Matthew 6:1-15 NRSVUE

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

2 “So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

5 “And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

9 “Pray, then, in this way:

Our Father in heaven,

    may your name be revered as holy.

10     May your kingdom come.

    May your will be done

        on earth as it is in heaven.

11     Give us today our daily bread.

12     And forgive us our debts,

        as we also have forgiven our debtors.

13     And do not bring us to the time of trial,

        but rescue us from the evil one.

14 “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, 15 but if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

We’re still in the Sermon on the Mount.  

We started with learning that being Blessed is about being a blessing to others.

Then we talked about what it means to be Salty, Lit and Righteous – that Jesus does call us to stand up for our faith.

But in this passage Jesus has a few words about how we shouldn’t practice our faith in public.

And it might seem kinda confusing because in chapter 5, Jesus is telling us that we’re blessed when we get persecuted like the prophets for standing up for God (Mt 5:11-12)

And then Jesus tells us not to hide our light under a bushel basket, NO!

Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine! (Mt 5:14-16)

But now we’re not supposed to practice our righteousness before others?

It sounds contradictory, if we aren’t paying attention to the subtle, but major differences.

Verse one of today’s reading lays out the important difference of intent between 

Performative Faith

And

Sincerely following Jesus.

Look at verse 1 where it says:

“Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them.

If you’ve got a pencil or pen or lipstick or eyeliners on you – underline the words:

“In order to be seen by them.”

“In order to be seen by them.”

“In order to be seen by them.”

There are 2 versions of Christianity in this country right now.

Fans and Followers.

Fans of Jesus — are the people who go to Churches who sing songs about how much they love God, and have fabulous youth and children’s programs, and small groups, and all the stuff that people like… but pretty much ignore the teachings of Jesus to love our neighbors.

This is how I was raised.  I was raised to be a fan.

I was taught that I needed to go to church every week.

Say the right prayers, do the right rituals.

Dress with modest femininity.

Be polite and obedient, and nice.

And then leave church stuff at church.

I was supposed to love God, but not necessarily love my neighbors, because, well, that’s just not the way the world works.

I was taught that “the Lord helps those who help themselves,” as if it’s in the Bible, which it is not.

For Fans of Jesus, Church is about respectability and Western Culture.

For Fans, faith is kinda like a religion badge that helps you gain entrance into the “right circles”

We hear this performative faith from politicians all the time:

• Quoting the Bible out of context in order to be seen by the crowd as having Christian credibility.
• Showing up at a national day of prayer in order to be seen by the crowd.
• Preaching White Nationalism, and “our European Heritage” and calling it Christianity.

And we see this performative faith in Churches and Pastors whose only metric for faithfulness is the number of converts who attend their church.  Disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples, who make disciples to make more disciples, as if the numbers game is all that matters to God.

Fans or followers….

Followers of Jesus — are often people who go to Churches who may not have the most fabulous worship experience or the best ever children and youth programs, but who are actively working to love our neighbors, care for the least of these, welcome the stranger, and include the outcasts — because that’s what Jesus taught.

And ironically, I learned to be a follower instead of a fan, at a large, pentecostal, Assemblies of God church,with a good worship experience,  a great youth program that actively evangelized me, and supported a ministry to the unhoused…however, they weren’t great at including the outcasts, but they did include me.

And in that offshoot of Methodism, Assemblies of God are an offshoot of the Methodist Holiness movement…in that offshoot of Methodism, I experienced Sanctification during an altar call.

They asked everyone who was ready to commit their lives to Jesus to raise their hand and I raised my hand.

Sanctification is the 3rd type of Methodist Grace.

Methodists name 3 kinds of Grace:

1. Prevenient Grace – pre, as in before we love God, God loves us.
2. Justifying Grace – Now we know we are loved and “justified” – is old language for forgiven and accepted.
3. Sanctifying Grace – Now that we know that God loves us – All of us – we realize that we are called to love our neighbors.

I already knew that God loved me and I loved God — I was already a fan of Jesus!

But in that altar call moment I felt Jesus asking me to follow him.  To change how I lived outside of church.

And at first I thought that meant that I needed to be a better fan-girl!

• Wear more Christian T-shirts
• Listen to more Christian music.
• Go to church several times a week…because once a week attendance was for those who weren’t fully committed!
• And….Study the Bible.

That last one got me.  

The more I studied the Bible, the more I started to realize that there was more to being a disciple than making more disciples.

That God has things to say about how we use money.

God has things to say about justice and mercy for the poor and the oppressed.

That when Jesus encountered the gay Centurion with the sick body servant (Doulas Pita is the Greek – which was gay coded language at the time) Jesus was totally ready to hop on over to their house and heal – even though their household was not Jewish, was gay, and was Roman!  (Matt 8:5-13)

That God called the Prophets to criticize bad leaders for their lack of mercy towards the poor over and over again!

The more I studied the Bible, the more I began to realize that it is not enough to make disciples – we must also teach them to obey everything that Jesus taught us. (Matthew 28:19-20).

It was when I started to care about justice and mercy for the last and the least that I realized that being a fan of Jesus makes good photo-ops.

Being a follower of Jesus means not only getting out of our own comfort zones – but acting outside of the comfort zone of our culture.

And we need to pray in private and pray that God’s will be done, because sometimes God calls us to Follow Jesus into situations where we don’t know how to do this yet.  And it’s just not dignified to be praying – are you sure God???  Surely there’s someone better prepared to do this!

And we need to pray for our daily bread because those who do justice, practice mercy and walk humbly with God seldom get rich doing it!

And we need forgiveness for ourselves and others because following Jesus is counter cultural and people are going to criticize us.

You may notice that the last line of the traditional Lord’s prayer isn’t there – “for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever”  isn’t in the Bible. 

I didn’t end the passage too soon.  

It just isn’t in there.

Verse 16 reads, 

16 “And whenever you fast, do not look somber, like the hypocrites, for they mark their faces to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.

Jesus didn’t tell us to give God elaborate fan-girl praise – Look at verse 7.

7 “When you are praying, do not heap up empty phrases as the gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard because of their many words”

I don’t think that going to church is bad – obviously I’m here.

I just don’t think going to church makes you a follower of Jesus anymore than standing in a garage makes you a car.

I don’t think that singing is bad – I think we need to sing, as a form of meditation and prayer to realign our hearts and minds towards God.

And I’m totally in favor of quality church programs for all ages.

I’m also very in favor of evangelism – and – once they’re here, let’s teach people what Jesus actually taught!

But none of these things are an end unto themselves.

They are means for the goal of following Jesus.

Following Jesus so that God’s will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

Matthew 5:13-20 NRSVUE

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.\

14 “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Last week we were reading the first half of the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5:1-12, where we realized that Jesus’ definition of Blessed does not mean that we are enjoying the good things in life.  Jesus’ definition of Blessed is the counter-cultural call to be a blessing to others and God’s promise that Justice will eventually arrive.

There’s no change of venue, there’s no Jesus took a break and then started teaching again.

Jesus says, 11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”

And then Jesus says

13 “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything but is thrown out and trampled under foot.

Being reviled and persecuted for speaking up like the prophets is the context for, “you are the salt of the earth.”  

That changes it a little bit doesn’t it.

I admit that when I was taught these verses about salt and light, I was not about it in context!

I was taught that we are supposed to be noticeably Christian.

• I was taught that I was supposed to be wearing a cross all the time.
• Wearing Christian T-shirts
• Dress with modest femininity.
• I was taught that I shouldn’t smoke or chew or go with the boys that do.
• No cussing.
• I was taught that a good Christian girl is supposed to be meek and sweet and nice.
• I was taught to be unquestioningly obedient to those in authority.
• I was taught that I was supposed to initiate awkward conversations about Jesus… I think that’s the only one I’m still doing, no, wait, I still wear Christian T-shirts, but they’re a little different than the ones I used to wear!

I do bring Jesus up in conversation all the time. 

And I confess that I can be a little salty about it.

Salty – as the young people use it these days – means to speak with passion, sarcasm, or bitterness, as a result of being angry or upset; or feeling out of place or under attack.

The Prophets were often salty.

When Amos said, in chapter 5:21-24

21 I hate, I despise your festivals,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22 Even though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them,

and the offerings of well-being of your fatted animals

I will not look upon.

23 Take away from me the noise of your songs;

I will not listen to the melody of your harps.

24 But let justice roll down like water

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

That was salty.

Here’s some salt from Jeremiah 21:12

12 O house of David! Thus says the Lord:

Execute justice in the morning,
and deliver from the hand of the oppressor
anyone who has been robbed,
or else my wrath will go forth like fire
and burn, with no one to quench it,
because of their evil doings.

Have you ever noticed how salty Spirit gets in some of the Psalms?

Here’s Psalm 109:7-16

7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty;

let his prayer be counted as sin.

8 May his days be few;

may another seize his position.

9 May his children be orphans

and his wife a widow.

10 May his children wander about and beg;

may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit.

11 May the creditor seize all that he has;

may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil.

12 May there be no one to do him a kindness

nor anyone to pity his orphaned children.

13 May his posterity be cut off;

may his name be blotted out in the second generation.

14 May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the Lord,

and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out.

15 Let them be before the Lord continually,

and may his memory be cut off from the earth.

16 For he did not remember to show kindness

but pursued the poor and needy

and the brokenhearted to their death.

Whew!  That’s not just salty – that’s spicy!

But many of us were taught that all that Old Testament stuff doesn’t matter anymore since Jesus came, so here’s Jesus being salty in Matthew 23:27

27 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which on the outside look beautiful but inside are full of corruption and rot.”

God – Creator, Christ and Spirit are salty when it comes to violations of God’s one simple rule of LOVE –

Moving on to verse 14 – still in the context of the sermon on the Mount, Jesus is calling us to be Lit.

Lit, according to the Urban dictionary means

lit

1. A term used to describe something that is cool and exciting, or just generally something you would want to experience.

In verse 16 it reads, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven”

The idea being that our light is the good news of God’s Love for ALL people, which should shine through our words and actions.

The Good News that Jesus taught is something cool and exciting, and just generally something you would want to experience, right?

Right??

Right???

I was taught that this meant that I was supposed to invite people to church… and I still think that’s a good idea…to invite people to church.

But I also think that Jesus is calling us to be lit everywhere we go.

That we are called to shine the light of compassion by serving at Family Promise.

That we are called to shine the light of love by building affordable housing.

That we are called to let it shine all around the neighborhood as we go about our lives by how we treat others and by what we are willing to stand up for.

Verses 17-20 are troubling to a lot of people, because they wonder what “not abolishing the law but fulfilling it” means.

The question being – did Jesus just say that we need to follow all the rules in Exodus, Deuteronomy, and Leviticus???  

Including Leviticus 15:20 where it says that men are not supposed to sit in chairs where a menstruating woman has sat? Because if so, my husband and son are going to be doing a lot of standing because there’s 3 people with uteruses in my house!

No.  I don’t think so.

Jesus already answered this question in Matthew 22:37-40

37 ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

 Love is the fulfillment of the law.

 Love is the fulfillment of the law.

Because the Pharisees were actively trying to follow the letter of the law.

Every little rule and every big one.

They were honestly and sincerely trying.

But they got so caught up in the rules that they forgot that the purpose of the rules is love.

Later on in this same sermon, because in Matthew the sermon on the Mount goes on through chapter 7!

Right after this reading Jesus goes into a series of interpretations of the law that are all formatted, “You have heard it said…something something… but I say… something else”

In Matthew 5:43 Jesus directly address the law of Love

43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

I don’t hear Jesus telling us that we need to obey every single little Kosher law.

I hear Jesus telling us that to be truly Righteous, we need to practice neighbor-love from the inside out.

We need to pray for those who persecute us so that we can keep fighting FOR what we love, instead of fighting AGAINST what we hate.

We need to pray for those who persecute us so that we can keep fighting FOR what we LOVE, instead of fighting AGAINST what we hate.

We’re called to be Salty – to speak truth to power.

We’re called to be Lit – to shine the good news all around the neighborhood.

We’re called to be Righteous – to fight FOR what we LOVE. Not fight against what we hate.

righteous

Containing the best possible attributable qualities.

A belief in love

Matthew 5:1-12 NRSVUE

1.When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain, and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 And he began to speak and taught them, saying:

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Last week we talked about the Nicene creeds utter lack of teachings of Jesus

This week we are looking at what John Wesley considered to be the foundational teaching of Jesus – everything we should be doing – our Method for Christian Living.

Tuesday I signed up for the 8am shift at the Federal Courthouse to do clergy accompaniment alongside the Legal Observers.  I needed to leave at 7:15am in order to get there and park before my shift, so of course I hit the snooze button 4 times and stumbled out of bed at 7:05 and made it to my car at about 7:22am.  

Morning People, I salute you!  I am not one of you.

After getting turned around exiting the parking garage, I managed to arrive at my post near the entrance of the Federal Courthouse at 8:01, where Pastor Kris was already stationed and our Legal Observer showed up one minute later.  Us clergy wait outside to walk people to their cars or to make photo copies of their asylum papers – Immigration court gives you 1 copy of your papers, but you need to turn in 1 copy upstairs, turn in another copy downstairs and keep another stamped copy on you at all times.   So we do a lot of photocopy runs.

It was a peaceful shift, but something odd happened… and kept happening.

The staff kept thanking us for being there.

Federal employee after Federal employee, wearing their badges over their coats, carrying their insulated lunch bags, coming in for the day, saying, “thank you for being here.”  “Thank you for being here.”

And the Army recruiters – there’s a recruiting office inside the Federal Courthouse – dressed in their fatigues, who usually eye us suspiciously, all greeted us with a friendly good morning.

That was a little odd, but it was a pretty typical day.  Immigrants with brightly colored folders walking up to the door, for us to greet and ask if they have a lawyer, and tell them about PIRC and ECO if they don’t.

Then the Legal Observer messaged us, that the family she was talking to said that Court was canceled today – and their hearing was rescheduled for 2 years from now.

Our first thought, was, “oh no, what has the administration done now?”

But then somebody from the court came out and made an announcement in Spanish.  Our Legal Observer that day doesn’t speak a whole lot of Spanish, but managed to find out that the court clerk was sick, so court was canceled.  There’s been so much defunding of Federal staff, that if one person gets sick, it shuts the whole operation down.

Then the Army recruiter came out and offered a chair for our Legal Observer to sit in, because they make the Observers stand in the hallway – they won’t let them into the courtroom anymore — new policy.  But since court was canceled, we were going to leave.

Remember how last week I said,

It’s hard to maintain a dictatorship when the people believe everyone has value in the eyes of God!

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Mt 5:9) is apparently catching on at the Courthouse.

Last week we were talking about the Nicene Creed – and noticing that it does not contain any of the teachings of Jesus.

Today we are delving into one of Jesus’ most significant teachings, sometimes called The Sermon on the Mount, because Jesus stepped up onto a little hill so the crowd could see him better.  In the gospel of Luke it’s The Sermon on the Plain, but regardless of the elevation, it’s a very counter-cultural teaching in pretty much every time and place.

We don’t think of it as counter-cultural because we’re used to it.

Many of us learned about the Bee-Attitudes in Sunday School class while making terrifyingly large bees out of pipe cleaners and craft paper, where we focused on the Blessings.

But look who Jesus is calling Blessed…

Starting at verse 3 — you can follow along in your bulletin…

3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

So… is Jesus saying that you’re blessed if you’re depressed?

The gospel of Luke leaves out “in spirit,” (LK 6.20) so…. Is Jesus saying, God loves poor people???

4 “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

Luke reads, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.” (Lk 6:21)

So…. is Jesus saying that grief is a blessing?  I think, perhaps Jesus is saying that those who are suffering now, are beloved of God and that their suffering will not last forever.

Verse 5 “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.”

In a culture that tells us to “lean in” and “promote your personal brand,” humility doesn’t seem likely to deliver the wealth of the whole earth.  But Jesus seems to place a high value on walking humbly with God.

6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Luke 6:21 reads:  “Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled.”

So…kinda different messages, but both are counter cultural.

Luke promises the blessing of fullness to those who are currently food insecure.

Matthew tells those of us longing for justice that the arc of history may be long, but God is bending it towards justice.

7 “Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.”

Blessed are the merciful is very different from the current message that if people would just mind their own business and stay home, they’ll be safe.

8 “Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

The phrase, ‘pure in heart,” reminds me of people with Downs syndrome, and autism, and children, who are so very vulnerable.

9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.

This one seems less counter cultural – I mean, there’s a Nobel peace prize.

10 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

I can tell you that tear gas does not feel like a blessing, but standing up for what’s right is Kingdom of God work.

11 “Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.”

Are you sure Jesus?  Being reviled, persecuted, threatened and having your name drug through the mud, does not feel like a blessing, to me.

And maybe that’s because our definition of what it means to be blessed in this culture, is defined by what is pleasant, comfortable and attractive.

When we say, “I’m so blessed,” we’re usually referring to having the privilege of going on vacation, having a nice house, a solid income, a stable family.

We don’t generally refer to poverty, grief, and persecution as a blessing.

So maybe the problem is our definition of blessing.

Maybe God is thinking not of what is a blessing to us, but of what is a blessing to others.

Mary mother of Jesus, is called Blessed.  Her life was not easy, but she was a blessing to others.

And in verse 12, the  author of Matthew brings up the Prophets.

The life of a prophet was often kinda terrible, listening to God, speaking up for God, and having kings try to kill you for your trouble is not what we would call, “too blessed to be stressed,” but their lives have definitely been a blessing for others.

Jesus’ calling to,”Take up your cross and follow me,”

Found in, Matthew 16:24, Mark 8:34, and Luke 9:23

Isn’t a calling to a life of comfort, wealth, and popularity.

It’s a calling to be a blessing to others.

I was watching videos of animals using word buttons while doing dishes the other night, when a video came up from an official government account, where some blond woman was addressing herself to Christians.  Telling us that God expects us to be on the side of law and order, and that we should stay out of the way of the legal actions of this administration.

My hands were wet with dirty dish water, so it played through twice before I could stop it.

Listening to her weaponize Romans 13:1 – which didn’t work out so well for the authentic Paul, who wrote it – Rome executed him.

Listening to her weaponize Romans 13:1 and completely ignore everything that Jesus taught about how we are to treat the stranger among us…  and everything that Jesus taught us about standing up for what’s right, in the name of Law and Order, was dissonant.

Because laws are not always just.

Slavery was legal.  Helping people escape was illegal.

The Holocaust was legal, hiding Anne Frank’s family was illegal.

Resisting the gestapo was illegal.

Protesting was illegal.

And now they are trying to tell us that offering help to people who have been injured while practicing their first amendment right to peaceful protest is un-Christian and illegal.  They’re dragging Alex Pretti’s and Renee Good’s names through the mud and telling us to not believe our own eyes.

Friends, we’re not called to stay home and stay safe.

We’re not called to be nice and avoid talking about politics.

We’re called to be a blessing in such a way that we are inconvenient to those trying to do harm.

So keep boycotting.

Keep emailing and calling our legislators.

Keep annoying the heck out of your friends and family members.

Keep showing up and volunteering and donating where you can.

Keep singing, laughing, hoping and dreaming.

Keep being the Church — you are a wonderful church, and I’m so grateful to be in ministry with you!

You are a blessing.

We are a blessing in a world that desperately needs us to follow Jesus.

Matthew 3:13-17 NRSVUE

13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan, to be baptized by him. 14 John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” 

15 But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. 

16 And when Jesus had been baptized, just as he came up from the water, suddenly the heavens were opened to him and he saw God’s Spirit descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from the heavens said, “This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”

Last week we were reading the passage right before this, that introduces John the Baptist, a passage we usually read before Christmas, even though it happens at the beginning of Jesus’ adult ministry and here in verse 13 Jesus enters the chat.

John is out offering a traditional Jewish ritual bath in the water of the Jordan – a mikvah – a ritual of spiritual and physical cleansing and transition.  And John is being John, saying the kind of things that got him beheaded by Herod, son of Herod.  Calling out the brood of vipers who had taken over the government of Judea and sold them out to the Romans.

When Jesus walks up to him and before Jesus can even say, “Hi cousin John,”  John, who has known Jesus since before he was born…and still thinks Jesus is cool…

Do any of you have relationships with your cousins like that?

My cousins were my favorite people when I was growing up.  

The Nicene Creed tells us that Jesus was fully human and fully God, so I like to think about Jesus’ human side sometimes.

So before Jesus can even say, “Hi cousin John,”  John is already talking about Jesus being too cool for school — or at least too important for John to perform a ritual bath on.

But Jesus knows that it’s his time.

The time of transition from just being Mary and Joseph’s kid to transitioning into the role of Messiah has come.

And Baptism is a ritual of transition.

Before we had the Nicene Creed – Before Christianity was a religion — back when The Way was still a movement within Judaism, Baptism was still practiced like John did it – a Mikvah in running water or clean water.  A ritual of spiritual and physical cleansing and transition.

When a first century or second century Christian was Baptized, they changed their life.

Early Christianity was 100% nonviolent, so if a Roman Soldier became a Christian, he quit the Legion and Baptism was the ritual of transition from a life of violence to a life of peace.

And this was why there were so many arguments about circumcision and head coverings for women between the Apostle Paul and the Jewish Christians.  The question being – at Baptism what was a gentile believer transitioning into – were they becoming Jewish and therefore subject to all the Laws of Moses and the laws of the Patriarchs who wrote Deuteronomy and Leviticus, including circumcision?

And because Christianity was a dispersed movement – the original title of Bishop meant the leader of the Christian Community in a particular geographic area – each Episcopal Area, if you will, had their own creed, their own local worship customs, their own gospels, their own collection of letters from the Apostles, and their own Baptismal customs.

So when Roman Emperor Constantine first, decided to make Christianity the official religion of Rome he didn’t like a few of things.

1.  Constantine didn’t like that there wasn’t ONE unified version of Christianity.
2. He didn’t like the emphasis on peace. It was not at all useful for his wars of conquest to have his soldiers quitting when they converted!
3. He didn’t like the messy,  bottom up, good news for the poor, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, feminist, share economy, we are all one in Christ Jesus – “Wokeness” of Christianity.  It’s hard to maintain a dictatorship when the people believe everyone has value in the eyes of God!

So Constantine gathered as many Bishops as he could, and locked them in a room (you think I’m kidding — seriously — he locked them in!) and wouldn’t let them out until they came up with, a statement on  ONE definition of God – that’s what the Nicene Creed is.  An attempt to define God.

Let’s read through it together.  You can follow along on the screen or in the Hymnal it’s #880 in the back:  Follow along and be thinking about what you notice about the Nicene Creed.

Nicene Creed 

We believe in one God,
the Father, the almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one being with the Father.
through him all things were made.
For us men and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
by the power of the Holy Spirit
was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and Virgin Mary,
and was made man.
For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate;
he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the father.
He will come again in glory
to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit,
the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
 With the Father and the Son he is worshipped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

What do you notice about the Nicene Creed?

There are no wrong answers!

What I notice.  It’s 100% teachings about Jesus –  an attempt to define the substance of God.  An attempt to define Jesus – 

“begotten not made”

In the original Latin – the phrase “of one being with the Father,” actually reads, “of the same substance of the Father,”  There was a huge argument about whether Jesus was of similar substance as the Father or the same substance as the Father! 

What I notice the most is that the Nicene Creed contains precisely 0% of the teachings of Jesus.

There is no “good news for the poor,” in the Nicene Creed.

There is no “love your neighbor as yourself” in the Nicene Creed.

There is no “whatever you do for one of the least of these who are members of my family, you do to me,” in the Nicene Creed.

By focusing solely on trying to define the Mystery that is God, they entirely missed the point of the teachings of Jesus.

And the Nicene Creed waters down the transformational ritual of Baptism to just forgiveness of sins.

Did you know that Emperor Constantine refused to be baptized until he was on his death bed, because he wanted to save his one baptism to clean up all his sins right before death so that he could make sure he got into heaven?

As if it is the ritual bath that saves us, not God’s commitment to mercy.

As if God’s love is bought obedience to rituals.

Back to our Bible reading for today — in verses 16 and 17 John baptizes Jesus at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

In the gospel of Matthew in chapter 2 Jesus is a baby refugee in Egypt and in chapter 3 Jesus is grown.

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus hasn’t done anything yet.

No getting lost at the Temple.

No wedding at Cana.

No teenaged eye roll at Mary, “Mooooommmm, it isn’t my time yet”……

In Matthew’s gospel Jesus hasn’t done anything yet.

When the Spirit descends like a dove and the voice of the proudest Dad ever says, 

“That’s my son!  I love him sooo much, and I’m just sooo proud of him!”

I think God said it that way – Translators are so dry and stiff with their language!

This is the God that I experience in Baptism!

This is why Methodists baptize infants or people of any age.

Not because we think babies are sinful, but because there is nothing we need to do to earn God’s love.

You don’t need to earn baptism.

You don’t need to understand baptism.

You don’t need to be able to define your faith or recite creeds that contain nothing of the teachings of Jesus to be Baptized.

And you don’t  need to promise to be good for the rest of your life.

When I Baptize people, every time, every time, all I feel is the love of God, saying, “THIS is my Beloved and I’m so proud of them!”

And I’m about to start quoting our United Methodist Baptismal Vows, so you can turn to page 34 of the Hymnal if you want to fact check me.  Please do!  I love it when people fact check me!  It means you’re taking responsibility for the content of your own faith! Pages 34 and 35.

Baptism is a transition into Beloved Community.

A community where we promise to “surround one another with a community of love and forgiveness” (UMH p35)

A community where we commit ourselves to “reject the evil powers of this world” and “accept the freedom and power God gives us to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves.” (UMH p34)

And then we recite the Apostle’s Creed, which is older than the Nicene Creed, but still does not include the key teachings of Jesus…

I mean how hard would it be to insert just one line about what Jesus did while he was here?

They could have stuffed it between birth and death, like

“Born of the Virgin Mary”
Taught us to love our neighbors,
“Suffered under Pontius Pilate
Was crucified, died and was buried

Then we bless and pour clean warm water and it doesn’t matter if we dunk or pour or sprinkle, because Baptism isn’t about the ritual.  Baptism isn’t about what we do.  

It’s about how much God loves us.

I believe beyond believing, especially in times like this,  that we are most certainly called to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves – I mean, I bought the T-shirt!

But the most important thing is Love.

God’s unconditional love for every single sparrow and lily and human being, no matter who they are, no matter what we’ve done or left undone, is our WHY — for everything else.

So friends,  remember your baptism and remember that you are beloved, and you are beloved, and you are beloved, and so are they — all the people whom we are finding hard to love in this moment are still beloveds of God.

Which doesn’t mean that they aren’t also a brood of vipers who need to change their ways.

It just means that God still loves them.

Remember, in the midst of everything, we are God’s Beloved.

All of us.

Matthew 3:1-12 NRSVUE

3 In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, 2 “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is the one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke when he said,

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness:

‘Prepare the way of the Lord;

    make his paths straight.’ ”

4 Now John wore clothing of camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his food was locusts and wild honey. 5 Then Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region around the Jordan were going out to him, 6 and they were baptized by him in the River Jordan, confessing their sins.

7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Therefore, bear fruit worthy of repentance, 9 and do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. 10 Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; therefore every tree that does not bear good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

11 “I baptize you with water for repentance, but the one who is coming after me is more powerful than I, and I am not worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. 12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clear his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the granary, but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”

How many of you know what winnowing is?

How many of you have winnowed?

I had never done this before I practiced it this week!

I chose to simulate winnowing with paper and candy, rather than trying to buy a sheaf of wheat.

So the idea is that rather than trying to shell your grain crop by hand, you first thresh the crop — basically beat it with sticks to dislodge the wheat from the straw.

Then rather than trying to pick all of grain out of the straw you toss it all in the air and let the wind do the work.

The lighter straw blows away and the heavier grain, falls onto the threshing floor, where it is swept up and placed into clay jars for storage.

Winnowing would have been a very familiar practice at the time today’s Bible reading was written, and for many centuries following, until the invention of the Combine machine, which cuts, threshes and winnows in one machine that leaves the straw behind for convenient bailing.

In modern farming the Combine leaves the chaff with the straw and it is used for animal bedding and garden mulch. 

But before Combines, the chaff was a mess of prickly, small, sawdust like stuff that was often full of bugs and mold – so the best thing to do with it was to burn it.  Burn it to kill the bugs and the mold to prevent the bugs and fungus from infecting the soil or getting into the grain.

So John the Baptist is saying a lot in verse 12!

Most of us just don’t have the agricultural context to hear it!

So John is out by the river telling people that God is up to something new — 

The Kingdom of God is among us, so repent — turn away from your sins – turn away from the things that harm others and harm ourselves.

And John was offering a ritual bath – Mikvah is the Jewish word for a ritual bath that involves full immersion into clean or flowing water.

Some Jews still do observe Mikvah — as a ritual of purification after illness, or childbirth….or as a ritual of transition or healing.

https://www.jewishportland.org/ourcommunity/rachels-well-portland-mikvah

So John wasn’t doing something brand new or distinctly Christian, when he began baptizing people in the Jordan.  John was inviting people into a ritual of purification and transition.

Right now, we are in a season of transition.

The post world war 2 era that was the second half of the twentieth century is over.

COVID didn’t start this transition, but COVID is a time marker – a sticker on the calendar of our imaginations that feels like it draws the line between how we used to live and how things are now.

Everything is being called into question.

Church membership.

Our form of government.

How we work and how much we work.

How or if we retire?

Most importantly – our values and daily choices are being called into question.

The first Century was also a season of transition.

A season of political change.

A season of religious change.

A season of social change.

That’s why people went to be baptized by John.

Their lives felt uncertain, so they came to John for a ritual of transition.

A ritual bath to help them commit to letting go of what wasn’t working in their lives and reorient themselves towards God.

When John saw the Pharisees and the Sadducees he didn’t believe that they were there to commit themselves to change.

John didn’t believe that the Rich and Powerful Rabbis and Priests were there to let God winnow their lives.  John thought the rich and powerful were there to use John’s baptism as a publicity stunt to justify themselves and keep doing what they were doing.

John yells, “You Brood of Vipers… do not presume to say to yourselves,” that you’re right with God just because your ancestors were members of the faith.

 That’s why John starts talking about fruit trees and axes and winnowing and burning chaff.

Because in seasons of transition…

When God is doing a new thing…

When the world has gone crazy….

There’s no room in our lives for chaff.

So with everything being too much right now, I’m asking myself 3 questions:

Is this mine to do?

This week a colleague asked me if I could participate in a climate action.  I believe that climate change is a critically important issue.  I care about climate change.  But that’s not the work I’m being called to do right now, so I said no.

Is this mine to do, doesn’t mean that something isn’t important or good, it just means that it’s somebody else’s work.

We are the Body of Christ together and God has called somebody else to do that work.

Is this mine to do?

Is this chaff?

Is this chaff that is infesting my schedule and eating up my time and energy, without producing anything good?

It’s so easy for me to get sucked into arguing with people on social media.  I try to be pastoral, but still, most of those accounts aren’t even people – they’re bots.  Spending time arguing with them doesn’t change hearts or minds.  It just sucks time and energy out of me that is needed for important things.

For me, that’s chaff and I need to let it float on by.

Is this chaff?

Is this fluff?)

Is this fluff?

I think it’s important not to confuse chaff with fluff.

We all need some fluff in our lives.

Fluff being the soft, comforting things that get us through hard times.

For me fluff is spending time with my guinea pigs, playing games with my family, or going on Star Trek the Cruise, and visiting NASA, February 19th- March 2.

For me the difference between chaff and fluff is that chaff drains my energy and fluff restores my energy.

Fluff is the harvest of cotton balls, that are lighter than the hard shells they are grown in, that can be woven into the warmth and shelter that we need to get through difficult times.

In times like these, I find winnowing helpful.

Is it mine to do?  Or someone else’s.

Is it chaff? That drains my time and energy

Is it fluff?  That restores my soul.

Matthew 2:1-14 First Nations Version

1It was during the days of the bad-hearted Chief Looks Brave (Herod) that the Chosen One was born in the village of House of Bread (Bethlehem) in the Land of Promise (Judea). After his birth, Seekers of Wisdom (Magi) traveling on a long journey from the East came to Village of Peace (Jerusalem).

2They began to ask around, “Where is the one who has been born to be chief of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)? We saw his star where the sun rises and have come to humble ourselves before him and honor him.”

3When Chief Looks Brave heard this, he and all who lived in Village of Peace (Jerusalem) were troubled. 4He called a council of all the head holy men and scroll keepers and asked them where the Chosen One was to be born.

5“In House of Bread (Bethlehem), the village of the great chief Much Loved One (David),” they answered. “This is what the ancient prophet said: 6‘But you, O House of Bread (Bethlehem), in the Land of Promise (Judea), even though you are small, you have a good reputation with the chiefs who watch over the land. From you will come a Great Chief who will guide my chosen people—the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel).’”

7Then Looks Brave (Herod) called a secret council with the Seekers of Wisdom (Magi) to find out when the star first appeared. 8He then sent them to House of Bread (Bethlehem) and told them, “Look everywhere for the child. Find him and tell me where he is, so that I may also come and honor him.”

9After listening to Looks Brave (Herod), the Seekers of Wisdom (Magi) went their way. 10When they saw the star rising in the East, they jumped with joy, and with glad hearts they followed until the star stopped and rested over the place where the child was. 11They went into the house and saw the child and his mother, Bitter Tears (Mary). As soon as they saw the child, they bowed down to honor him. Then they opened their bundles and gifted him with gold, sweet-smelling incense, and bitter ointment of myrrh.

12The Seekers of Wisdom (Magi) were warned in a dream not to go back to Looks Brave (Herod), so they returned to their homeland by a different road.

13After the Seekers of Wisdom (Magi) had gone, a spirit-messenger from Creator warned He Gives Sons (Joseph) in a dream. “Rise up!” he said urgently. “Take the child and his mother and go quickly to Black Land (Egypt) and remain there until I tell you to leave. Looks Brave (Herod) is searching for the child to kill him!”

14That night He Gives Sons (Joseph) took the child and his mother, and they fled for their lives to Black Land (Egypt).

 

I was volunteering at the Federal Court Housing, doing Clergy Accompanyment, when a young couple with the most adorable baby came to the door.  The baby was small and dressed all in Pink.  Pink dress. Pink carseat liner.  Pink tights with frilly pink socks to keep her brown little toes warm.  A Pink hat with a little pink bow on it.  The parents were young and lean, too lean, like they were putting everything they had into that little baby girl.

They spoke only Spanish, so my clergy colleague, Scott, employed his fluent Spanish to tell them what we were there to do and make sure they had legal representation.  When Pastor Scott was done talking with them he told me their story.

They were from Venezuela.  They were at the court for their asylum hearing.  The legal process of seeking asylum is that you must first enter the USA, you cannot apply for asylum while physically in another country.  It takes money to get some sort of visa to come here in a documented way – like an education visa or vacation visa.  Many people seeking asylum are fleeing for their lives so many of them are undocumented.  It is not illegal to seek asylum, even if you are undocumented, despite what ICE says.  That’s why we do clergy accompaniment.  To be a moral witness and challenge ICE agents to follow the law and let families like this one follow the legal process for seeking asylum.

Anyway,  Momma, Daddy and Pink Little Baby were at the court for their asylum hearing.  

They are here because, before the Pink Little Baby was born they had 2 other children, a 5 year old boy and a 2 year old girl.  

One day, the drug cartel came to their house, to recruit the Father to work for them.  The Father said no.  The cartel members dragged the little family outside their home and shot their 5 year old and 2 year old right in front of them.

Matthew 2:18 reads,

“A voice was heard in Ramah, wailing and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be consoled, because they are no more.”

What do you do in times like these?

When bad-hearted leaders choose violence?

What can we do in times like these?

I think it depends on who you are.

And what your priorities are.

Mary and Joseph’s priority was their baby.  And like that young family from Venezuela, Mary and Joseph had no power or privilege with which to protect themselves.

When you are vulnerable or protecting vulnerable people sometimes the best thing to do is to seek safety.  To stay home or run to seek asylum.

The seekers of wisdom had privilege, but they also had the wisdom to know that it was not their business to interfere in the government of another country, no matter how bad that government is.  I mean, the Wise Guys *could have* organized a military operation to try to arrest Herod for being a bad-hearted King, but capturing another country’s head of state is an act of war.   They were wise enough to walk away from the whole situation and not assist Herod in his madness.

And the people?  The everyday people like you and I?

There were Jewish rebels – the sicarri, named for their long curved knives.  They ambushed trade caravans and travelers trying to disrupt the flow of taxes to Rome.  But violence justifies violence which leads to more violence, which eventually led to the destruction of Jerusalem in 69 AD.

There were some folks, some Pharisees who staged peaceful protests and publicly spoke out against Herod.

And there were people with privilege, like the Apostle Paul who used his Roman citizenship to try to argue for religious freedom under the Roman law… and Paul was executed by Rome.

The reality is that in times like these, even people with privilege, doing legal things, like Renee Good, who was acting as a Legal Observer – a Constitutionally defined role –  just like the people I serve alongside every month.

….even when we’re doing the legal thing, in times like these, our white privilege, our citizenship, our middle class-ness may not protect us from the Herod’s of this world.

My neighbor’s teen wants to visit the ICE building with me and I had to tell her mother, in all good conscience, that I am willing to accompany them to ICE, but I cannot guarantee my own safety or there’s  

And if you’re Herod?  

Just don’t.

Just don’t be Herod.

And please.  Don’t stand with Herod.

It’s never too late to change your mind.

To say, this isn’t what I thought I was voting for.

But the reality is…There’s always another Herod, because the system of Empire is designed to produce Herods.

The system of Empire is a system of Greed and Might Makes Right.

It’s a system that has always been… 

…since Cain killed his brother Able, thinking that his might would make him more right with God.

…since the people of Sodom and Gomorrah chose violence towards strangers instead of hospitality towards strangers.

…since Abraham grew up in a culture that made him think that God demands child sacrifice.

BUT God has shown us another way.

Abraham wasn’t ready to believe that his God didn’t need a sacrifice, so God substituted a ram instead of Issac.  And the sacrifices of the rich and privileged people trying to get something from God became free food for the poor.  Just as the monetary gifts we give to the church now, become food for Haven Dinner and will become Housing for the unhoused.

And Jesus showed us what the Prophets, like Amos and Micah had already told us – that God doesn’t want sacrifice, or violence of any kind!  God wants justice and mercy and Good News for the Poor and the Oppressed.

But of course, The Systems of Greed and Might Makes Right will tell us that good news for the poor is too expensive…

…and yet there always seems to be enough money for bombs and bullets.

The Systems of Greed and Might Makes Right will tell us that only the “worthy” have earned the basics of life, like shelter, food, clean water and air, healthcare and a future for their children.

And yet… God calls us to Dream of a Better World.

Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.

Holy Mary Mother of God,
Prophet, Apostle, and Pastor,
pray with us now and at the hour of our death.

I have a special relationship with Mary.

I was baptized Roman Catholic at the age of 8, when my Dad married a Catholic.  So I attended remedial Catechism to learn the basics, like how to go to confession and learning the Hail Mary, prayer.

The language of the Hail Mary is from a Catholic translation of the Latin, or Vulgate version of Luke 1:28 – Gabriel’s greeting to Mary –  “Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee.” Hail is an old English word that basically means, “Hey, Graceful Mary, God is with you!”

Then Luke 1:42, where Elizabeth (Zechariah’s wife) greets her cousin Mary as baby John leaps within her.  

42 And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.”

The usual version continues with,

“Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.”

I’ve adapted this prayer of my childhood, adding, “Prophet, Apostle, and Pastor,”  because I’ve learned through more intensive Biblical study that Mary’s leadership in the church was edited out by men who were trying to stop women from being in leadership in the early church, in order to make Christianity more acceptable to the Patriarchal Roman culture.

And I’ve changed my petition to asking Mary to pray with us instead of for us, because as Protestants we don’t pray to Saints.  But really, Catholics don’t pray to Saints either – they just speak about Saints the same way the apostle Paul spoke about Abraham and Moses – as ones who are alive in God, even though they are not walking the earth anymore.  Catholics aren’t praying to the Saints instead of God.  Catholics are asking the Saints in Glory to pray for them, since the Saints are closer in proximity to God.  

Kinda like asking your DS to put a good word in to the Bishop for your housing project!

I have a special relationship with Mary:

• Because of my Catholic upbringing.
• Because Mary was a mother who began her ministry career when her children were grown
• Because Mary was a woman in church leadership

But most of all, I relate to Mary because she was not in control of her life, and yet, 

Mary wrestles back her right to consent, her bodily autonomy, and her right to her very self, by answering a question she wasn’t asked.

Gabriel didn’t ask Mary if she consented to being impregnated by Spirit.

Mary took back her life by saying yes to God.

Mary didn’t choose to be born into the reign of Herod the Great.

She didn’t choose to live under Roman occupation!

She didn’t choose to live in a time of political unrest with Judean rebels protesting in the streets and Roman troops dragging people from their homes and businesses on the suspicion of association with the rebellion.

Mary most likely didn’t choose to be engaged to Joseph – most marriages were arranged between families at the time.

Mary didn’t sign up on Match dot com with a profile stating:

“Jewish girl seeking spiritual relationship with potential for birthing the Messiah”

Mary didn’t ask to be a central character in interesting times!

I mean,  Mary had political opinions.  One might consider her a rebel, at least in her views – just read Luke 1:46-55, where Mary is all about casting down the mighty and feeding the hungry!

But, Mary was just living her life, when God sends a messenger — Messenger is the literal translation of the word, Angel, by the way…

God sent a messenger to Tell, not ask, Tell, Mary that Spirit was going to be messing with her life.

And Mary said yes.

Mary said yes to a question she wasn’t asked.

Mary is kind of the opposite of the prophet Jonah.

You remember Jonah and the whale?

God tells, not asks, tells, Jonah to go to Nineveh – the worst enemies of Israel at that time, and give those enemies a message a grace.  A warning that they could repent and be saved.

And Jonah said, no.  

• Jonah said, I hate the Ninevites, so no I’m not going.
• Also, the Nivevites hate me and they’ll probably just kill me!
• And also, all my own people hate the Nivevites too, so they will all hate me if I go, and I get enough hate as a prophet already, so I don’t need more.
• No. Just no.

And being a prophet, Jonah knew that it’s hard to say no to God, so Jonah booked himself passage on a ship going the opposite direction, to try to avoid Spirit hijacking his mouth in proximity to any Ninevites.

And well, then there was a storm at sea and Jonah got swallowed by a whale who coughed him up like a hairball on the shores of Nineveh.

Have you ever noticed that God doesn’t really take no for an answer?

God is kind of like google maps.  Bridget,  I call the female voice of google maps, Bridget.

Bridget is like turn right in 200 feet.

And I’m like, no, I do not want to take the freeway today.

And Bridget is like,  turn right at the next road.

And I talk back to Bridget, that’s why I had to give her a name — “No, Bridget I do not want to take the freeway today”

And Bridget be like,  make a U turn.

And I’m like, no,  I can drive all the way down Stark street from here, I do not need to take 84,  84 traffic is always terrible!

And then there’s road construction, or a flooded street, or something on that end of Stark and I’m back to following Bridget’s directions.

Occasionally, I do know the area better, but, usually Bridget wins.

God always wins.

God always knows better than I do.

God always has a bigger perspective on what will work in the future and how every little thing in our lives connects to something else and something else and something else, until: 

• because we said yes to offering Rahab’s Sisters an office here
• and then Rahab’s Sisters needed a different place to operate out of, and we said yes, even though it meant getting used to sharing our building 
• and we realized we were tired of spending so much time on the building 
• And Rahab’s was looking to buy a building 
• So we thought what if we sell them the building 
• And Hacienda heard about it and said what if we build a new building with housing above
• And Rahab’s, being a good ministry partner brought that offer back to us 
• And we prayed and talked and prayed and talked and you said yes
• And we waited almost 6 months for the Cabinet to say yes.
• And none of this was my idea, or your idea, God is just doing a new thing.

I relate to Mary, because I am not in control.

I didn’t choose to live in interesting times!

I didn’t really choose to build affordable housing!

None of this was my plan!

I just said yes to God, because I don’t want to get eaten by a whale!

But seriously — I say yes to God because not just the stories of our faith teach us that saying yes to God is exciting.

But my own experience with God has taught me that when I say yes to God, God always has a better plan than I do.

How do I tell if it’s God or just me, or some other influence?

Partly because, as Jesus said in John 10:27, “My sheep know my voice.”  The more you say yes to God, the more familiar you become with God’s voice.

Partly because God’s messages are always in alignment with the teachings of Jesus.  Jesus is never going to tell us to hate our neighbors.

And mostly because God loves a Hail Mary moment.

God loves to make the impossible possible.

God loves to make small things exponentially more successful than they should have been.

God loves to raise up the lowly and bring down the proud.

God loves to feed the hungry and send the rich away empty.

And If you think I’m being woke – go back and read Luke 1:46-55, and Mary will set you straight.

Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with thee.

Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus.

Holy Mary Mother of God,
Prophet, Apostle, and Pastor,
pray with us now and at the hour of our death.

Luke 1:5-13 NRSVUE

In the days of King Herod of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly order of Abijah. His wife was descended from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 Both of them were righteous before God, living blamelessly according to all the commandments and regulations of the Lord. 7 But they had no children because Elizabeth was barren, and both were getting on in years.

8 Once when he was serving as priest before God during his section’s turn of duty, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to offer incense. 10 Now at the time of the incense offering, the whole assembly of the people was praying outside. 11 Then there appeared to him an angel of the Lord, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was terrified, and fear overwhelmed him. 13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will name him John.

Herod the Great, King of Judea, was an insecure and fearful leader.

Herod came from an important Idumaen family – the Idumaeans said to the the descendants of Esau, the brother of Jacob, the grandsons of Abraham, who converted to Judaism when the victory celebrated at Hanukkah, restored Judea as an independent kingdom in 164 BC.  You can find that story in the Books of Maccabees, in a Bible that has those extra books.

Herod’s dad was chief Minister of Judea Under King Hrycanus II, but Herod’s Dad, and Herod rebelled against the King.  Herod went to Rome to ask for help from Mark Antony (yes that Mark Antony, from Antony and Cleopatra!) and in exchange for Rome’s help, Judea became a Roman province and Herod was named King of the Jews around 37 BC.  But then the Romans killed Julius Caesar and Antony married Cleopatra, and everyone was taking sides between Octavian (who became Caesar Augustus) and Mark Antony.  Herod chose Mark Antony.  So when Antony and Cleopatra died and Caesar Augustus became the Emperor of Rome, Herod was eager to curry favor with Rome.

• Herod was also not popular with his Jewish subjects. 
  Herod’s ancestry was of Edomite converts so that’s one strike against Herod.
• Herod’s mother was Persian, and Jewishishness is determined through the maternal line – strike 2. 
• Herod had helped topple the King of an Independent Judea and brought in the Romans — that’s a huge strike 3.
• But, Herod finished the 2nd Temple, which might seem like a good thing, except Herod refused to listen to the Priests about how the Temple was to be built — strike 4, and…
• Herod raised taxes very, very high to not only finish the enlarged Temple, but also to build himself two palaces, help fund the Olympic Games of 14 BC, and send more money to Caesar Augustus to keep himself in power — strike 5 — and why there’s so much complaint about heavy taxation in the Christmas story.
• Also, Herod divorced is first wife and disinherited his son, to marry Mariamne, the granddaughter of King Hyrcaus II, whom he had rebelled against, which did not make the Jewish people like him any better.

(much of the  history about Herod  is from https://historycooperative.org/king-herod-of-judea/ )

Herod was a deeply insecure and deeply fearful king.

• Fearful because he backed the wrong Caesar – Mark Antony.
• Very Fearful because his own people did not accept him or Rome.  So fearful that according to Flavius Josephus, Herod had a personal guard of 2000 soldiers to protect him from the Judean Rebels.
• So very fearful, that Herod murdered many of his own sons.
• So while there is no historical evidence of the Biblical account that Herod ordered the killing of all the babies, when he heard about the birth of the new king from the Wise Men, it sounds like something Herod would do.

In that political climate,  Zechariah is called to take his turn serving at the Temple.   Zechariah was a nobody.  Just an ordinary priest, who married a bit above himself, but he had no children, so people would have talked that maybe God didn’t like Zechariah and Elizabeth that much.  Back then, they thought that poor health or infertility was probably because a person had offended God.

So Zechariah and Elizabeth would have been afraid to travel to Jerusalem for Zechariah’s week of service at the Temple with Judean rebels attacking travelers on the roads.

They would have been afraid of the politics among priests as Herod often tried to meddle in the appointment of the high priests.

With no sons to help them make their living, they would have been worried about the high taxes in Judea.

And they may have wondered what they had done to offend God, what sin they had unknowingly committed, that was causing God to withhold the blessing of a child.

They were afraid, but they showed up anyway.

Showed up to serve God and to serve the people who visited the Temple.

They were afraid, but they showed up anyway and God met them there with hope.

Hope for a son – proof that God wasn’t mad at them.

And hope for a messiah  — an anointed one who would proclaim the Year of the Lord’s Favor and tear down tyrants from their thrones.

And as is so often the case when God gives us hope, they had no idea what God was actually going to do!

Zechariah and Elizabeth didn’t ask to live through interesting times anymore than we did!

And yet…

There they were and here we are.

In fearful times, it can be so tempting to hide, to distract ourselves with pretty things and entertainment.  It can be so tempting to say, “nothing I do, makes a difference,” so why show up at all?

And sometimes we do need to rest!

We can’t do everything!  

Boundaries are Holy!  That’s why God told us to take a Sabbath every week!

But when it’s our turn, like Zechariah, we can show up.

We can show up even when we’re afraid.

And those are often the times that God surprises us with hope.

It’s the week of Thanksgiving.  Personally my favorite food holiday because I am ALL about my Great Aunt Alice’s sausage Stuffing!  And the memories of spending the whole weekend with my cousins and eating as much as we wanted are happy ones.

In my household we celebrate Sweats-giving – where everyone gets new sweatpants and we all cook our favorite holiday dishes together, while listening to Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie.  Then that Sunday afternoon we get our Christmas tree.

But Thanksgiving is also a deeply problematic holiday.

I was taught as a child that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock and Indians helped them survive the winter by teaching them about native foods, like corn and squash.  Sometimes we made construction paper pilgrim hats and feathered headdresses.  Sometimes we made a construction paper cornucopia and filled it with paper fruits and veggies, to celebrate the “First Thanksgiving” when the settlers held a big dinner with the Wampanoag tribe to celebrate having survived the first year.  And we’ve been celebrating Thanksgiving in America ever since!

The problem is, none of that actually happened like that.

The Mayflower did land in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  And they did hold a 3 day feast in 1621 that was attended by members of the Wampanoag tribe, however the tribal members only attended because the settlers were having such a wild party that they were shooting guns in celebration and since Ousamequin, leader of the Wampanoag Tribe had agreed to a mutual-defense pact, they showed up to help defend the settlers.  Once this misunderstanding was cleared up the tribal members did stay for the feast, but they were not actually invited.

There were also several other Thanksgivings celebrated by various colonies, however, since they were primarily dour Puritains, they celebrated with 1-3 days of prayer and fasting, not a good meal.

In 1789 President Washington did declare Oct 3 a day of Thanksgiving and prayer for “giving the American people the opportunity to create a Constitution to preserve their hard won freedoms.” (Thanksgiving: From Local Harvests to National Holiday, Smithsonian Institution ) 

Most of the credit for our annual Thanksgiving feast goes to Sarah Josepha Hale, Editor of Ladies Magazine and Godey’s Lady’s Book, who campaigned for an annual Thanksgiving holiday in her magazines by publishing articles and holiday recipes, and in letters to politicians as a way of combating the divisions in the country by coming together to celebrate a day of peace and unity. 

(https://www.masshist.org/beehiveblog/2023/11/our-national-thanksgiving/ )

But is wasn’t until 1863, inspired by the Union victory at Gettysburg, that President Lincoln proclaimed that November 26th would be a national Thanksgiving Day, to be observed every year on the fourth Thursday of November.

So the Pilgrims didn’t invite the Wampanoag tribe, and the reason for the national holiday has a lot more to do with the United State’s ugly history of slavery and colonization than it does with gratitude. 

So for the rest of this sermon time, I want us to Center Native voices by engaging with the First Nations Version of Luke 1: 67 – 79.  

• Listen to how Native Americans name people.
• Listen to how Native Americans talk about God.
• Listen with ears that remember the genocide of Tribal children in Methodist run Indian Boarding schools.
• Listen with ears that remember broken treaties, missing women, and reservations that don’t have clean drinking water because our Federal Government is still breaking treaties.
• Listen, and read along if that helps you listen, for one word or phrase that stands out to you.  Just a word or a phrase, for now… we’ll move into some discussion later.

Luke 1:67-79 First Nations Version

67 Then, with a glad heart, Creator Will Remember (Zechariah) spoke these words the Holy Spirit was giving him to say.

68 “All blessings to the Great Spirit of the tribes of Wrestles with Creator (Israel)! For he has come to rescue his people from a great captivity.  69-70 Just as the prophets foretold long ago in the land of our ancestor Much Loved One (David), he has lifted up his coup stick to show his great power to help us,  71 to rescue us from the arrows of our enemies and all who look down upon us with hate.” 

He lifted trembling hands to the sky and cried out.

72-73 “He has given to us the same pity he has shown our ancestors and remembered the promise he made in the great peace treaty with Father of Many Nations (Abraham). 74-75 He has come to free us from the fear of our enemies, so we can walk all our days in his sacred and right ways.” 

Then he turned to his newborn son, and from deep in his spirit he spoke these words of blessing to him.

76 “And you, my son, will be a prophet from the One Above Us All. You will make a clear path for the coming of the Great Chief, 77 to show his people that he will heal our broken ways by cleansing us from our bad hearts and releasing us from our wrongdoings.  78 Because Creator is kind and gentle, he will come to us as the sunrise from above, 79 to shine on the ones who sit in darkness and in the land of death’s shadow, to guide our feet on the good path of peace.”

The First Nations Version is available at many fine booksellers, including Powell’s Books, so you don’t need to break your Amazon boycott to get your own copy of this beautiful transliteration of the New Testament.

2 Thessalonians 3:6-13

6 Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from every brother or sister living irresponsibly and not according to the tradition that they received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not irresponsible when we were with you, 8 and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it,w but with toil and labor we worked night and day so that we might not burden any of you. 9 This was not because we do not have that right but in order to give you an example to imitate. 10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 11 For we hear that some of you are living irresponsibly, mere busybodies, not doing any work. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. 13 Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

10 For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: anyone unwilling to work should not eat. 

This verse has been misused to justify doing the very opposite of what Jesus taught for centuries.

Jesus taught us to feed the hungry and care for the least of these, so where did the author of 2 Thessalonians come up with “anyone unwilling to work should not eat”?

First Thessalonians, that is, the authentic Paul’s first letter to the Christ Community in Thessalonica in northern Greece is one of the oldest documents in the New Testament.  

2 Thessalonians is fan fiction, written about 30 or 40 years after Paul was executed by Rome in the 60’s.

But it’s good fan fiction.  Somebody who really studied Paul’s style of writing, Paul’s word use, Paul’s typical letter format.

But the issues discussed in 2 Thessalonians are the issues of the second generation of Christians, not the first generation.

There’s 2 main topics in 2 Thessalonians:

1. Why hasn’t Jesus come back yet?  The original disciples really thought Jesus would return during their lifetime, so it was kind of a big deal when all the Apostles were dead and Jesus hadn’t returned.
2. If Jesus isn’t coming right back, then how do we find a sustainable way to Be The Church?  

The early church practiced a share economy.  If you were a member of the Way and your fellow member needed a loan you were required to lend them money.  If your fellow member was hungry you were expected to share your food.  The authentic Paul advised people to not get married or have children, because Jesus was coming really soon and he didn’t think it would be fun to have kids during the apocalypse. 

The early church wasn’t worried about tomorrow, because tomorrow, Jesus could come!

But here they were, the Church in Thessalonica around 90 or 100 AD and Jesus hadn’t come yet. 

So maybe there was a letter written to the early church leaders by the folks in Thessalonica, asking something along the lines of:  Jesus hasn’t come yet and the working folks are getting upset with the folks just sitting around and waiting for Jesus to come.  Please advise?

So maybe this Pauline fan fiction was written to respond to a letter from the Christ Community in Thessalonica.   

Or maybe 2 Thessalonians is a sermon written by the leader of the Church in Thessalonica in the form of a letter from Paul?

We don’t know.

A fairly common 19th and 20th century interpretation of this passage is based on the idea that since Jesus hadn’t come back yet, the share economy of the Church wasn’t working very well.   Even progressive Christians like Marcus Borg describes the situation as, freeloaders within the Church who were taking advantage of the share economy of the Church, but not contributing. (Borg, Evolution of the Word)  The idea being that some folks were just sitting around waiting for Jesus to come, while others did all the work and provided all the food.

And that interpretation got twisted into the popular phrase:

“he that will not work shall not eat.” 

2 Thessalonians verse 10 does not read:  “he that will not work shall not eat.”  

That’s not anywhere in the Bible, that’s part of the rules of the James Town Colony delivered to the colonists by Captain John Smith in 1609.  Here’s the full quote:

You must obey this now for a law, that he that will not work shall not eat (except by sickness he be disabled). For the labors of thirty or forty honest and industrious men shall not be consumed to maintain a hundred and fifty idle loiterers.

The problem in James Town was that there were some folks who felt that manual labor was beneath them, but the colony would literally not survive without everyone pitching in!

There are those who try to use Captain Smith’s version of verse 10 to justify a compassionless world where only those who are gainfully employed deserve to eat.

But not even Captain Smith advocated for that!  

At least Captain Smith made an exception for those who are disabled!

Another interpretation is grounded in the writings of other early church apostles.

This interpretation proposes that the rich church members were the busybodies mentioned in verse 11 of our reading, telling everyone else what to do, but not doing anything themselves.  The rich were unwilling to work and expected the poor to serve them in the Church, just as the poor served them in everyday life.

 1 Corinthians chapter 11, an authentic letter of Paul, recounts a story where the rich people were coming early to the church potluck and eating all the good food they brought before the poor people were able to get off work.  Paul gives them a talking to about sharing the Lord’s Table by waiting for everyone to arrive before anyone eats.

James, chapter 2 also addresses this kind of dishonoring of the poor (James 2:6) by expecting those who are poor to do all the work of serving at Church because the rich donated the food.  James reminds the people that the Kingdom of God is not the Roman Empire and that the poor of the church do not need to show extra honor to the rich, because, after all, the rich treat them badly during everyday life!

Jesus also speaks to the reversal of privilege in the Kingdom of Heaven in the parable of Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31.  A story that Jesus made up on the spot to challenge some rich religious leaders who were mocking Jesus for his economic views.

Jesus tells this story:

There was a poor man named Lazarus, who lay outside the gate of a very rich man’s mansion.  Lazarus was so hungry he couldn’t even get up and the rich man’s dogs would lick the sores on Lazarus’ body.  (I know, eww Jesus, that’s gross)

So Lazarus dies and is carried away by angels to be with Abraham.

The rich man also dies and is tortured with flames in Hades because… he didn’t get rich by being nice!

So the rich man looks up and sees Lazarus sitting beside Abraham in the good place, and the rich man calls out to Abraham and says,

Hey Abe – send Lazarus down here to drip water into my mouth with his fingers, because I’m kinda tied up.

And Abraham says,  “Child….”

And when I read this I hear it in the tone of voice of a Black Preacher where that one word “Child,” just drips with, “you have got some nerve to be asking me to tell Lazarus, whom you didn’t lift a finger to help, to be commuting to hell and using his literal fingers to help you, now that you are experiencing the consequences of your actions!”

But in Jesus’ story Abraham says in Luke 16:25, “Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things and Lazarus in like manner evil things, but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony.” 

Which brings us back to this second interpretation that the writer of 2 Thessalonians was not telling people to pull themselves up by their bootstraps or starve.

Perhaps the writer of 2 Thessalonians was telling those busybodies who were unwilling to lift a finger to help those in need by at least doing their share of the work of the church, were not worthy of a seat at the Lord’s Table?

I kinda think that maybe it was a little bit of both.

Both folks who needed to stop just waiting around for Jesus to come.

And folks who needed to stop being irresponsible busybodies thinking the poor should be waiting on them inside the church, just like it was out in the Roman Empire.

But I lean more towards the second one because Jesus and the Hebrew Prophets talked a lot about how it is unjust for the rich and the powerful to store up more treasures on earth than they could ever use, while they fail to pay a living wage to the workers who are the source of their wealth.

Which brings us to today.

Because we’re going to share in the Lord’s Table – communion – in just a moment.

The early church was really strict about who got to receive communion – only baptized members in good standing were allowed — because communion was not just a sacrament, or a reenactment of the last supper to them.  

Communion was a pre-enactment of the Kingdom of Heaven.

They believed that when Jesus’ reign would come and God’s will would be done on earth as it is in Heaven, that everyone would eat.

That ideas like wealth and status would no longer matter in the Reign of Jesus.

When Jesus’s Reign comes it won’t matter if you’re Jewish or Greek, man or woman, young or old, gay or straight, Cis gender or Trans, dog or cat lover.

Everybody belongs in the Kingdom of Heaven.

So the Communion Table – the community potluck that the Baptized would share together was a Table where Christians would recommit themselves to working towards cooperating with God to bring God’s reign to earth.

A table where divisions like Wealth, Race, and Gender did not belong.

But what we have learned in the centuries since then, is that we are not better than the Pharisees, who mocked Jesus’ radical economic ideas.

Systems of hierarchy, economic injustice and bigotry are how the world works.

And it’s hard to take seriously what Jesus said about helping the stranger, when we live in a world that teaches us to fear one another.

But Jesus welcomed Judas to the Table, knowing that Judas was going to get Jesus brutally executed.

So this table is a Table where everybody eats.

Because we change hearts and minds not by excluding them, 

but by actively inviting people to the table where everybody eats.

Actively inviting people to be a part of a sharing and caring community.

Actively teaching people who serve too much to learn holy boundaries and do less.

And actively teaching those who do too little to care for their neighbors to experience the joy that comes from helping others.

In our Methodist Tradition, all are welcome at this table…