The Anointing of Jesus by Sister Margaret Mardis

Fill Me Up and Pour Me Out

I’m going to start out in a non conventional way today. Instead of
reading the scripture today I am going to tell you one story that comes from three scriptures. The scripture story is about The Anointing of Christ at Bethany. It comes from the gospel of Mark 14: 1-7, the gospel of John 12:1-9 and the gospel of Matthew:26:6-13. Here is the story along with a little detail that I imagine must have happened too.

Come with me to the land of Israel in the time of Jesus our Savior. It was spring and the days were warming up and the shrubs were beginning to bud. By day you could wear your light robes and open sandals but the nights were still cold and the people were still eating and sleeping indoors. Jesus was always traveling in those days and six days before the Feast of the Passover Jesus came to stay in the town of Bethany. Bethany was a little suburb about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem. Jesus had been there many times and it was a place where he could relax and get away from the drama that sometimes followed him in Jerusalem. He had a lot of friends there. He had a friend named Lazarus whom he had recently raised from the dead and he had a friend named Simon whom he had healed of leprosy. Needless to say many people in Bethany opened their doors to him when he was in town. One of his friends was a woman called Mary. You may remember her. She was the sister of Lazarus. And she was also the sister of Martha who got mad at her one day for not helping with a dinner party they were throwing for Jesus. We all know that story. Mary was made of pretty strong stuff and we know from that tiff with her sister that she was not afraid stand up and follow the voice of God within her.

Now Mary had heard something very disturbing about her friend Jesus. She had heard that he was in danger. We don’t know how she knew. Maybe she was there when Jesus said that he had a terrible baptism of suffering ahead of him. Maybe she was close at hand in Jerusalem when he said that the people where trying to kill him. Maybe she heard people talking at the Market saying that they heard Jesus say that he would only be around a little longer and that where he was going no one would be able to find him. But once she heard that Jesus was in danger she had a nagging feeling that she had to do something for him. She knew she wasn’t strong enough to protect him. Anyway she had heard that a couple of his disciples had taken to carrying swords to defend him. He didn’t need another body guard. Mary knew that she could give him a gift and she knew she had one thing of great value. She went to her room and found a beautiful jar. It was a jar made of alabaster. It was the color of sweet cream and it was made from a rare stone that came out of Egypt. It was filled with a very expensive and equally rare perfume from India called Essence of Nard. She was being driven by a force within her to give this precious gift to Jesus. She had felt that force before and she knew it was God leading her to where she must go.

If she had talked to anyone and said she was going to give this gift to Jesus many, maybe even most people, would have told her she was crazy. “Who is this Jesus anyway?” they would say. “Nobody even knows where he comes from. And people are saying that he is demon possessed. Mary, don’t be giving HIM your special perfume!” And some might have told her to save this perfume for her father or her mother. In those days this perfume was kept for anointing the dead before funerals. There clearly was no funeral for Jesus and anyway, she should keep it for someone special in her family. They would remind her to not be impulsive and break it open because there is no way to close it back up once it was open. The most expensive perfume in the world would be ruined. No, Mary didn’t have to talk to anyone to know that she would be severely judged for giving Jesus this perfume. But judged or not she felt driven to give him this gift and she would do it.

But how was she going to get it to him? She knew that he was going to be having dinner with friends. She didn’t want to barge in uninvited but she had to give this gift before he left town. Jesus had been behaving strangely and moving around a lot. It was almost like he was hiding from someone. He would be somewhere one day and then be gone the next. So uninvited or not she took her alabaster jar and she went to the house where he was having dinner. She walked into the dining room and the table was filled. His friends had all come and his disciples were all there too. She came in and stood before Jesus. With everyone staring at her, she took out her alabaster jar and she broke it open. The smell of the perfume filled the whole room. Then what she did next shocked everyone. She poured the perfume on his head. Jesus did not move. It was as if he had been waiting for her to come. She poured all of the perfume on his head and then she was done. She had given her most valued possession to Jesus.

Then the judgment that she feared would come, did come. Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!” They scolded her harshly. It was the custom in those days to give money to the poor before the Passover Feast. They thought she was being wasteful because of this. The disciple, Judas Iscariot, was especially verbal about this point because he had already decided to betray Jesus and he was doing anything he could to keep looking innocent to the crowd.

But Jesus replied in her defense, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, whenever the Good News is preached through out the world; this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”

Mary left the house where the dinner was held and she went to her own home and she cried. She had not thought at all that she was preparing her friend, her teacher and the man she believed to be the Son of God, for his burial. He was in more danger than she had thought. She was sad and more than a little confused. Jesus was not ill. Indeed he was very much alive but he had clearly just talked about his own burial as if it was coming soon. Mary knew the traditions around burial and knew that even if the worst happened and he was murdered by his enemies he would be anointed with perfume again. That was the custom and custom was everything. No one would forget to do this. She found some comfort in knowing that what she had done, she did because God had spoken to her and led her. With this knowledge, peace came over her and her confusion left her.

What we know and what Mary could not have known, was that Jesus would die by crucifixion. He would be put to death as a criminal. In those days the only people who were not anointed before their burial were people who died as criminals. That night, she had done what no one else would be able to do later on. And all of this happened because she listened to God.

What is God saying to us in this story? Clearly Mary is a model for a righteous and devote person. We admire her for her willingness to listen to God, her unwavering belief in Jesus and her devotion to him. We admire her for her courage to follow her beliefs, to go out of her comfort zone and to face certain criticism because of what she did. We like Mary and as we listen to her story, we cheer her on: “You go girl! Don’t back down! Keep going! You can do it! Stand tall and don’t let them push you down!” We need her kind of strength and her unfailing belief today more than at any time. Because these are hard times and we are being pushed and stressed everywhere we turn. We want her backbone and strong mind but most of all we want to walk with God the way that she did.

This story nudges us to be like Mary and we couldn’t do better in our Christian journey than to strive for that. But like so many things we read in the Bible, there is a story behind the story. We know that a mustard seed is more than a mustard seed, that a vineyard is more than a vineyard, and that a gate is more than a gate. The mustard seed is faith. The vineyard is the Lord’s chosen people and the gate is Jesus Christ. I think if Jesus had had more time he would have turned to his disciples, as he so often did, and said, “What do you think this really means?” But in the town of Bethany, six days before the Feast of Passover he was almost out of time. So it is up to us to find the story within the story. Is the jar just a jar? Is the perfume just perfume? And are the critics just critics?

We already see that Mary was an extraordinary woman because she let herself be a vessel to carry an enormous amount of love to Jesus who needed it at that moment. She was the alabaster jar; that special container that opened her heart and soul up to carry a priceless gift. That priceless gift was within her and it was God’s love. It was given to her in excess by God so that she could give it away. The only way she could give her love to Jesus was to open up her heart. Her heart was not like a corked bottle. She couldn’t open a little and give a little and close up again. She broke herself open and poured out her love to Jesus. In this way the great commandment to Love One Another was put into action for us to understand.

We see that her critics where indignant. They admonished her. They scolded her for opening up her heart and pouring out its’ contents. Her critics were the jar closers. We all know jar closers. They are people who ask us why we get up at the crack of dawn to go to church when we could be getting some rest or reading the Tribune. They tear us up for going to Bible study instead of going to watch a game at the Sports Bar. They encourage us to get behind office gossip and do some tearing down instead of some building up. In little and big ways they encourage us to close up our hearts and shut down our love. That is the way it is with jar closers.

But let’s be honest. It is not always someone else that shuts us down. We can just as easily do it ourselves. We get caught up in our physical or emotional pain. We can get shut down and we can let our fear close us up. We withdraw and feel low. Our smile is only skin deep. We hope no one notices. This can happen in hard times like these. We have more trials than we are used to and more hard news than we can bear. I know about this because I am not just Sister Maggie. I am also Main Street USA. I am one of the self employed Americans who is worried that my part of Main Street is going to be closed. After writing this sermon, I put a note in front of my desk that says: Keep Your Jar Open, Somebody Needs Your Love. I can close my jar and close up my love because I am anxious but there is a price. I start to feel less alive. The strange thing about this love inside me is that it only feels good when I take the cork out. I think that is because God gets happy when his love can be poured out. Somebody I don’t know needs my real smile and the love that flows so naturally with it. God needs me to pull them away from their despair. I’m not all of that but God’s love Is ALL of THAT.

You are the precious and rare vessel that carries the most valuable thing on earth. You are God’s love carrier. He has filled you up so that you can pour yourself out to someone in this church, to someone in your family, to someone you know or to someone you haven’t met yet. Mary had her time and her place. Now you are just right and this is the right time for you. There is no one more prepared and ready to carry his love. God has filled you with his love for this time and for this place. He needs you to be his alabaster jar because there are so many that need his love. Let’s all throw out our corks and pour everything we have out. It makes God happy and we will get more love because his is the love that never ends.

Turn to your neighbor and say:
Keep your jar open-Somebody Needs your love.

Turn to your neighbor on your other side and say:
Keep your jar open-I need your love.

Mothering Sunday

The Prodigious Love of God

Three American hikers supposedly crossed the border from Kurdistan, a northern region in Iraq, into Iran on July 31, 2009. Joshua (27), Sarah (31), and Shane (27) were arrested for “illegal entry” into Iran. In November, Iran’s chief prosecutor had said they were accused of being spies. As of mid-December, Iran had stated that the hikers will be tried in court. However, as of today, there have been no formal charges.
The American hikers were friends who all graduated from UC Berkeley. They had planned a short trip to Sulaimaniya, a resort area in Kurdistan, where many other Westerners have traveled. While there, the three decided to take a hike to Ahmed Awa. It’s an area known for its beautiful waterfall. And it is also near the Iranian border so it’s pretty easy to cross over without realizing it. Iranian officials claim the hikers crossed the border into Iran on purpose. The hikers’ families and friends state the three had no intention of entering Iran for any reason. The Kurdish regional government issued a statement saying the hikers had “lost their way due to their lack of familiarity with the location, and entered Iranian territory.” Since then they have been held in Evin Prison in Iran. Because America and Iran do not have diplomatic ties it is hard to negotiate for their release. The only one who has seen the three is the Swiss Ambassador who said they were physically healthy. The families of the detained hikers have sent letters and video messages asking for their children’s release to people such as the Iranian Ambassador to the United Nations and to President Ahmadinejad. The hikers have not been released. Their families have been allowed one phone call and that was just this past week, after 7½ months. U.S. secretary of state Hillary Clinton has expressed the hope that they will be freed on a “humanitarian and compassionate basis as soon as possible.” People have held vigils for the three hikers and have signed petitions. Influential individuals have called for their release. With no other options in sight, all three mothers applied for visas to travel to Iran to plead their case themselves and to be allowed to see their children, one of the mothers said. They have not gotten word back on their applications. In the meantime, hundreds of letters of support have poured in, many of which the families have forwarded to their imprisoned children. We can't say enough how important the letters are to them the mom said. "We found a way to get the letters straight to the prison, and we hear they do get them." But they haven't been able to write a letter to anybody…," she added. "They don't know what's going on. That's horror enough right there.” We know in our bones that these mothers will not give up until the children come home. It is a frightening situation we would not wish on any mom or dad… We might compare the situation of these families with one of the stories in our Gospel today. Bright children, endowed with the hopes and dreams of a family, possessing top quality educations and looking to bright futures, head off into unknown territory, taking all that their parents have been able to endow them with. Likewise, the prodigal son took what his father had to give him in terms of life experience and worldly goods and headed off into the unknown.
Maybe we can’t imagine exactly how the parents feel but at the same time we can share their loss and pain. Being a mother or father is something very special – from living in extreme joy to living in hell. The connection with the child is never broken no matter what happens, no matter how far the child strays. Sometimes the child leaves and goes physically far away like those young people in Iran, or sometimes they are lost in the depths of their own minds, like the young man with the promising future as an electrical engineer who was killed at the Pentagon the other day. He had bi-polar disorder. His mother, and no doubt his father, too, traveled with him to the depths of his soul. And now they live forever with his violent death.
Of course a mother or father is not always someone who gives birth to the child. A mothering relationship exists wherever a selfless love enfolds someone who is in need of this kind of love. And we all need this kind of love.
In our gospel for today, we have three examples of self-giving love that seemingly go beyond the bounds of reasonable behavior. The most familiar story is the one I have already mentioned, the Prodigal Son. I looked up the word “prodigal” in Webster’s dictionary and I was really surprised by what I found there. I always thought prodigal meant “wayward” or “selfish” but in actuality prodigal means Lavish, Luxuriant and Profuse – including the meaning of wasteful and spendthrift, but also including the meaning of abundance. The words “prodigious” (meaning huge, wonderful and marvelous) and “prodigy” (meaning extraordinary or surprising) are related to the word prodigal. So it might be a little confusing then, who in our story of the prodigal son is actually the prodigal. The father’s gift of half his worldly goods is really prodigal in the sense of being abundant. Maybe recklessly abundant. And so is his lavish welcome on the son’s return. Prodigious, we might even say. And there were two other stories in our Gospel today - do these readings also have something to say about the abundant, lavish and even reckless self-giving God-like love?
In the first story the shepherd realizes that one of his sheep is missing. He looks around but doesn’t see the curious and exploring sheep nearby, so he leaves the other sheep, who are equally defenseless and in need of care, to go and search for the one that wondered off the beaten path looking for adventure or a midnight snack. The shepherd searches everywhere until he finds the lost one, scoops it up onto his shoulders and carries it tenderly home. Christ, as the good shepherd, is the great example of tender, loving, even lavish protective care: this is God our mother, who loves us and will not let us get lost out there in the cold and dangerous world, who will recklessly abandon whatever else is at home and if she can’t find us, will not let anyone forget us if we do. This feminine aspect of God is willing to go where we go even if we end up in trouble. And even more, God our Mother and our human mothers, are willing to forgive us even before we are sorry and repent. Jesus was a known visitor to the homes of tax collectors and sinners and was seen eating with women of ill repute, all who might be considered unrepentant sinners. Some of the religious people didn’t understand Jesus, like the Pharisees and scribes, who called him a glutton and a drunkard, but Jesus went to the hellish places that people can create for themselves to bring his abundant message of love and acceptance. Mothers, fathers, ministers, friends, teachers, nurses, aunts and uncles - and self-giving people of all kinds -know this willingness to go to the dark places of the human soul in order to comfort and encourage the lost ones. This lavish and abundant outpouring of love is of God. Archdeacon Anthony Turney preached a sermon at ordination one year telling the newly ordained to “go to hell” – to go where Jesus went – to find the souls who need the message of loving acceptance the most. And to love them abundantly, even before they repent. When those souls are brought back into the fold, there is rejoicing in heaven and the party begins. We might even call such a party a prodigal display of joy and love.
The second story in our gospel today is a vision of an industrious housewife, who having done her accounts, discovers one of ten silver coins she had in her charge is missing. She lights a lamp, and begins to search diligently for it. She alerts the neighborhood of her loss and maybe some of them come out to help her look. The lamp and the neighbors are key to this story – she doesn’t dig around in the corners looking for the coin -miserably alone and in the dark. She doesn’t try to hide the fact that she lost the coin, or make excuses, she brings all the light she has to bear and the light illuminates her search and she brings others into the search and they all celebrate when the coin is found. God our Mother gives us the never ending light of the Gospel to help us find the lost one and celebrates in putting all the pieces back together again! God is the woman and we are the coin, a part of God’s profuse treasure who alone can make the treasury complete. By the light of the Words of the Gospel we are found and restored to our rightful place in God’s overflowing and luxuriant love.
And then, of course the third story in our gospel today is the prodigal son. We can talk about the recklessness of the son, his insulting request to have the goods and money he would have if his father were already dead, the lavish response of the father in giving in to his son’s demands, the selfish attitude of the brother, who resents the warm welcome that his returning brother receives…but the most striking and touching part of this story for me is the image of the father running towards his son, he can’t get there fast enough. The father loves and forgives him before he knows even that the son has repented! What kind of lavish radical love is this? It is the love of a mother who can wait for years for a child to return from the far corners of the world not knowing the real story of what happened and if the child will ever come back. It is prodigal in the sense of being abundant and overflowing. If we can imagine the depth of love the parent has for the prodigal son then can we also imagine the love that God has for us? That we could wander into the worst places of the mind and soul, into the most addictive habits and destructive behavior, and still God our Father & God our Mother would run so fast to greet us, even when we are far off and possibly not yet repenting of our sins? Martin Luther in his sermon on this gospel reading says that to be a Christian means to get down into the mire of the “sinner” just as deeply as he or she sticks himself there – and taking that difficult situation upon ourselves and floundering out of it with that person just as if it were our own problem. Getting down into the mire with the one who has been lost, giving that one a hand up, covering them with our own love and piety instead of judging them, and helping by the light of the Gospel, to bring reconciliation with God and each other, that is the true work of the Christian, according to Martin Luther. The prodigal, prodigious – abundantly marvelous love of God is the light that we live in every day. And it is also the work that we are called to do as Christians – to love abundantly, recklessly, and surprisingly those who wander from our fold into life’s dangers just as God our Mother loves us when we stray.
Amen.

Dear God,

One more day, just for today, in the midst of inner turmoil, I choose you. Lead me in light, dispel my darkness. Amen.

Shabbat Shalom

Today my sermon is based on chapter four from the book we are reading together, Soul Feast, by Marjorie Thompson. The beginning chapters are about the spiritual yearning of our times and they explore ways to pray and meditate. Some of these methods are traditional and familiar, and some may be new and challenging. In any case the goal of these methods of prayer and meditation is opening ourselves to God’s presence. This opening of the heart may help us to prepare for worship as well, which is the subject of the 4th chapter of Soul Feast - Gathered in the Spirit: Our Common Worship.
Why do we come together to worship every week? Why is it necessary for our spiritual lives that we participate in corporate worship? Our catechism asks: “What is the duty of all Christians? And it answers: The duty of all Christians is to follow Christ; to come together week by week for corporate worship, and to work, pray and give for the spread of the kingdom in the world.” So worship is at the very least, our Christian duty – this may be a motivating factor for some – but I suspect that there is a deeper longing that draws many of us to church each Sunday: the heart searching for a connection with the mysterious and elusive presence of God.
One Sunday morning while I was a student at the School for Deacons, I was sitting in the back of the chapel at the seminary in Berkeley looking out into the courtyard through the open door. The rest of my classmates were engaged in worship and focusing on their various roles in the worship service. I had no formal role that day, but I was the sacristan so I was keeping an eye out for latecomers and just resting in the peace of the day. It was spring, the air was warm and soft, the flowers had just bloomed outside the brick chapel, a perfect day. I felt transported to a place of peace and light that was outside of normal experience. I felt united with my friends in worship and united with God and at rest in myself. For me this is the greatest experience of worship – engaged and alive and transported into the presence of God. It doesn’t always happen, even though we wish it would! We all have reasons for coming to church – and one reason can be a desire to be closer to God. And God desires to be closer to us.
If we take a look at the Ten Commandments given by God to Moses for the Israelites, the ancient commandments that the children of Abraham have lived by for thousands of years, we hear God asking us for two things that are involved in worship. The first commandment says, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of bondage. You shall have no other gods but me.” The 4th commandment says “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” When Jesus was asked which the greatest commandment was, he replied, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind. And a second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Now we have talked a lot about loving one’s neighbor, so right now we will set that part aside and focus on loving God. And the question is what evidence of love does God want or expect from us in worship? And what do we expect in return from God?
I have a friend named Ruth who is an Orthodox Jew. On her Facebook page last Friday she wrote in her status bar, “Shabbat Shalom”. Shabbat – which is our word “sabbath” and shalom, which means peace but more than the Greek word for peace – pax. Shalom means justice, mercy and equality for all people in the holy reign of God. Not just the absence of war, but the presence of justice, which as we know, are two very different things. So Ruth was wishing us shalom on the sabbath, an ancient greeting. Sabbath is the word that refers us back to the very first part of the book of Genesis, in which the story of God’s creation of the world in six days is told. On the seventh day, God rested and that is the Sabbath. For the Abrahamic faiths, the observance of Sabbath is a day when a person is freed from the regular occupations of everyday life, has an opportunity to think about the spiritual aspects of life, and can spend time with family and friends who are also taking a break from work and daily cares. I think that is what I experienced in the chapel of the seminary on that Spring Sunday morning – real sabbath rest. God wants us to have a period of time each week doing what God did – rest in shalom and find refreshment for our souls. This is one aspect of worship – being in a place set apart and being ourselves set apart for the refreshment of our souls in the presence of God. The catechism says: “Adoration is the lifting up of the heart and mind to God, asking nothing but to enjoy God’s presence”. In worship we can rest in the presence of God’s love and give our love back to God.
Another aspect of worship where we have an opportunity to interact with God is in the liturgy. We use the word “liturgy” to describe the readings and spoken words in the service – and liturgy means the work of the people. One can observe the Sabbath alone, I think that is possible. But to participate in the work of the people, Christians need to gather together as the body of Christ. Hearing the words of the OT, the NT letters and the Gospel helps us to open our hearts and minds to the actions of God in the past and particularly in our lives today though the grace of the Holy Spirit. Two weeks ago we participated in a Lectio Divina at the reading of the Gospel. For those who weren’t here that day, Lectio Divina is a kind of meditation based on repetition of a Bible reading, each repetition focusing on a deeper meaning. I was so fortunate to be standing in the middle of the church where the power of our meditation was focused on the Gospel reading. I felt the intensity of the common meditation and was transported again into the presence of God – in light and the power of shalom. When Mimi touched me to bring me to awareness that we were finished with the reading, I felt like I had come back from far away, and yet I had been aware of and alert to all the readings and comments that you all made. That is the power of the Word and the work of the people in liturgical practice in community. The Word becomes flesh and dwells among us.
Another way we interact with God in worship is through offering our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. We do this because God is worthy to be praised for all God’s kindness and love for us. In our psalm today the psalmist thanks God with his whole heart and praises God for steadfast love and faithfulness. He thanks God for answering his prayer for strength of soul, and says even the kings of the earth will praise the glory of the Lord. The psalmist is confident that God will protect him and fulfill his purpose here on earth. Our catechism says that thanksgiving is offered to God for all the blessings of this life, for our redemption, and for what ever draw us closer to God. For some people, including myself, music is a special source of praise and feeling open to the presence of God. I am sure we each have a favorite hymn that holds special meaning for us. When I traveled to Chicago with my children a few weeks ago, I had a chance to visit my friend Maggie’s church – which is an African-American Methodist Episcopal church – the AME church which is the church of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Their service has three basic components – praise through music, preaching, and altar call. The Gospel music at this church is incredible – I am always totally transported by the sound and the spirit of the people into a place of communion with God. But I miss our liturgy – there are no bible readings except during the sermon and they don’t follow a series of readings as we do, which is called the lectionary. The lectionary leads us through Jesus’ life story every year. When I visit the AME church I miss our readings and rituals, and I love their music, so I always think – wouldn’t it be great if we could combine our Episcopal liturgy ritual with the AME Gospel music! It wouldn’t be everyone’s preference, but I would love it. The point is that praise, in whatever form it takes, lifts our hearts up to God in thanksgiving and this experience can be very individual even as we praise God together. It is good to have a variety of music and experiences in the service for this reason.
Why do we call the act of praising God a sacrifice do you think? When we praise God in the Spirit of Sacrifice it includes a whole self-offering of mind, soul and body to God. And that opens our hearts so we can listen for God’s intentions for the world and give ourselves to what God wants for the world. Our offering of self is the sacrifice we make for all the praiseworthy things God has done for us. We offer our gifts of money at this time as well, but we offer more than money, we are making an offering of self as well. The opening sentences of the Eucharistic Prayer invite us into this mode of self-sacrifice through giving thanks and remind us also of Christ’s sacrifice on our behalf. So right before we start the Eucharist the priest may say one of these phrases, which hopefully reminds us of what we are doing:
The priest may say:
Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and make good your vows to the Most High. Psalm 50:14
Or she may say:
Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself for us, an offering and sacrifice to God. Ephesians 5:2
Or he may say:
I appeal to you, Sisters and Brothers, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1
And there are several more opening phrases for the Eucharist with the same idea. They help us remember as we come forward to celebrate the Eucharist, the sacrifice Jesus made for our salvation, and we praise God for all God’s grace and gifts to us and in response offer our whole selves as a sacrifice of praise and in service to God’s intentions for the world. So we see that we are offered many different ways to get closer to God in worship through the service itself, which is the work of the people. Each of us will find an aspect of worship that pulls us in and helps us to experience the true shalom of Sabbath rest and peace in the presence of God. So I wish you, as my sister Ruth did, the true peace of resting in God, Shabbat Shalom. Amen.

In the Beginning...

Jeremiah 31:7-14 Ephesians 1:1-14 John 1:1-18

At this time of year it is easy to be attuned to images of light and darkness as we hear in our gospel reading today. I grew up in the Midwest where the darkness is also accompanied by real cold and snow – so the contrast between dark/cold winters and light/warm summers was sharp. I grew up in a Swedish Lutheran community in Illinois on the Mississippi. Early in the Christmas season, as the days grew shorter, we would begin the Christmas by celebrating the feast of Santa Lucia. I think she is the only Lutheran saint, I don’t remember celebrating any others. For Santa Lucia young girls dress up in traditional Swedish costumes and serve coffee and cardamom rolls to the family on the morning of December 13th. On the Lucia’s head is a crown of lights – electric ones in my day! For Scandinavians, who see very little sunlight in the winter, Lucia represents the promise that the light will return. She is the patron saint of the blind as she was blinded during her martyrdom in the 3rd century. Her name comes from the same root as the Latin word for light – lux. She is the rival of Lucifer, the Prince of Darkness and a fallen angel. All of this has some definite pagan overtones and for me as a child was alternately beautiful and scary - hearing the stories about the Lucia and the Lucifer. Then came Christmas Eve. It was always the center of the Christmas season when I was growing up. We children waited impatiently through dinner to open presents, as was the custom of our tradition. After presents we walked in the snow to church. Every house was decorated with colored lights and the church glowed with light from within. Luckily by the time I was born the Swedes had stopped celebrating “Julatta” a Christmas morning service celebrated at 5am.(They did revive it later, but then I was old enough to avoid it!) My father, an amateur primitive painter, made a picture of Julatta – sleds ploughing through the snow behind horses and each driver carrying a torch of bright light in the cold dark morning. One of my favorite parts of the Christmas Eve service both in the past and in the present is when the lights are turned off and for a moment we all sit in unexpected darkness. Then one by one the acolytes light their candles and pass down the aisle, lighting the candle of the person on the end, and then each in turn lighting the candle of the person next to them. Finally all the people are bathed in candle light and it is so beautiful to see the faces in the soft Christmas light, each face with its own ring of light. Light and enlightenment are two of the themes of Christmas and our gospel today and also a central theme of the very beginning of the Bible. In Genesis the very first of God’s creations for the world was light.
So, let me read to you the opening verses of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.”
Now, compare that reading with a portion of our reading today from the first chapter of the Gospel according to John. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people… And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth. From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace. The law indeed was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God. It is God the only Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, who has made him known.”
Amazing, how much those two readings sound alike. Bible scholars think it is no accident that the author of the Gospel according to John began his writing this way, by imitating the first chapter of Genesis. In the creation story God begins a new world, creating something out of nothing: land, water, creatures and most importantly, and first of all, light. And God separates the light from the darkness. In the 1st chapter of John Jesus is called logos in Greek, which means word plus reason – ending up with a meaning something like wisdom. Jesus, or the logos, is present before the creation of the world, and in fact, the world was created through him and nothing was created without him including light. Jesus is the light. Jesus is OUR light. The point for the author of John’s Gospel is that Jesus is God and Jesus was present at the creation of the earth, and that Jesus is also of the earth. This mysterious puzzle is called the Incarnation – when translated means made of meat – like carne in Spanish. Jesus is flesh like us and still 100% God. There are two main themes in the Gospel according to John. These are Jesus’ relationship to the Father and Jesus’ relationship to the world and the believers. So to sum up the first theme as best I can – in John’s gospel, Jesus is the creative word and reason of God and becomes human flesh to bring enlightenment to human beings and to save us humans from the darkness that surrounds us.
Now when I read the section of the gospel that sounds like the beginning of Genesis I left out a chunk in the middle. And that part goes like this: “There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him. 8He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” John the Baptist shows up here in the middle of Jesus’ big moment – why? Last month we talked about how John the Baptist is portrayed in Luke’s gospel as the last of the prophets in the style of the Old Testament. He ends the religious chapter of the rule of law, the law given by God to Moses, and begins the rule of salvation, or grace and truth, through Jesus Christ. The author of John compares the giving of the law from God to Moses and the giving of truth and grace to people from Jesus. Jesus as human being brings a new creativity and beginning to the world – which we call enlightenment. I talked about how we must prepare ourselves for the great change that the birth of Jesus represents, a change of earthquake proportions. This is where John the Baptist comes in – he testifies to the light of Christ – he testifies that Jesus existed before the beginning of time as we know it – and he witnesses to all of this so all might believe through his testimony. And this is important because in order to know God, to receive the grace and truth of Jesus, and to become God’s children and heirs to the Kingdom, we must believe that Jesus is God himself infleshed – in human form. So to sum up the second theme – it isn’t enough to see the light, to believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and become one with God and Jesus as part of the light; we also must share the light with other people. Last Thursday night, New Year’s Eve, I joined other folks here at St. George’s in rings of light as we walked the labyrinth outside and a canvas labyrinth laid out in the parish hall. Jane and Craig, as our hosts, lit candles all around and through the labyrinths, bathing them and the people walking in silence through the night in soft and intense points of light. For me it was the perfect end to the Christmas season. We walked together in the light and we shared it with newcomers – even some young men who “heard” about the labyrinth walk and saw the pinpoints of light in the darkness came to see what it was all about. Jane was able to explain to them about the labyrinths and invite them to come any Sunday and join us. She testified to the light that shines here at St. George’s.
I can’t remember where I got the idea, but a number of years ago when I taught Jr. High Sunday School at St. Michael’s, I had each young person read the portion of the gospel we read today about testifying to the light. In place of John the Baptist’s name I had them say their own name – and by the time they had each read I had tears running down my face. It became so personal and real for me, that they were messengers of the light, too. And that it was my job to hand off the light to them. They were polite enough not to mention that I was crying, and it was a moving moment for me. Each of us is sent from God to testify to the light that is Jesus Christ.
Let’s try and see how that sounds now – and I’ll try not to cry this time. Let me start with Amber.
“There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Amber. She came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through her. She himself was not the light, but she came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

“There was a woman sent from God, whose name was Jane. She came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through her. 8She himself was not the light, but she came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”

“There was a man sent from God, whose name was Craig or Jim or Bill or Dave or Arthur or Dennis. They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.”
“There were people sent from God, and they were called St. George’s Episcopal Church in Antioch, California. They came as witnesses to testify to the light, so that all might believe through them. They themselves were not the light, but they came to testify to the light. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” Let it be so!
Amen.

Blessing for the New Year

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the Israelites: You shall say to them, The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you, and give you peace.
So they shall put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.

May God put his name on us this year and all the years to come and bless us as his own.

Amen.

Transformed Advent 2 December 6, 2009

Epistle: Philippians 1:1-11
Gospel: Luke 3:1-6

Our Gospel today is about power: the power of God to transform the even the landscape under our feet; power with the strength of an earthquake. The words from Isaiah are like old friends - Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’” Familiar and poetic words spoken by John the Baptist as he proclaims the coming of the salvation of God in our Lord Jesus Christ. We have heard them every Advent season and they are our old friends. What we don’t often hear when we listen to these words is the extreme radical transformation that they contain – a reordering of the Way of World and our hearts in earthquake-scale language. Think of what the landscape would look like if all the valleys of the bay area were filled in – Mill Valley, Grass Valley, Scotts Valley, Portola Valley, Castro Valley, The Valley of the Sun, the Valley of the Moon – What kind of power would it take to make that happen? Isaiah also says when Salvation comes the mountains and hills will be made low – picture Mount Diablo, Mount Tamalpais, Mission Peak, Mount Hamilton, the Berkeley Hills and San Leandro Hills – all made low by the kind of strength our savior brings: the force of a very powerful earthquake, indeed. That is the scale of transformation that John is announcing to the world to prepare the people for Jesus’ coming. A power so strong that everything in the landscape of our lives changes.

In this reading Luke has also gone to some lengths to describe the political and historical context of John’s proclamations. Tiberius, Pontius Pilate, Herod, Philip and Lysanias were rulers in the region, one of whom later had John executed and another who later presided over Jesus’ crucifixion. Annas and Caiaphas were important religious figures. By contrast, John’s own father, Zechariah, was a small town priest and John himself was living in the wilderness in a rather rough state. Though it seems counterintuitive for such a world-changing event, this is the perfect setting for the prophecy – a cry out of the empty wilderness where something completely new is discovered and proclaimed – a cry is heard in the wilderness where the Word of God has come to John and he must leave his hermit’s home and come into the civilized world to advise the people to Repent of their sins and be baptized – to prepare themselves for something greater that their lives are becoming. The Word of God comes to someone like John who is outside, way outside, the political and religious hierarchy, someone not quite socially acceptable, a fellow who might in our day be labeled as crazy or psychotic, delusional. The Jewish people, hungry for change and hope, flock to John, as their lives are intolerably bound to the hated Roman oppressors. They are looking for a Savior to change the political landscape. But John preaches about a transformation to the interior landscape: prepare, repent and your faith will save you. The kind of repentance John advises is not like being sorry for having said something to hurt someone else’s’ feelings. The Repentance John is talking about is a complete turning away from an old way of being to a new way of looking at life – and he points to Jesus as the one who will help us make this transformation.

John stands in a pivotal moment in history – he is the last of the prophets in the style of the Old Testament. John’s story ends the religious chapter of the rule of law and proclamations of the prophets and ushers in the Age of Redemption and Salvation through Christ Jesus: the rule of love and compassion. Today we are looking back at that moment in time knowing that in our own lives we must prepare for the radical transformation that the coming of Christ represents to us as well. We, too, live in a world structured around political, economic and social systems that create mountains and valleys of justice and injustice. Like the world Jesus was born into we live in a time when some people have a lot more money and power than others – some have more food than they can eat and others literally starve. We have not seen the complete fulfillment of John’s prophecy about Jesus here on earth yet, have we?
Or have we?
Let’s look back to the first chapter of Luke, where he describes Mary’s reaction to the news that she would have a very special baby, where we hear more very familiar and beautiful words which we know as the Magnificat:

My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior; * for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant.
From this day all generations will call me blessed: * the Almighty has done great things for me, and holy is his Name. He has mercy on those who fear him * in every generation. He has shown the strength of his arm, * he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, * and has lifted up the lowly. He has filled the hungry with good things, * and the rich he has sent away empty. He has come to the help of his servant Israel, * for he has remembered his promise of mercy, The promise he made to our forebears, * to Abraham and Sarah and their children for ever.

What strikes me powerfully about these words is that they are in the present tense. Mary does not say Jesus will cast down the mighty, or will fill the hungry, or will come to the help of Israel as Isaiah says– but that he HAS. In Jesus God has remembered his promise of mercy; he has come to Israel’s help; he has cast down the mighty from their thrones. All that was promised by the prophets is already accomplished by the embryonic presence of Christ in the world. And what I feel and know when I read Mary’s words are that we are also to be SURE that all God’s promises have been fulfilled for us, just because Jesus IS. We live in a world where God’s promises are fulfilled, even though the evidence is often to the contrary. What can this all mean? How are we to prepare ourselves for the coming of the Christ Child? What kind of transformation are we preparing for?
If we believe what John the Baptist and Isaiah say, it is nothing less than a mighty earthquake in power, something to change the landscape of our souls. How hard is that when all around we see poverty, corruption, injustice and violence? How can it be that the fulfillment of the promises of prophets are here today? John the Baptist says that if you can’t imagine a future different than the life you have now you are a prisoner of the present. John says that repentance, that is Repentance with a capital R, meaning a change of paradigm or a transformation in the way we see the world around us; this repentance will release the power to transform – even mountains, hills and valley. The change comes from within – knowing Jesus IS makes us different today. Knowing Jesus IS IN THE WORLD TODAY transforms us, makes the playing field level.
So what is that earthquake strength transformative power? It is the power of love. When Jesus was asked what was the greatest commandment he said, “Hear O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is One. You should love the Lord your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself.” As simple as that and as powerful: Love your neighbor as yourself.
When Martin Luther King, Jr. talked about being to the mountaintop he was imagining and living into a world different from the racist world he lived in – and his vision transformed the world. Seeing the world through the heart of Jesus is to live in a transformed state of love and compassion where all differences are between people are made level. Instead of being mired in the darkness of fear and frustration at the state of the world, we can be in the mind of Christ now and own in our hearts the power transformation. We can be Christ for the world just as John proclaimed his coming and Mary knew that because Jesus lived in her the transformation of the world had already taken place. Because Jesus lives in us, the world IS transformed. Our preparation for the coming of Christ is to allow the transformation to happen.
When I was at the School for Deacons, I read a book that transformed my idea of the love of Jesus, called Jesus and the Disinherited by Howard Thurman. It is a book that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., carried with him on his travels and was an influence in his spiritual life. Thurman says it takes dedication and discipline to overcome – make level – the prejudices and fears that create injustice in our world. Jesus was able to look beyond the outside of a person – whatever they might have done or become in their lives. Jesus looked into the heart of the individual and found someone to love. We remember the Syrophoenician woman who Jesus called a dog – and his own heart was changed by her faith and love – and in compassion he healed her child. We remember the Roman soldier who, although he was of the ruling class, came humbly to Jesus when all his other resources were exhausted, and begged Jesus to heal his dying servant. Jesus saw past the uniform of the oppressor, was impressed by the faith of the soldier, and had mercy on him. Jesus ate with hated tax collectors who survived the oppressors by selling out their own people. Jesus saw past the exterior and loved them all.
That radical and transformative love is what I believe we are called to this Advent. We are called to Repent, that is turn from misunderstanding and fear, and love our neighbors as ourselves. We are called to the deep compassion and love of Christ to look beyond the ethic, social, political, religious and physical differences of the people in the next house, or in on our block, or in Antioch or California or the United States or the world. We are to love one person at a time. This is the discipline and dedication of a life in Christ – to see the other as ourselves and love them. Now that Christ is with us we are called to prepare for our own transformation at the birth of his love in our hearts. Amen.