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Pentecost 7 Proper 12A RCL July 27, 2014

Posted on July 27, 2014 by Beth Crane

Genesis 29:15-28
Psalm 105:1-11, 45b
Romans 8: 26-39
Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52

In our first reading, Jacob has cheated his older brother, Esau, out of their father’s blessing and Esau’s birthright as the elder son. He has fled to Haran in Mesopotamia, where his ancestor Abraham had lived before he followed God’s guidance and journeyed to the land of Canaan.

Jacob’s kinsman, Laban, graciously says that Jacob should not have to work for nothing and offers to pay him. Jacob has fallen in love with Rachel and offers to work for seven years in order to earn Rachel’s hand in marriage.

The seven years pass and Jacob asks to marry Rachel. Laban appears to be keeping his agreement, but he tricks Jacob and gives Leah in marriage. In those days and in that culture, there was a great feast for the wedding, the bride was clothed in layers of veils, and she went into the bridal tent in the dark of night. When morning dawns, Jacob realizes that he has married Leah instead of Rachel.  

Laban now explains that it is their custom to give the elder daughter in marriage first, but he generously offers that, if Jacob will work seven more years, he can have Rachel, and that marriage can take place in a week.

This is a culture in which women were viewed as possessions to be given away by their fathers, and the patriarchs held absolute power. But it is a part of the history of God’s people. The story also involves a reversal for Jacob, the Supplanter, the crafty cheater.  He is outsmarted by Laban. On the other hand, he is not eager to return home, where Esau is still hunting him to kill him. He is happy to spend fourteen years accumulating wives and livestock.

In our passage from the Letter to the Romans, Paul reaches the height of his theological and literary powers. We can all identify with what he is talking about. How many times have we tried to find words to pray in the face of events and situations which make us speechless? When we think of children risking their lives to get from El Salvador or Guatemala or Honduras to the borders of the United States, riding “The Beast,” the train that can carry them to new hope but from which they can fall to a horrible death; or when we think of an airplane being shot down over Eastern Ukraine and innocent people dying; or when we think of people being killed in the struggle between Israel and Hamas; all of these things can and do overwhelm us. Then, when we add personal situations in which people are struggling with illness or tragedy, we simply cannot find words.

Paul tells us that God is so close to us, God’s Holy Spirit is so much with us, that the Spirit “intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” Paul also reminds us that “All things work together for good for those who love God.” Sometimes there seem to be so many bad things happening that we find it almost impossible to see the good.  In our own lives, we can look back on an event that seemed so full of brokenness that we wondered how good could come out of it, but we find that it has made us stronger. It has deepened and tempered our faith and made us better people. Indeed, “All things work for good for those who love God.”

And, finally, Paul assures us so powerfully that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate us from the love of Christ. These words are so central to our faith that they are placed in the burial service. This passage is one of the scriptures we can chose for the burial of a loved one. These words give us so much hope in the face of so much brokenness in our world.

We end with some wonderful parables of Jesus. We could spend hours on these parables alone. The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed. It is the smallest of seeds and yet it can grow into a bush, a shrub, that is as high as the eye of a horse. That is a pretty impressive shrub. Big things and good things can start very small.  I have no doubt that Jesus would agree that small is beautiful.

The kingdom is like yeast. It is hidden. You cannot see it. Yet it turns a lump of flour into delicious and nourishing bread. The shalom of God is like treasure hidden in a field or like a pearl of great price. When you find it, it is so precious that you will give everything you have in order to get it. The image of the net takes us back to the wheat and the tares growing together. God will sort it out at the end. Our job is to leave the sorting to God and just follow the good every step of the way.

What are these lessons telling us? Well, Jacob is on a learning curve. He isn’t the only shrewd guy around. He is learning patience. He is learning love. He is growing. He is being transformed, slowly but surely.

Paul is telling us that we have nothing to fear. God is with us. God helps us at every turn. God loves us with a love that goes beyond our understanding.

The kingdom of God, the shalom of God, is growing all the time. It is not splashy. It does not take out big ads. It does not do a lot of self-promotion. Wherever people are given a drink of water, wherever and whenever people are valued and cared for, whenever someone chooses honesty over trickery, integrity over shiftiness, compassion over tyranny, the shalom of God is advanced. It almost happens without our noticing. Good news does not usually hit the front page.

Slowly and often silently, the shalom of God is growing and transforming the world, like a mustard seed, like yeast.  Let’s do everything we can to help God build that shalom. Amen.

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Pentecost 6 Proper 11A RCL July 20. 2014

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Beth Crane

Genesis 28:10-19a
Psalm 139:1-11, 22-23
Romans 8:12-25
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

In our first reading today, Jacob is running for his life. He has cheated his older brother, Esau, out of his father’s blessing and his birthright. Esau is following him, and when he finds Jacob, he will kill him. Jacob is heading for his father’s hometown of Haran.

He stops for the night, takes a stone, and places it under his head for a pillow. During the night, he has a dream or a vision of a ladder coming down from heaven with angels going up and down the ladder.

Jacob’s name means “The Supplanter.” He is crafty and deceitful. He clothed himself in animal skins to fool his father, Isaac, into thinking Jacob was the oldest son, Esau, and that is how he got Isaac to give him his blessing. When Esau came in from hunting and was ravenous, Jacob had some lentil stew simmering on the fire and Esau sold Jacob his birthright for that lentil stew. In older translations, this delectable meal was called a “mess of pottage.”

All his life, Jacob has been scheming to get ahead. Jacob has been thinking about no one but Jacob. But now he has an encounter with God. When he wakes up, he knows that angels are real and that there is Someone much bigger than he is. He builds a monument and names the place Beth El—House of the Lord. Beth means house in Hebrew and El is the first syllable of Elohim, meaning, “The Lord.” Jacob is now aware of God’s presence in his life. He is beginning a process of transformation.

Psalm 139 reinforces Jacob’s experience. No matter where we go, God is there. God is always present in our lives. Every place is Beth El, God’s house.

In our epistle, St. Paul has been talking about life in the flesh and life in the spirit. Paul reminds us of the amazing fact that we are children of God. Because of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, we can call the God who made the heavens and the earth “Abba.” As you know, “Abba” is an intimate term. It means “Daddy” or “Dad” or “Mom” or “Mama.” God is our loving parent. Paul tells us that there are many sufferings in our world, but that there is reason for hope because God is building God’s shalom, God’s kingdom of peace, harmony and wholeness.

In our gospel for today, we have Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the tares. A man sows good seed in his field. During the night an enemy comes and plants weeds. The servants want to go right out and pull those weeds, but the Master tells them not to do that. They should let the wheat and the weeds grow together, and at the harvest they will be separated.

In our world, there are good things going on and there are bad things going on. In each of us, there are parts of us which are great and there is room for growth. We have only to look at Jacob, the main character in our first lesson. He is a cheat and a liar. But God has chosen him. God is going to work with him. Jacob will grow in faith and he will become a different and better person. We all have our flaws. Yet God loves us and asks us to be the bearers of the Good News.

In our world, and sometimes in the Church, we can be like the servants who want to go right out there and tear out those weeds. In the early Church, there was a big argument about whether only Jews could follow Jesus. Because of Peter’s vision, the Church realized that the faith was for all people. In our country, it took a painful and costly struggle and Civil War for us to realize that slavery was wrong, One person cannot own another. Then we went through a struggle to allow women to go to college and to vote. Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. It is not enough to free the slaves. We must treat all people as human beings worthy of respect. Every person can vote; ride busses, trains, planes; go to restaurants, use bathrooms. We humans have a tendency to want to exclude some people, and that is not part of God’s shalom.

So we have to be careful before we tear out what we think are weeds. We have to listen for God’s voice. We are called to be builders, not destroyers. We need to remember that God is the ultimate judge.

Everything comes back to God. I would like to go back to Jacob’s encounter with God, and I want to share with you a song based on that experience. It can also apply to our present experience. I am just going to read you the words.

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place

I can feel His mighty power and His grace.\I can hear the brush of angels’ wings; I see glory on each face.

Surely the presence of the Lord is in this place.

 

In the midst of His children, the Lord said He would be.

It doesn’t take very many. It can be just two or three.

And I feel that same sweet spirit that I’ve felt oft times before,

Surely I can say that I’ve been with the Lord.

 

Chorus

 

There’s a holy hush around us as God’s glory fills this place.

I’ve touched the hem of His garment; I can almost feel His face;

And my heart is overflowing with the fullness of His joy;

I know without a doubt that I’ve been with the Lord.

 

Chorus

 

May we take God’s presence with us wherever we go.  May we seek and do God’s will. Amen.

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Lent 5A RCL April 6, 2014

Posted on April 6, 2014 by Beth Crane

Ezekiel 37:1-14
Psalm 130
Romans 8:6-11
John 11: 1-45

Have you ever faced a time when you felt the worst had happened, that things just could not go downhill any further? That is the situation we see in our opening lesson today. The mighty Babylonian Empire has come in and conquered the people of God. The temple has been leveled, the people have been deported to Babylon. Biblical scholar Gene M. Tucker tells us that Ezekiel was one of the first to be deported, Ezekiel was a priest who is known as the prophet to the exiles.

There they were, in an alien land. They had some freedom, enough to worship in their own way, but they had lost the land God had given them, and the center of their worship, the temple, was a pile of rubble. In short, they had lost everything. But they gathered together, and they prayed, and they studied the scriptures, and God gave Ezekiel this shatteringly powerful and life-giving vision. God would breathe life into God’s people. Indeed, they did return home. They rebuilt the temple; they rebuilt their lives, and they flourished. Whenever we feel discouraged about the future of the Church or the ability of communities of faithful people to rise up out of the ashes, we need to remember this vision which came true and which comes true over and over again.

As we turn to our gospel for today, we recall that last week Jesus healed the man who had been born blind. The religious authorities were not pleased with this. Then Jesus began to teach that he is the good shepherd. There was a confrontation with the authorities, and a crowd actually gathered to stone Jesus, so he went back across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing. In other words, he withdrew from Jerusalem for safety.

Now Jesus hears that Lazarus is ill. Mary and Martha send a message. We need to pause and meditate on this. Jesus has withdrawn to a safe place, or a safer place. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus live in Bethany, only two miles from Jerusalem. Jesus has spent many wonderful hours with these dear friends. Mary has sat at his feet in the formal position of a disciple. Martha has served many delicious meals. These are Jesus’ dearest friends. Their home has been a haven for him. But that is no longer true. Any place that near Jerusalem is going to be dangerous for Jesus.

At first, Jesus hears that Lazarus is ill. He delays the trip to Bethany. He knows it will be dangerous. But then he says to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” The disciples remind Jesus that people had tried to stone him. Jesus says that their friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but this is a way of saying that he realizes that Lazarus has died. He knows that he must go to Bethany. Then Thomas says, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.” Thomas knows how dangerous this is going to be. We are facing the death of Lazarus, and we are also facing the death of our Lord.

When they are still two miles away, Martha comes out to meet them. She is hopping mad. “Lord, if you had been here, he wouldn’t have died!” With Martha, you always know what she is thinking. And then she expresses her faith in Jesus. And he says those words which have rung down through the ages, “I am the resurrection and the life Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live….” Mary comes out to see him and says the same thing, “Lord, if only you had been here, this would not have happened.” Mary is more sad than angry. She is in tears.

The depth of what has happened grips Jesus, One of his best friends has died. He cries over this loss. He cries in front of all the mourners who have followed Mary out to meet him. They go to the tomb. Martha points out the facts: there will be a stench. Lazarus has been dead for four days

It is a cave, They take away the stone. Jesus prays. Then he calls to his dear friend, “Lazarus! Come out!” And Lazarus stumbles out of the cave, wrapped in his grave cloths. Then Jesus issues the command, “Unbind him, and let him go!” Jesus calls to each of us, this last Sunday before the beginning of Holy Week. He calls us by name, because he is the good shepherd, and he knows us and we know him. He calls us to move from death to life, He calls us to allow him to free us from anything that might bind us or imprison us or enslave us.

In our epistle for today, St. Paul talks about the difference between lifein the flesh and life in the spirit. When Paul refers to “the flesh,” he does not mean our human body. As Christians, we do not see the body as bad or evil. Herbert O’Driscoll has an excellent way of explaining what Paul means by “the flesh.: O’Driscoll writes, “To be in the flesh means for Paul that one is living out our flawed human nature without reaching for the grace that lies beyond ourselves. The spirit that lives in such a life is a solitary spirit. Paul points to another way of living. This is the way of reaching out beyond ourselves for a Spirit that comes from Christ.” (The Word Today, Year A, Volume 2, p. 42.) Our goal is to allow Christ to live in us and through us.

All of our lessons today remind us that God can and does bring life out of death. This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday, and we will be with our Lord as he is welcomed as a hero, and we will also be with him as he makes a decision to live out the power of love and self-offering rather than operate on the basis of human and earthly power.

What are these lessons telling us? No situation is hopeless. God can and does bring new life to communities of faith and to communities in general. Seeking our Lord’s will and asking his grace to do his will brings us to life in the spirit, life on a new level.

May we continue to walk the Way of the Cross with our Lord. May our faith grow and deepen with every step. Amen.

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The Day of Pentecost

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Beth Crane

Acts 2:1-21
Psalm 104: 24-34, 35b
Romans 8: 14-17
John 14: 8-17 (25-27)

Jesus has told the disciples that he will send an Advocate, the Holy Spirit, to lead them jnto all truth. They are in Jerusalem. It is the Jewish feast of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover. People are gathered from all around the Mediterranean Sea, from all the known world.

The disciples are waiting, praying, open, expectant. The Spirit comes to them as a mighty wind, like the desert ruach, which molds and shapes the sand. Flames dance over the disciples’ heads That is why we wear red today. Suddenly these Galileans burst out with all the languages of the world, speaking heart to heart, dissolving all differences, sharing the Good News about Jesus in languages each member of the multitude gathered for the feast can understand.

Some people are deeply touched. Others are dubious. They think the disciples are drunk. Peter preaches an amazing sermon, telling them that God is pouring out God’s spirit on all flesh, as the prophet Joel foretold.

This year, we have been focusing on God’s family, the whole human family—how God breaks through humanly constructed barriers and makes us one. The Feast of Pentecost is the birthday of the Church, and we are all called to extend God’s love to all the world.

In his Letter to the Romans, St. Paul writes, “All who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.” So many religious systems have presented God as someone very scary, someone who is keeping track of all our sins and errors, who is, as David Brown says, “out to gunch us.”

This is not the God we worship. We are beloved children of God. We can call God “Abba,” Daddy, or Mommy, Papa or Mom. Remember how our gospel for last week told us how God loves us as much as  God loves God’s son, Jesus? God is a God of love, not a God of fear or hatred. Let us hope and pray that religious leaders will stop preaching fear of a God who is out to punish us. God’s family includes everyone. That’s what the Feast of Pentecost is all about.

In our gospel, we are privileged to be with the disciples and Jesus in the Upper Room. Jesus has washed their feet. Judas has left to carry out the betrayal. Time is growing short.

Perhaps Philip senses this. Sometimes when we are looking into the face of God, we sense that we are confronting a great mystery, something that we can never hope to fully understand, because it is so big and so deep and so complex, and our minds are not large enough to grasp some things. Which one of us can grasp the depth and breadth of God’s love? This may be what Philip is feeling. He’s trying to get Jesus to boil everything down to something simple and clear. So he says,  “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus says, “If you have seen me, you have seen God. God is with you now. Look at my life, all the things I have done while we have been together.” And I imagine they reflect on this, his teaching, and healing, and preaching—the love, the patience, the gentleness, the courage, everything.  I think they and we can see that Jesus is God walking the face of the earth, living a human life. And now Jesus is saying that he wants us to do the same things that he has done. He is saying to us and them, “Live as I live, do as I do.” And he says that the disciples and we will do even greater things than he has done because he is going to send the Spirit to help us.  And then Jesus gives us his peace, not the fleeting peace that the world can sometimes give, but his shalom, his vision of the wholeness and the healing of creation, the shalom that he is calling us to build. Where everyone has enough food and water, has decent shelter, clothing, medical care and good work to do, the shalom in which we honor and heal the creation that God has entrusted to our care.

God’s Holy Spirit is God at work in us and in the world. The Holy Spirit gives us the gifts and tools we need to share God’s love with the world, to speak God’s love heart to heart, and remember, the heart in Judeo-Christian thought is not only the emotions, but the will, the mind, the ethical center in each of us.

As wonderful as it was to have Jesus here on earth as a human being, he had to leave and send us the Spirit. When he was on earth, he traveled around a very small area. True, he touched hearts and lives everywhere he went. But the Feast Of Pentecost tells us that now he is everywhere. Wherever two or three gather in his name, he is there. Sometimes sharing God’s love doesn’t mean speaking in verbal languages, as happened on the first Pentecost. Sometimes sharing God’s love means listening. Sometimes it means tending to someone’s wounds, either physical or emotional or spiritual. Sometimes it’s planting a garden or building a school or helping a group of women turn their weaving into a business. Whatever it may be that we are called to do, today is the day we celebrate God’s giving us all the gifts we need to do it.

Pentecost didn’t happen just once, It’s happening all the time, as we realize that we have gifts we didn’t even know we had, and as we use those gifts.

On this wonderful feast day, may we thank God for all the love and all the gifts which God is constantly pouring out. Thank you, Lord, for making us your Body here on earth and for giving us the gifts to share your love, healing, and forgiveness.

Amen.

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