, “do not be afraid?”

God has put all things under his feet, so can’t we trust in God’s power?

God is the head over all the things for the church!

So can’t we place our hope, our trust, our faith in the fact that we are still the Body of Christ?

That God has made us the embodiment of the fullness of Christ who fills all in all?

And because we are in God and God is in us, we don’t have to be afraid of the future.

I believe beyond believing that God has already given us a spirit of wisdom and revelation so that we may perceive what is the hope to which we have been called.

I believe that Paul trusts us to make choices about the future of the church.

That Paul trusts us to listen to Spirit.

That Paul trusts God to still be God, 2000 years later.

And I trust you.  The good people of Montavilla UMC, to listen to Spirit as we consider the future of the church today.

Because it’s not about me.  

Pastor’s come and go.

It’s about hope.

Acts 16:9-15
9 A vision of a man from Macedonia came to Paul during the night. He stood urging Paul, “Come over to Macedonia and help us!” 10 Immediately after he saw the vision, we prepared to leave for the province of Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to proclaim the good news to them.

11 We sailed from Troas straight for Samothrace and came to Neapolis the following day. 12 From there we went to Philippi, a city of Macedonia’s first district and a Roman colony. We stayed in that city several days. 13 On the Sabbath we went outside the city gate to the riverbank, where we thought there might be a place for prayer. We sat down and began to talk with the women who had gathered. 14 One of those women was Lydia, a Gentile God-worshipper from the city of Thyatira, a dealer in purple cloth. As she listened, the Lord enabled her to embrace Paul’s message. 15 Once she and her household were baptized, she urged, “Now that you have decided that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” And she persuaded us.

I’m going to start at the end of the story.

The second half of the very last verse of today’s reading.

Where Lydia says,

“Now that you have decided that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” 

I wonder *how* she said that sentence. 

 I mean,  just how salty was her delivery? 

Are we talking a little gentle snark, or audible eye rolling? 

“Now that you have decided that I am a believer in the Lord, come and stay in my house.” 

What do you think?

Bring up our online folks please.  So everybody can vote.

On a scale of 1-5,  1 being zero snark and 5 being a spicy burn, hold up your fingers for how snarky you think Lydia’s delivery of this line was?

In most study bibles this passage is labeled “the conversion of Lydia,” but verse 14 describes Lydia as a “Gentile God-worshiper.”  A Gentile God-worshiper was what they called people who were not ethnically Jewish, but who practiced Judaism.  

This may feel a little odd to us today, because today, we think of religion and ethnicity as seperate things, but in the first century, most people still believed that each nation or ethnic group had their own god.  And in Greek culture, most trade associations named a particular deity as their patron.

So as a dealer in purple cloth, which was very rare and very expensive.  Paul would have assumed that Lydia was a member of the guild of Aphrodite, as Aphrodite was the Greek goddess of love, beauty and pleasure, so would be one of the correct patrons for a dealer in expensive purple cloth.  

But Lydia was a God – worshiper, as it says in verse 14.

That’s why Lydia had come down to the river to pray on the Sabbath.

On the Jewish Sabbath, when other cloth dealers would have been hard at work doing business. 

Had Lydia heard about Jesus?  Maybe.  He was kind of a big deal by the end.

So Paul, convinced that God had called him to proclaim the good news to the Greeks – A Macedonian man would have been symbolically  like the Uncle Sam of Greek culture — so Paul being convinced that he was there to proclaim the good news, proclaimed it at Lydia and her household who had gathered down at the river to pray. 

And Lydia is like, yup.  Good.  Great.  Sure, we’ll get baptized.

And, “Now that you have decided that I am a believer in the Lord, why don’t you come and stay in my house.” 

Because, of course, Paul had just arrived and had nowhere to stay.

Now it’s important to note in the first half of verse 15, that Lydia and *her* household were baptized.  Which is a huge clue that Lydia was a woman of independent means.  It’s her house.  It’s her purple cloth dealership.  It’s her household full of people. It sounds kind of like she’s the leader of the God-worshiping community who meets down by the river to pray.

Did Paul convert Lydia?

Or did a Jewish God-worshiper encounter a Greek God-worshiper down by the river to discover that Spirit was already at work among them?

When I was 18, I was invited to youth group in a Pentecostal church.  During an altar call, one summer evening, I raised my hand.  But I wasn’t raising my head to accept Jesus into my heart.  Jesus was already in my heart and my head arguing with me that I should commit my life to following God.

The good, well meaning, loving, people of that church rejoiced in my “conversation,”  but by their, rather narrow, definition of conversion, I was already converted.  Spirit was already at work within me.

God was inviting me. 

But not to be a believer (I already believed.)

God was inviting me to be a doer.   

I think too often in the church, we relate to Paul.

Look at verse 10.  Paul and his buddies “concluded” that they needed to bring the good news to the Greeks.

But in verse 9, what the vision actually said was, “come help us.”

Come help your fellow God-worshipers in Macedonia.

And honestly,  Paul and Silas seem to have been more trouble than help, at least in the short term!  In the second half of this chapter they get thrown in prison and are invited to leave the city.

But, Paul does connect them with the growing network of house churches, so there’s that.

And perhaps that is the lesson from Paul and Lydia that the church needs to hear today.

Spirit is already at work.

God is the one with the power to change people’s hearts and minds.

So perhaps our work is not to convert the Lydia’s that we encounter, but to build community with all the Lydia’s we encounter.

Perhaps our calling for a time such as this is to find our people, practice hospitality, witness to the truth, gather to pray on the Sabbath, and access the power that only comes by coming together.

Acts 11:1-18 CEB
1 The apostles and the brothers and sisters throughout Judea heard that even the Gentiles had welcomed God’s word. 2 When Peter went up to Jerusalem, the circumcised believers criticized him. 3 They accused him, “You went into the home of the uncircumcised and ate with them!”

4 Step-by-step, Peter explained what had happened. 5 “I was in the city of Joppa praying when I had a visionary experience. In my vision, I saw something like a large linen sheet being lowered from heaven by its four corners. It came all the way down to me. 6 As I stared at it, wondering what it was, I saw four-legged animals—including wild beasts—as well as reptiles and wild birds. 7 I heard a voice say, ‘Get up, Peter! Kill and eat!’ 8 I responded, ‘Absolutely not, Lord! Nothing impure or unclean has ever entered my mouth.’ 9 The voice from heaven spoke a second time, ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure.’ 10 This happened three times, then everything was pulled back into heaven. 11 At that moment three men who had been sent to me from Caesarea arrived at the house where we were staying. 12 The Spirit told me to go with them even though they were Gentiles. These six brothers also went with me, and we entered that man’s house. 13 He reported to us how he had seen an angel standing in his house and saying, ‘Send to Joppa and summon Simon, who is known as Peter. 14 He will tell you how you and your entire household can be saved.’ 15 When I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell on them, just as the Spirit fell on us in the beginning. 16 I remembered the Lord’s words: ‘John baptized with water, but you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.’ 17 If God gave them the same gift he gave us who believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, then who am I? Could I stand in God’s way?”

18 Once the apostles and other believers heard this, they calmed down. They praised God and concluded, “So then God has enabled Gentiles to change their hearts and lives so that they might have new life.”

I think we can all agree that Belonging is one of the core values and main perks of Church membership.  Joining the church is supposed to mean that you now have an extended family of God.  

• Fellow church members are who you can call when you need a ride to and from your eye appointment.  
• Who you can call when you need help moving.  
• People who will give you a glowing reference for that job interview based on their experience of volunteering beside you.  
• People you can call for emergency childcare when your world turns upside down!

As someone whose family of origin was “undependable,”  yes, I’ll go with undependable as a polite way of saying it. This sense of belonging in action has largely been my experience of the church.  The church was there for me when my family or origin was not.  

That’s why I really love Mark 10:29-31:

29 Jesus said, “I assure you that anyone who has left house, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farms because of me and because of the good news 30 will receive one hundred times as much now in this life—houses, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and farms (with harassment)—and in the coming age, eternal life. 31 But many who are first will be last. And many who are last will be first.”

This isn’t some prosperity gospel/Multi Level Marketing/ Televangelist Investment scheme. Where you’re going to get 100% return on investment.

It means that when we commit ourselves to new members through our congregational baptismal vows to:

“live according to the example of Christ and surround (one another) with a community of love and forgiveness,” (found on p35 of our hymnal) 

that we gain new siblings, new grandparents, new children, to love and be loved by.  We gain couches we can crash on, friends with a truck, and invitations to holiday dinners with all the attendant hassles and privileges that come with being a part of a chosen family.

Church is messy because family is messy.

Because human relationships are messy.

Because people are messy.

People have bad days…bad weeks…bad months…even bad years.

People have differences in opinion…differences in upbringing…differences in culture…differences in how our brains work.

When somebody’s bad day and somebody else’s differences have an encounter it can get messy.

And messy is uncomfortable.

So there is a great temptation within the Church, and honestly in all human groups, to try to limit the messy.

One of the ways that humans have tried to limit the messy is by limiting our groups to “people like us.”

The idea being that “people like us” will have shared social norms, shared communication styles, shared habits, shared customs.  We can’t eliminate bad days, but we can decrease differences… in theory.

And this is what we see happening in today’s scripture.  You might want to pull out your bulletin so you can follow along.

Peter was raised within a group that had self-selected a low amount of difference, by requiring a high amount of compliance with a really long list of social norms.

Historically, some Christians have criticized Judaism for their exclusion of Gentiles, but really, if we say that then Christianity is the pot calling the kettle black, because, as Rev. Dr. King said,  “11 o’clock on Sunday morning is one of the most segregated hours, if not the most segregated hour, in Christian America”  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1q881g1L_d8 

So really, Peter, the early church, Judaism, and the church today are just being humans trying to limit the messy, by limiting our groups to “people like us.”

The problem with that practice of homogeneity is that God places a high value on inclusion.

So Peter was just trying to do church the way he was raised, with the “people like us,” and God wasn’t having it.

In the chapter before today’s reading, a couple of Roman soldiers show up at the house where Peter is staying and ask Peter to come visit their commander Cornelius, a Centurion from Italy – so a hard core Roman soldier.

This would have been totally terrifying! Except, Peter had that weird dream about all the animals and God saying, ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure,’ right before they got there.  So Peter went to Cornelius’s house and told them about the Jesus he knew, and the Spirit came upon a bunch of Gentiles, who all asked to be baptized and Peter stayed at their house, eating non-kosher food for several days!

Our reading picks up with Peter’s return to Jerusalem, where naturally gossip travels faster than apostles, so the whole Jerusalem church is demanding an explanation from Peter as soon as he gets there!  How dare Peter hang out with those people who “are not like us!”  And not just people who are not like us… but dangerous people!  Italian Roman Soldiers, for goodness sakes!  Who could get them all killed!

So Peter has to explain to them, no guys, seriously –  This was totally God’s idea!  

I had a dream.  

The Roman soldier had a dream.  

It’s all Spirit’s fault!  

Who am I to be standing in God’s way?

You might think that God has spoken, Spirit has moved and therefore it’s decided.  Gentiles are now welcome in the church.  But you would be wrong.

People continued to be people.  They had the same dang argument with Paul in Acts chapter 15.  And honestly, we’re still having this argument in the church today, and Sunday is still the most segregated time in America.

And the segregation isn’t only based on race or ethnicity.  

The segregation in the church is based on all the big and little ways people try to reduce messiness by limiting differences.

• Socioeconomic class
• Gender identity and who you are or aren’t attracted to.
• Culture
• First generation immigrants vs second or later generation immigrants
• Different Generations and their worship preferences
• Long time members vs newer members
• Fashion choices
• Music preferences
• Communication styles
• Among clergy there is even a line between PK’s and us first generation clergy.

All of these excuses for why we don’t get along on Sunday mornings are absolutely silly. 

We know this. 

And on a good day, we are all able to keep our opinions on what somebody else is wearing, safe in our heads where they will do no harm…but on a bad day we just might say something messy.

This is when Belonging takes work.

Our culture often tells us that we need to go along to get along.  Placing the responsibility for mess reduction on those who are different.

I want to be clear.  God is the creator of difference!

God loves differences!

God is the original author of Diversity Equity and Inclusion!

The voice has spoken from heaven: ‘Never consider unclean what God has made pure.’

The work of belonging is Not AT ALL about assimilation or conformity!

The work of Belonging is about making space for ALL of God’s gorgeous Diversity and taking responsibility for the times we have a bad day, bad week, month, year,  bad century… and say or do something messy.

And Jesus gave us pretty specific instructions for how in Matthew 5:21-24

21 “You have heard that it was said to those who lived long ago, Don’t commit murder, and all who commit murder will be in danger of judgment. 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with their brother or sister will be in danger of judgment. If they say to their brother or sister, ‘You idiot,’ they will be in danger of being condemned by the governing council. And if they say, ‘You fool,’ they will be in danger of fiery hell. 23 Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar and there remember that your brother or sister has something against you, 24 leave your gift at the altar and go. First make things right with your brother or sister and then come back and offer your gift.

I have 2 notes on how we can read this for today.

1. As modern day Christians who do not practice ritual sacrifice, I want you to just mentally replace, “bring your gift to the altar,”  with, “go to worship.” So, read verse 23 as, if you realize in worship that you have done harm, make things right with the people you have harmed, then you will really be able to worship.
2. Notice that the obligation for making things right belongs to the one who has done harm.  Your sibling in the faith has something against you.  It is not up to a victim to demand justice, or to make things right.  In God’s Kingdom, it’s up to the perpetrator to make it right.

Too often in all kinds of human groups, not just churches, the most marginalized — the most harmed people are expected to do the bulk of the work of fighting for their own belonging.

Our country expects people of color to do the work of proving that they belong.  It’s not biblical to expect people of color to teach white folks how to not be racist!

Our culture expects women to do the work of proving that we deserve equal pay.

Rev Dr. Jeanne spent most of her life trying to prove to our United Methodist Church that she as a lesbian clergywoman belonged.

Church – this is backwards.

What Jesus taught is that:

The work of belonging is primarily the work of those of us with power, status and privilege to prove to those who don’t feel like they belong, that they really do belong.

That person, wearing that wild outfit, could be the best evangelist this church Has ever had.

That person, with an accent, was sent here by Spirit.

That person who hasn’t been here since 1956, is the future of the church.

The work of belonging is to keep reminding ourselves, “who am I to stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:17)

And then not only get out of the way, but to hold the door open for those who have not felt welcomed in our church, in our neighborhood, in our country, in the world.

God is waiting at the door.  

“who am I to stand in God’s way?” (Acts 11:17)

Acts 5:27-32 CEB
The apostles were brought before the council where the high priest confronted them: 28 “In no uncertain terms, we demanded that you not teach in this name. And look at you! You have filled Jerusalem with your teaching. And you are determined to hold us responsible for this man’s death.”

29 Peter and the apostles replied, “We must obey God rather than humans! 30 The God of our ancestors raised Jesus from the dead—whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God has exalted Jesus to his right side as leader and savior so that he could enable Israel to change its heart and life and to find forgiveness for sins. 32 We are witnesses of such things, as is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

Last week was Holy Week and I was feeling guilty.

I was feeling guilty because usually, Holy Week is filled with extra worship services beginning with an extra special Palm Sunday service.

Then Maundy Thursday where we wash feet and remember the origins of Communion.

Then Good Friday, where we remember the crucifixion of Jesus.

Then Holy Saturday, when we might hold an Easter Vigil of some sort.  The very devoted might stay up all night holding Vigil with the Paschal candle.

Then a Sunrise service on Sunday to remember the women discovering that the tomb is empty.

Followed by Easter Worship with trumpets and organ and piano duets and so many Easter Lilies that nobody can breathe!

And I didn’t do that this year.  We did a Palm/Passion service on Palm Sunday, and an Easter service at our regular Sunday time.  So I felt guilty.  

I shouldn’t have.  Our EPIC group… EPIC stands for East Portland In Connexion – it’s our coalition of small United Methodist Churches and clergy, working together to share resources so we can do more, better ministry.  Our EPIC group had a plan for the Lent/Easter Season where we would share various events.  My event was to organize the Sunday of Service, so other clergy and churches were offering Holy Week Services for us to share.

I guess it felt strange to not be so absorbed in Holy Week services.

But God decided that I should have a Holy Week anyway.

Fig Tuesday, so named because it commemorates the day Jesus returned to Jerusalem and encountered the barren fig tree, was instead a day of remembering the very fruitful ministry of Rev Dr Jeanne Knepper, as we loaded up 81 boxes of Jeanne’s archives to be sent to Iliff Seminary.

Spy Wednesday, which commemorates Judas’ decision to betray Jesus was when Spirit began to play with me.  I was signed up to give testimony before the City Council on two ordinances on April 2, but there were too many of us signed up to give testimony for the time allowed, so they rescheduled testimony for the second ordinance for Wednesday of Holy Week.  The ordinance is to amend the City Housing Code to prohibit anti-competitive rental practices, such as the sale and use of algorithmic devices for the purpose of setting the price of rent.  So basically, there is a company who is using AI, to connect landlords across whole areas to recommend rent pricing, which allows large landlords who can afford this program to collude to raise rents.

And yes, I most certainly did testify that I want robots to clean my house not to raise my parishioners’ rent!  

I also mentioned that affordable housing is literally lifesaving for Queer, Trans and Genderfluid folks, like our Haven Dinner members.  Many other people gave wonderful, impactful testimony about their personal experiences of being priced out of housing.  The CFO of the Algorithmic rent pricing company used his testimony to accuse us of being opposed to the use of math.  Clearly trying to discredit us as poor, ignorant people.

But the Holiness happened outside the council chambers, when my testimony was done. I was chatting with various folks in the hall when a person dressed in a flowing, gossamer, pastel rainbow shirt drifted up to me. She thanked me for my testimony because she grew up in the church and when she came out as trans, her church, her family, her old friends, they all turned their backs on her. She thanked me for recognizing that affordable housing is lifesaving for people like her.  She thanked YOU, for being a church where she would be welcome.

Maundy Thursday, where we commemorate Jesus washing the disciple’s feet and sharing the last supper was Spirit filled.  

I began my day with my therapy appointment, because, clearly, I need therapy!  Then I rushed to the church to meet with Meredith, City Councilor Morilo’s outreach staffer.  Why is a Pastor meeting with an elected’s staffer?  For the same reason that I’m serving on the Community Advisory Committee for the Pod Village: because Jesus calls us to speak up for the poor and the marginalized.  So I introduced Meredith to Rahab’s Sisters staff, and to Bruce cooking in the kitchen.  Took her to lunch at a local restaurant so she could know about our little business district.  And I took her for a tour of Oak Street Village.  We asked for admission to the village, which is staffed 24/7 and waited to be welcomed by Pastor Minnieweather who let us know that the very quiet and clean village is now 100% full!  Oak Street Village has only been open a month and people are already enrolled in RentWell classes, going to job interviews, and Lauren from Rahab’s has told me that one of the guests from Rahab’s Sisters is about to move out of the pod village and into an apartment.  As Pastor Minnieweather said, when you treat people with dignity, they behave with dignity.

Then I jumped in my car to drive up to Join.  DiJionette, one of the directors at Join, invited me to attend their Community Advisory Committee, made up of Join staff and Join guests, where they talk through community issues and plan community events, like a bicycle repair event in the nearby park. 

I had to park on a side street, so I noticed that I could hear a woman shouting from a block away.  She was angry.  As I walked closer, I could see that she was a white haired woman and hear that behind the anger was hurt and fear.  She was hurt because she had been asked to step outside because she got in an argument.  She was angry because the other person had not been asked to step outside.  It seemed unfair to her.  She was afraid that she might not be allowed back in. This small straw of injustice brought the whole camel load of injustice that she had suffered in the past month tumbling out.

Last month, she had an apartment, but the landlord, perhaps on the recommendation of Algorithmic price setting software, had raised her rent $348 more per month.  She had tried to argue that the rental contract she had signed was for the lower amount, and refused to pay $348 more per month, so she was evicted and was now living in her car.

Then, last week she had met a 70 year old woman on the streets with not even a car to sleep in, so thinking that, surely a 70 year old woman would be harmless, she allowed her new friend to sleep in the back seat of her car.  But, as you well know, never underestimate a 70 year old woman!  Something went wrong, and now our angry friend felt that her kindness had been betrayed.

Then to top it all off, she had accidentally hit a car in the parking lot and the person who’s car she had hit refused to talk to her, despite her repeated offers to pay for any damages.

Then she saw me, across the street, wearing my clergy collar, and called out to me, “Will you pray for me?”

“Well, yes…um, uh, of course!” I stammered back.

So she marched across the street to personally tell me her tale of injustice, and express the conclusion that God was punishing her.  But she didn’t understand why, because when she saw the 70 year old woman, she thought that God would want her to help because we’re all supposed to be like the Good Samaritan.  Why was God punishing her for doing what God asked of her???

So I preached a short Maundy Thursday sermon on the Good Samaritan.  How the Good Samaritan did not bring the beaten man home with him, but instead brought the beaten man to the public inn where they were set up to receive guests.  And that we are called to help by connecting people with appropriate resources, we are not called to put ourselves in danger by taking in people ourselves.  God was not punishing her for trying to help.

She looked at me with tears in her eyes, mourning the loss of possessions that had been harmed by her guest, and said, “I just wish that I could wear a dress.  I would love to feel pretty and feminine again.  I wish God would give me permission to wear a dress again.”

How could I not say to her, “I’m not God, I just work for Them, but I give you permission to wear a dress.”

I took a short break for dinner and conversations about dealing with our broken old furnace making it too hot in the Fellowship Hall for the Red Cross Blood drive, if you’re wondering why it’s a little cool in here it’s because the other option is sauna temperatures!

Then I went to a public meeting about the new pod village set to be installed at the intersection of 82nd and Mill St.  When I finally found a parking spot, I noticed a man wearing a black baseball cap with the word, “FEAR” printed on it in white capital letters.  My knee-jerk assumption was that he was trying to look intimidating because he’s an angry, fearful man, but I’m in therapy, so I chose to be curious and wonder if maybe Fear is the name of a band he likes or something.

Unfortunately, my knee-jerk assumption was not wrong.  At the close of a very productive meeting where thoughtful questions and concerns were addressed, he started shouting threats of violence at the County staff, that if this shelter brings unhoused people into his neighborhood, he was going to… well…

Holy Thursday hopes were shifting into Good Friday threats of violence, just as the crowd turned on Jesus for daring to say that we should love our neighbors, this man raged at county staff for daring to try to address the humanitarian crisis of homelessness because he was afraid.  

• Afraid that his street would become too narrow to drive on in his big truck.
• Afraid that houseless folks might set up tents in his neighborhood.
• Afraid that there wasn’t enough parking in the Mill Street Shelter plan and that “those people” would park on his street.

But we did not let fear win.  I was not the only one who shouted him down, saying things like, “that’s not appropriate,” and, “calm down, sir.”

After the meeting the man behind me thanked me for being a “real Christian,” because in his view there aren’t very many of us.  I told him that there are more of us than he knows, it’s just that we don’t make it on the news very often!  

When we do make it on the news…
When we show up to testify…
When we speak up for poor and the marginalized…

There are always people trying to tell us to shut up.

Telling us that we have no business speaking out against predatory business practices, or speaking in favor of compassionate use of public funds.

Fear and injustice will always try to silence the teachings of Jesus.

Look at our scripture for today, from Acts chapter 5.  After recovering from the shock of the Resurrection, the Disciples started speaking up until all of Jerusalem was filled with stories of Jesus.

So the Chief Priests were afraid.
They had been warned by Rome that the rebellions in Judea must stop, or Rome would put a stop to them.
And their fears were justified!  In 69 AD Rome leveled the city of Jerusalem, and tore down the Temple until not a stone was left upon stone. But not because of the message of Jesus, because of an armed Jewish rebellion that intensified around the year 67 AD.

The Chief priests were afraid, so they hauled the Lead Disciples into their office and told them to stop speaking out about the injustice of Jesus’ crucifixion and stop speaking up about Jesus’ message of compassion for all people.

And having been in rooms like that, where they try to cram you all into one small office and tell you to behave, I know that before I have opened my big mouth, I usually exchanged a few meaningful looks with my fellow speakers, then Peter opened his big mouth and said, in verse 29:

“We must obey God rather than humans!”

Spirit is still witnessing through us.

Spirit is still calling us to speak up and speak out.

To show up and speak love into rooms that are filled with fear.

To refuse to stand by and watch injustice happen.

To loudly proclaim that it is time for our country to change its heart and life and find forgiveness for our collective and systemic sins.

What we do here on Sunday mornings – this is a rest stop, a gas station, a pit stop, where we plug into God to refuel and grab a few snacks for the long road of obeying God in every part of our lives:

• Our personal lives 
• Our economic lives
• Our work lives
• Our political lives.

And I am so grateful for you!
So grateful that we as a church, as a Community of the Beloved are in this together!
I’m so grateful that I don’t have to be in charge of every little thing because:

• You step up to run blood drives, 
• You show up to shut down the crazy overheating furnace,
• You organized the fundraiser for Family Promise
• You worked on fixing the leak in the outside water
• You volunteer to lead Bible Studies
• You show up to community meetings
• You are showing up in big ways and small ways to make space in our building for ministries of compassion, and to have important conversations in our community

Our community needs this church more than they realize.  They need you – your compassionate hearts and willing hands.

I see the Spirit of God working among us so clearly, and that’s why I felt guilty for not providing you with all the Holy Week worship opportunities to refuel for this intense time in our collective spiritual journey.

But God showed up and made it A Holy Week, anyway.
I trust that God will keep showing up, and that you will keep showing up, no matter what craziness happens next!