Do Not Doubt

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was John 20:19:29:

Nicknames are interesting things. Sometimes they seem strange, sometimes they hit the mark, and sometimes we might not even know what they mean or where they came from. And as nicknames go, sports stars often end up with some great nicknames, especially those who are the best of their craft. There is Walter Payton, known as Sweetness, and Wayne Gretzky, the Great One, and Jack Nicholas, the Golden Bear.  But of course, the best nicknames come from baseball.  There is Stan the Man, and Cool Papa Bell  and Double Duty Radcliff. Some nicknames become so famous, like Babe Ruth, Pee Wee Reese and Dizzy Dean that we forget their real first names.  But for every great nickname like Mr. October or Hammerin’ Hank there are also those nicknames that are a little less glorious, a little more likely that people probably wish they would have gone away, like Luke Old Aches and Pains Appling, or Ernie the Schnozz Lombardi, but perhaps the worst nickname belongs to Hugh Mulcahy who, because he never had a winning record in any complete season in which he pitched, was known as Losing Pitcher Mulcahy.  I am sure that if you were to have met Mr. Mulcahy he would not have appreciated you calling him by his nickname and just wished it would all go away.  But just like those nicknames are a little unfair, so too is the nickname that has been forever appended to Thomas, who, for some reason, for 2000 years has been the poster boy for doubt, an idea that is not really fair either to Thomas or to the concept of doubt.

Today we begin a new worship series entitled the nots of Jesus, which has nothing to do with ropes, but instead with the things that Jesus tells us not to do. Normally we talk about the things we’re supposed to do like forgive or feed the hungry or be peacemakers, but there are actually quite a few things Jesus tells us not to do, and so we’re going to spend the next nine weeks, which seems like a lot, but doesn’t cover all of the nots, looking at, interpreting and trying to figure out how we should not be doing certain things. And that’s sort of the point because often the things Jesus says not to do are things that also often cause us to tie ourselves in knots. And so, we’re going to find ways to free ourselves through Christ. And today we start with the injunction that gets read every year after Easter and that is Jesus telling Thomas “do not doubt,” form which Thomas gets his terrible nickname, and so I’d like to take just a moment to give a defense of Thomas, which I think will also help us to get at the subject of doubt and what it means for us.

Do Caterpillars Dream of Butterflies?

Here is my message for Easter Sunday. The text was Matthew 28:1-10:

The imagery we used for the season of Lent, which are the Sundays leading up to Easter, where those surrounding caterpillars and cocoons as a prelude to using butterflies for Easter, which is a traditional symbol for this day of celebration. And that got me thinking about that transition from caterpillar to butterfly. First, it’s pretty amazing, because it’s not like these things really look alike. It’s not just that the caterpillar grows wings, there is a change in shape and size. Imagine if alligators turned into rhinoceroses, or cats turned into birds. We might be a little amazed at that, rather than sort of taking it for granted, like we seem to do with caterpillars turning into butterflies because that’s just what they do; we’re used to it and expect it. But perhaps we should be a little more astonished by the whole thing. But the other thing I was wondering was whether caterpillars know that’s what’s going to happen? Do caterpillars dream of butterflies? Or do they see a butterfly flying around and recognize them for who they used to be? Like, “hey, it’s Amy! I remember her when she was just a caterpillar.” Or do they just go into their chrysalis because that’s what’s encoded in what they do, not having any idea of what’s on the other side? I don’t know that we can ever know the answer to that because last I checked we haven’t been able to interview any caterpillars or butterflies, but there is something spectacular about them anyways, and of course they have obvious comparisons to the Easter story which is why they have become a symbol. New life. New beginnings. Transition and change. And all the other things that come with Jesus’ resurrection and the empty tomb and the reasons we are gathering here this day to shout our alleluias and proclaim that Christ is risen.

Three years ago for Easter Matthew was also the gospel reading for for the day, and I was planning on talking about earthquakes, and the things that happen that shake our lives and change them forever. But then we ended up being online only for Easter, speaking of things that shake up our lives, and because of that we did not get to do the baptism we had planned for that day, which we will finally do today, along with Jesse’s brother who was born in the interim. But what I ended up talking about that Easter was liminal space and times. Liminality is the in-between times in which transition is happening. That it is no longer one thing, but it’s not yet the other thing either. A good example of this is the threshold of a door. When we cross through a door there is a space there where we are no longer in one room but not yet in the other either. We are not yet outdoors, but we’re no longer indoors. We are in that in-between space, and not only was that time with COVID like that, but the gap between Good Friday and Easter is like that. The tomb is a liminal space. And even post Easter can be seen as liminal, because no one yet knew what was going to happen.

Without Blemish

This was my message for Maundy Thursday. The text was Psalm 91:

Jesus came into Jerusalem for the last time in order to celebrate Passover. It is one of the great pilgrimage holidays that brought people to Jerusalem, and while Holy Week and Passover don’t always coincide this year they did with Passover ending at sunset today. And so, every year as the assigned readings for Maundy Thursday it includes the reading for Exodus about the Passover. And yet surprisingly, or at least to me, in sixteen years in ministry I have never actually preached on the story as it relates to this week or this day, until tonight. And then it’s not really to explore the story of Passover itself, and I’m working on the possibility of a series on the book of Exodus, so perhaps we’ll get to that message sometime in the near future, but there was one line that stood out to me as I was working on this service. For those who did the prayer series as part of programming night and doing Lectio Divina, this is part of that process of letting the Spirit speak to us and having things pop up in importance. Although then it’s the work of trying to figure out why this thing seemed important. But the phrase that stood out to me, amongst all of the readings this year, and it was that phrase “without blemish.”

Vision

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was John 15:1-17:

Whenever I get on a plane and sitting and getting settled, as I watch everyone else get to their seats and put stuff away, I think to myself, this is how every plan crash movie begins. Anyone else ever think that? No, I’m the only weirdo? And then, of course, once everyone is in their seats and getting ready the flight attendants come out to give their spiel about safety and emergency preparation, but few people actually pay any attention, right? Perhaps if it was your first flight, or maybe on a plane type you’ve never flown before, you might pay a little more attention but for the most part we ignore the information because one we’re largely familiar, and second, we don’t think it really applies to us. Afterall, all of us expect to make it to our destination, unless you know that you’re starring in a movie about a plane crash. But, as Seth Godin pointed out, if during the flight the pilot came on and said they were having some “technical problems” or something else that seems to downplay a serious issue, and then said the flight attendants were going to be giving instructions of what to do, I’m willing to bet that everyone on the plane would then be paying really close attention to what the flight attendants were about to tell us. And so, what’s the difference? The immediacy and the need to know what’s happening because our lives may depend on it. But, the airlines couldn’t do that often because if they did we’d blank them all out again because the pressing would then become routine. And so today as we conclude our series on seeking God’s visions and dreams for us as a congregation, I don’t want to say this is the middle of the flight and pay attention to what’s about to happen, because that would be overkill, but I do want to make sure we’re all paying attention because today, when we talk about our legacy, or how we want to be known, is really important.

In fact, this might have been where we could have started and built from because as with all goals, if you don’t know where you want to end up, then you’ll just wander everywhere and nowhere in particular. And so, thinking about who we want to be gives us the end point from which we can work backwards to create the steps of how we are going to get there. And one of the things that I think is important is that for the most part the things that people stated for what they wanted to be known for where largely ideas rather than concrete things, and I’ll come back to why I think that’s important in a moment. But even the more concrete things can be seen as aspirational with multiple ways of getting there. So, for example, one person said we should be known for having environmentally sustainable landscaping, and my thought was to expand that out and say we want to be known for environmental sustainability altogether, or of having a zero carbon footprint. And that would be a great goal, and great thing to be known for, and also allowing for multiple ways of getting there. Or another had that we would have a cool youth group; again, multiple ways of getting there, and multiple interpretations of what it means to be cool, and admitting that I am not the best arbiter of coolness for teenagers these days, let alone in 10 years, when shockingly we will still have a teenager in the house. But the bigger piece is about the leeway of allowing ourselves room to grow and to change.

It's About Loss, But Fear Not

Here is my message for Sunday. The text was Joshua 1:1-9:

There are some stories that I would love to have been a fly on the wall to observe them, and this story we heard this morning from Joshua would certainly be one of them as the Israelites prepare to cross the Jordan into the promised land, and I would love to be there for several reasons. I would really love to know what Joshua is thinking in this moment and how he responds to God, especially to God’s instruction for him to “be strong and courageous.” Which Joshua gets told not just once, but three times, just so that he is very clear on God’s message, if only God would sometimes be as direct with us, and then to add to it God tells Joshua “do not be frightened or dismayed.” But then I really, really want to know how Joshua deals with the Israelites, because very quick recap, as they are wandering in the wilderness the people turn on Moses and tell him to take them back to Egypt. That they would be better off as slaves then to die in the desert. And then they have to end up traveling for 40 years because they refuse to trust that God will deliver the land to them, and so the first generation have to die off before the land is delivered. But, I can’t imagine that things had actually changed all that much.

I can imagine that the people now, because they’ve been wandering so long, are worried and scared about crossing over. They don’t want to settle down, they don’t want to cross the river because everything looks just fine where they are, why do they have to do anything any different? I can’t believe that there weren’t calls for committees to study it, and to take a vote, and who gets to vote is it just the leaders or should everyone have a say? And who elevated Joshua leader anyways? Why do we have to change, Joshua? Why can’t we just keep doing the same thing we’ve been doing for 40 years? Why can’t we just keep on keeping on? Everything seems to be fine as it is, and besides, we’re not strong, we’re not courageous, and quite honestly, we are frightened and dismayed. So, let’s just stay here. You cross over if you are so interested, but we’ll just stay right where we are and just keep on wandering. Or at least that’s what I imagine them saying if I was that fly on the wall to hear it.

Moving Past the Things that Block Us

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was Philippians 4:1-13:

I just finished reading about a hurricane that hit New York and New England in 1938. It had sustained winds of 150 miles an hour, and dropped nearly 14 inches of rain on Long Island in two hours and had the highest ever recorded storm surges in some locations. It also recoded the lowest barometric pressure in the Atlantic ocean by a ship’s captain who said it was the worst storm he had ever seen at sea. What made the storm particularly damaging, at least when it came to loss of life, was the fact that no one knew it was coming. The aftermath of devastation in trees downed, as well as homes washed out to sea made getting to the survivors even more difficult. They ended up having to cut in new roads into the forest to remove downed trees, many of which are still being used today. I tell that story not only because I find it interesting, and if I remember correctly Barbara Demarsh, a former member was in New England for that storm, but also because today we are thinking about and talking about the obstacles that stand in our way and how we respond to them. 

Obviously in this situation, the rescuers had an urgency to work around the obstacles anyway they can in order to be able to help people, and there are times in which the same is true for us. The urgency of the matter has us cutting through or around the obstacles that we find in our paths in order to solve the problem and get to the other side. Think of what happened here when COVID hit. A few of us had been in conversation about what it would take to put the worship service online, what we would have to do, and the obstacles in the way, but little did we know that we would make that transition and do that work in less than two weeks. Now it might not have been ideal, but we moved through quickly to make it happen, really because we had to. And it should serve as our example that we can do some pretty major things, fairly quickly when we want to or need to. But, there are other times in which the obstacles, which me may think are hugely overwhelming aren’t really anything at all, and here is great video that sort of captures that, take a look…

Building on What God Has Given Us

Here is my message from Sunday. The text was Joshua 24:13-25:

This year represents the 80th anniversary of the closing of the Los Alamos Ranch School. I’ve seen different dates, one for a graduation and closure on January 23, and another on April 15, but regardless the Army’s Manhattan project with which we are so familiar took over control of the property in the spring of 1943. And so, while we have this idea, or I might better say the outside world has this idea, of the Army sort of creating Los Alamos out of nothing, there were already buildings and homes here for the project to us. Although if they had known how big the project would become, they later admitted they would not have chosen this location, and then where would we all be? But it seemed like the right place for so many reasons for a small collection of scientist to do their thing without having to create everything from scratch. And while many of those who came during the war certainly didn’t think of this being the promised land, in fact some probably said some words about it that can’t be repeated here, many came to love the place as so many of us do. But, like those who first came, we might also take for granted what we already have, or maybe even think that we had everything to do with the fruit we are harvesting now, for lack of a better metaphor. And in that, we are not any different from generations of our ancestors, including the ancient Israelites.

I think the passage we heard today is a great reminder of that. The people have long since moved into the promised land and defeated their enemies and they have been successful and apparently, they have let this all go to their heads. And even though they have made a covenant with God in the promised land, Joshua and then God have to remind the people what has actually happened. The people want to say, we did this, we built all this, and maybe even started worshipping other gods. Now its certainly possible that this is literally others gods, but perhaps its also other things that can take the form of a god, property, wealth, prestige, to name just a few. But God says to them, amongst other things, “I gave you a land on which you had not labored, and towns that you had not built, and you live in them; you eat the fruit of vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.” That is God is reminding them that they may have prospered, but God is the one who gave it to them first, and they also inherited all the other things. The land was already prepared with crops, and the homes were already there, and the vineyards and orchards were in place before they arrived. This is not to say that they didn’t have to do work in order to maintain it and harvest it and keep it going, but the hardest work was already done, and it was given to them by God.

Setting a Vision

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was Habakkuk 2:1a, 2-4:

The church where I did my internship was in Wellesley, Massachusetts, which also happens to be the half way point of the Boston Marathon, and the church itself was just off the race route. Each year we would post a banner outside the church, quoting the prophet Isaiah, which said “those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.” Now to be honest, the runners never saw this as they went by, because there were spectators between them and it, but we did make the letters big enough so that if they could see it they would be able to read it, or more practically so that people driving by could read it as well. That sign always made me think of that passage we heard from the prophet Habakkuk today, and I’m guessing that few if any of you have ever heard anything from him before, and even today you’re not going to hear much, because I chose it not because of the prophesies that Habakkuk received from God, or what he delivered to Judea, but instead those first words from God. Write these words big enough so that people who are running by will be able to read them. That means the letters have to be big, in a legible font and clear, and perhaps the vision has to be somewhat short as well. It has to be concise.

But what God also tells Habakkuk is first is that there is a vision for the appointed time. When I hear that, what it means is that visions change, and have to change. That what is appropriate then will not work now, and what works now probably won’t work later. There is a vision for the appointed time. Secondly Habakkuk is told that visions don’t happen immediately, that sometimes you have to wait for things to occur, and waiting can be hard, especially if what we envision, or need or want, needs to happen right away. We have a vision of streets without potholes in them, right, but if the county was to try and fix them right now during the winter what would happen? That work would quickly be destroyed because they would face the same conditions that caused them in the first place. So sometimes we cast visions and then we have to wait, or it takes a while to get them implemented, and even when they get moving in the right direction, sometimes they start to fall backwards because change is hard. But, having the vision clearly articulated and large enough for everyone to see, even those who are running, keeps that vision front and center for everyone. So, if the vision is slow in coming, wait for it, and perhaps we should add, work for it even harder. And then is added what is probably the most famous line from Habakkuk, and it’s famous because Paul quotes it in the letter to the Romans and to the Galatians, “the righteous live by their faith.”

It's About the Journey, Not the Destination

This was my message for Ash Wednesday. The text was 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10:

I remember hearing about someone who came to Maya Angelou, or at least that’s whom I remember it being about, although I couldn’t find the proper attribution, and so it could be someone else, and if it is you’ll have to forgive me, but the story is too appropriate for this message to ignore. But, any ways they came and told her they were a Christian, to which she responded, “already? I thought becoming a Christian took a lifetime.” And while I may not remember who said it exactly, what I do remember in reading that the first time was how succinctly that little response put what could be a complicated thought about the journey of faith. “You’re already a Christian? I thought it took a lifetime.” It’s the difference between an event and a journey, as Seth Godin recently said. A journey can have events in them, including things that change the substance of the journey, but it’s still about the journey, not the event. So, for example, a wedding is an event that changes the relationship from dating, or fiancées, to  being married,  but it’s just one even in the journey of the relationship. And if someone were to say that they were done doing any of the work that a relationship requires simply because they had gotten married, I think we would tell them that they were missing the entire point. Indeed, as I usually tell the couples I marry, it is after the wedding that the hard work of being married begins. That’s not the end of the journey, it’s merely the beginning. The event is over, now the journey begins.

Forgiving God

Here is my sermon from Sunday. The text was the 91st psalm:

What I am about to say is probably going to get me in some trouble, or at the very least it will cause some controversy, and I’m not saying it for its shock value, but if you are upset I ask for you to stay with me so I can explain more on the other side of it. Sometimes the Bible is just wrong. I don’t mean that there are there are contradictions or mistakes, because there are and I’m not refencing that. But I mean that it’s just wrong and that Psalm we heard this morning is one of those times. I even had someone who was doing their prep work for today, for lack of a better term, say to me “are you going to talk about the fact that the Psalm doesn’t match reality?” and that’s exactly what I’m going to talk about. It’s a beautiful Psalm and wonderful imagery and a pleasant ideal, but it’s not true. What we are told is that those who “live in the shelter of the most high”, those who abide in God, will be delivered from “the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.” That “no evil shall befall you [and] no scourge come near your tent.” God will command angels on our behalf so that “you will not dash your foot against a stone” and a “long life” will come to us. And yet we know that’s not true. Because we are not delivered from deadly pestilence, we do fear the night, sometimes the serpent does rise up to strike us. This week was the 9th anniversary of the death of my nephew Wyatt who died at 9, and so he did not receive a long life, and we certainly know others for whom that is true as well. And we know that we are not always rescued from trouble. And since that is what our lives are really like, that leaves us with two possibilities. One of them is that we don’t actually love God or live in the shelter of God, that we don’t God’s name and don’t trust in God to deliver, and therefore we get whatever happens to us in life because we deserve it. Or, the second option, is that this Psalm isn’t true, that while God may love us and we love God that we are not guaranteed eternal protection from anything bad ever happening to us simply because of our faith. And of the two, I’m going to go with the second option.

And so today we conclude our series on forgiveness by looking at an area in which many people may also take some issue and that is forgiving God. While some struggle with the issue of forgiving God, others will say that it’s not even on the table, that we don’t need to forgive God because God has nothing to be forgiven for. I’ve done a lot of reading and study on the subject of forgiveness, and have only encountered the idea of forgiving God in two of them. One of them was sort of a new-age book, and the other was a book on forgiveness that one of our adult faith development classes read in the fall entitled Forgiving What You Can’t Forget, and the author there says sorta kinda that you don’t need to forgive God because God is not responsible for the bad things in our lives while also simultaneously saying that God is in total control and is responsible for everything, we just don’t understand it all and we should pray that God will help us to understand it. Not an uncommon articulation of what is known as theodicy, or if God is good then why do bad things happen. These thoughts are also sometimes accompanied by statements like “everything happens for a reason,” or “God doesn’t give us anything we can’t handle” or, thinking of the death of a child, “God needed another angel,” and if you have any of those statements in your repertoire I beg you, for the love of God, literally in this case, to stop saying them. We say them with the best of intentions, but in the midst of despair they are less than helpful, and they can also damage because what these things do is say that God is responsible. And if God is responsible then forgiveness has to play a role, and even if God is not responsible, which is what I am going to argue, then it still can be redemptive because of the thoughts that lead us in that direction.