Sermon for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost: 1 Kings 19:9-18 and Psalm 85:8-13 • Romans 10:5-15 • Matthew 14:22-33

Do any of you know what tacking is? It’s how you sail into the wind. It’s sailing in a zig zag pattern to catch a bit of wind in your sail, and then switch to the opposite direction when the sail starts to flutter. You cut across the wind diagonally because it’s impossible to sail directly into the wind. It takes a great deal of effort and attention. When tacking, if you zig too soon, or zag too late, you’ll be stuck in the water without any wind. When tacking, if you zig too soon, or zag too late, you’ll be stuck in the water without any wind. And yet, Peter forgot about the wind.

Imagine that, spending all your energy fighting something and then being able to forget that struggle, because your beloved teacher showed up. And then Peter does an amazing thing, and I don’t mean walking on the water. Impulsive Peter doesn’t just rush out to meet Jesus, he asks Jesus to command him to do so. And then he waits for Jesus to say, “come.”

The world feels kind of screwed up and crazy right now. It seems like there are too many things to address at once. And our efforts may seem minimal and fruitless, like tacking into the wind, where you advance very very slowly. And it’s easy to burn out that way. In fact burnout is inevitable unless you rely on something more powerful than yourself.

And before I jump into the metaphor of forgetting about the wind, I want to be clear I don’t mean sticking your head in the sand. Peter didn’t forget about the boat or the water, he forgot about the wind. He forgot for a bit what was against him. He forgot about the obstacles, the impediments, the things working against him. And he called on Jesus to tell him to do the impossible.

With his focus on Jesus, on God, he effortlessly did what shouldn’t be possible. And the minute he remembered the wind, he couldn’t do it anymore. Because acting out of fear, being reactionary will cause more problems than it solves. There are many people who will tell you the opposite of love is fear, and while I wouldn’t go that far, Jesus and the angels do often say, “Do not be afraid.” To that I will add, “Listen for the call.”

Because for once, Peter checks his impulse and wait to see if Jesus wants him to try this. This is called discernment. Some sort of quieting the mind, forgetting the wind needs to happen; listening for that still small voice. Play the scenario out in your mind, not out of fear, but to check the feeling in your gut. Will this bring us closer to the light or life? Or will this take us into the dark, the way of death. Then check it out with some trusted friend or spiritual guide.

Jesus does not mince words about the wind being against us. To live as a Christian, a lover and follower of Jesus, will get you in trouble with family and authorities, or at the very least invite their scorn. The authorities are not with us. And that’s frightening enough, without the information overload of all the problems throughout the world.

Do not fear the wind, in fact Jesus tells us to love the wind. Jesus does not mean be nice and polite to the wind. He doesn’t mean stop tacking and sit still in the water. In fact even though it takes great effort, tacking is very much like loving the wind. Okay wind I want to go that way and you’re fighting me. What if I just sail sideways and let you push me that way, maybe even fooling you that going sideways at an angle is actually pushing me forward. Be wise as serpents and harmless as doves.

 

7.26.20

For the longest time I used to think there was only one answer to a Koan. You all know about Koans, right? The Eastern tradition? Go meditate on the sound of one hand clapping is a famous one. I honestly thought all the Buddhist monks had to come up with the same answer. As if once they reached enlightenment, they all thought the same. But then I learned an interesting fact. Buddhism has 650 years on Christianity for different theologies to from splinter groups. If you think the number of denominations in Christianity is overwhelming…

Honestly though, I’d now guess that every person comes up with their own enlightened answer to these Koans. Sure a lot of them come up with similar answers based on the baggage they carry, but I’m convinced that enlightenment is NOT a one size fits all kind of thing.

And so with parables. I think Matthew does us a disservice by explaining not one but two of the parables in this chapter. Or two and a half, really. As tonight’s Gospel repeats an interpretation of Angels throwing Evil into the fire. And even that interpretation is interpreted in translation. One translation from last week’s Gospel has the Angels burning the causes of Evil while others translate it as the ones who cause Evil.

And if any translation of that scenario troubles you, I’ll remind you that it’s going to happen at the end of all time, not when you die.

I’d take Matthew’s interpretations with a grain of salt, or maybe even three measures of salt. Because honestly I think the Kingdom of god is ineffable. What would this world look like if it were ruled by the unnamable, indescribable one Jesus calls Father? You’d think the way some people talk it already is. Everything is part of God’s plan. Everything happens for a reason. I don’t think for a nano-second that what we have now is the Kingdom of God already manifest.

And then we have pre-destination. One of the most god-awful ideas any human has conceived of. Apologies to Paul, who says many great things in tonight’s excerpt from Romans, but predestination is a fucked-up way to think. And I honestly can’t imagine why people who believe in predestination do anything. Heaven or Hell, it’s already been decided before you were born; nothing you do makes any difference. What a bleak existence. And that mindset gives no motivation to meditate on a parable. If you’re predestined to enlightenment, it’s just going to happen, right?

Seeking is hard. Call what you’re seeking enlightenment, to know the mind of Jesus, the beatific vision, or whatever else fits for you; it’s a long road with a lot of contemplative practice. A lot of people seem to think of mediation as relaxation, but it’s a lot of damn hard work.  If you think hearing cats is hard, try taming the monkey mind. In our over rationalized culture, we don’t pay too much attention to the ways the mind and thinking betray us. I don’t think parables are to be figured out. They are decidedly not rational. Once you have some kind of historical cultural context for these parables, you realize how irrational they are. Three measures of flower is a shocking amount – a bushel one footnote said. Also comparing the Kingdom to yeast, when yeast is forbidden during Passover, might cause a ruffle or two.

So I want to make plain that contemplating on a parable isn’t about reasoning it out. It’s something to hold in your mind as you take quiet time with God. There have been times when I’ve sat with something in my quiet time, not even thinking about it exactly just having it as an intention, and then sometime in the coming days or weeks, something completely unrelated will spark a thought and make what I was holding clearer to me. The still quiet voice has been for me overhearing a snippet of conversation. Some lyrics in a song on the radio. A leaf catching the sunlight as it falls to a busy city avenue.   All these things have resolved issues I was wrestling with or made decisions crystal clear. And all the same issues and decisions were not helped by a lot of rational thinking. Rational thinking just spun me in circles.

So might I suggest you pick a parable from this weeks reading and sit with it, not expecting an answer to come as you sit with it. See what happens. Believe me even if not flash of enlightenment comes, it will be time well spent.

 

Jesus had compassion for the crowds

 

Jesus had compassion for the crowds, because they were harassed and helpless. I can relate.

I don’t really know the context, but an acquaintance of mine criticized someone who publicly said, “At the heart of non-violence is love.” She said that this person was missing the point. I didn’t know them well enough to prod for further details, but I can’t disagree with the sentiment by itself. I’ll go further to say that at the heart of violence is love.

When Jesus warned that brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death, it is because of love shown to those outside the family, or love shown to those who the family doesn’t identify with. My violent brother, who won’t even speak to me anymore, has countless times called me a “bleeding heart liberal” for exactly this reason.

A recent conversation about the shit that’s going down was getting a bit too theoretical for my tastes, far too often ideology gets in the way of reality. So I decided to offer a truth at the risk of sounding like I was saying, “some of my best friends are black.” A woman I love dearly is an African-American mother of a teenage son with autism. Her son does not pick up on social cues. Any encounter he has with cops is bound to go badly, to say the least. Anytime he leaves the house she is TERRIFIED he will be killed by the police. If this truly were the land of the free, no mother would have that fear.

And the fact that I was hesitant to tell this story of someone I love, was not because of fear of accusations from African Americans, or condemnation of conservatives like my brother, but because of my friends in what passes for the left in this country. For many of them if you’re not in lock-step with everything they think, or even how they say it, you’re summarily dismissed. This brings us back to restrictions on who you can legitimately love. Jesus told us Love our enemies. This does not mean you need to be polite or kind or respect their property. It means in extreme terms there should be no limits on our love.

And this may be cynical of me, but I sincerely wonder if the recent protests would have been as large as they were if we hadn’t been under a stay at home order for months. It’s been a long time since the most powerful politicians actually cared for what the people think in the least. We’ll see how many of the promises in response are empty. My compassion for the harassed and helpless crowds extends to concern about all the folks who will get sick because of protests during a pandemic.

Yet I firmly believe that these protests going all the way back to Ferguson is the work of the spirit, the spirit of the love of God who has heard the cries of the oppressed. And it is for love of the oppressed that you should be angry and outraged and take action. For: there are wolves with no love in their hearts within as well as without. They will put restrictions on who you should love. Be wary of them and love anyway, or to put it another way, be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

 

 

5 Easter 2020

I’ve brought up a story I have about the story of Stephen’s stoning many times. Read the passage in a reflection group and someone said, “I don’t see this as a story of love at all.” I responded by pointing out that he saw his beloved Jesus as he died. The part of the story I don’t usually say is that she wasn’t convinced by my argument.

In order to explain my point of view deeper, I want to talk about the difference between a fixer and a companion.  A priest I knew often said, “Why do we find it so hard to believe that God loves us?” One reason is that many people don’t want a loving companion; they want someone to fix things. And there are many people ready and willing to get in there and try to fix people. In the long run though, trying to fix things doesn’t work.

An obvious example is when someone is dying, say of a terminal illness. A hospice chaplain knows they’re not going to prevent the death. If they’re a fixer they might be tempted to spin some story about the afterlife. I say mythical because Jesus was a lot vaguer about what eternal life is than many people think. If they follow their training, they will simply be a comforting presence, a companion.

Alanon is a 12 step group for friends and families of an alcoholic. A lot of fixers end up in Alanon, where they are often called enablers – enablers don’t just aid in an alcoholic’s drinking, enablers often work to prevent or mitigate the consequences the Alcaholic would otherwise face. “The only way out is through” is a phase in 12 step, acknowledging that whatever pain is behind your drinking, you’ll never get sober if you avoid it. In Alanon enablers learn they have no control over someone else’s drinking. The only thing they can control is their own actions. Fixing just doesn’t work in that situation.  

Many folks want God to be a fixer. They pray for God to come down and grant some miracle that will make their problems go away – or someone else’s problems that they’ve taken on. They are looking for relief and comfort.  The problem is that growth – especially spiritual growth – happens through conflict or challenges. Who feels the need to grow when they’re in their comfort zone?

God of course knows this. I don’t believe God brings misfortune on us to test us. But neither does God spare us. God didn’t spare Stephen – nor did God spare Her Son. And I’ve been realizing that is where the most damaging theologies of the cross come from. Theologies of a cruel God who will torture us for eternity for any time we fail - failure often born out of our own suffering.

God allowed God’s self to suffer through Jesus in solidary of our suffering. God still bears the wounds in Christ. And the risen, still wounded, Jesus promised to always be with us. Jesus promised to be our companion, and asked us to love in the same way. I don’t believe fixing is primarily about love. It’s primarily about easing pressure. To sit with and hold the hand of someone who is suffering is uncomfortable – there is pressure involved – it may even bring up suffering in yourself. And that is love that Jesus modeled for us. 

Jesus also promised us the Spirit. The passage we read in John has been used to increase the suffering of others to an unimaginable degree. Because people are told that if you don’t get what you prayed for it must be YOUR fault.  This is why Luke’s version of this promise is a much better one.

What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask? And the Holy Spirit is our companion in our suffering and can and does give us the strength to be a companion – to find the words to say or to help us not say anything when silence is needed.

This is the promise of the companion God; The God who wants you to be your best self; The God who suffered in solidarity with us. God has heard the suffering of Her people. God became one of us not to increase our suffering but to be with us in it.