1 Timothy 6:6-19 NRSVUE

6 Of course, there is great gain in godliness combined with contentment, 7 for we brought nothing into the world, so that we can take nothing out of it, 8 but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. 9 But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. 10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and in their eagerness to be rich some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains.

11 But as for you, man of God, shun all this; pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses. 13 In the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you 14 to keep the commandment without spot or blame until the manifestation of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which he will bring about at the right time—he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords. 16 It is he alone who has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see; to him be honor and eternal dominion. Amen.

17 As for those who in the present age are rich, command them not to be haughty or to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches but rather on God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 They are to do good, to be rich in good works, generous, and ready to share, 19 thus storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of the life that really is life.

This month I’ve been preaching a sort of loose sermon series catching you all up on the things Spirit has been up to in my life over the summer.

The first Sunday,  September 7th, I shared about my experiences doing Clergy Accompaniment at the Federal Courthouse and the ICE Facility, and talked about the origin of the term Woke, from passages like Romans 13.

September 14,  I talked about Paul’s instructions in Romans 14 to not judge one another on how we each live out our calling from God.  Remember friends,  Boundaries are Holy!

Last week, I talked about how the word we translate as salvation, sothe, has a much larger meaning of holistic wellness and how salvation is something we participate in here on earth as it is in heaven.  And I shared the hilarious story of my Great Aunt Alice’s funeral. O Jerusalem!

All of these sermons are available on the church website if you’d like to take another look, or missed church that morning.

In July, I traveled to South Dakota to begin the Practical Church Leadership program at Dakota Wesleyan University.  Practical Church Leadership is basically ?’s of an MBA in Nonprofit Leadership designed for Pastors actively serving a congregation.  I signed up for this because it has a year long Applied Project where we learn how to use Project Management tools in our church setting, and they did not teach us how to  manage a Housing Project in Seminary!

So I applied for some scholarships and the program is very reasonably priced, and if I keep going next year, I’ll have a Masters in Business Administration in Nonprofit Leadership in July 2027, and more importantly, I’ll have access to experts from the College of Business to help us navigate this whole Housing Process!

I always have 2 classes, the year long Applied Project and another 7 week topical class.  My current topical Class is Financial Resource Development.  And it’s really pushing all of my money issues buttons!

First of all,  I want to issue a “Not A Trigger Warning,” because this is NOT a Stewardship Sermon.  I will NOT be asking you to give more, or to fill out a pledge card, or to consider moving towards tithing.

One of my money issues, as a Pastor, is that it genuinely makes me sad when I hear people say that they think their church only cares about their money.  I have also been in churches where I felt like I was just a “giving unit,” to them, not a beloved child of God, and I just don’t want to do that to anybody.  So I very rarely do a direct ask for money.

For me, Stewardship really is my favorite spiritual practice.  Tom and I have tithed our entire 32 years of marriage, not out of a legalistic or fundamentalist reading of the Bible, but because giving away 10% of our income is so delightfully, radically, countercultural.  It’s so countercultural that we have, in fact, been audited by the IRS twice for, and I quote, “excessive charitable giving.”  I find it deeply ironic that a nation that prints, In God We Trust, on our currency, finds tithing suspicious!

When we give, whether to the church, to charities that serve the poor, or to political campaigns that are seeking justice, it makes me happy that we are pulling money out of the systems of consumerism, capitalism, and patriarchy that reduce beloved children of God into units of labor, units of consumption, and units of dependants.  

Believe it or not, Tom and I are not members of the Socialist Party!  We enjoy giving our hard earned money away to causes that support the belovedness of all people, because we find joy in following the teachings of Jesus.

We’re not socialists, we’re Christians who actually read the Bible!

Today’s Bible reading is from First Timothy.

It’s important to realize that First Timothy, Second Timothy and Titus are “Fan Fiction.”  Paul did not write these letters, because Paul was dead at the time they were written, sometime around 100-120 AD.  We know it was written before 125 AD, because Polycarp alludes to 1 Timothy in his book, Letter to the Philippians, which was published sometime between 125-135 AD.  There’s a lot of inaccuracies in the first and early second century timelines because the Romans literally lost track of time in the midst of a series of military coops.

At any rate,  First Timothy is fan fiction, which explains some of the blatant sexism found in other portions of the letter.  The authentic Paul wrote letters to the women he placed in church leadership, so clearly he wasn’t sexist, but Roman culture was extremely sexist, and we are all influenced by our culture!

However, there’s still some good stuff in First Timothy especially about our relationship with money.  The early second Century Church had grown enough that there were rich people in the church.  The Jesus movement very much started out as a group of people who were at the bottom of the economic ladder.  The first disciples were primarily working class, poor people, disabled people, women, and slaves.  So the Second Century Church didn’t quite know how to deal with success.

So the author of First Timothy is writing fan fiction for fellow Pastors, as if Paul was writing a letter to Timothy as a young leader.

In our reading for today, the author is trying to help us understand that money is not evil.  Money is just a tool that should be used for food and clothing and the basics of life.  But the lust for money and the love of money can plunge people into ruin and destruction.

I feel like the misunderstanding of this good teaching has caused a lot of money issues both within the church and in people’s everyday lives.

Too many people forget that verse 10 reads, “the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.”  Verse 10 does NOT read “money is the root of all evil.”

This inaccurate reading combined with the also inaccurate idea that being content means that being content with poverty and suffering is somehow godly is exactly what Karl Marx was complaining about when he called religion, “the opiate of the masses.” 

Unfortunately Marx doesn’t seem to have read the Bible to find out that it doesn’t actually say that!

But when people think that being content with poverty and suffering is somehow holy, and that money is evil, that belief can be used to shame them into not asking for fair wages, not asking for safe working conditions, not joining a union, and even not taking a promotion because they have been taught to view bettering themselves as a sin.

What is actually written in First Timothy chapter 6 is that as followers of God, we are to shun wandering away from the faith in our pursuit of wealth.

The other problem with this bad interpretation where money is considered evil is that then we don’t want to talk about something evil in Church, right?

Which puts us as believers in a little bit of a pickle, because the secular world is dominated by money.

I absolutely believe in the pursuit of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, and gentleness.  But my mortgage company does not accept them as valid forms of payment.

We live in a world where we need money.

And where money and our relationship to money massively impacts our lives!  But somehow we’re not supposed to talk about this very important part of our lives at church?

And then outside of church, we’re not supposed to talk about money either.

You’re not supposed to talk about how much you make with your coworkers.

You’re not supposed to talk about how much things cost.

You’re not supposed to comment on how rich people use their money…. although it seems perfectly acceptable to criticize how the poor use their money.

We’re not supposed to talk about money, and yet, in our culture, we are expected to admire those who have the most money, and despise those who have the least.

One of the guest speakers in my Financial Resource Development class posited a theory about the meaning of this cult of silence around money.

He said that people are typically silent before their God.

That just as Job and Elijah were silent when God appeared before them, this culture is silent before money.

We are afraid to question the evil that is done for the sake of money, because:

Money is the God of our culture.

So many of us have been left feeling divided by the silence of the Church when what we need is a healthy conversation about money.

We need to have money to survive – just physically survive in this economic system.

But we want to be good followers of God.

And Matthew 6:24 says that we cannot serve both God and money.

So how do we live as Christians in this money worshiping economic system? 

Look at verse 17 and following.

Money isn’t evil, it’s just not something to put your trust in.

We need to keep our focus on God’s abundance and be rich in what really matters.

• Doing good, 
• loving our neighbors, 
• And, going back to verse 8, IF we have more than enough to cover the basics, sharing what we have.

But if we don’t have enough to be content, then asking for more and working for more, in order to get the basics covered, is not worshiping money.  It’s just the daily grind of trying to keep body and soul on speaking terms!

So let’s not be silent about money.

Let’s be honest about money.

Money is not our God.

Money is not evil.

Money is just a tool.

A tool that we can choose to do good with.

Good for our own lives and good for the lives of others.

John 3:13-17 NRSVUE

13 No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. 14 And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.

Trigger warning.  This sermon mentions child abuse.  I won’t be going into any details, so it’s still suitable for all ages.

It’s kind of an odd thing for a Pastor to say, but I am the Black Sheep of my family of origin.  As in, when I entered the church for my Great Aunt’s funeral, the whole room went silent and all eyes were on me.  As if I was going to grow a second head, or breathe fire, or say something really uncomfortable.  Probably the last one… I mean, if I was going to grow an extra body part, I’d choose to grow another arm, wouldn’t you?

I didn’t… say or do anything uncomfortable, that is.  I also didn’t grow any body parts or breathe fire.  

It was still a weird day.

The center aisle of St John’s Lutheran Church in Salem, Oregon, is very narrow.  

Too narrow for the rolling cart that is usually used to transport the casket to the front of the church after the viewing.

So the male members of my family took on the job of pall bearers.  Three short men on each side of the casket, shuffled sideways down the narrow aisle, but the aisle was so narrow that they didn’t really fit.  So each time they shuffled past a pew, each of these short men would rise up onto their toes to shift their behinds over the backs of the pews.  

Shuffle, shuffle, lift.  

Shuffle, shuffle, lift.

Shuffle, shuffle, lift.

We’re all standing as the casket slowly processes. 

Shuffle, shuffle, lift. 

Shuffle, shuffle, lift.

And I’m thinking… If Aunt Alice was next to me, she would have been making the most inappropriate comments!  It was all I could do to keep a straight face.

By that time in my life, I had already been a Church musician for many years and been a part of many services, so I knew that something going sideways is very normal for services.

But then, it went further sideways.

Do you remember those old preprinted funeral bulletins that would leave a blank space for you to type in the person’s name and pronouns?  They used one of those, that’s fine, it was the mid 2000’s, but many churches were slow to adopt computers.   But I didn’t know you could actually do that verbally…

So this Pastor who sounds Rev Lovejoy from the Simpsons, gets up to welcome the mourners and says,

“Dearly Beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of, Alice Christine Dahlen.  We come together in grief, acknowledging our our loss of, Alice.

May God  grant us grace, that in pain we may find comfort, and sorrow hope, and in death resurrection…

And on and on he went. Every dang time her name came up in the liturgy, it was the verbal equivalent of “insert name here.”

I could practically hear the Times typewriter font.

By this time, I am trying so hard not to laugh out loud that I’m shaking with repressed laughter.         

Fortunately I sat in the front so my family couldn’t see my face.

Then the organist began to play.

Something you may not realize is that being a musician is a very physical job.

I play flute, guitar, auxiliary percussion, and piano – very badly.

I have carpal tunnel, so bad that my hands go numb while playing guitar, and I’m only 53.

Alice planned her own funeral, decades beforehand, and she asked that the old organist be brought back to play for her funeral.

The old organist was in her 90’s and, as many organists do, she had severe arthritis in her hands and feet.  Playing a pipe organ is a whole body workout.  The base notes are played with your feet and there is no sustain pedal, so you have to hold down the keys to keep the notes sounding.

Combining arthritis, age and the full body workout of playing a pipe organ meant that she played very, very, very slowly.  Which was understandable.

But then, Alice had also requested the old soloist be recalled from retirement.  As a singer,  I can tell you from personal experience that as we age, we lose range and we lose control of our pitch and vibrato. 

Alice had chosen that old chestnut, “Oh Jerusalem,” and friends, those old musicians did their very best.  I mean, they gave it everything they had left.

The soloist warbled, “Jer-uuuuuuuu – sa -lem.  Jer-uuuuuuuu – sa -lem.”

And I just could not hold it in any longer.  I covered my face with my hands and I laughed so hard under the cover of the booming organ that that whole pew shook.  I heard someone say,  “look, she’s crying so hard that she’s shaking!”

I’m glad they assumed that.

By the time the service was done, I was laughing so hard that I actually did cry from laughing so hard, so quietly.  Alice had a great sense of humor. She would have loved her funeral!

Fortunately, after that pew shaking performance, my family left me alone.

You see, the reason that I am the black sheep of my family is because I and my cousins are survivors of child abuse.  I did grieve very hard for my Great Aunt Alice, because she took me in when I moved out of my parents house at age 14.

I became the black sheep when my daughter was born.  I told my family that I would not allow my uncle, the pedophile, around my children, so either he could come to family gatherings or I and my children could… well, they chose him.

In their eyes, you either towed the family line… that line being, all families have their problems, so get over it.  Or you were out.  So because I would not accept child abuse as normal, I was out.

This idea of dualism –

People are either right or wrong.

People are in or out.

People are bad or good.

People are saved or unsaved.

Dualism is problematic.

Because it doesn’t make space for the complexity — the nuances of life.

Or the nuances of faith.

Our reading today is from the gospel of John.  The gospel of John was not written by the Beloved Apostle, but it was written in Syria, around the year 90 AD in a community founded by John the Beloved.  

The gospel of John is full of metaphorical and allegorical language, as the authors, we think there were at least 2 authors, seek to “give flesh” to deeply spiritual ideas.

And poetic language is really, really hard to translate.

Today’s reading contains two of the most problematic translations in the book of John.

If you look at verses 15 and 16 you will see the phrase, “eternal life.”

The Greek phrase that is often translated “eternal life,” actually reads something closer to, “the life of the age to come.” (Borg, Evolution of the Word, p307)

That Greek phrase, “the life of the age to come,” means basically the same thing as, “God’s Kingdom Come.”  It represents the hope that God will transform our lives through faith and that our faith will transform the world.

Our United Methodist Mission statement expresses a very similar idea.

“To make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.”

Basically, to know God, that is, to be a disciple which means “student” of Jesus, is to enter into the life of the age to come.  To live according to God’s Reign here on earth as it is in heaven, like we say in the Lord’s Prayer.

That changes how we read John 3:16 doesn’t it. Makes it sound more like this:

16 “For God so loved the world that They gave Their only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but enter into the lifestyle of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth.

Also the word that we usually translate as Believes  ???????? (pisteu?n), has a little bit more meaning to it.  It does mean to believe, but also to put your faith in, or put your trust in.

So we might more accurately read John 3:16 as:

God loved the world so much that God sent Their only Son, so that everyone who puts their faith in him will not be a part of this death-dealing way of life, but enter into the lifestyle of the Kingdom of Heaven here on this earth.

The essentials are still there — God loves everyone so much that anyone who is willing to be a part of the Kingdom of Heaven is welcome.  But the definition of believe is expanded and the concept of “the life of the age to come,” is put into more modern language.  We’re still talking about Heaven, but also this life too.

The second problematic translation in this reading is in verse 17.

17 “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

???? (s?th?) — healed, well, cured, saved, wholistic wellness)

The word in question is saved, or ???? (s?th?) in Greek.

So the is a word that is pregnant with meaning.

It is often translated as healed, well, and cured, as well as saved.

The concept of sothe is wholistic wellness.  Being well in mind, body and spirit.

Being spiritually, socially, physically, and mentally healthy.

So these verses aren’t just talking about the afterlife.

John 3:13-17 are talking about All of Life.

Life here on earth becoming like life in Heaven.

Which doesn’t mean that all of our problems are supposed to go away when we put our trust in God.

I wish, but no.

It means that we change when we put our faith in God.

Our values change.

Our words change.

Our behaviors change.

And when we change, we change the world around us, for everyone.

It was only by putting my trust in God that I found the courage to hold boundaries with my family of origin.  And those boundaries were costly.

I never spent another holiday with my family of origin again.  And my grandmother took all my pictures down off her walls.

But multiple generations of child abuse ended with me.

My children grew up safe.

Because safety for children is a part of the values of the Kingdom of Heaven.

But they grew up with only Tom’s side of the family as their extended family.

And I became the Black Sheep of the family, because in their minds, the only option was to either accept that abuse was normal, or reject the abuse which they defined as rejecting them.

They couldn’t see the third way that the Kingdom of Heaven offers, even though they believe in God.

They couldn’t see that I could both love and protect my children and not want my uncle around them.  That I did love my uncle, who was actually a really good uncle to me, and know that he couldn’t be trusted around my children.

Life is complex.  It’s nuanced.

Multiple things can be true at the same time.

We can love people and still hold boundaries.

People can not be ready to put their faith in God and still be welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Jesus didn’t come to condemn anyone, but to save everyone.

And sometimes we just don’t get it.

We just can’t hold that much complexity.

We can’t escape the dualism of in groups and out-groups until we come face to face with God.

On the day that my grandmother died, I was at home with my children and I smelled my grandmother’s perfume.  She always wore Oscar de La Renta perfume.

My husband Tom, is allergic to perfume, so I was hunting all over the house, trying to find where this smell was coming from.  

Did one of my kids get into my box of perfumes?

Where is that smell coming from???

Finally I ceased searching and came to a stop in front of the living room window. 

I could feel my grandmother’s presence so strongly.

I could feel, without words, that she loved me and that now she understood my choices.

There was no sense of judgement or apology.  No right or wrong.

Just love and understanding.

She could see clearly now, and everyone was loved and understood, including me.

Then the smell of her perfume was gone, and so was she.

I found out the next day that she had died at that time.

God did not come to condemn anyone.

God came that everyone might find wholeness…healing…wellness…salvation.

Even the people we don’t understand in this life.

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.