St. Paul has an answer for us: “You know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep.” I always get a kick out of all these “wake up” readings on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend, just as we’re starting to clear the triptofan from our sleepy systems.
Some of us might relate to the rest of Paul’s comments too: “…let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness, not in debauchery and licentiousness, not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” I don’t know if scarfing leftover stuffing qualifies as “gratifying the desires of the flesh,” but be warned!
In Sunday's Gospel, Jesus also talks about eating and drinking – amid dire warnings of destruction:
“For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away; so too will be the coming of the Son of Man.”
Advent I, which usually falls on Thanksgiving weekend, is a rude awakening, a jolt back to reality. Get ready. “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour."
I confess I've always viewed Christ's impending return as more scary than joyous. Today, just for the heck of it, let’s reflect on what might be good about Christ coming back to ring down the curtain and roll up the sidewalks on this earthly life of ours. Do you fear that, or anticipate it? What would you not mind parting with? What would you miss very much?
If contemplating the apocalypse is not your fancy today, here’s a more “here and now” question to ponder: what in your life do you think you need to wake up to? In what areas are you kind of snoozing, coasting, not really conscious, and you sense it’s time to become more aware and intentional? How might you become more focused in those areas?
One memorable Advent 5 o'clock service in Bethany, we placed alarm clocks all over set to go off at random times, just to reinforce the “wake up!” theme of the season. It was fun, as well as highly annoying.
For better or worse, life presents us plenty of alarm clocks, and we can rarely predict when they’ll buzz or clang. What’s waking you up lately? Don’t hit the snooze button…
11-28-13 - Thanksgiving Blessings
I wish you a happy and healthy and blessed Thanksgiving -
wherever and with whomever you spend it.
If you miss somebody today, give thanks for them and their life in yours.
If you're annoyed with someone today - imagine missing them, and give thanks.
If you lack something today, give thanks for what is before you and ahead.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
There's a good chance God is giving thanks for you...
And here's a feasting clip, should you not have had enough of tables laden with food - the last 13 minutes of Babette's Feast, in which a beautiful, perfect meal reconciles long-time enemies and restores lost hopes.
Just like that meal we have in church on Sundays...
wherever and with whomever you spend it.
If you miss somebody today, give thanks for them and their life in yours.
If you're annoyed with someone today - imagine missing them, and give thanks.
If you lack something today, give thanks for what is before you and ahead.
Give thanks in all circumstances.
There's a good chance God is giving thanks for you...
And here's a feasting clip, should you not have had enough of tables laden with food - the last 13 minutes of Babette's Feast, in which a beautiful, perfect meal reconciles long-time enemies and restores lost hopes.
Just like that meal we have in church on Sundays...
11-27-13 - Food and Family
Ask most Americans what they associate with Thanksgiving, and most will answer, “Food and family.” Some might add, “And stress.” This is one holiday when making the food sometimes causes stress, which we then seek to relieve by eating too much food – a nice little cycle that leads nowhere good (throw in too much alcohol, and things really get interesting…)
Back when I was planning alternative worship every week, I wrote a lot of sermon dramas. One of the most fun – and elaborate – was at Thanksgiving time one year, called “The Martha Show.” It depicted a TV cooking show featuring a famous Martha. Not Martha of Westport, though the character shared many of her attributes. This one was Martha of Bethany, whose dinner party for Jesus got her so stressed out she became royally ticked off at her sister for not helping. (Sound like a Thanksgiving scene you’ve seen?)
And in the midst of prepping for her Thanksgiving show, an unexpected guest arrives early. Not what our Martha wanted. She wanted to make a beautiful dinner for Jesus, not with Jesus. And she wants her sister to help, damn it! But Mary recognizes that when this guest comes to dinner, you need to stop what you’re doing and receive the gifts he brings.
We can get so busy preparing for Thanksgiving that we barely appreciate the time with our loved ones when it arrives. Same thing, in a broader way, can happen during Advent. In a season meant to help us prepare to receive the gift of Christ in our lives, we sometimes get so busy preparing we miss the fact that he’s already showed up.
Jesus’ words to Martha in the gospel story are simple and pointed: “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
If you are happy and at peace today, hallelujah – spread some of that peace to someone stressed.
And if you’re worrying and fretting about anything today, stop and imagine Jesus walking into whatever place you’re in, and saying, “Hey, hey, you are worried and fretting. You don’t need to. You have everything you need – I’m here.” Try that on, in prayer, in your imagination today. One of God’s promises is peace when we pray, and presence, and power.
Wherever you’re spending Thanksgiving this year, and whoever you’re spending it with, invite Jesus to the table. That’s kind of what it means to say grace – to invoke his holy presence. See if it’s different being aware of him there.
And don’t forget to pass him the stuffing – they didn’t have that in Judea back in the day…
Back when I was planning alternative worship every week, I wrote a lot of sermon dramas. One of the most fun – and elaborate – was at Thanksgiving time one year, called “The Martha Show.” It depicted a TV cooking show featuring a famous Martha. Not Martha of Westport, though the character shared many of her attributes. This one was Martha of Bethany, whose dinner party for Jesus got her so stressed out she became royally ticked off at her sister for not helping. (Sound like a Thanksgiving scene you’ve seen?)
And in the midst of prepping for her Thanksgiving show, an unexpected guest arrives early. Not what our Martha wanted. She wanted to make a beautiful dinner for Jesus, not with Jesus. And she wants her sister to help, damn it! But Mary recognizes that when this guest comes to dinner, you need to stop what you’re doing and receive the gifts he brings.
We can get so busy preparing for Thanksgiving that we barely appreciate the time with our loved ones when it arrives. Same thing, in a broader way, can happen during Advent. In a season meant to help us prepare to receive the gift of Christ in our lives, we sometimes get so busy preparing we miss the fact that he’s already showed up.
Jesus’ words to Martha in the gospel story are simple and pointed: “Martha, Martha, you are worried about many things. Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part, and it will not be taken away from her.”
If you are happy and at peace today, hallelujah – spread some of that peace to someone stressed.
And if you’re worrying and fretting about anything today, stop and imagine Jesus walking into whatever place you’re in, and saying, “Hey, hey, you are worried and fretting. You don’t need to. You have everything you need – I’m here.” Try that on, in prayer, in your imagination today. One of God’s promises is peace when we pray, and presence, and power.
Wherever you’re spending Thanksgiving this year, and whoever you’re spending it with, invite Jesus to the table. That’s kind of what it means to say grace – to invoke his holy presence. See if it’s different being aware of him there.
And don’t forget to pass him the stuffing – they didn’t have that in Judea back in the day…
11-26-13 - Preemptive Gratitude
It’s Tuesday. What are you thankful for?
“But we don’t have to be thankful till Thursday…,” you might be thinking.
I did. But I like to be ahead of the curve, so why not start the thankfulness part of Thanksgiving a few days ahead? Then we’ll be all warmed up when the Day comes around.
I’m only half-joking… it occurred to me that thankfulness can be a great antidote to stress. If we’re devoting at least part of our attention to awareness of what we’re grateful for, there’s that much less space available to worry about what we’ve done, not done, or don’t know when we’ll get done.
So today, as you wander a grocery store – give thanks for all the food and all the people who got it there, and all the people who work there, and the resources to buy it…
Or if you’re cooking, you might give thanks for the ingredients, the recipes and where they came from, other meals like this; the people who will be gathering around the table… what else?
Or if you’re packing, give thanks for the clothing and the circumstances by which you came to own those things, when you’ve worn it before… what else?
Or if you’re cleaning – give thanks for the rooms and who lives in them and the blessings they’ve hosted; and if you’re preparing to see family, there are some thank yous…
Or if you’re traveling, give thanks for the technology that makes it possible to get from here to there.. and if getting from here to there ends up taking longer than we hoped or planned, I guess we’ll have that much more time to think of things to be grateful for.
Well, I don’t have to tell you how to be grateful! You’re probably better at it than I am. The “gratitude as stress reducer” might just catch on, though… it was a new thought to me.
As soon as I feel a stressful thought coming on, I’m going to acknowledge it, and then chase it with a grateful one. Let you know how I do!
“But we don’t have to be thankful till Thursday…,” you might be thinking.
I did. But I like to be ahead of the curve, so why not start the thankfulness part of Thanksgiving a few days ahead? Then we’ll be all warmed up when the Day comes around.
I’m only half-joking… it occurred to me that thankfulness can be a great antidote to stress. If we’re devoting at least part of our attention to awareness of what we’re grateful for, there’s that much less space available to worry about what we’ve done, not done, or don’t know when we’ll get done.
So today, as you wander a grocery store – give thanks for all the food and all the people who got it there, and all the people who work there, and the resources to buy it…
Or if you’re cooking, you might give thanks for the ingredients, the recipes and where they came from, other meals like this; the people who will be gathering around the table… what else?
Or if you’re packing, give thanks for the clothing and the circumstances by which you came to own those things, when you’ve worn it before… what else?
Or if you’re cleaning – give thanks for the rooms and who lives in them and the blessings they’ve hosted; and if you’re preparing to see family, there are some thank yous…
Or if you’re traveling, give thanks for the technology that makes it possible to get from here to there.. and if getting from here to there ends up taking longer than we hoped or planned, I guess we’ll have that much more time to think of things to be grateful for.
Well, I don’t have to tell you how to be grateful! You’re probably better at it than I am. The “gratitude as stress reducer” might just catch on, though… it was a new thought to me.
As soon as I feel a stressful thought coming on, I’m going to acknowledge it, and then chase it with a grateful one. Let you know how I do!
11-25-13 - God in the Midst
Next Sunday we begin the holy season of Advent, advent meaning, “the approaching” – the approaching in-breaking realm of God, the approaching celebration of Christ’s incarnation, the ever-approaching promised Second Coming of Christ in glory to usher in the New Age.
Before Sunday comes around, though, we have a huge cultural celebration of Thanksgiving, which is not without its spiritual elements. And before that, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food, if we’re hosting, or pack and prep if we’re traveling. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by a full and, God-willing, relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season of Advent.
Many different themes, and maybe not so much time for spiritual reflection. I intend to keep our Water Daily flowing, but lightly, and less tied to Sunday’s readings than usual.
So today let’s just focus on preparation and anticipation for the week. We tend to prepare for things we either dread or look forward to – and for some, Thanksgiving has elements of both. Maybe we can find a way to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations this week. I believe God wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the store and the kitchen (maybe not out loud…), and remember why you participate in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales…knock yourself out, I guess. (But remember, Local Store Saturday…)
For many Americans, this is a week of blessings and stressings like few others in our calendar year. Let’s move through it as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are blessed. We can make this a week more blessed than stressed.
Before Sunday comes around, though, we have a huge cultural celebration of Thanksgiving, which is not without its spiritual elements. And before that, we have the scramble to finish work, clean houses and buy food, if we’re hosting, or pack and prep if we’re traveling. In other words, this will be, for many, a stressful three days followed by a full and, God-willing, relaxing three days, after which we plunge into the holy season of Advent.
Many different themes, and maybe not so much time for spiritual reflection. I intend to keep our Water Daily flowing, but lightly, and less tied to Sunday’s readings than usual.
So today let’s just focus on preparation and anticipation for the week. We tend to prepare for things we either dread or look forward to – and for some, Thanksgiving has elements of both. Maybe we can find a way to bring the Holy Spirit into our preparations this week. I believe God wants to indwell and transform our every-day lives, not only our formal worship experiences.
So… if you’re working harder than usual to cram five days’ work into two or three, may I suggest you set an alarm every hour or two. When it goes off, take three minutes away from your tasks to breathe, re-center and tell God what it is you’re working on, and where you’d like some help.
If you’re shopping and cooking, you might make a game of talking to Jesus in the store and the kitchen (maybe not out loud…), and remember why you participate in this ritual of food and family.
If you’re traveling, you might need extra grace and extra peace – so pack some along as you get things ready for your suitcase, as you clean up your house and commit yourself to the road. Ask the God of peace to fill you and make you an agent of peace in any stress or frenzy you may encounter in trying to get from A to B.
And if your big plan is to hit the Friday sales…knock yourself out, I guess. (But remember, Local Store Saturday…)
For many Americans, this is a week of blessings and stressings like few others in our calendar year. Let’s move through it as children of God, beloved and bounded in time and space, not trying to do more than we can or should. Gratitude flows from a balanced perspective on who we are, who we are not, and how we are blessed. We can make this a week more blessed than stressed.
11-22-13 - Kingdom of Light
As we end this week exploring Christ, our crucified King, let’s give a look to the second reading appointed for Sunday, a passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians. It is dense in theology and rich in imagery. In fact, “image” is what Paul calls Jesus, the Son of God:
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.
The image of the invisible God – making God visible to us. That is the heart of the Christian understanding of God’s love, that God did not remain aloof from an estranged humanity, but found a way for us to see and know God, now in part, but in greater fullness as we grow into the likeness of Christ. So, Christ is the image of the invisible God, and we take on the image of the crucified and risen Christ… and thus we, made in God’s image, recover that likeness because Christ has made God known, and we can know Christ.
He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Rescued from the power of darkness. Transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son. I think of refugees on the run, rescued and transferred into a safe realm.
Of course, many’s the day it looks like darkness is still winning, and our rescue is delayed. Today we mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a day in our history when, for many, darkness won and quenched the bright light of youthful hope and possibility which JFK had instilled in so many. And a certain trajectory of darkness does seem to have coursed from that horrible act to more violence, violence which has become endemic to our life as Americans, from which we have not managed to get free.
As those who claim citizenship in the Kingdom of Christ, we have a mission, a responsibility, to shed light everywhere we can. Paul has a prayer and a prescription for us: May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Today, in prayer, you might sit with that sentence.
Reflect on the places you feel weak; what does it feel like to accept the strength that comes from God’s glorious power?
Reflect on the things you feel you have to endure; ask the Holy Spirit to give you the patience you have been promised as a spiritual gift.
Reflect on where your joy is found lately, or might be found, and give thanks to that One who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
The saints in the light – that’s us. That’s our calling and our description, our hope and our destiny. And when we bring our light together, the darkness doesn’t stand a chance.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.
The image of the invisible God – making God visible to us. That is the heart of the Christian understanding of God’s love, that God did not remain aloof from an estranged humanity, but found a way for us to see and know God, now in part, but in greater fullness as we grow into the likeness of Christ. So, Christ is the image of the invisible God, and we take on the image of the crucified and risen Christ… and thus we, made in God’s image, recover that likeness because Christ has made God known, and we can know Christ.
He has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. Rescued from the power of darkness. Transferred into the kingdom of his beloved Son. I think of refugees on the run, rescued and transferred into a safe realm.
Of course, many’s the day it looks like darkness is still winning, and our rescue is delayed. Today we mark the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a day in our history when, for many, darkness won and quenched the bright light of youthful hope and possibility which JFK had instilled in so many. And a certain trajectory of darkness does seem to have coursed from that horrible act to more violence, violence which has become endemic to our life as Americans, from which we have not managed to get free.
As those who claim citizenship in the Kingdom of Christ, we have a mission, a responsibility, to shed light everywhere we can. Paul has a prayer and a prescription for us: May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
Today, in prayer, you might sit with that sentence.
Reflect on the places you feel weak; what does it feel like to accept the strength that comes from God’s glorious power?
Reflect on the things you feel you have to endure; ask the Holy Spirit to give you the patience you have been promised as a spiritual gift.
Reflect on where your joy is found lately, or might be found, and give thanks to that One who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light.
The saints in the light – that’s us. That’s our calling and our description, our hope and our destiny. And when we bring our light together, the darkness doesn’t stand a chance.
11-21-13 - Paradise When?
Popular culture tells us that, at the moment of our death, we will “cross over” to our eternal dwelling, where we are welcomed by those we have loved in this world. This notion has been greatly aided by popular songs, like Far Side Banks of Jordan. (Here, with June and Johnny…)
Biblical scholars suggest a more sober view, in line with many prophetic texts about the “Day of the Lord,” Jesus’ own references to the great sorting at the final judgment, and Paul’s eloquent depiction of the sleeping dead rising “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (I Cor. 15:52; No, it’s not the zombi-pocalypse... it's resurrection.) That interpretation suggests that at death we go into rest like the “sleep” mode on our computers, to be reactivated when the “trumpet shall sound.”
And here is Jesus, confusing us all with this promise to the repentant thief dying next to him on the cross: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” It is a bit surreal, this recorded conversation among three men dying a ghastly, torturous death: One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
This week, I heard Charlie Grady, who runs an anti-violence initiative in Bridgeport, speak. He spent 27 years in law enforcement, during which he arrested some pretty dangerous criminals. He was in a restaurant recently,and saw two men he’d sent to jail come in. Soon enough they spotted him and clearly recognized him. He began to sweat. Then the waiter approached and said, “Those guys would like to buy your table a round of drinks.” He accepted, and then raised his glass to them. At that point they came over and said, “We know how you were just doing your job. We were the ones doing wrong – it was your job to catch us and put us away. We know that now; we’re not the same people.”
That’s quite a story! That’s pretty much where this thief is. Hanging there next to a man he knows to be good and holy gives him a true perspective on himself. And when we see ourselves clearly, we start to see a lot of things more clearly. That is the beginning of repentance – clear vision. It’s not everyone else’s fault, even if some have contributed. It’s us.
And when we speak from that truth, we create space for grace to come back to us. Even on the cross, Jesus is able to extend that grace to a fellow-sufferer. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” At the end of this day, all three of them will be dead. They will no longer dwell in this world. In the face of that, in brutal pain, Jesus promises not only paradise, but his own presence. What a promise.
Do you have a confession to make, or one to hear? Has anyone been trying to get your attention to let you know they have had a change of heart, they truly are sorry – and maybe you haven’t been able to give them the chance to show it? A risk, yes, but your forgiveness is a big gift to grant or withhold. As recipients of grace, can we extend it?
One day we will be with Jesus in whatever realm it is that we call Paradise, eternal life. Whether that is at the moment of death, or at some other time in a realm that is timeless, we will know that we are with him. As Gillian Welch sings, in terms less sentimental than June and Johnny, “I will know my savior when I come to him by the mark where the nails have been.”
Biblical scholars suggest a more sober view, in line with many prophetic texts about the “Day of the Lord,” Jesus’ own references to the great sorting at the final judgment, and Paul’s eloquent depiction of the sleeping dead rising “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.” (I Cor. 15:52; No, it’s not the zombi-pocalypse... it's resurrection.) That interpretation suggests that at death we go into rest like the “sleep” mode on our computers, to be reactivated when the “trumpet shall sound.”
And here is Jesus, confusing us all with this promise to the repentant thief dying next to him on the cross: “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” It is a bit surreal, this recorded conversation among three men dying a ghastly, torturous death: One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, "Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!" But the other rebuked him, saying, "Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong." Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom."
This week, I heard Charlie Grady, who runs an anti-violence initiative in Bridgeport, speak. He spent 27 years in law enforcement, during which he arrested some pretty dangerous criminals. He was in a restaurant recently,and saw two men he’d sent to jail come in. Soon enough they spotted him and clearly recognized him. He began to sweat. Then the waiter approached and said, “Those guys would like to buy your table a round of drinks.” He accepted, and then raised his glass to them. At that point they came over and said, “We know how you were just doing your job. We were the ones doing wrong – it was your job to catch us and put us away. We know that now; we’re not the same people.”
That’s quite a story! That’s pretty much where this thief is. Hanging there next to a man he knows to be good and holy gives him a true perspective on himself. And when we see ourselves clearly, we start to see a lot of things more clearly. That is the beginning of repentance – clear vision. It’s not everyone else’s fault, even if some have contributed. It’s us.
And when we speak from that truth, we create space for grace to come back to us. Even on the cross, Jesus is able to extend that grace to a fellow-sufferer. “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” At the end of this day, all three of them will be dead. They will no longer dwell in this world. In the face of that, in brutal pain, Jesus promises not only paradise, but his own presence. What a promise.
Do you have a confession to make, or one to hear? Has anyone been trying to get your attention to let you know they have had a change of heart, they truly are sorry – and maybe you haven’t been able to give them the chance to show it? A risk, yes, but your forgiveness is a big gift to grant or withhold. As recipients of grace, can we extend it?
One day we will be with Jesus in whatever realm it is that we call Paradise, eternal life. Whether that is at the moment of death, or at some other time in a realm that is timeless, we will know that we are with him. As Gillian Welch sings, in terms less sentimental than June and Johnny, “I will know my savior when I come to him by the mark where the nails have been.”
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