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First Congregational Church
December 25, 2016 Christmas Day, First Sunday of Christmas Luke 2:11-14 “Christmas at the Gas Station” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching In Iceland, in a tradition that translates to “Christmas Book Flood,” books are exchanged on Christmas Eve, and people spend the rest of the reading. Some take their books to bed along with some chocolate, and I’m sure others curl up by fires and what, they say in Danish, hygelig - which means cozy. Since I’m guessing that not so many of us stayed up reading all evening, I figured that we would sort of tap into that practice, First Congregational style. CHRISTMAS AT THE GAS STATION The man sat in his gas station on a cold Christmas Eve. He hadn't been anywhere in years since his wife had passed away. It was just another day to him. He didn't hate Christmas, just couldn't find a reason to celebrate. He was sitting there looking at the snow that had been falling for the last hour and wondering what it was all about when the door opened and a homeless man stepped through. Instead of throwing the man out, Old George as he was known by his customers, told the man to come and sit by the heater and warm up. "Thank you, but I don't mean to intrude," said the stranger. "I see you're busy, I'll just go." "Not without something hot in your belly." George said. He turned and opened a wide mouth Thermos and handed it to the stranger. "It ain't much, but it's hot and tasty. Stew ... Made it myself. When you're done, there's coffee and it's fresh." Just at that moment he heard the "ding" of the driveway bell. "Excuse me, be right back," George said. There in the driveway was an old '53 Chevy. Steam was rolling out of the front. The driver was panicked. "Mister can you help me!" said the driver, with a deep Spanish accent. "My wife is with child and my car is broken." George opened the hood. It was bad. The block looked cracked from the cold, the car was dead. "You ain't going in this thing," George said as he turned away. "But Mister, please help ..." The door of the office closed behind George as he went inside. He went to the office wall and got the keys to his old truck, and went back outside. He walked around the building, opened the garage, started the truck and drove it around to where the couple was waiting. "Here, take my truck," he said. "She ain't the best thing you ever looked at, but she runs real good." George helped put the woman in the truck and watched as it sped off into the night. He turned and walked back inside the office. "Glad I gave 'em the truck, their tires were shot too. That 'ol truck has brand new ." George thought he was talking to the stranger, but the man had gone. The Thermos was on the desk, empty, with a used coffee cup beside it. "Well, at least he got something in his belly," George thought. George went back outside to see if the old Chevy would start. It cranked slowly, but it started. He pulled it into the garage where the truck had been. He thought he would tinker with it for something to do. Christmas Eve meant no customers. He discovered the block hadn't cracked, it was just the bottom hose on the radiator. "Well, shoot, I can fix this," he said to himself. So he put a new one on. "Those tires ain't gonna get 'em through the winter either." He took the snow treads off of his wife's old Lincoln. They were like new and he wasn't going to drive the car anyway. As he was working, he heard shots being fired. He ran outside and beside a police car an officer lay on the cold ground. Bleeding from the left shoulder, the officer moaned, "Please help me." George helped the officer inside as he remembered the training he had received in the Army as a medic. He knew the wound needed attention. "Pressure to stop the bleeding," he thought. The uniform company had been there that morning and had left clean shop towels. He used those and duct tape to bind the wound. "Hey, they say duct tape can fix anythin'," he said, trying to make the policeman feel at ease. "Something for pain," George thought. All he had was the pills he used for his back. "These ought to work." He put some water in a cup and gave the policeman the pills. "You hang in there, I'm going to get you an ambulance." The phone was dead. "Maybe I can get one of your buddies on that there talk box out in your car." He went out only to find that a bullet had gone into the dashboard destroying the two way radio. He went back in to find the policeman sitting up. "Thanks," said the officer. "You could have left me there. The guy that shot me is still in the area." George sat down beside him, "I would never leave an injured man in the Army and I ain't gonna leave you." George pulled back the bandage to check for bleeding. "Looks worse than what it is. Bullet passed right through 'ya. Good thing it missed the important stuff though. I think with time your gonna be right as rain." George got up and poured a cup of coffee. "How do you take it?" he asked. "None for me," said the officer. "Oh, yer gonna drink this. Best in the city. Too bad I ain't got no donuts." The officer laughed and winced at the same time. The front door of the office flew open. In burst a young man with a gun. "Give me all your cash! Do it now!" the young man yelled. His hand was shaking and George could tell that he had never done anything like this before. "That's the guy that shot me!" exclaimed the officer. "Son, why are you doing this?" asked George, "You need to put the cannon away. Somebody else might get hurt." The young man was confused. "Shut up old man, or I'll shoot you, too. Now give me the cash!" The cop was reaching for his gun. "Put that thing away," George said to the cop, "we got one too many in here now." He turned his attention to the young man. "Son, it's Christmas Eve. If you need money, well then, here. It ain't much but it's all I got. Now put that pea shooter away." George pulled $150 out of his pocket and handed it to the young man, reaching for the barrel of the gun at the same time. The young man released his grip on the gun, fell to his knees and began to cry. "I'm not very good at this am I? All I wanted was to buy something for my wife and son," he went on. "I've lost my job, my rent is due, my car got repossessed last week." George handed the gun to the cop. "Son, we all get in a bit of squeeze now and then. The road gets hard sometimes, but we make it through the best we can." He got the young man to his feet, and sat him down on a chair across from the cop. "Sometimes we do stupid things." George handed the young man a cup of coffee. "Bein' stupid is one of the things that makes us human. Comin' in here with a gun ain't the answer. Now sit there and get warm and we'll sort this thing out." The young man had stopped crying. He looked over to the cop. "Sorry I shot you. It just went off. I'm sorry officer." "Shut up and drink your coffee " the cop said. George could hear the sounds of sirens outside. A police car and an ambulance skidded to a halt. Two cops came through the door, guns drawn. "Chuck! You ok?" one of the cops asked the wounded officer. "Not bad for a guy who took a bullet. How did you find me?" "GPS locator in the car. Best thing since sliced bread. Who did this?" the other cop asked as he approached the young man. Chuck answered him, "I don't know. The guy ran off into the dark. Just dropped his gun and ran." George and the young man both looked puzzled at each other. "That guy work here?" the wounded cop continued. "Yep," George said, "just hired him this morning. Boy lost his job." The paramedics came in and loaded Chuck onto the stretcher. The young man leaned over the wounded cop and whispered, "Why?" Chuck just said, "Merry Christmas boy ... and you too, George, and thanks for everything." "Well, looks like you got one doozy of a break there. That ought to solve some of your problems." George went into the back room and came out with a box. He pulled out a ring box. "Here you go, something for the little woman. I don't think Martha would mind. She said it would come in handy some day." The young man looked inside to see the biggest diamond ring he ever saw. "I can't take this," said the young man. "It means something to you." "And now it means something to you," replied George. "I got my memories. That's all I need." George reached into the box again. An airplane, a car and a truck appeared next. They were toys that the oil company had left for him to sell. "Here's something for that little man of yours." The young man began to cry again as he handed back the $150 that the old man had handed him earlier. "And what are you supposed to buy Christmas dinner with? You keep that too," George said. "Now git home to your family." The young man turned with tears streaming down his face. "I'll be here in the morning for work, if that job offer is still good." "Nope. I'm closed Christmas day," George said. "See ya the day after." George turned around to find that the stranger had returned. "Where'd you come from? I thought you left?" "I have been here. I have always been here," said the stranger. "You say you don't celebrate Christmas. Why?" "Well, after my wife passed away, I just couldn't see what all the bother was. Puttin' up a tree and all seemed a waste of a good pine tree. Bakin' cookies like I used to with Martha just wasn't the same by myself and besides I was gettin' a little chubby." The stranger put his hand on George's shoulder. "But you do celebrate the holiday, George. You gave me food and drink and warmed me when I was cold and hungry. The woman with child will bear a son and he will become a great doctor. The policeman you helped will go on to save 19 people from being killed by terrorists. The young man who tried to rob you will make you a rich man and not take any for himself. "That is the spirit of the season and you keep it as good as any man." George was taken aback by all this stranger had said. "And how do you know all this?" asked the old man. "Trust me, George. I have the inside track on this sort of thing. And when your days are done you will be with Martha again." The stranger moved toward the door. "If you will excuse me, George, I have to go now. I have to go home where there is a big celebration planned." George watched as the old leather jacket and the torn pants that the stranger was wearing turned into a white robe. A golden light began to fill the room. "You see, George ... it's My birthday. Merry Christmas.” First Congregational Church
December 25, 2016 Christmas Day, First Sunday of Christmas Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching In Iceland, in a tradition that translates to “Christmas Book Flood,” books are exchanged on Christmas Eve, and people spend the rest of the reading. Some take their books to bed along with some chocolate, and I’m sure others curl up by fires and what, they say in Danish, hygelig - which means cozy. Since I’m guessing that not so many of us stayed up reading all evening, I figured that we would sort of tap into that practice, First Congregational style. THE UNEXPECTED God in a cow shed! In our eyes, God is always doing the unexpected thing; not because it is God who is hooked on novelty, but because God’s kind of love is extremely rare in our love-deprived, world community. We would not have anticipated Christmas. We wouldn’t have expected that God’s most special thing in the whole of history of life on this planet would take place in a cowshed at Bethlehem. But it was so. Nor would we have expected that God’s special thing would take place in the vulnerability of yet another tiny human baby. But it was so. Babies are plentiful in our world, thousands upon thousands born every day, but God’s pure wisdom planned another; one more human infant in whom God’s true-love could be born among us full of unimaginable truth and grace. Thank God, it was so. Tonight we celebrate the hallowing of our human flesh. Tonight our potential strengths are uncovered and our weakness overcome. Tonight our self-respect is recreated by that common yet unique baby. Tonight our faith is renewed as the unexpected God does his unexpected thing by which the whole world is in profound sense reborn through one more human baby. With that birth, the world is never the same again; never the same valley of broken hopes, never the same stony field of loneliness. Never the same barren hilltops where despairing souls build altars to an unknown God. Tonight we once more celebrate that True-love has broken loose on planet earth. The very soul of God wears our flesh and shares our laughter, bears our smell and shares our toil, dares our dreams and shares our frustration. With the resilience of Divine grace, with the light which cannot be put out, with the joy which no one can take from us, God comes among us gasping a first human breath and making a little crying protest at the apparent coldness of existence. It is all so wonder-fully odd, yet so wonder-fully right for this kind of world. That is why we come at the midnight hour in anticipation; that the unexpected God may meet us again in the stable-like stuff of our common experience. O come, o come, Immanuel! http://www.bruceprewer.com/DocC/C05xmase.htm First Congregational Church
December 18, 2016 4th Sunday in Advent Ruth 4 “The Promise of Redemption” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching Q: What do Snowmen call their offspring? A: Chill-dren. Q: Where does a snow lady keep her money? A: In a snow bank. Q: What do they sing at a snowman’s birthday party? A: Freeze a jolly good fellow. We’ve been going through the Old Testament book of Ruth this Advent season, for a number of reasons. The most trite reason is that there are four chapters to Ruth and four Sundays in Advent. The relevant reason is because of the relationship between Ruth and Jesus - in both the link of their hometown of Bethlehem and the link of their ancestry. So far, before she was Ruth’s mother-in-law, Naomi and her husband Elimilech were living in Bethlehem, where their two sons were born, Kilion and Mahlon. When a famine struck, they moved from their Jewish homeland to a “pagan” place called Moab, in essence, backtracking from the Promised Land. But for the ten years they were there, things weren’t so bad. The sons married Moabite wives and they weren’t starving. But then Elimilech and his two sons died, immediately making Naomi and daughters-in-law Orpah and Ruth widows and in need of rescue. Orpah went back to her family, at Naomi’s suggestion, but Ruth vowed to stay with her mother-in-law, come what may. Forced to pick up the leftovers in the fields, Ruth met the field owner, Boaz, and she caught his eye. At the end of the harvest, the micro-manager mother-in-law suggested that Ruth seduce Boaz, no doubt hoping that Ruth would then be “taken care of.” But Boaz was the definition of a righteous man, and knowing that another relative had first dibs on the young woman, he made sure everyone’s reputations remained intact. In the morning, Ruth went home with her “engagement dowry,” to her mother-in-law: 50 pounds of barley. Ruth 4 NIV 1 Meanwhile Boaz went up to the town gate and sat down there just as the guardian-redeemer he had mentioned came along. Boaz said, “Come over here, my friend, and sit down.” So he went over and sat down. 2 Boaz took ten of the elders of the town and said, “Sit here,” and they did so. 3 Then he said to the guardian-redeemer, “Naomi, who has come back from Moab, is selling the piece of land that belonged to our relative Elimelek. 4 I thought I should bring the matter to your attention and suggest that you buy it in the presence of these seated here and in the presence of the elders of my people. If you will redeem it, do so. But if you will not, tell me, so I will know. For no one has the right to do it except you, and I am next in line.” “I will redeem it,” he said. 5 Then Boaz said, “On the day you buy the land from Naomi, you also acquire Ruth the Moabite, the dead man’s widow, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property.” 6 At this, the guardian-redeemer said, “Then I cannot redeem it because I might endanger my own estate. You redeem it yourself. I cannot do it.” 7 (Now in earlier times in Israel, for the redemption and transfer of property to become final, one party took off his sandal and gave it to the other. This was the method of legalizing transactions in Israel.) 8 So the guardian-redeemer said to Boaz, “Buy it yourself.” And he removed his sandal. 9 Then Boaz announced to the elders and all the people, “Today you are witnesses that I have bought from Naomi all the property of Elimelek, Kilion and Mahlon. 10 I have also acquired Ruth the Moabite, Mahlon’s widow, as my wife, in order to maintain the name of the dead with his property, so that his name will not disappear from among his family or from his hometown. Today you are witnesses!” 11 Then the elders and all the people at the gate said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who is coming into your home like Rachel and Leah, who together built up the family of Israel. May you have standing in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem. 12 Through the offspring the LORD gives you by this young woman, may your family be like that of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah.” Naomi Gains a Son 13 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When he made love to her, the LORD enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. 14 The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the LORD, who this day has not left you without a guardian-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! 15 He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons, has given him birth.” 16 Then Naomi took the child in her arms and cared for him. 17 The women living there said, “Naomi has a son!” And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David. The Genealogy of David 18 This, then, is the family line of Perez: Perez was the father of Hezron, 19 Hezron the father of Ram, Ram the father of Amminadab, 20 Amminadab the father of Nahshon, Nahshon the father of Salmon, 21 Salmon the father of Boaz, Boaz the father of Obed, 22 Obed the father of Jesse, and Jesse the father of David. Thank you, Bill. This chapter is full of cultural cues that are foreign to our 21st century ears. From the treatment of women as chattel to strangers naming a child, there is enough material here to keep a Bible geek busy for a month of Sundays. But there is a good bit that has relevance for us, despite the historical, cultural and social spans of time. By-the-way, that sandal thing was a custom from long before the days of Ruth and the practice of it can be found in the book of Leviticus. Maybe it was the ancient version of notarizing or signing documents without paper. And if the holidays weren’t breathing down our necks, it would be an interesting exercise to see what anyone might see in the symbolism of this strange act. It’s also interesting that the writer of Ruth mentioned only two of the four mothers of Jacob’s progeny: Rachel and Leah. If one didn’t know better, their servants, who bore four of the twelve sons, Bilhah and Zilpah weren’t even valuable enough to count builders of the family of Israel. And then there is the odd juxtaposition: Naomi and Ruth, as widows, were in need of someone to take care of them, yet they had the farm that would probably bring a fair price. So either women couldn’t be trusted with financial matters, or the guardianship issue wasn’t as much about money as we might think it was. There’s a point that we might not immediately see, but it, too, is another juxtaposition, of night and day and good and not so good. In chapter three, Naomi wanted to make a deal with Boaz under the cover of night, using Ruth as the innocent one to bring the deal to fruition, her seduction also being a shady marriage. But Boaz makes his deal in the light of day, with ten official witnesses and out in the open. It seems a little pedantic, but sometimes we need to be reminded about those things that are good in life, even when they don’t involve chocolate or fishing. What really seemed to stick out, both last week and this week, to me, is the phrase “guardian-redeemer.” The Hebrew word for guardian-redeemer is a legal term for one who has the obligation to redeem a relative in serious difficulty, a “law” also going all the way back to the book of Leviticus, the book about rules for the spiritual leaders of the Jewish people. This phrase combination guardian-redeemer occurs nine times in the book of Ruth, and I would guess that most of us get what a guardian is, both in legal and in super hero terms. But redeemer is a little more enigmatic. We sing of the word often enough in church or maybe even hear it in a scripture passage, but have you ever really thought about that word? Obviously, a redeemer is one who redeems, and I don’t know about anyone else, but when I think about redeeming something, I think coupons. Obviously Ruth and Naomi weren’t in need of someone to give them coupons, and their lives were more valuable than fifty cents, but there is the idea of value mixed in with the meaning of a redeem. Merriam-Webster defines ‘redeem’ as “to free from captivity by payment of ransom.” Obviously, no-one had kidnapped and asked for a ransom with Ruth and Naomi. But they were being redeemed - rescued from a demeaning life of begging at the city gates. Because of the laws in those days, when a brother-in-law married his dead brother’s wife, any children they would have would carry on the deceased man’s name. Most of us would probably not even want to think about such a practice, but it served its purpose, in allowing Christ’s lineage to be traced as well as the prophecies about the Messiah’s coming to be proved true. Sometimes, that which appears most odd, strange or even adverse to us is opportunity for God to do God’s redeeming work through Christ. Merriam Webster’s definition, “to free from captivity by payment of ransom” also brings to mind the first verse of the well-known carol: “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.” As Boaz freed Naomi and Ruth from a life of begging, so does the Messiah free us from an eternity of loneliness, fear and worry. Merriam-Webster also says that “redeemer” is a 15th century word that describes “a person who brings goodness, honor, etc., to something again.” In today’s passage, we see how a redeemer has a double benefit, not only because of the goodness and honor brought to Naomi and Ruth, but of the goodness and honor that it brings to Boaz. Redeemer is not necessarily a word we would connect to love, but if you stand back, and squint your eyes a little, hopefully you begin to see that to redeem a person or situation comes not so much from a light-hearted, frivolous place, but a place of deeper, honorable and noble love - of people, of people loved by God and entrusted to us. It was that deep, honorable and noble love by which God sent us a baby to redeem us, crazy as that sounds. But it is what God promised when God promised to send a Messiah. As we celebrate the gift of the baby Jesus this coming week, let us also temper our celebration with “The Long View” of “God’s Peace Provision,” “God’s Joy Provision” and “The Promise of Redemption,” which we can begin right now in prayer. Hope-full, Peace-full, Joy-full and Redeemer God, we thank you for preparing our hearts these last weeks for the birth of your Son. Continue to prepare us for the celebration of your great promise of love, hope, joy and redemption in the coming week. Help each of us to redeem any feelings of hurt, loneliness or disappointment with feelings of comfort, forgiveness and courage. Help us to reach in to our own selves - with your help - as Boaz did, to do what is honorable and pleasing to you, most especially when it can bring goodness to others. For the gift of your Son, in whose name we pray, all your people say, Amen. First Congregational Church
December 11, 2015 3rd Sunday in Advent Ruth 3 “God’s Joy Provision” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching A boy was sitting on a park bench with one hand resting on his open Bible. He was loudly exclaiming his praise to God. "Hallelujah! Hallelujah! God is great!" He yelled without worrying whether anyone heard him or not. Pretty soon, a man who had recently completed some studies at a local university, came along. Feeling rather knowledgable in the ways of truth and eager to show this enlightenment, he asked the boy about the source of his joy. "Don't you have any idea what God is able to do?” he asked. “I just read that God opened up the waves of the Red Sea and led the whole nation of Israel right through the middle." The enlightened man laughed lightly, sat down next to the boy and began to try to open his eyes to the "realities" of the miracles of the Bible. "That can all be very easily explained,” the man explained. “Modern scholarship has shown that the Red Sea in that area was only 10-inches deep at that time. It was no problem for the Israelites to wade across." The boy was stymied. His eyes wandered from the man back to the Bible laying open in his lap. The man, content that he had enlightened a poor, naive young person to the finer points of scientific insight, turned to go. Scarcely had he taken two steps when the boy began to rejoice louder than before. The man turned back to ask the reason for this resumed jubilation. "Wow!" exclaimed the boy happily, "God is greater than I thought! Not only did He lead the whole nation of Israel through the Red Sea, he topped it off by drowning the whole Egyptian army in 10 inches of water!” Our Advent sermon series this year is based on the Old Testament book of Ruth, mainly because of the connections between it and Jesus - in the town of Bethlehem and in Jesus’ lineage that traces its way back through Ruth. It’s also rather convenient, as there are just four chapters to Ruth, and four Sundays in Advent. In the first chapter of Ruth, we get the background story of Naomi, husband Elimilech and their two sons as they moved a week’s journey away from Bethlehem to Moab, due to a famine. Finding Moabite wives, the sons and parents do well, until father and sons die, leaving all three women widowed, at the bottom of the social ladder and in instant fear. Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their families and find new husbands, which one daughter-in-law, Orpah, does. The other daughter-in-law, Ruth, vows to stay with Naomi - for better or for worse. The first chapter of Ruth is one of hope shining in the darkness, of God’s faithfulness and nearness, and that God’s ways are not our ways. The second chapter of Ruth shines light on God’s timely and unseemly provisions of peace, in people, events and the very life around us. Today’s factoid: the most logical translation estimates that six measures of barley is equal to about 50 pounds. Ruth 3 1 One day Ruth’s mother-in-law Naomi said to her, “My daughter, I must find a home for you, where you will be well provided for. 2 Now Boaz, with whose women you have worked, is a relative of ours. Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor. 3 Wash, put on perfume, and get dressed in your best clothes. Then go down to the threshing floor, but don’t let him know you are there until he has finished eating and drinking. 4 When he lies down, note the place where he is lying. Then go and uncover his feet and lie down. He will tell you what to do.” 5 “I will do whatever you say,” Ruth answered. 6 So she went down to the threshing floor and did everything her mother-in-law told her to do. 7 When Boaz had finished eating and drinking and was in good spirits, he went over to lie down at the far end of the grain pile. Ruth approached quietly, uncovered his feet and lay down. 8 In the middle of the night something startled the man; he turned—and there was a woman lying at his feet! 9 “Who are you?” he asked. “I am your servant Ruth,” she said. “Spread the corner of your garment over me, since you are a guardian-redeemer of our family.” 10 “The LORD bless you, my daughter,” he replied. “This kindness is greater than that which you showed earlier: You have not run after the younger men, whether rich or poor. 11 And now, my daughter, don’t be afraid. I will do for you all you ask. All the people of my town know that you are a woman of noble character. 12 Although it is true that I am a guardian-redeemer of our family, there is another who is more closely related than I. 13 Stay here for the night, and in the morning if he wants to do his duty as your guardian-redeemer, good; let him redeem you. But if he is not willing, as surely as the LORD lives I will do it. Lie here until morning.” 14 So she lay at his feet until morning, but got up before anyone could be recognized; and he said, “No one must know that a woman came to the threshing floor.” 15 He also said, “Bring me the shawl you are wearing and hold it out.” When she did so, he poured into it six measures of barley and placed the bundle on her. Then he went back to town. 16 When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?” Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her 17 and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’ ” 18 Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” Thank you, Michael. People often say that the Bible is an irrelevant and boring book. But when we come across passages like this one, when we get to understanding what is really being said, it’s hardly anything but boring. For those who may be wondering about that to which I refer, it’s the part about Naomi’s suggestion that Ruth slip in, after he’s had celebrated the harvest with good food and plenty of wine, and “uncover Boaz’s feet.” “Uncovering a man’s feet” in Old Testament days translates to having sex. And now that I have everyone’s attention, how about those Minnesota Vikings? In this sermon title, and this little tidbit of cultural understanding, we might appreciate “God’s Joy Provision” with a little side smile, except that the joy is deeper than we might see at first and more personal than we might realize. Mother-in-law Naomi was the Hebrew, one of God’s chosen people, but without God’s indication, suggesting that her daughter-in-law seduce a man is not necessarily a shining example of what it means to be one of God’s chosen. And, according to some experts, it wasn’t merely seduction that Naomi was suggesting, but covert marriage. Marriage is still not consummated by the declaration of a preacher, or elder or even words; as we all know, marriage is consummated in the act of sex. Maybe some can make a case for Naomi’s behavior being a little off “the mark.” But taking this book at face value, at least to this point, I think an equal argument can be made for Naomi just wishing her daughter-in-law well, and getting Ruth to a place where Naomi didn’t have to be worried about her. And maybe this is one of those examples that could be used in an “end justifying the means” exercise. A stronger point, in relevance to all of us, is that what may look like manipulation on one person’s part may be an opportunity for another person to rise up in honor. Naomi may have set-up Ruth and Boaz for an unscrupulous night, but the responsibility rested on the two of them. And isn’t that true for so many things in this life? A moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips. Just one more episode on this Downton Abbey binge watch. I can’t put the book down now - the pirates might win - or lose! And isn’t that pastor a real jerk, raising these issues of temptation and restraint during the holiday season? (My other personality says, “Yes, she certainly is!”) But I’m guessing that most of us know that feeling we get when we’ve gone the long-cut, rather than the short-cut. It’s that feeling that we don’t necessarily blast out on a bullhorn, but that sense of character that comes when we have fed our own self-respect. And when we realize that sense of accomplishment of humility, we know how good it feels to stand before God, knowing that we’ve have passed the test for that moment. And that’s when you realize God’s provision of joy - the deep-seated, down to your toenails, overflowing heart sort of joy - is not about anyone or anything else - but between you and God. As we prepare for the celebration of Christ’s birth, this is the Sunday that we look forward to that time, when regardless of anything we have done or ever will do, that God’s stands with us, looking into that manger, and there is no regret, no shame, no guilt, nothing but pure, unadulterated joy, that God would send such a gift, for each and everyone one of us. So when Boaz and Ruth finish their conversation, because it wasn’t safe to send Ruth back into the city unescorted in the middle of the night, he guarded her by keeping her with him, and then sent her home just before dawn with the Old Testament equivalent of an engagement ring - 50 lbs. of barley. That Boaz was certainly a smooth romantic! As it said over there at bible.org, Godly character is evident in ungodly settings. As it says over there in the book of Romans 8:28, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” Sometimes there are people and events of this world that seem impossible to reconcile with this idea of God working all things for good. Sometimes we will have to wait until we return to eternity to see what “good” was to found in certain instances. But while we wait, as we prepare, and look for those instances of God’s joy provision on this side of eternity, we can pray. Gracious God of Hope, Peace and Joy, we come to you this day asking that you help us to take the higher roads in life when at all possible. Help us to believe, no matter how unlikely, that you have a purpose of good for us. For those times when we have taken short-cuts that cheated us - and you - of seeing your provision of joy, we ask for your forgiveness. Help us, too, to share the joy that you provide, in our words, certainly, but even more so by our actions. For the joy that you provide all your people, we all say, Amen. First Congregational Church
December 4, 2016 2nd Sunday in Advent and Communion Sunday Ruth 2 “God’s Peace Provision” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching For those who weren’t able to be with us last week, during this Advent season, we’re taking a look into the Old Testament book of Ruth. It may not seem like a logical book for an Advent series, but then, sending a human baby as a savior for the world doesn’t seem all that logical, either. The logic, however, lies between Jesus and Ruth - in the town of Bethlehem and her lineage. In the first chapter of Ruth, we get the background story of Naomi, husband Elimilech and their two sons living blissfully in the town of Bethlehem, until there was a famine. So they leave for Moab, 7-10 days away over hill and dale. Things go well at first, the boys finding Moabite wives, but then Elimilech and the sons die, leaving all three women alone and vulnerable. Naomi tells her daughters-in-law to go back to their families and find new husbands. One daughter-in-law, Orpah, does just that. The other daughter-in-law, Ruth, makes her famous pledge to stay with Naomi, that Naomi’s people will be her people and her God will be Ruth’s God. The first chapter of Ruth is one of hope shining in the darkness, of God’s faithfulness and nearness, and that God’s ways are not our ways. So today, we continue the story with the second chapter. And by the way, just in case anyone has forgotten, and ephah is equal to a bushel. Ruth 2 1 Now Naomi had a relative on her husband’s side, a man of standing from the clan of Elimelek, whose name was Boaz. 2 And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the fields and pick up the leftover grain behind anyone in whose eyes I find favor.” Naomi said to her, “Go ahead, my daughter.” 3 So she went out, entered a field and began to glean behind the harvesters. As it turned out, she was working in a field belonging to Boaz, who was from the clan of Elimelek. 4 Just then Boaz arrived from Bethlehem and greeted the harvesters, “The Lord be with you!” “The Lord bless you!” they answered. 5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?” 6 The overseer replied, “She is the Moabite who came back from Moab with Naomi. 7 She said, ‘Please let me glean and gather among the sheaves behind the harvesters.’ She came into the field and has remained here from morning till now, except for a short rest in the shelter.” 8 So Boaz said to Ruth, “My daughter, listen to me. Don’t go and glean in another field and don’t go away from here. Stay here with the women who work for me. 9 Watch the field where the men are harvesting, and follow along after the women. I have told the men not to lay a hand on you. And whenever you are thirsty, go and get a drink from the water jars the men have filled.” 10 At this, she bowed down with her face to the ground. She asked him, “Why have I found such favor in your eyes that you notice me—a foreigner?” 11 Boaz replied, “I’ve been told all about what you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband—how you left your father and mother and your homeland and came to live with a people you did not know before. 12 May the Lord repay you for what you have done. May you be richly rewarded by the Lord, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge.” 13 “May I continue to find favor in your eyes, my lord,” she said. “You have put me at ease by speaking kindly to your servant—though I do not have the standing of one of your servants.” 14 At mealtime Boaz said to her, “Come over here. Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar.” When she sat down with the harvesters, he offered her some roasted grain. She ate all she wanted and had some left over. 15 As she got up to glean, Boaz gave orders to his men, “Let her gather among the sheaves and don’t reprimand her. 16 Even pull out some stalks for her from the bundles and leave them for her to pick up, and don’t rebuke her.” 17 So Ruth gleaned in the field until evening. Then she threshed the barley she had gathered, and it amounted to about an ephah. 18 She carried it back to town, and her mother-in-law saw how much she had gathered. Ruth also brought out and gave her what she had left over after she had eaten enough. 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!” Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said. 20 “The Lord bless him!” Naomi said to her daughter-in-law. “He has not stopped showing his kindness to the living and the dead.” She added, “That man is our close relative; he is one of our guardian-redeemers.” 21 Then Ruth the Moabite said, “He even said to me, ‘Stay with my workers until they finish harvesting all my grain.’” 22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.” 23 So Ruth stayed close to the women of Boaz to glean until the barley and wheat harvests were finished. And she lived with her mother-in-law. Thank you, Judy. If we didn’t know any more of the story, this would be a delightful tale of a good man caring about good people. There is an element of the Golden Rule in it - do to others as you would have them to do you. And maybe we might even read in this chapter - the beginning of a courtship. But there are other pertinent aspects to this story and our lives today. Some days are better than others, but sometimes the state of our world seems anything but peaceful, and yet, some goofy ministers insist on singing “Let There Be Peace on Earth” at the end of worship services in Advent. But even when there is seeming chaos and darkness, God provides us with peace, God’s way. In this story, a commonly raised symbolism is between Boaz and God. Boaz may reflect God, in providing for the needs of two, vulnerable women, as God often provides for our needs. I love that Ruth has to go out to glean the grain, because while God may provide, we are expected to do our part and God will do God’s part. Sometimes when we want peace to come, we expect God to back up the peace dump truck in our driveway. But have we done our part of the work for it? Have we prayed for it? Have we done what we can to make rough places plain? In this story, there is a provision for peace in the gathering of the grain, that will be made into bread, not so unlike the bread we will soon eat, that represents Christ’s sacrifice for us, that we might know God and live with God in ways not known to the people from our passage. Boaz gives the invitation to drink from the water jars. Ironically, he even uses the words, “Have some bread and dip it in the wine vinegar,” as we will soon have some bread ourselves, to be dipped into the wine juice. In such simple elements as food and drink, we are reminded that God is in the business of nourishing our souls as much as our bodies. Through this meal, God provides a peace that can be difficult to verbalize. But we know that peace when we experience it. God also provides peace for us in the people that go before us, however unlikely they may seem. Whether they be people of influence, like Boaz, or the nameless ones like his workers, there are people that go before us to prepare the way, just as our faith ancestors prepared for us nigh unto 150 years ago. John the Baptist came to prepare for Jesus, and we come to prepare for Jimmy, Freddie, Robbie, Laurel, Mason, Judson, Addison, Owen, and all the others who will come after us. We may not know how all that will pan out, but there is a peace in that good people will continue to care for others and that we all have a share in the spreading of that goodness. As we prepare our hearts and minds for the peace that can come in the Lord’s Supper, let us do so in the silence of laying down burdens or worries, repenting if there is a need to do so, opening our hearts to receive forgiveness or joy or, most especially, peace. Let us pray. Prince of Peace and Lord of Lords, we thank you for your provisions of peace. Help us to see those provisions, especially when we are weary or troubled, hurried or preoccupied. When we are able to recognize those provisions and embrace them as the gifts you intend, hear our gratefulness, no matter how we may struggle to offer that gratitude. And thank you for your Son, who provided a way to know you and live with you, a way that not all people have been able to experience in this life. Help us to help others in understanding and embracing the gift of your Son and your love. In this season of waiting and preparation, all your people say, Amen. First Congregational Church
November 27, 2015 First Sunday in Advent Romans 13:9b-14 “The Long View” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching For years, scientists have been studying noise in space, both intelligent noise - as in communication - and natural noise, as it explosions, moving objects and the like. They have made a pretty positive discovery that planets have a type of song called Nep-tunes. With the same idea of communication, they have also discovered that Mars told Saturn to give it a ring sometime. And for the younger folks in your life, what do you get if you cross Santa Claus with a space ship? A u-f-ho-ho-ho! As an aside, it is interesting that while there are many jokes about space, there are relatively few about stars. When I thought about a possible series for this new church season of Advent, I came across one by a pastor and choir director from Hope Christian Reformed Church in Grandville, Michigan, called “Under the Bethlehem Star.” As I read through a little of their idea of using the book of Ruth, realized that I had sort of forgotten about the link between Ruth and Jesus, there being a direct, traceable line between them that covered roughly 1,300 years. And I had totally forgotten or even completely overlooked the common link between them and Bethlehem. Ruth 1 In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. 2 The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there. 3 Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. 4 They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, 5 both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband. 6 When Naomi heard in Moab that the Lord had come to the aid of his people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. 7 With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah. 8 Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May the Lord show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. 9 May the Lord grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.” Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud 10 and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.” 11 But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? 12 Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— 13 would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because the Lord’s hand has turned against me!” 14 At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her. 15 “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.” 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. 17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lord deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” 18 When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her. 19 So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?” 20 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. 21 I went away full, but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.” 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning. Thank you, Phil. We sing the song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” and we think about that night that Jesus was born. But 2,000 years before Christ’s birth, Bethlehem became the final resting place for Rachel, the wife of Jacob - many-colored coat fame. Then Naomi came, as I mentioned, 700 years after Rachel, and 700 years before the famous birth, the prophet Micah predicted Christ’s birth and rule would come from Bethlehem. Back to Naomi, I’m hoping that we all saw the sad state of Bethlehem at the beginning of this morning’s passage. The famine at the time was so bad, that Elimelek moved his family 7-10 days away from home, across the Jordan River and up a 2,000 foot incline to be able to provide for them. And people today are still trying to provide for their families, even when to do so risks life and limb. And by the way, nearly half the countries in Africa in a famine state, and that’s just one continent. We English speaking Americans miss the irony of Naomi’s situation, because the name Elimelech means “God is king” – but it looks like he wasn’t ready to live as if God was his king - least-wise when it came to putting bread on the table in Bethlehem. Or maybe he was doing what he thought his part was, God doing God’s part in providing food - in a different place than home. And there, too, lies another irony, that the name Bethlehem means “house of bread,” irony because there was no bread in any of the houses. Long before Jesus even entered the picture, Bethlehem didn’t have such a great reputation. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that most people, when they move, have an expectation that things will be better than they were in their previous abode. I know that’s not true for everyone, but even a temporary move would be better for their sons than staying in Bethlehem. Except that that they didn’t live happily ever after - in the long run. One more detail before moving on to subsequent verses from our passage for today has to do with the mention of this family being Ephrathites. Ephratha was the old name of Bethlehem, maybe something like South Frankfort being the old name of Elberta. It’s an important inclusion, because it references an established family within their community, like the name Smeltzer or Classens, Oliver or Slyfield. When the old names move away, you know life is not good. In a time and culture that depended on men for status and survival, Naomi and both her daughter-in-laws lost all their means for a dignified existence. At least Orpah and Naomi had the potential of a second chance at life. But Naomi was convinced she was “done for.” That kind of hopelessness leads to depression, and then the situation becomes an ever downward spiral. What reasonable person could expect anything good to come from such circumstances? But here’s the thing; if our text tells us anything about God, it is that God’s ways are not our ways. Perhaps deserted, definitely needing an economic boost and a few good, long slow rains, Bethlehem had stars above it, that shone day and night, just like they do now, just like they have always done - at least always in earthly terms. That Bethlehem star that brought shepherds to a stable was up there shining on Naomi and her family, Rachel and her family, and all those who lived there from the time it was settled. That star maybe shined brighter that famous night when Christ as born, but it’s been there, like God, a steady light to our world, to our darkness. We sort of forget that sometimes. Naomi, old, perhaps, cynical? That’s what I make of her changing her name to Mara, to reflect what she understood as bitterness in her life. I wonder what she would have thought, had she been able to look into the future, to look down her lineage, in that long view, not only to see Jesus, but how their relationship changed the world and continues to do so to this very day, in seeing how God’s ways are not our ways. And then there is Ruth, whose name means friendship, and who would have thought, way back then, of seeing Christ in a youngish woman, much less a foreigner to Naomi, or even as an out-law relative? Such vision is much easier for us looking backward, but I’m guessing it never even crossed Ruth’s mind that she would remind us of God’s presence with us, who goes beside us to be our friend, and reminds us again, that God’s ways are not our ways. As a gentleman named Bob Deffinbaugh pointed out, in Ruth and Naomi, “we find two individuals whose lives are truly lights in the darkness.” Despite Bethlehem’s long, rather sad history, in our long reverse view, we can see how they were lights in the darkness for much of history, however small the flames, whether we see them or not. So the point is that sometimes we need to take the long view in order to see the good in a situation, which is still true today, in our personal lives as well as in our corporate lives, as a congregational family, members of our county, our state and our nation. Sometimes we can feel what it may have looked like in Naomi’s day - desolate, forlorn, hopeless, depressing, and any other kind of negative that we can think of. Sometimes, in our despair, we are apt to say, “to heck with this,” wanting to give up. Those are the times when we have to look for what is true in this life; what we can stand on, so that we can see a little further. Today’s is a story that not only warm hearts, it encourages our faith by unveiling the providential hand of God in bringing salvation and blessing during one of the darkest periods in history. We are reminded, too, of God’s faithful provision of light, that has been lighting our way longer than we may realize, maybe not as bright as we’d like it to be, but there none-the-less. Long before Jesus even came, God has been trying to show us that nothing we can say or do will ever change God’s ‘light-in-the-dark’ faithfulness to us. And we are reminded today that God’s presence is nearer than the person that sits next to us, because God’s friendship now comes to us in the Holy Spirit. For such promise and truth, so should we pray. Gracious and loving God, we thank you for being a God of integrity, and that you have been true to your word longer than we can imagine. Remind us, when we feel like life is desolate or desperate, that you have already seen through all the obstacles, and you still stand, with us, beside us, in us, that we can take another step in faith and trust that you have us and hold us together. Help us, in our yet long view of the celebration of Christ’s coming, that his birth and all that leads up to it - is so much more than a mere human birth. Help us to be open to the nuances and shades of meaning that can come from following you. And all your people say, Amen. First Congregational Church
November 20, 2015 27th Sunday after Pentecost, Reign of Christ Sunday, Thanksgiving Sunday Colossians 1:10b-20 “Holding It All Together” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching This Sunday, the one before Thanksgiving, often has several converging aspects that make for interesting sermon preparation. In a nod to the coming holiday this Thursday, should you find yourself in the midst of a pregnant pause or an awkward silence, Q. why did the farmer run a steamroller over his potato field on Thanksgiving Day? A. He wanted to raise mashed potatoes. Or should you find the appropriate moment, you could tell the folks you hang with about your pastor, and how she was picking through the frozen turkeys at the grocery store for Thanksgiving Day, but couldn’t find one big enough for her occasion. So she asked a stock boy, “Do these turkeys get any bigger?” To which the stock boy replied, “No, ma’am. They’re dead.” Some people like Thanksgiving because it doesn’t seem to carry all the baggage that Christmas carries. For Congregationalists, it is our flagship holiday, because we trace our history all the way back to the Pilgrims who came from England, via Amsterdam, to the eventual settlement of Plymouth Plantation. There are mixed stories about how and when the first Thanksgiving occurred and when it was declared a national holiday. But if you look back in time, and squint your eyes a little, so it’s not so perfectly detailed, we discover that through those 50 surviving people, a good many of us would not be if it were not for our immigrant ancestors. By the way, for should you ever need to know, there is a difference between Pilgrims and Puritans. Both groups saw the problems in the Church of England, but they differed in their approach to correct the issues. The Puritans sought to “purify” - Puritans - purify - from within. Take the Church of England to the New World, to Massachusetts Bay Colony, modern day Boston, and reform it from within. The Pilgrims were separatists and believed that there was nothing sacred left within the Church of England, so they should step away and start over - by pilgriming into a new land with a new faith in Plymouth, Massachusetts. So if you wonder why you sometimes feel a little renegade, you can run it back to the original troublemakers. The second aspect of today’s sermon mix is that it is the last Sunday of the church year. Next Sunday, we begin a new church year with Advent, and then it will be less than a month until Christmas! So in some aspects, this is a culmination day, when we think over the last Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, Lent, Holy Week, Eastertide, Pentecost and then all 28 Sundays after Pentecost, including today. Maybe it’s a fortuitous thing, looking back a year just before Thanksgiving, to see the places where we’ve grown, where we’ve maybe digressed or regressed and the places we should redress. While Thanksgiving was probably originated with the idea solely of autumnal harvest gratitude, I’m thinking that as we mature spiritually, we also see the wisdom of gratitude for our intellectual, emotional and spiritual blessings and grace, too. The other aspect of this Sunday comes in its designation as Christ the King Sunday or Reign of Christ Sunday as it now called. That designation may seem a little oxymoronic, we being a nation so disassociated with a monarchy with ancestors that fled the involvement of a king in the politics of church. Except that maybe we tend to throw the baby out with the bath water on those terms. The passage for this Reign of Christ Sunday is not necessarily one that we would expect. But neither is the Gospel lesson for today that will be used in other churches. The Gospel lesson for today is the one about Jesus on the cross, between the two thieves and Jesus’ words about being in paradise with him that very day - which makes some sense, Christ’s kingship coming through even while he was dying on the cross. But it’s also rather strange - even weird - to look at that passage a week before we turn our focus to the coming of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. So on to Colossians. Colossians was written to the Gentile church in Colossae, a western city in modern day Turkey, at one time populated by 50,000 people. At the time this letter was written, it was a substantially smaller hamlet that apparently specialized in the manufacture of wool. Colossians 1:10b-20 (NIV) We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, 12 and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. The Supremacy of the Son of God 15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Thank you, Kelly. Most people don’t really think about it, but people stand up for royalty, while a queen sits down for royal tea. And when it happened that those around King Arthur's table had insomnia, there were a lot of sleepless knights. And I don’t think hardly anyone yet knows that a royal family recently moved into the neighborhood. They live Tudors down. I don’t know if it is true or not, but I read that Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia and wife of Tsar Alexander III, was known for her charitable works. In fact, she once saved a condemned man from exile in Siberia by changing a single comma in the warrant signed by her husband. Instead of reading: "Pardon impossible, to be sent to Siberia," she changed the document to read: "Pardon, impossible to be sent to Siberia." It wasn’t a word, but a grammatical symbol that saved and released the man. Today’s scripture passage has a lot of commas in it, mostly because the original manuscripts didn’t have commas or periods or semicolons, so translators have to do a good share of guessing where to put the punctuation. Despite the difficulty of translation, there is still a lot for us modern day followers of Christ. When we think about the Holy Spirit as that part of God left to us to help us continue the work of Christ, we may be good with that, or understand that as being cool. But the writer of Colossians tells us that he or she prayed that those reading the letter would be filled with all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives. Not just some. Not just a lot - but all that the Spirit has to give. That’s an important piece of knowledge, especially when we are engaged with someone that can push our buttons or threatens to unravel our sanity. Here we have the promise that God gives us all the wisdom and understanding we need in those situations, that we can be the kind and gentler people we want to be - we know we can be. The passage also says that the Spirit also gives us all power so that we may have great endurance and patience. Sure wish I’d known about these pieces of wisdom and promise when we had to celebrate holidays as a kid. Being the ding-a-ling I was, I’d have probably held those things up to God and said something snide like, “Hey, God! You’re going to need to dump a truckload of your wisdom, understanding and power on my family, cuz it’s time for tucking in the napkin again,”obviously putting the problem on the rellies rather than myself. So if we have nothing else for which to give thanks this week, we can remember those times when God’s Spirit held our tongue or our temper for us. It was the second part of this morning’s passage that popped out in terms of Reign of Christ Sunday, tho. It may be hard to imagine, but even so, the Son is the image of the invisible God. If you ever need to change the direction of your thoughts, sit a spell with that one. All that Jesus was, is or will be, God is even more so. Or the next phrase - the firstborn over all creation. That will let you sit with the Trinity for a while, too. And what an exercise in blessing we would have - together or individually - if we took a piece of paper and made columns with the labels of heaven, earth, visible, invisible, thrones, powers, rulers and authorities, and then started writing all the things we could think of to fall in each category. Actually, the last three items would be a really good exercise - powers, rulers and authorities - to see the immense good that comes to us through those who serve us - from police departments to the laws that govern us to the experts, teachers, elders, politicians and everyone else that would fall under the label of authority. Most of the time, we all want to do well. But every so often, we fail or miss the mark of success, and/or goof up. But here’s the really good news: as it says in verse 17 of our passage, all things are held together in Christ. No matter what is going on in the world, God’s got it in hand. Regardless of how dumb we can sometimes act, Christ gets us and offers us mercy and healing. And every time we think we are “less than,” the Spirit says we are “more than.” In all serious cheesiness, Christ really is - always has been - always will be - the glue that holds us stable, the twine that binds us, the tape that straps us together; simply because God loves us. Loved us enough to give us God’s own Son. Whether the reason is the coming holiday, because there’s a whole year of material, or because God holds us when all else looks unlike that, our cornucopia truly overflows with blessings for gratitude. So let’s get right on that. Gracious, loving God, we are truly grateful for the many blessings with which you favor us. We ask your forgiveness when fear, insensitivity or frustration has stolen space in our hearts and minds. Help us to comprehend what your royalty really means, and what it does in us, as Christ’s brothers and sisters and your own sons and daughters. Guide us this week to find the depth of gratitude that we’d all like to espouse. And thank you, God, for giving us your Son, that we don’t have to keep it all together, because Christ already does so. In your holy name, all your people say, Amen. First Congregational Church
November 13, 2015 26th Sunday after Pentecost Matthew 5:1-12 “Blessed” Rev. Dinah Haag, preaching This morning’s scripture passage is yet another example of what it means to “wait on God” and listen to the Holy Spirit. The lectionary assigns Matthew 5:1-12 for All Saints Sunday, which was last week, and again for use in the season of Epiphany. But last week, it seemed that the Spirit was leading us to the tiny book of Jude, so that Matthew 5 could be for this week. Continually, as the week unfolded, I saw the reasons for this course, and perhaps you will, too. I’d like to jump right into it, but the passage also deserves a little setting up. According to Matthew’s gospel, after Jesus was baptized and tested in the wilderness for forty days, he began his preaching and ministry of healing after calling the disciples together. I would imagine that his baptism by fire, so to speak, was rather exhausting, and coupled with the fact that huge crowds were gathering around him, Jesus was up for a little personal time. So naturally, the disciples crashed his day off. And Jesus graciously gave them one of the greatest sermons of all time. Matthew 5:1-12 When Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain; and after he sat down, his disciples came to him. 2 Then 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 righteousness’ sake, 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. Thank you, John. As I thought about the passage, I wondered if - when Jesus saw the crowds - he purposefully chose to go up the mountain, so people could look up, so people could see whence came their help. As a rabbi, Jesus certainly would have known the Psalms, and maybe it was to make a physical point - a reminder of Psalm 121. I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? 2 My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. Maybe he was insinuating a relationship to the Trinity? I had to chuckle when I looked up the meaning of the word “blessed.” One of the ways it is used as an adjective is in “mild expressions of annoyance or exasperation. So naturally, the part that Matthew didn’t include about this passage came to mind - the part where it says, Then Simon Peter said, "Are we supposed to know this?” And Andrew said, "Do we have to write this down?” And James said, "Is this on the exam?” And Phillip said, "Is there an answer guide in the library?” And Bartholomew said, "What came after poor?" And John said, "The other disciples didn't have to learn this!” And Mark said, "Don't take the power point off yet.” And Matthew went to the restroom. One of the Pharisees who was present asked to see Jesus' lesson plan and inquired of Jesus, "Where are your anticipatory set and your objectives in the cognitive domain?” ...And Jesus wept. Jesus is still probably weeping because of beatitudes written by other people. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst, for they are sticking to their diet. It was comic writer, Paul White, who said, “Blessed are the bike riders, for they shall be recycled.” Famous brother, Groucho Marx said, “Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let in the light.” Herbert Hoover said, “Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt.” Prominent historian and Yale professor, John Boswell wrote one of my favorites, “Blessed is he who has learned to laugh at himself for he shall never cease to be entertained.” If anyone knew how often I laugh aloud - alone - I might begin shopping for designer straight jackets. American writer, Kurt Vonnegut sheds some light on the real reality of what we call the Beatitudes. “For some reason, the most vocal Christians among us never mention the Beatitudes (Matthew 5). But, often with tears in their eyes, they demand that the Ten Commandments be posted in public buildings. And of course, that's Moses, not Jesus. I haven't heard one of them demand that the Sermon on the Mount, the Beatitudes, be posted anywhere. And one of my favorites preachers, sociologist and professor, Tony Campolo, hit the nail straight on. “If we were to set out to establish a religion in polar opposition to the Beatitudes Jesus taught, it would look strikingly similar to the pop Christianity that has taken over the airwaves of North America.” (pause) I don’t mean to belittle “pop Christianity,” as Tony calls it, because it has a place in the world. But it’s not the Christianity to which I think God calls us. The Christianity to which God calls us, I think, is here in Matthew 5. “Blessed” is a strange word, because we think we know what it means, but the way Jesus used it, and the way Matthew used it, can bring some flexibility if not uncertainty. In the ancient Greek, the word for blessed means ‘praise’ when it is associated with God and ‘happy, when it is associated with humanity. Going back to the idea of pop Christianity, some folks separate the b from the attitudes and add an “e” to the b, to get the gist of the phrase. So instead of “Blessed are the poor in spirit….” it is “Be poor in spirit,” “Be mournful,” be meek and so on. While that is a little helpful, it doesn’t go to the depth of what Jesus is saying here. When Jesus said, “Blessed are the poor in spirit,” he didn’t just end the sentence. He added the reason for it, “for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” On the surface, that reason may seem clear as mud, but you have to change the place of the words or phrases. It’s easier to understand with the second one: “Blessed are those who mourn for they will be comforted.” Comfort is the reason - the blessing for those who mourn. And that sounds as goofy as a three dollar bill, too. We don’t need to conjure up a mournful event if we are needing comfort. We need to ask someone for a hug or a listening ear. But when we are mourning, we are needing comfort, which is why we have the body of Christ, this family, why we need to be mindful of encouraging fellowship, so that we have those relationships on which to fall back. Before going on, back to the first blessed, it is for the poor in spirit, which a Catholic priest named Fr. Scott Courtney so appropriately called humility. In fact, there’s a little Youtube clip of his sermon on the church Facebook page and web site, and I’m sure you’ll love it. If you are not an online person, come let me know and we’ll get it played. But his point about humility being poor in spirit is much better than poor in spirit being any thing else. Inheriting the earth is the blessing for the meek. And it’s true. Regardless of one’s purse, bank accounts or investments, when you sit in a boat or on a shore in the summer time, or stand at the top of a trail, are you not just about one of the richest people in the world? Or even in the depth of winter, and the wind is blowing up a blizzard, isn’t the simple comfort of a home and an oven or tv just about a blissful as one can get? The list can go on and on: bonfires, laying on the grass looking up at clouds, swinging on a swing, cheering for a hometown football team. Being filled is the reason for hungering and thirsting after righteousness, to which some of us can attest - maybe even all of us; those occasions when we are filled to the brim and overflowing with God’s goodness and grace and peace and joy and all the other aspects of being one of God’s precious beloveds. Praying, reading, studying scripture - all those things that can quench our thirst and hunger for God, make us hungrier and thirstier for God, which fills our hearts and minds to overflowing. And God help those around us when we’re that filled, because we can’t help it flowing onto others. Mercy is the blessing for the merciful. Some people call it karma, but it really is the idea of what goes around comes around. Except that this blessing is at a greater depth of heart than we may otherwise experience. The more we live our lives following after Jesus’ heart, the more we become like him, and that is nothing but good. I’m going to skip the 6th one for the moment, because I’m going to offer a list of names, and I’d like you to think about their connection: Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, Lech Walesa, and Oscar Romero. What do those individuals have in common? They were peacemakers, yes. But there’s also a sort of holiness about them, isn’t there? When a person wants to make a point about peacemaking, one of the people from that list is most likely to come into the conversation. But here’s the thing, God calls all of us children of God, so we’re all called to be peacemakers - and after this week’s election, maybe that will be our biggest job in the next while. The kingdom of heaven is the blessing for those persecuted for righteousness sake, and that, one day, we will know with even greater certainty, the day we go home for eternity. Jesus talks a lot about the kingdom of heaven in the gospels, so we get a lot of glimpses into the blessing that waits even more so for those who should happen to be persecuted. Gladness and rejoicing are the blessings of those who are wrongfully reviled and against whom evil is spoken. Imagine you were jailed for murder, and you didn’t do it, but somehow you are sentenced to decades of prison. And then, one day, out of the blue, something happens, and you are released with a clear record. You cannot reclaim the lost time, but talk about a new understanding of the gladness and rejoicing that would occur at such an instance. And mistakes - mistaken identities - mistaken verdicts happen all the time in our very human world. Back to Beatitude number 6, seeing God is the blessing for the pure in heart. I don’t know about anyone else, but after last week’s election, my heart hasn’t been feeling so pure, and that would have been true regardless of who won. I want our world to be perfect, according to my idea of perfection, mind you, and there are so many variables and disappointments, that my heart is not so lily white these days. And maybe, just maybe, there are a few others who have been struggling, not just with our political scene, but maybe there is a divorce or relationship issue or resentment thing or whatever it is, it is discoloring your heart’s purity, and you really want it to change. So God dropped this idea into my lap, after coming across some of the other beatitudes created by individuals - that we can - should write some of our own. For those who have missed it, on the inside of the bulletin insert, at the end of the announcements, at the bottom of the second page, there are three places for your to write your own beatitudes and their reasons. I took the format from Jesus’ words, ‘blessed are the,’ ‘blessed are those who,’ and blessed are you when.’ That last one I think is important because this cannot be a finger-pointing exercise, but one that causes us to think and maybe even pray about what God really has to say to each one of us. For those who feel compelled, you may email them to me or give them to me, and I’ll even put a start on them for you. But before you get to your homework, let us pray. Gracious, Heavenly God, we come to you this day with hearts that could use blessing. For those times when we have failed to see your blessedness in our lives, we ask for your forgiveness. Help each of us to find that blessing in our circumstances, and help those situations become that which altars our hearts, that they become shaped after you. Show each of us the places where we can find our greatest blessings, so that we can become blessings in return to others. And all your people say, Amen. |
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