I Didn't Do Anything!

 Do we earn the blessings that we enjoy in our lives? Most people would say "yes." I agree with them -- but only to a point. And whether we say "yes" or "no" influences what we do with those blessings. Do we share them... or hang on to them tightly. Maybe this sermon will make you think about your blessings in a different way.

“I didn’t do anything!” Now, I ask you, what kind of statement is that? Is it a protest? Is it a confession? Or is it a lament? Let’s take a look at the possibilities.

Anyone who has ever been around children will probably see this statement as a protest. When they are accused of having some part in mischief, most children will immediately cry, “But I didn’t do anything!” Does that sound familiar?

Imagine this scene. Mother is folding laundry in the bedroom while Billy is watching Sesame Street. Suddenly, a huge crash echoes from the kitchen. Mother rushes in, and is greeted by fragments of the ceramic cookie jar spread all over the floor. “What happened?” Mother cries. Billy doesn’t skip a beat. “I didn’t do anything,” he says innocently.

Now, we all know that the cookie jar didn’t jump off the counter and commit suicide all by itself. Billy gave it some help. After all, he was the only other person in the house at the time! But it’s human nature to try to hide our crimes. All of us have said, “But I didn’t do anything!” at one time or another.

But that statement can be understood in another way. Sometimes when we say, “I didn’t do anything,” it’s not a protest; it’s a confession. When we are adult enough to realize that we enjoy benefits that we did nothing at all to deserve, then we confess, “But I didn’t do anything.” The Israelites weren’t very good at admitting that. The scripture reading this morning (Deuteronomy 8:7-18) is a portion of the book of Deuteronomy, the great sermon that Moses delivered to the Israelites as they stood on the very threshold of the Promised Land. “Now remember,” he tells them, “one of these days you’re going to have it pretty good. On that day, you’ll be tempted to say, ‘Hey, look at all the things I have! I’ve done pretty well for myself, haven’t I?’ Well, don’t fool yourselves. Remember that it was God who gave you all those things! You really didn’t do anything at all to deserve them.”

We Americans give in to that temptation all the time. Our culture just loves to brag about successful people who look like they have made it all by themselves. We admire people who have “pulled themselves up by their bootstraps.” In fact, there is a philosophy lurking in the bushes these days that says that we should all just leave one another alone! Let all our neighbors fend for themselves! That’ll weed out the hard workers from the people who only sponge off everyone else. And it sounds really good! After all, there’s nothing wrong with hard work. Hard work is a good thing! Hard work is, in fact, a big part of being successful. But hard work alone can’t earn all the blessings that we enjoy every day. The reality is that “we didn’t do anything” to deserve the good life that we all have. Don’t believe me? Let me ask you a few questions.

Did you get an education? Great! You studied hard, and you applied that education in the jobs that you held later in life! But where do you think your school system came from? Other people set it into place without any help from you. In many places in the world, there is no education system. Or it’s only for the very wealthy. Or it’s only for boys. You took advantage of our system – but beyond that, you didn’t do anything. And by the way, that good brain that you have – you were born with it. You didn’t do anything to get it.

Maybe you own a business. Wonderful! Whether it’s a farm or a grocery store or a beauty shop, you worked hard to make it a success. But – how did you get it in the first place? Did you inherit it from your parents? You didn’t do anything to bring that about, did you? It was pure chance that you were born into the family that you were. Maybe you didn’t inherit it, but took out a small business loan, instead. Many places in the world don’t offer small business loans. If you aren’t born into a wealthy family – well, too bad for you!

Are you beginning to see why I claim that the confession, “I didn’t do anything” applies to every single one of us? It even applies to our church! Most of you know that Nashville has received a considerable sum of money as a bequest from a former member. Did we do anything to deserve it? Nope. The fact is that there are millions of small, friendly, faithful churches just like ours who need money just as much as we do. We were simply blessed enough to receive it. What did we do to earn this gift? Not a darn thing!

“I didn’t do anything.” A protest; a confession; and one more thing: a lament. It’s the lament of Marley’s ghost in the story A Christmas Carol.

You all know that story. Jacob Marley was the partner of Ebeneezer Scrooge; and two more grasping, miserly men were never found upon the face of the earth. Marley visits Scrooge on Christmas Eve, begging him to change his ways, and confessing that he is eternally condemned because of the way he conducted his business. “But you were always a good man of business, Jacob,” Scrooge replies. “Business?” cries the ghost. “Mankind was my business! Charity, mercy, and benevolence were all my business! Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down?”

“I didn’t do anything.” That was Jacob Marley’s bitter lament.

“I could have shared some of my wealth with others who needed it desperately, but I didn’t do anything.”

“I could have tried to understand their troubles instead of congratulating myself on my success, but I didn’t do anything.”

“I could have made a difference in the lives of people who were frightened and neglected and lonely, but I didn’t do anything.”

Marley’s ghost was beyond all help. My spirit, he tells Scrooge, “is doomed to wander through the world… and witness what it cannot share, but might have shared on earth, and turned to happiness.” But we are not doomed to that fate. The world is full of chances for us to offer the help that we are able to offer because of the blessings that we have received.

People in West Milton and in Tipp City and in Troy need our help.

People in Chicago and in New York City and in Los Angeles need our help.

People in Nicaragua and in Colombia and in Kenya need our help.

And we have help to offer them! This congregation has a long tradition of responsible stewardship, of sharing what we have with those who have needs that we can help satisfy.  Empowered by the Spirit, we will continue to do all kinds of things that extend God’s love in our own neighborhood and around the world in the name of Jesus Christ. That, friends, is the greatest blessing of all. We need never say, “I didn’t do anything.”

God's Vision

What does God see that we do not? Or, more to the point, what could we see if we looked at the world using God's eyes instead of our own? Too often, we see only what is written in large, bold letters, and overlook what seems insignificant. This sermon -- my first after returning from a denominational meeting in Long Beach, California -- considers just this question.

Let me give you some background information about this morning's scripture reading (Habakkuk 2:1-3). Oh, it’s a great reading all by itself. But if I set this reading in its historical context, it might have even more meaning for you.

Habakkuk was a prophet who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, probably 600 years before Christ. If we read from the first chapter of the book, we would find that he is dismayed at what he sees around him. “Why do you make me look at injustice?” he asks God. “Why do you tolerate wrong? Destruction and violence are all around me. There is strife, and conflict abounds. The law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted (1:3, 4). Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?” (1:13) In other words, what is wrong with you, God? The world is all messed up! Things shouldn’t be the way that they are! Why, Habakkuk has begun to wonder if God is even on the job anymore.

Things haven’t changed much, have they? We can echo Habakkuk’s complaint almost word for word. “Destruction and violence are all around me.” That’s for sure, especially if we live in some Chicago neighborhoods. “Conflict abounds. The law is paralyzed.” He might as well be talking about our Congress. They can’t get agree on enough to get even the simplest bipartisan bill passed. “The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.” Yeah, there are plenty of wicked folks around. Oh, we can’t agree on who they are. Some people call them Big Government, while others call them Big Business. Democrats call them Republicans and Republicans call them Democrats. And all of us call them lobbyists and special interest groups. In the end, it doesn’t really matter what we call them. They’re wicked; and they’re as thick as fleas!

In his frustration, Habakkuk goes to the highest point on the city walls – up on the ramparts – and he issues God a challenge. “Talk to me, God! What’s going on, anyway? Why are things the way they are?” And then, this verse began the scripture reading this morning: “I will look to see what God will say to me, and what answer he will give to my complaint.” (2:1) I wonder if Habakkuk even expected a response! Well, God gave him one. “I have a vision,” God replied, “and what a vision it is! I want you to write it down so that everybody can see it. It’s not here yet, but it will be one of these days, I promise. Just keep looking for it…”

God’s vision. What God sees is very different than what we see! What does God see that we do not? What is God showing us that we’re overlooking? What vision is God talking about?

“God’s Vision” was the theme of this year’s General Synod, the gathering of the whole United Church of Christ that takes place every two years. I was once again a delegate from the Ohio Conference. From the moment that we walked through the door of the convention center in Long Beach, California, we were reminded that God has a vision – a vision not just for the church, but for all humanity. Signs on every wall proclaimed aspects of that vision. It’s a vision of beauty, blessing, and laughter. It’s a vision of compassion, understanding, and embrace. It’s a vision of equality, inclusion, and healing. It’s a vision of forgiveness and mercy and grace.

For six whole days, we celebrated that vision together. Now, we were reminded that we are a long, long way from its fulfillment. But we were also reminded that we can see it around us if we take the time to look for it; and if we ask God for the eyes to see it. I glimpsed it at General Synod more than once.

I caught God’s vision of healing in the rainbow scarves that were carried, mailed, or delivered to General Synod. Let me tell you a little bit about those scarves. Over a year ago, members of the UCC were challenged to knit rainbow scarves to symbolize our solidarity with folks who are bullied. Millions of people, you know, both young and old, are bullied on a daily basis. Maybe they’re not smart enough. Maybe they’re too smart. Maybe they’re gay – or people think that they are. Maybe they just don’t fit in. In solidarity with any and all of these folks, UCC members knit scarves. Our UCC leadership hoped to collect 2 or 3 thousand scarves. Over 10,000 were collected. Each scarf came with a pledge to resist bullying in any and all of its forms. God’s healing is all around us.

I caught a vision of community during our Sunday afternoon worship. That Sunday worship is open not just to delegates and registered visitors, but to anyone who wants to worship with us. This year, over 3,000 worshippers gathered in the convention hall. I sat not in front of the stage where the Ohio Conference sat to do its work, but in the back, feeling just a little bit overwhelmed. Several folks wearing identical tee shirts sat down next to me. The woman who was sitting the closest introduced herself – Janet, from Altadena United Church of Christ in the foothills of Southern California. We struck up a conversation, and discovered that we had a lot in common. Her congregation is like this one: rural, aging, on the smallish side, but with lots of love and big dreams for the future. Before worship was over on that day, we had promised to pray for each other, Janet and I, and for each other’s congregations. So don’t be surprised if a reminder to pray for Altadena UCC appears in our worship bulletin. After all, we are all a part of one loving community as we worship the same God, serve the same Christ, and are empowered by the same Spirit even though we are physically so far apart.

And I caught God’s vision of inclusion as we celebrated the diversity of delegates who gathered in Long Beach, California. We were men, women, gay, straight, and transgendered. We came together from around the country. We – or our ancestors – came from all over the world: Africa, Alaska, Mexico, China, Europe, Japan, Central and South America, and everywhere in between. Many of us were differently abled. Some had mobility issues and used scooters to navigate the convention center. Others needed assistance with sight or hearing. Still others requested our patience as they communicated with what we call speech impediments. All are God’s children, and are precious in God’s sight. All are included at the table, and all are welcome there.

Now, it’s hard to keep God’s vision in our eyes when we live in a world that’s so full of suffering and deception. But if we don’t hang on to God’s vision, we risk becoming cynical and jaded. We risk losing hope – and hope is a big part of God’s vision.

On the evening of the Fourth of July, as I was recovering from my trip and from the three-hour time difference between Ohio and California, I discovered that one of my favorite movies was on TV – The Music Man. For those of you who may not be familiar with the story, The Music Man concerns Professor Harold Hill, a traveling salesman who represents himself as a musician who organizes boys’ bands. In reality, he can’t read a note of music. He intends to collect money for uniforms and band instruments, and then get out of town before anybody catches on to the scam. The climax of the movie comes when he is caught and hauled before a meeting of the townspeople. His goose is cooked. The townspeople are even muttering about tar and feathers. Then Marian the librarian stands up. “Do you remember what this town was like before he came here?” she asks? “And do you realize how much he has changed it?” She has seen what the townspeople have not. They have focused on the fact that he is a crook – and he is. They have focused on the fact that he has no idea at all how to organize and lead a band – and he doesn’t. They have focused on the fact that their hard-earned dollars have gone for uniforms that might never be worn and for instruments that might never be played. And they are absolutely correct!

But Marian has seen something else. She has seen him unite the bickering school board into a barbershop quartet, their bitter quarrels turned into beautiful harmony. She has seen the town youth begin to believe in themselves and in their ability to create something worthwhile, even though they only live in an out-of-the-way place called River City, Iowa. And she has seen her brother change profoundly. From a withdrawn boy grieving his father’s death, so ashamed of his lisp that he will not even speak; he has been transformed into a happy, outgoing young man who looks forward to the future with joy. Oh, yes, her vision is very different than the vision of everyone else in town.

Now, I don’t want to put too much emphasis on a movie. After all, a movie is only meant to entertain us… isn’t it? But it does make me wonder. What does God see that we do not?

Is it possible that joy and laughter and grace are just as real – and just as powerful – as deception and pain and suffering? What would happen if we would focus on God’s gifts of community and inclusion and healing?

The book of Habakkuk ends with this verse (3:19) – “The Sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes my feet like the feet of a deer. He enables me to stand on the heights.” My prayer for all of you, and for all God’s people, whoever they are and wherever they may be, is that we might catch the vision that God offers us. Then we will truly stand on the heights, for we will see with God’s eyes. When we do – and someday we will – on that joyous day, we will see forever!

Being Yeast

My congregation was delighted to congratulate three graduates this past Sunday -- one high school graduate and two college graduates! This sermon is directed to them, of course, but also to everyone else who reads it. Scoot, you people! Go be yeast!

“So, what do you want to be when you grow up?” Graduates, did you ever hear that question when you were children? What did you answer? Did you always know that you wanted to be a nurse or a mechanical engineer? Maybe you were more like me. I didn’t end up doing at all what I wanted to do at first.

When I was a kid, all the way back in elementary school, I wanted to be a paleontologist – a scientist that digs up dinosaur bones! I don’t even remember why I wanted to do that, except that dinosaurs have always fascinated me (which, by the way, they still do). But when I got to high school, I decided that I would rather be a research biologist. And that’s what I did end up doing for quite a few years. I went to college and got a degree in biology; and then I went to graduate school and pursued cell biology; and I ended up running a rather large cancer research lab in Philadelphia. But, of course, I’m not doing that now. My life changed, as it may for you, as well. After marriage and a family, I finally discerned a call to ministry, and… well, here I am.

So the answer to the question, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” may not be as straightforward as it appears to be at first glance. Your life has changed already from the time when you were a little tyke; and it will continue to change as you grow older and gain more experiences. But you already know that. And you already know that what you are pursuing as a career right now might well change during your life – not once, but maybe even several times. Careers aren’t as stable as they once were; and you can look forward to a longer life span than ever before. But whatever career you decide to pursue throughout your life, and no matter how long you live, I hope that there is one constant whatever you do and wherever you go. I hope that you continue to be yeast your whole life long!

“Yeast? What is that woman talking about?” you’re probably thinking right now. “Why in the world would I want to be yeast?” Let me introduce you to yeast. Maybe that will give you a clue. Yeast is actually a single-celled microorganism. In other words, it’s a little bitty cell that you can’t see without a microscope. But, oh, my, we can certainly see what it does! If you want to have beer – or a risen loaf of bread – you have to have yeast. When yeast is added to certain food mixtures – specifically, mixtures that contain specific kinds of sugars – all the little yeast cells start to nibble on that sugar, and they eventually turn it into carbon dioxide and ethanol. The ethanol is the alcohol in your beer; and the carbon dioxide is what makes the bread rise. All the little holes in the middle of your bread are there because of the action of yeast. Without yeast, both your beer and your bread will be flat. If you want a little action in your cooking, you need to add some yeast. And you don’t need much of it! Just a tiny bit of yeast affects the whole batch.

Some Bible texts compare yeast to pretty nasty stuff. In both Matthew and Luke, Jesus warns his disciples to beware of the “yeast of the Pharisees.” Just like a little bit of yeast can cause the entire loaf of bread to rise, just a little bit of their teaching can spoil your faith – at least, according to Jesus. And Paul compares inappropriate behavior to yeast. In I Corinthians, for example, he warns that the immoral behavior of just one person can infect the whole Christian congregation! Better to throw out those immoral people, he advises, than to spoil the entire community!

Well, if yeast is such bad stuff, why in the world am I encouraging you to behave like it? It’s because, even though Jesus compared yeast to the teaching of the Pharisees that can spoil faith, he said that the Kingdom of God works the very same way. “What is the Kingdom of God like?” Jesus asked his disciples. Then he answered his own question. “The Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into a large amount of flour until it worked all through the dough.” The New Testament Greek actually says that the woman “hid” that yeast in “three measures” of flour. That amount of flour is a huge amount of flour – almost half a bushel. And that tiny little bit of yeast got completely mixed up in all that flour. And once the yeast is in the flour, you can’t very well get it back out, can you? That’s the way the Kingdom of God works, Jesus says. It gets all mixed in with other things until you don’t even notice it any more. But don’t worry! You don’t need very much of it to change things, just like the bread rises with just a little bit of yeast.

Are you beginning to see why I hope you behave like yeast? You are a part of the Kingdom of God – in fact, everybody in this congregation is a part of the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is in us, working to transform us into the image of Jesus Christ, just like yeast works in bread flour. And if you’re a part of the Kingdom of God, then wherever you go, you have the chance to start to change the world into the kind of place that God wants it to be! Just like a little bit of yeast leavens the whole batch, one person working on behalf of Jesus Christ can change everything around them! Oh, it doesn’t happen right away. It takes bread quite a while to rise, after all. And the results aren’t always very dramatic. But a little bit of yeast in the middle of the flour always changes the bread that comes out in the end.

Let me give you an example. When Denise graduated from college, she was hired by a large corporation. She worked in her own little cubicle doing… whatever it was that she did. The atmosphere in her office wasn’t terribly inviting. People didn’t socialize very much. They kept to themselves, and only interacted at the weekly progress meetings of their group. After a few weeks, Denise felt that she didn’t really know any of them, even though she knew their names and worked shoulder to shoulder – or cubicle to cubicle – with them. One morning Denise marched in with a big box of fresh doughnuts from her local Tim Horton’s coffee shop. (Denise had good taste in coffee!) She sent out an email to all the folks in nearby cubicles. “Are you hungry? Come on down to Denise’s cubicle for breakfast. It’s on me!” Curious heads began to peer in. “You brought doughnuts? Really? Did you bring chocolate ones? Can I have one?” No one had ever done that before. Of course, none of them lingered too long – they were in the middle of their morning’s work, after all. But Denise found out that Florence was worrying about a sick child at home; and that Mark loved fishing; and that Kathy was going through a very messy divorce. Things began to mysteriously appear in those cubicles – a frozen casserole for Florence, a small bouquet of flowers for Kathy, and a card with a rainbow trout on its cover that wished Mark a great vacation. Slowly the atmosphere in that office began to change. People got to know one another. People started caring about one another. People started helping one another. “The Kingdom of God is like yeast that a woman hid in three measures of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

Now, you can’t always see change that quickly. Sometimes, in fact, you can’t see any change at all, even though you are acting like yeast with all your might. You might even get kind of discouraged after a while. But don’t worry. The yeast of the Kingdom of God is working even if we can’t see it doing its thing. The littlest things send up little bubbles of the Kingdom. If you are honest in the midst of a culture that’s fixated on lies… look, there goes a bubble up from your yeast. When you behave unselfishly when everyone else is looking out for himself… oops, there goes another bubble of the Kingdom! And when you send up a quick, silent prayer for help on behalf of someone who needs it… why, it’s more action from your Kingdom yeast! All of these things sends a little bubble of God’s Kingdom out into the world. And with enough little bubbles… why, pretty soon, people start to notice that something is different. They may not know what it is… but we do. It’s God’s Kingdom breaking through into the world, bit by bit. It’s all because of those little bits of yeast, all quietly doing their thing in the big flour barrel of the world.

So, brand new graduates of the class of 2013 – accept our congratulations on your accomplishment! Look forward to the new challenges that you will face, and the new obstacles that you will overcome! And then, go out there and be yeast for the Kingdom of God. Believe me, it will be the most important work that you will ever do!

With Us in Battle

This sermon is dedicated to the men and women who serve our country, especially those who have died in the line of duty. I am convinced that God doesn't take a side in our political squabbles, but that God DOES stay at the right hand of every soldier, sailor, or pilot who is ready to die for the greater good. Let us never forget them.

 “Where is God in the midst of war?” That is a real issue for every soldier, sailor, or pilot who professes to being a Christian. Enlisted men and women who wrestle with that question keep military chaplains very busy, indeed. For some Christians, that answer is easy. Jesus taught us to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us, and to turn the other cheek. So, some folks conclude that God wants nothing to do with war. These people are pacifists, and they refuse to fight under any circumstances.

But two facts argue against this conclusion. The first is that our world isn’t what it is supposed to be. While God wants only peace and wholeness for all people, there is always somebody who wants to take away what we have for their own benefit. Sometimes that means that we have to take up arms against them. Imagine what our world would be like now if we had allowed Hitler to continue with his ambitions!

And the second fact is that God has always been connected with war in one way or another. The Old Testament is full of stories about God fighting on behalf of God’s people. These stories are rooted in the ancient belief that every tribe had its own god; and that one of the jobs of that god was to go to battle on behalf of the people who worshipped him. Victory in battle proved that you worshipped the biggest, baddest god on the block. Israel was no different. They relied on Yahweh to lead them into war and to fight for them, as this morning’s reading makes clear (Deuteronomy 20:1-4). That belief was a part of their faith until the Babylonian Exile forced them to reexamine it. (But that’s a topic for another sermon…)

Lots of people still believe this way. The news these days is full of reports about radical Muslims praying to Allah as they kill those who don’t believe exactly as they do. The terrorists who destroyed the World Trade Center on 9/11 did just that. But some Christians buy into this kind of thinking, too. Because we believe that God loves us (which God does) and because we see ourselves as faithful Christians (which, in most cases, we are), we fall into the trap of believing that God takes our side in armed conflicts. And that I’m not so sure about.

Even the portions of the Old Testament that are convinced that God goes to war for us have some stories tucked in out-of-the-way corners that cause us to think again. The book of Joshua, for example, contains a little story about an angel who meets Joshua on the evening of a crucial battle. Now, if anyone had the right to expect God to fight for him, it was Joshua! He had been commissioned by Moses himself to take command of the Israelites after Moses’ death. Under Joshua’s leadership, God’s people crossed the Jordan River; and Joshua led them in battle against the Canaanites in order to have a safe home in the Promised Land. On the eve of the battle of Jericho – a battle that, by the way, he was fighting on God’s orders – Joshua had a very puzzling encounter. This is how the book of Joshua tells it: “Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, ‘Are you for us or for our enemies?’ ‘Neither,’ he replied, ‘but as commander of the army of the Lord I have come.’” (Joshua 5:13-14)  Neither for them nor against them? Why, then, is that angel there at all? Maybe it was to remind Joshua that God is far above our political concerns. God is above “taking sides.” Taking sides is for fifth-graders on the playground who are caught up in the middle of petty squabbles. We expect fifth-graders to choose up sides, and to side with their friends. But God? God doesn’t take sides. On the contrary, we are the ones who are called by God to take a side! In the battles that we fight, are we for God… or are we against God?

A story is told about President Abraham Lincoln as he struggled with difficult decisions in the midst of the Civil War. He had invited a group of leaders to the White House to help him in making some of those decisions; and at the end of the meeting one of those leaders asked, “Mr. President, can we pray that God stays on our side?” Lincoln’s wise response was, “Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side. My greatest concern is whether we are on God's side.” No, God doesn’t take sides. After all, both North and South were convinced that God was on their side! On the contrary, we are the ones who are called to take sides; and we are called to be on God’s side.

Are we on God’s side? In particular, are we on God’s side when we must go to war? Surely every soldier is on God’s side when he or she is willing to lay down his life for the good of her country! In the Gospel of John Jesus says, “Greater love has no one than this, that they are willing to lay down their life for their friends.” Sacrifice for a greater good is surely taking the side of a God who has sacrificed himself for our welfare!

And that brings us back to our original question, “Where is God in the midst of war?” If we can’t say that God is on our side politically when we go to war; then where is God, anyway? The story of Joshua meeting the angel might give us a clue to the answer. Although God may not be leading us in battle, fighting for us or against us, God presence will surely be at the side of every single soldier. God certainly is on our side when we are ready to sacrifice ourselves for a greater good. Wherever our soldiers are called to fight; whatever they are called to do in battle; and whether they live or die, God has promised to be at their side.

God has been at the side of our soldiers down throughout our history.

God stood at Lexington when the Minutemen took their first shots at the British, and God shivered with Washington’s troops in the bitter cold of Valley Forge.
God was with our troops at Fort McHenry as the British rained bombs on it; and God stood next to Francis Scott Key on a ship in the harbor as he wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”
God took cover with the Yanks in the Bloody Lane at Antietam, and charged bravely forward with the Rebels under General Pickett at Gettysburg.
God endured the mud of the trenches during World War I, and walked among the poppies in Flanders Fields where our dead are buried.
God flew with the pilots of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, and waded ashore with our GIs into the hell that was Omaha Beach.
God sweltered in the steaming jungle rivers of Vietnam, and endured captivity with our prisoners of war in the Hanoi Hilton.
And even today, God stands guard duty in the burning heat of the deserts of Afghanistan.

Wherever there are soldiers, sailors, or pilots who are willing to lay down their lives for those of us at home, God is there, too – with them in battle, in life and in death.

Thanks be to God for his presence with them.
And thanks to them for their courage and their commitment. We will never forget.

Together at Last

What can I say about Pentecost that has not already been said? Probably not very much... but most folks have not noticed the connection between Babel and Pentecost.This sermon presents Pentecost as a step towards reversing the curse of Babel. I hope it rings true for you!

Once upon a time in a faraway country, there lived a people whose lives were filled with joy. There was a good reason for that. While most people argue at least some of the time, these people never argued! They listened to one another. They were considerate of one another. They helped one another. And their city was beautiful. It was landscaped with flowers that bloomed in every season – snowdrops in the winter, tulips and daffodils in the spring, daylilies and zinnias and marigolds in the summer, and mums in the fall. All the businesses were well maintained; and all the homes were inviting. Better still, everyone was welcome there! It was a place that you entered as a visitor, but left as a friend.

But one day, the people of that city decided that something was missing. They decided that the folks in a neighboring city had a nicer church than they did. Specifically, the church in the next city had a higher steeple than theirs. Now, to be sure, their church was beautiful. It had stained glass windows that celebrated their heritage, a large kitchen where delicious meals could be prepared, and a brand new playground for any child who wanted to use it. But… that steeple was so puny! Something had to be done. And so, they started to build a new steeple. With every day of work, they looked forward to the day when their steeple would be higher than the steeple over there. As the steeple rose higher, so did the noses of the people who were building it. They started to compare themselves with the folks over in that city; and, of course, that other city always came out second best. The people over there weren’t as friendly as they were. The people over there weren’t as clean as they were. The people over there… well, they just weren’t as good. One thing led to another, and pretty soon the religion of the people over there didn’t seem to be very good, either. Folks started to say that when their steeple was finished, it would rise all the way to heaven itself. They would have a direct line to God, because they deserved it.

One day, when the steeple was rising into the sky at a pretty good clip, God looked down into that beautiful city; and God didn’t like what he saw. Where friendship and hospitality and help had once flourished, now there was only pride and competition and suspicion. God was not at all pleased. God decided that this had to stop. And so, the next morning when the workers came to work on the steeple, a remarkable thing had happened. Overnight, their ability to understand each other had disappeared. “Boker tov,” said Moishe to Andre; and Andre wondered why Moishe hadn’t said, “Good morning,” like he did every other day. “Bonjour,” replied Andre; and Moishe wondered the very same thing. When Hans gave Sergei a hammer and Sergei replied, “Spasibo,” Hans was insulted. He had no idea that Sergei had just said “Thank you.” When Hans asked, “Was ist das?” Sergei was insulted, too. A frosty silence settled over the worksite as the men glared suspiciously at one another. And things really blew apart when Luca tried to encourage everyone to get going by saying happily, “Andiamo! Andiamo!” Tempers flared, insults were thrown back and forth – and so were a few monkey wrenches. Because nobody could understand anybody else, everyone thought that they were the butt of a joke that everybody else was in on.

That steeple never did get finished. And it didn’t take very long for the city to fall apart, as well. Andre and his family moved over here, Sergei and his family moved over there, and Luca’s family moved completely out of the area. That beautiful, welcoming city was left in ruins with the steeple only half built. By the way, the name of that city was “Babel,” and the book of Genesis calls that steeple a “tower.” Now, I doubt if things happened in Babel quite the way that I’ve told the story this morning; but one thing about the story is the same. Ever since the time of Babel, we humans have misunderstood each other. And because we misunderstand one another, we are suspicious of each other, we exclude one another, and we keep pretty much to ourselves. After all, that guy over there might have an ulterior motive. There’s no sense in helping him! The legacy of the tower persists to this day.

But Pentecost started to change all that. We didn’t read the Pentecost story out of the book of Acts today; but I’ll bet that you know it anyway. On Pentecost, the Spirit of God moved through the group of Jesus’ disciples like a mighty wind, and the fire of the Spirit gave them the ability to communicate with folks who didn’t speak their language! On Pentecost, Moishe could suddenly understand Andre again; and Sergei could understand Hans; and when Luca shouted, “Andiamo,” everybody understood that he was saying, “Come on, guys! It’s time to get a move on!” On the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God began to reverse the tragedy of Babel. The message of God’s love in Jesus Christ was no longer confined to a few men and women in a back-water area of Galilee in the tiny country of Israel. No, beginning with Pentecost, folks from all around the world understood what Jesus’ disciples were saying. The gospel message spread like ripples in a pond, and expanded outward until it reached every corner of the world.

That story isn’t over yet. We still aren’t one family, the way that God intends it to be. We still don’t communicate with one another very well, even with cell phones and the internet and the ability to see each other on Skype from anywhere in the world. We still don’t understand one another. We’re still suspicious of one another, we still exclude one another, and we still keep pretty much to ourselves. But all that is going to change one day!

This morning’s reading from Revelation (21:9-14, 22-27; 22:1-5) describes that day. It shows us the New Jerusalem, the Holy City, coming down from heaven, ready for all the saints to live there in peace and harmony. It’s the most beautiful city that anyone can imagine! The author of Revelation describes it as having walls that look like precious stones, and streets that are paved with gold. A river with the Water of Life is flowing right down Broadway; and the big tree in the town square is the Tree of Life. That tree heals anyone who eats its fruit, and it reconciles all the folks who sit together in its shade. There won’t be any more pain; any more sorrow; or any more suffering In the New Jerusalem. The curse of Babel will be reversed once and for all. Suspicion and misunderstanding and exclusion will be a thing of the past. The blessing of Pentecost will be complete as everyone lives together in harmony. And anybody who wants to live there will be welcome! How will it happen; and when will it happen? I don’t have a clue! But I’m convinced it will happen one day, and that time itself will end in peace and joy. After all, that’s the end of the great vision of Revelation. God’s kingdom will be complete, and God will live right in the middle of his people. We’ll all be together at last – you and me and all those people we have ever loved – together with God.

May that day come soon! Come, Lord Jesus!

Two Women

This sermon considers two images of women in the book of Revelation: the great whore of Babylon and the Bride of Christ. They actually represent communities that are still around today. Which community do you belong to?

From time to time, I hear somebody claim that there aren’t any notable women in the Bible.  Now, I’m not sure what Bible they’re reading; but it sure isn’t the one that I’m reading! The Bible that I read contains more notable women than there are girls at a junior high sock hop! There are all kinds of women in those texts!

The women that we hear the most about are the ones who gave birth to famous children: Isaac’s mother Sarah; Rachel and Leah, the mothers of the 12 Israelite patriarchs; and Jesus’ mother Mary, to name just a few. They’re standing over there in one corner of the sock hop, dressed very modestly; waiting for a nice boy to ask them to dance. No tattoos or spiked hair for this bunch! They’re very traditional, you know.

Over in another corner are some other women; but they aren’t famous for their families. No, indeed. These women are the biblical equivalent of Rosie the Riveter. Deborah is over there, the woman who went to war and whipped a whole enemy army back in the time of the judges. Esther is there, too. She turned the tables on a nogoodnik named Haman who wanted to kill all the Jews. She got Haman killed, instead. And Judith is over there with them. Judith has a book of her own in the apocrypha, the texts that made it into the Roman Catholic Bible, but not the one that we Protestants use. Judith weaseled her way into the tent of an enemy general by… well, promising him “favors.” But then she got him drunk and lopped off his head with his own sword. The boys tend to stay away from the girls in that corner of the sock hop. They’re a little bit afraid of them.

And, of course, there are the girls who are on the sock hop committee itself. They’re running back and forth filling the punch bowl and putting out more potato chips when the dish is empty. You know who they are: women like Lazarus’ sister Martha in the gospels; and Dorcas in the books of Acts. They’re the “doers,” the women who serve others in a more traditional way. No sock hop would be a success without women like them!

But there’s another type of woman in the Bible as well. This woman isn’t a real flesh-and-blood woman; she’s a symbol of a whole community. And of all the women in the Bible, these women may be some of the most important. After all, Sarah and Deborah and Dorcas are historical figures. They’re bound forever in their own time. But the symbolic women are still around even today. Two of the most famous ones are right here in the book of Revelation – the prostitute of Babylon (chapter 17); and the bride of Christ (chapter 21). You can’t find women who are more different than these two. From the way they dress to their priorities to the fellows they run around with, they’re as different as night and day.

The first woman that we meet in this morning’s reading is called “Babylon the Great;” and she is a knockout. She looks like a young Elizabeth Taylor! (For you younger folks who have never seen Elizabeth Taylor, Katherine Zeta-Jones will work just as well.) She’s gotten herself all gussied up for that special someone; but her tastes run more to WalMart than Saks Fifth Avenue.  She is dressed in bright red and purple, as gaudy as any circus clown. She’s all decked out in gold and pearls; but if we take a closer look, we’ll see that it’s just cheap costume jewelry. And to top it off, she’s drunk! She is holding a cup in her hand – the ancient equivalent of a shot glass – and it’s scribbled all over with graffiti that you might see on the wall of an abandoned warehouse. She’s been drinking the contents of that cup; and we’re told that it’s the blood of the saints. This woman may look good, but she’s just trailer park trash. She’s got no taste and no morals. She’s all gussied up for whoever will throw the most cash her way. And she has never bothered to marry anybody; she just runs around with whoever looks the best at the moment!

This woman is a symbol – a symbol of the people who care about the things of this world. The author of Revelation meant for her to symbolize the Roman Empire. There are clues in the text that tell us that. “The woman you saw,” it says, “is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth. The seven heads of the beast on which she sits are the seven hills of the city.” (17:7, 9, 18) That’s Rome's nickname – the city on seven hills. Today, that woman stands for folks who are only interested in money and fame and power. They won't commit to anybody but themselves; and they’ll hang out with anybody who will give them some of the status that they want so badly.

And there’s another woman in this text; and she couldn’t be more different than our painted floozy. This second woman is the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem, the community of saints. She’s beautiful, too – but not because she wears caked-on layers of rouge and mascara. No, she’s a classic beauty like Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Her beauty isn’t painted on; it shines through. If we had read just a bit farther, we would have heard a description of that beauty. She is as beautiful as a diamond that sparkles with the light of God. She is adorned with all kinds of precious gems – sapphires, emeralds, onyx, topaz, amethysts, and pearls – and they’re the real thing! She’s has made herself beautiful for her beloved husband, and she’s spared no expense in doing it. Even the beauty of Princess Diana and Duchess Kate pales in comparison with this bride. But then, this bride isn’t just marrying a duke or a prince; this bride is getting ready to marry the King of Kings!

She is a symbol, too – a symbol of God’s people. Revelation compares her to a New Jerusalem, ready to begin married life with the Lamb himself. God’s people have prepared themselves just like a bride prepares herself for her wedding. What a contrast with the prostitute Babylon! While she is all gussied up to see what she can get, this community has made itself as beautiful as possible preparing for its union with God. In Revelation’s day, this bride symbolized the saints of the Church. And that’s what she stands for yet today – the great community of saints on earth and in heaven who hold fast to Jesus Christ.

Now, there’s good news in this text. That good news is that God loves his church better than a husband loves his wife. And the even better news is that God doesn’t love us for what we’ve done. God doesn’t love us because we have great kids, or cook the greatest meal in town, or even are on the board of directors of the local bank. God loves us because of who we are – his creations, made in his image, each one with unique gifts and graces. Nobody much loves that other woman. They just take what they can get from her and toss her aside like yesterday’s newspaper. How sad.

But it does beg the question of how can we possibly prepare ourselves for the God who loves us so much. God isn’t interested in money or power. After all, he became poor so that we could become rich, and gave up all the power in the universe to become human right along with us. And our beloved doesn’t care about public opinion. God loves us anyway, no matter how we behave or what poor choices we make! How can we make ourselves beautiful enough for someone like that?  The reality is that no matter how hard we work to make ourselves attractive, we can never be good enough for God!

But remember that God loves us no matter how we look! God loves us regardless of whether we’ve wearing the right dress style or matching jewelry or the right kind of shoes. And when everything is ready and we finally meet the Groom; after we have walked down the aisle and are standing before the Lamb, I know what we will hear. We will hear what every bride wants to hear on her wedding day! On that day, God will gaze into our eyes with infinite love. He will take us by the hand, and lean down so that no one hears him but us. And then, he will whisper gently: “My beloved – I have waited so long for this day. I love you so very much. You are so beautiful.”