Abraham and the Three Angels by Marc Chagall

Before I get to the scripture readings for today, what I’d like to first talk about is the next eleven weeks of worship (including today).   With Mark and Ann Elyse here this academic year, our two interns from Princeton Seminary—there has not been an opportunity for an uninterrupted stretch in worship where I could put together a longer series on a particular topic.  (Not that Mark and Ann Elyse’s wonderful sermons were any sort of a real interruption!).   But for eleven weeks, before I go on vacation later in the summer, there is this opportunity.  I have been thinking and praying for a while about what to do with this time, as I see it as a gift, an opportunity and a way to think through some of the larger issues about our life together in church these days through this medium of preaching and to share some of the ideas, thoughts and prayers I have been sharing these last few months.

As we all know, this institution we love and that is a huge part of so many of our lives, the Church; is undergoing great and momentous changes.   Something new is taking shape around us.  The church as we have known it for all of our lives is going away and something new will take its place.  What that will be no one really knows.  Some, probably most, of us here today will not see what that will be.  I like to imagine that my daughter might see it.  These changes are happening around the world in every single Christian community.  We are just one tiny slice of the changes that are taking place.

But for Presbyterians in our denomination here’s the deal:  In 1968 we had 4.8 million members in the United States.  That was the last year we experienced growth.  Every year since then, for the last 45 years, we have been in decline.  In 2011 we were at 1.9 million members nationwide.   The genius Albert Einstein once said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  These sorts of numbers hold true for every other major denomination in our country.

So, by Einstein’s definition, we must be what?  It’s a bit harsh to say we are insane, but for the most part what we’ve been expecting to happen and what we’ve been expecting we would do has been the same.  We all know the story: we don’t like much change in how we “do church.”  One of my friends, a thinker about trends in the larger church and what will need to change for us to grow and become the new thing that the Spirit is already preparing around us says that what we’ll need to ask of our members is more engagement, more giving (and not just more financial giving, much more giving of time and personal expertise), and changes in our habits and behaviors.  Growth in the new church will not be numbers of people in the pews.  In some places it might.   I hope we will cease to count “membership” in the current ways we do today. Instead it will mean a different kind of growth.  The church will shrink numerically, but it will become stronger in its lived out expression of discipleship.

Spiritual growth, deepening discipleship.  Getting closer to Jesus than ever before.

Jesus didn’t say, “Go out and make more members of an institution.”  Jesus said

Go out and make disciples of all nations.  Baptize them.  And teach them to follow everything that I have taught you.

Are we there yet?  Are we following everything that Jesus taught us?  Because Jesus asks us to give up everything we have, everything—and follow him.  Are you ready to be like the first disciples, who were fisherman—but rather than lay down real fishing nets (I don’t think we have any full-time fisherman in here today do we?)—are you ready to lay down the many tangled and intertwined nets that constitute your life, your family’s life, your life’s achievements—to follow Jesus into an unknown future?  Can you walk away from all of it, or a little bit of it each day?  It’s a spiritual question I know I struggle with in my life.  Theologian Dallas Willard who died just this past week said that,

The greatest issue facing the world today, with all its heartbreaking needs, is whether those who, by profession or culture, are identified as ‘Christians’ will become disciples — students, apprentices, practitioners — of Jesus Christ, steadily learning from him how to live the life of the Kingdom of the Heaven into every corner of human existence.

Are we doing that?  Are we living God’s kingdom that Jesus taught us about into every corner of the world?   Every corner of the little worlds we each inhabit?

In my May letter to the congregation I announced this idea of this sermon series by re-telling a story and asking the question: Are we doing things in church that make us happy or are we doing things in church that make God happy?  Are we pushing outside our walls to the needs that are literally on the doorstep of this building and addressing them?  Are we being the church of Jesus Christ?  Do we want to be?  Because in this transitional time that will be with all of us here today the rest of our lives, if we want to get on board with where the church of the future—our beloved church is headed, I think it is going to ask of all of us big changes and lots of growth that will push every single one of us to dig very deep into our lives and give many things up for the sake of following Jesus—and in doing so, building the new church for the beloved children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren we already have, or that we are excited to welcome into our lives some day in the future.  Are we ready for that?

Big questions.

Grayde Parsons, the Stated Clerk of our General Assembly, the highest elected office in our denomination along with others has begun to outline a scriptural map of how to see where we have gone, where we are, and where we might be going.   It’s not complete, nor perfect, and it isn’t a guarantee, but that is where I’d like to start today—and then we’ll unravel this together in worship and conversation over the next eleven weeks.   It will be a bit of time before we arrive in the New Testament, we’ll be listening to some of the Hebrew Scriptures only for a few weeks here.  So listen with me for our story, the story of our ancestors: Abraham and Sarah in Genesis:

Genesis 18: 1-15 & Genesis 21: 1-7

We know the story well, Sarah laughs at God.   God shows up in Abraham and Sarah’s life when they are at an advanced age, well beyond the age of having children.  This is a great story for Mother’s Day—how many parents out there have laughed silently to themselves, thinking that something that was being told to them was impossible—only to have it disproven?  Sarah’s laughter isn’t about her knowledge of biology; of course she is too old to be of childbearing age.  Sarah laughs because she doesn’t believe that God has more to offer her family.  How often do we think that in the church?  That God has nothing new to offer us?

We can understand her reasoning, God doesn’t even show up as God.  No booming voice of thunder from the clouds.  No burning bush.   No drama.  God arrives as three people, out of nowhere, strangers.  Abraham is sitting in the entrance to his tent and three strangers show up.  They seem to speak with one voice.   Where Sarah laughs, Abraham is modeling what Israelite hospitality looks like.   No matter it was the hottest part of the day and he had been sitting in the coolest, most comfortable part of his tent, protected from the desert sun.  He took off running in 100+ heat to find a calf and prepare it for eating.  He started a fire in the middle of the day.  That’s not what you do if you are smart in the desert.   He ran to meet them, and when he got to them, even though he did not know them he bowed low to the ground as a sign of respect.   And they offered him and Sarah some good news, and for Sarah, a bit of fear.

Paul writes to the Hebrew church:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Abraham, many, many, many years before Paul knows this truth deep down at the core of his being.  You never know if the stranger in your midst is instead an angel.  The cover art on our bulletin is from the great Russian Jewish artist Marc Chagall.  In Chagall’s rendering of this story the angels sitting at Abraham’s table have wings.   It’s a beautiful image of three angels, with Abraham and Sarah coming with food to serve them.

And finally in Genesis 21 Isaac is born.  Sarah says that

God has brought laughter to me.

Her laughter is no longer the “Ha, ha…let’s see about that” kind of laughter.  It is the joyful laughter that you only have when something extraordinary has come into your life.  It’s the kind of uninhibited laughter that children have.  It’s a beautiful laughter.

A few ideas for the new way church might look from these stories.

1. Like Abraham and Sarah, we too are guilty of the age-old sin of having a limited view of what God’s capabilities are.  Usually the limits of God’s capabilities line up quite neatly with the limits and lines of what a comfortable existence for us (with maybe a tiny bit of stretching thrown in for good measure) looks like.  Yes, Abraham and Sarah wanted a child.  But who really wants to be pregnant and then care for a baby when you are old?  No one really does.  Living into the new places our church is going means getting honest about what limitations we are putting on God without even realizing it, and then stopping that behavior.
2. Hospitality.  We tend in the church today, to usually practice hospitality when it suits us and we have time for it.  When those conditions are met, we excel at hospitality.   We have great potlucks and there is never a shortage of food.   But we plan the potlucks don’t we?  We schedule them weeks, sometimes months in advance.  We have committee meetings to make sure all is organized so we have good hospitality.  But what about when hospitality is inconvenient?  What about when hospitality means that the strangers showing up on your doorstep really are strangers?  What about when hospitality means taking a really big risk?   What are we missing out on, what angels are we avoiding, what Good News from God are we not hearing when we limit our hospitality?  Abraham’s actions invite some soul-searching questions for us today.  What is the difference between human hospitality and hospitality towards God?  Should we schedule it, or should it be at the core of our being?
3. Laughter.  Initially Sarah’s laughter is a disbelieving laughter.  But then it turns to joyful laughter.  Joy and laughter are qualities that the church of the future will most certainly in my mind have.   Discipleship is hard work, but when practiced with others, in community—laughter is quick to follow.   This in-between time that will not end in our lifetimes is full of stress and worry for us here in the Church.  Change is hard.   But if we forget laughter, we will not be tending to our souls.

Let me close today with a story.   Thursday night I was conducting the final interviews with six other members of our Presbytery for our new Transitional Leader.   The name should be public, God-willing in about a week and a half.   We were sitting in a circle and next to the candidates there was a chair that remained empty throughout the interviews.   We had inadvertently set an extra seat in the circle.  No one said anything about that chair, but I looked at it several times in the night.  I kept thinking to myself, after meditating on these scripture readings that that seat was for the Angel.   And my silent prayer throughout the interviews was that the Angel was in that seat and that we were being accompanied and helped in our time of need.

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.

May God’s unseen Angels be with you and with me in the coming days of our week.  Amen.  Amen.

+Art from Ecstatic Expression

Week One:

Genesis 18: 1-15 & Genesis 21: 1-7

Laughing with God

Week Two:

Exodus 2: 1-10 & Exodus 3: 1-12

Babies, Baskets and Bushes

Week Three:

Exodus 14 & Exodus 20

Changing the Contract

Week Four:

The Things that Trap Us

Deuteronomy 6: 1-9 & Deuteronomy 34

Week Five:

Acts 2 

The Power that Traps Us

Week Six:

Acts 4: 32 – 5: 11

The Stuff that Traps Us

Week Seven:

Acts 7: 54- 8:1 & Acts 11: 1-18

Last Days in Town

Week 8: 

Acts 11: 19-30

The New and Different Place

Week 9:

Proverbs 3: 1-12 & Mark 5: 1-20

Taming the Demons

Week 10:

Psalm 139 & Mark 6: 1-13

Called by God into Something New

Week 11:

Isaiah 43 & Mark 6: 45-52

The New Thing

One big kuddo I will give to the BOP is that they have been serving Tastycakes at the breaks, something I know is bad for us (and they told us we need to take good care of ourselves), but hey…everything in moderation right?!   I made a point of telling the staff at the BOP how much I appreciate this detail but that next time I come back I also want water ice.   The staff at the BOP seemed to think this was a good idea.  Water ice is healthier than Tastycakes.

Full disclosure:  They have also been serving healthy snacks and I ate two large servings of spinach tonight to cancel out the Tastycakes I might or might not have consumed around 2PM this afternoon.

The BOP is also anti-bottled water at their meetings, they refuse to have it around or offered, anywhere.  That’s a good thing.  I think bottled water is horrible so I liked this a lot too.

Today consisted of a few things:

1. Pre-meeting presentation on the Benefits Plan and its various features you get as a plan participant.   It was long but very interesting.  I learned a bunch of stuff I didn’t know about our healthcare plan, our 403(b) and other benefits.    The slides for this presentation are here.   At first it just seemed like a sale’s pitch but as it went on I enjoyed it a great deal.
2. Then we had a break for lunch.   My regional rep, Allison Seed found me and reminded me I had agreed to say grace for lunch.  She had emailed me last week and in my forgetfulness I thought I had agreed to saying grace at lunch tomorrow (Thursday), which wasn’t right.   So I said grace.  That seemed to go well.   Here is my grace.   Thanks Allison, that was nice of you to ask!
3. Ok.  So then we had the loooonnnngggg afternoon.   We had worship.  Then Gradye Parsons gave a presentation on the state and future of the church which was very good. Comments from the BOP President.  Then a lengthy presentation on the status of our healthcare plan from VP Pat Haines (I give her points for stamina, wow.).  And then we had time for a break and then to talk with others about what we heard/are thinking and then for big group Q&A and feedback.  All the slides from these presentations are online and the BOP videoed everything and the videos will be online in a few weeks after the other RBC.
4. Then dinner.

The issues:

So, the BOP put up these two slides.  They detail in the millions how much is coming in and how much is going out from our healthcare plan.  What the deficits are.  And what the actuaries predict will be left in the fund reserves.   These are if we do nothing and stay as we are currently.  Note the drop off.

And these are the options on the table right now:

A few take-aways from today:

• At the beginning of the Q&A a young clergywoman (with an adorable baby on her hip) asked about she had issues with searching for a call when she’s got a baby, is married and another on the way.  So she “costs more” than a single person searching with Options B and C and could then be not hired as a result.   Those on the panel didn’t answer her question, just moved onto the next one.   I got up and about 10 questions later alluded to the same issue, used the word “discrimination” and said to the panel who at this point had indicated they hoped we’d talk about this issue in the talk back sessions tomorrow that I wanted them to respond today, and how to work with Presbyteries, etc. to address this problem.   The response was a few things:  1) They feel like they are to deal with the plan, and the Presbytery the issues like this one in the call process.  But there are no good answers on how to do this.  2)  Pat Haines, VP admitted that she is upset to hear a number of clergywomen talk about this problem of discrimination and she didn’t realize it is a such problem for us.  She’s Lutheran, BTW.   3)  There is no good answer for this issue.   This isn’t just with clergywomen of course, but all sorts of folks in the call process and the lack of protections, etc.   Ok, so that isn’t yet clear.
• After we spoke (and I think another clergywoman did) a few men got up to speak as well about this issue.  One identified himself as a new grandfather, his daughter is a clergywoman.  He said he wants more grandkids but thinks that his daughter is being discouraged from having more kids by this situation and her employment viability.  And he wonders if marriage is being discouraged too, since that is a class of a dependent and so you cost more to a church searching.  He thinks we shouldn’t be discouraging babies or marriage.  A clergyman got up and talked about issues his wife, a clergywoman is facing.  And a few others did.  I was very impressed by this and I think that this sort of grassroots feedback is something the BOP clearly needed to hear.  They were listening carefully.   Pat Haines especially.
• This all speaks to the reason to be here and give in person feedback.  I truly got the impression today that the BOP hasn’t ever had this much interaction with the members (us) and that this has changed how they think about what’s going on.  And today I saw that in the Q&A.  I have no evidence other than my one day here to back up that idea, but that’s the sense I got.
• Other great things were brought up:  single-payer healthcare, plan parity, burdens on congregations, etc.   Various responses.
• A lot of people felt that Option A is still our best bet because it keeps parity and equality.   A number of good arguments were made for this.

So tomorrow more time to talk, hear feedback from the BOP and then an update on our investments, etc.

I am very tired but feel like this was a very productive day.  I learned quite a few things I didn’t know.  And there is good energy here and I feel like everyone was listened to, even if where we are going is totally unclear.  A good day.

Sidenote:  I agree with the comment today from the Stated Clerk in my Presbytery: “If we had single-payer in this country, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.”  That’s why our GA policy is for this.  Perhaps this whole thing will help us get back to our roots of activism and advocacy as Presbyterians for that justice and equity in healthcare not just for us but for everyone we are supposed to be seeking.  If we don’t start doing that, then I say shame on us for being selfish, and we are no longer doing what we say we believe in.  We need to get our own house in order to be sure, but we must at the same time get much more interested than we are so far in justice and equity in healthcare for others.  

Great and Loving God, Saving Christ, Gentle Spirit:

For our time together these two days,

we ask your blessing.

For all of those who faithfully serve us at the Board of Pensions,

we ask your blessing.

For our larger church,

we ask your blessing.

For our hurting and violence-filled world,

we ask your blessing.

For our families, friends, communities and congregations we left to be here,

we ask your blessing.

For those who are serving us these days, we ask your blessing.

Hotel workers,

those who bring us a cup of coffee in the morning,

or a glass of wine at night,

Those who we do not see but whose work sustains us

Those who prepared for our arrival in this place

Those who prepared our food that we will eat today,

May we remember them and remember that our calling is to Christ’s justice.

For this food and all the hands that have touched it from the farms to the table,

we ask your blessing.

Especially we pray for those in Boston this week,

Recovering from such terror and pain.

May we remember that this level of violence

is commonplace in so many parts in this world.

May we be strengthened in our resolve to be peacemakers.

May our time together strengthen us

For service in Your church.

Help us to create ever-growing connections to each other.

Bless this time we share.

In Christ’s name we pray.

Amen and Amen.

I wanted to state what my “operating principles” are heading into the meeting.  I spent some time the last few days organizing my thoughts for myself and decided to share them with others:

1. We are a church not a corporation.
2. The community nature of our plan is its centerpiece.  It should not be tampered with.  “Business” explanations about why this is a “good” or “prudent” idea do not in my opinion pass the theological smell test.
3. Our official policy position of the PC(USA) is that single-payer healthcare for all people (not just Presbyterians) is a “moral imperative.”  That is who we are.  This is a theological position rooted in our faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  This is gospel values.
4. Pitting various groups in the church up against each other is not acceptable behavior.   We seem to do this a lot in the PC(USA).  I think it drives people away from being with us, and I refuse to participate in that sort of a thing.
5. We already have a discriminatory call system in the PC(USA) that is in many places ignored or swept under the rug. Our hiring system is not covered by legal protections that most other professions enjoy.  It is not acceptable in my mind since we already do not adequately or systemically deal with age/race/gender/sexual discrimination to now add economics to the mix to an even greater degree.  See this policy paper (Neither Poverty nor Riches) that was also approved by our General Assembly for more information.
6. Disagreements are part of being a Presbyterian.  We value intellect and a good debate.  I enjoy this as much as most Presbyterians I know do.  Good debating sharpens our intellect and helps us clarify who we are theologically and spiritually.  Mud-slinging, name-calling and belittling are not acceptable.  It is possible to state your opinion without doing this.  I am still concerned about this issue.
7. I believe that as a Presbyterian who loves the church I have been a part of since my birth means I lovingly challenge the church when it is not living up to its values.  I have always conducted myself in this fashion and grew up in a congregation that held this as a leadership value.   There is nothing wrong with asking questions.
8. I do not believe the “urgency” argument that is before us.  I do believe we have serious problems from a long and short term cost perspective that must be dealt with.  I am in favor of taking no action for another year while we do more study and seek greater input from across our denomination to the real issues our Board of Pensions is facing.   Good decisions are never made in a rush.  We have enough money in the PC(USA) to “buy us” another year to understand what it is we are contemplating doing, the pros and cons, to have wider conversation in the church and to engage the wisdom of our next General Assembly.  I know that those who work at the Board have been dealing with these issues and trying to work out solutions longer than the rest of us and I am deeply, deeply grateful for what they do on our behalf.  But allowing another year for those of us who are plan participants to understand more, get more questions answered, have longer time than most have had so far with their Regional Reps, and so forth I think would be a step in the right direction, would engender so much trust and “buy-in” to whatever decisions we make–and it would allow us to feel like we are all in this together.   I know that so many Presbyterians who are in the plan (and local Sessions and COM’s) still do not understand what is happening and do not understand the implications for the long and the short term.  Despite the outreach that has already happened, it is just not sinking in yet and I believe more time is needed for this critical step.  A year would be so meaningful and would offer so much more in the way of these opportunities.
9. I shaped when talking about medical care, costs, insurance companies, etc. by my personal experiences since 2007.   Having walked through a terrible experience of major illness in my family, dealing with insurance companies of all types (and not just our BC/BS Presbyterian plan), litigation, etc. I do not believe that insurance companies are fair, equitable or just institutions.   They are guided by only one thing: profit margins.  Right behind that is “risk management.”   They have bought our legal system in most places in this country, and have even “bought” their consumers/clients.  I do not believe that catering to these “corporate” values is compatible with Christian values.   They are a “necessary evil” with which we have to contend in our lives—but we are the church and our values are different.   I believe we should make our decisions about our medical plan in a different way.  We need more time to untangle ourselves from these relationships, get answers and understand the devil we are dancing with.  When I say this I mean insurance companies and the financial institution/power-structure they have created.
10. I am taking the following biblical story with me into the next two days—the story of the feeding of the five thousand in Mark’s Gospel (Mark 6: 30-44).  We have many of the hallmarks in this story.  We are anxious.  In that anxiety we behave like sheep without a shepherd.  We need re-teaching.  We believe there is no longer enough to go around and we need to start limiting what people can and cannot have.  We do not trust.  Jesus invites us to be with him, to trust him, and to not buy into the myth of scarcity that is around us.   We are doing this not just in the PC(USA) these days but everywhere we look.  And we are harming others with our anxiety and our need to hoard and protect.   This lesson on abundance, trust and radical welcome from Jesus is the one I am listening to this week.

I plan to write blog posts, etc. about my experiences in Philadelphia this Wednesday and Thursday.   I’ve been praying deeply about going to Philadelphia and for the conversations that will happen there in the next two days.  Please pray for everyone who will be there having conversation together.

Peace.

Palm Sunday March 24, 2013

Watchung Avenue Presbyterian Church

Luke 19: 28-40 & Luke 22: 47-53

2059[1].

That is the number of US troops who have died in Afghanistan since 2001.

Precious lives lost.

2923[2].

That is the number of people in our country who have been killed by gun violence since December 14, 2012 when in Newtown, CT 20 children were massacred in their classroom.[3]

51 of them have been children.

147 of them have been teenagers.

Precious lives lost.

In just a little over three months more people have died at the hand of a gun in our country than the number of US troops, people who signed up to go into battle—who have died on the battlefield in 12 years in Afghanistan.

It is statically safer to be in Afghanistan as a U.S. citizen than on the streets, shopping malls, houses of worship, classrooms or homes of our country.

Jesus said:  “I came that you might have life, and have it in abundance.” (John 10)

Is this what abundant life looks like?

A few weeks ago I took my daughter to go see a movie she had been pleading with me to see.   She wanted to see it not at home when it came out on On Demand TV or DVD which is what we’ve been doing lately.  She wanted to see it in the movie theater.  I must tell you I have been avoiding movie theaters.  I no longer feel safe in them.  And I do not want my child anywhere near them.   I am afraid of being in public places like that, where it is dark and you do not know who is next to you.   But she wanted to go so I took her.   I made sure we sat near the back, close to the door, at an aisle seat so no one would trap us.  Maybe you think I’m neurotic, but I just do not feel safe in places like this anymore.  As the movie started I began using the light of the projector to watch the people around me, sizing them up.   I felt on edge during most of the movie. I watched it, but I hope Sofia never saw my fear or noticed that I paid more attention to the people around me than the movie I’d paid to see that afternoon with her.

Is this what abundant life looks like?

What are we meant to be doing when we live in a social situation like the one that we are a part of, where violence is an everyday given, where many of us are fearful of leaving our homes, or going into public places, or worry when we send our precious children off to school?   How do we get over the feeling of powerlessness?  How do we get over the denial we live in?   What are we supposed to do?  And most importantly what is our highest calling in our lives—our calling as people who follow Jesus?

What is abundant life?

It has always been this way, by the way.   Since the inception of our country, in all the wars we have fought in from the Revolutionary War up until today we have lost just under 1.2 million US soldiers on the battlefield.  This is for all wars we have been engaged in since and including the Revolutionary War. We haven’t had statistics that whole time on gun violence deaths among civilians within the borders of our country but good ones have been kept since 1963 when President Kennedy was assassinated.   And just in that time span, 50 years, a little over 1.3 million civilians inside the borders of our country have died at the hands of a gun.[4]  So what has happened in the last three months isn’t an anomaly.  It’s just the way things have been.  It is the sin-filled state of violence in the culture we live in.

I know I’ve thrown a lot of numbers at you.  So let’s put those aside for a moment and just think about Jesus.

Today begins Holy Week, the most important week for us each year as people who follow Jesus.  Why would I start Holy Week with such depressing statistics and such a depressing topic?   But isn’t Holy Week violent?  Isn’t Holy Week full of pain?  A man, Jesus arrested and snatched away from his friends.  Found guilty on trumped up charges by a vicious dictator.  Mocked, made to carry the instrument that will kill him through the streets of a town to the top of a hill while bleeding from the torture he endured.  And then nailed on a cross to die a horrible death.  The end of the week is Good—the Resurrection part.  But the rest of the week is about as low as you can sink into human depravity.  What does Holy Week have to teach us about violence?

Years ago I heard a sermon from Rev. John Dear at Drew Seminary, just up the road here in Madison, NJ.   I have always loved John’s writings and books.  He led a retreat I attended just a few weeks after September 11^th in 2001 when I myself was pretty tired and exhausted and to be honest, pretty blood-thirsty and wanting revenge.   John is a longtime peace activist and that weekend back in 2001 he gathered up a group of pastors in a very uncertain time in our country’s history and reminded us with so much love and gentleness of the central message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Peace.  Nonviolence.   I needed that reminder back in 2001 because I was just a few months into ministry and I had already forgotten it.   A few years ago John opened up for me this passage in Luke 22 we heard this morning.  Jesus in the Garden, just before he is about to be arrested.  Imagine if that was you.  You were with your friends and a mob comes and wants to arrest you.  You know what will happen if they take you away.  You will be put to death.  Don’t you want to do everything in your power to stop it?  Don’t your friends?   And that’s exactly what Peter does.  He grabs one of the Roman soldiers’ swords and with one swipe cuts off the ear of the slave of the high priest.  It’s a warning shot across the bow.  Peter wants the mob to know that he isn’t going to give up Jesus without a fight.  And he wants them to remember that he is pretty fast and very good with a sword.  In essence Peter is saying, “You do not want to mess with me.”   Jesus doesn’t say thank you.  He doesn’t do what most of us would do, which is to get behind Peter.  That’s what I would have done.  I would have been right behind Peter in a second.  Instead he yells at him, “Enough! No more of this!”  And then Jesus reaches out his hand and heals the person who is there to arrest him and take him to his torture-filled death.

John Dear in his sermon in Madison a few years ago said that this encounter in the Garden was Jesus’ final protest against violence.  He was saying to his disciples who he knew he was about to leave—and leave them in charge of growing his movement (another scary thought!) that violence was never the answer—even when it’s a mob out to get you.  Jesus was saying, “Enough of this.”  “No more violence.  It is totally, 100% unacceptable to me.  I will not tolerate it.  I will work against it, even if it is to my detriment.  I will not participate in it.  I will not subscribe to violence in anyway way.  Enough.  Enough.”

This is the story about Jesus that we start Holy Week with.  It goes alongside the story today of Jesus riding into Jerusalem, the city that will be his undoing.  The city of his death.

My question today for all of us on Palm Sunday is this:  How do we want to greet Jesus this Holy Week, this Palm Sunday?  We say that we believe in the Resurrection, that we believe that Jesus is coming back.  So then, how do we want to welcome him into our hearts on this most holy of weeks in our year as people who follow him?   Do we want to greet him like everything else in our culture does?  Violently?  Or do we want to welcome him in a new way?  Do we want to prepare for him communities to come into that are the way he’d want them to be?  Peaceful?  Nonviolent?

I know which way I want to greet Jesus this week.  But I also know that I need a lot of help doing that and living in that way.  I remember how I was in October of 2001.  I was like Peter.  I wanted violence and revenge.  But when I got away for a weekend on a retreat with friends and a gentle pastor named John Dear who ministered to us and lead us I was reminded of who I was and Whom I followed.

I believe that we all need this.  We all need communities and friendships that help us follow the nonviolent, peaceful Jesus.  Because everything around us invites us to follow something very different.   And it is hard to say no or even realize most of the time just how low we have sunk into the total depravity of violence.  This is why our meeting together this afternoon to talk about just one facet of the violence that does terrible damage to God’s beloved people and to our souls is so important.  We cannot follow Jesus alone.  We cannot be peaceful and nonviolent like Jesus alone.  It is simply impossible!   We need communities and people around us to help us.  And we need to be there to help others.  The conversation we will have this afternoon about guns is just a beginning but it is an important one because we will gather together and be church in an important and a profound way.  And that will be an acceptable worship of Jesus whose death that we remember this week has saved us and offered us not just New Life but the chance to create abundant life in the communities he has called us to be a part of.

It’s Palm Sunday.  The palm fronds are in your hands.   Let us wave them for our Savior who has called us into new life and transformation, even in the midst of a such a violent time.

Let us have the courage to wave our palms for all to see.

Amen.

First of all, let me say that my methodology is just one way of making them.  There are many variations on the arepa.  You can read all about the various types here.   But like most things, it’s all about the family recipe that gets passed down–and we all like what we grew up eating….  My mother-in-law, Rosa Elena gave me a recipe on arepas many years ago that I still use now.  I have a marbled notebook in my kitchen that has handwritten recipes mostly of things she’s taught me to make.  She gave me a Colombian cookbook many years ago but it’s in the metric system and I’m just a little too lazy to do the math.

So, here’s the recipe and some photos (and this photo on the right is from dinner last night, a pretty typical Colombian meal, this one just happens to be meat-less):

• 2 cups maza (cornmeal)—you can get this in the Latin American food section of the grocery store (I like the white masa that is the instante type)
• 1 cup milk
• ½ cup water
• 2 teaspoons of salt
• Queso blanco (or farmers cheese, can be bought in blocks at local Latino grocery stores the best kinds are wrapped in plantain leaves).  I am now starting to see “queso fresco” at places like Stop n Shop, but is just isn’t as good as the small-scale places IMHO

1. Put maza, salt in a large bowl, stir to mix together.  Add ¾ package of Queso Blanco crumbled up.  Stir to incorporate all three ingredients.   If you really like cheese, go ahead…crumble up that whole package and throw it in!

2. In a glass bowl or large pyrex pitcher microwave together the milk and water until hot but not boiling.  Then stir it into the maza mixture.  At first you will need to use a large wooden spoon, but eventually your hands until it is a large ball.  If it still seems like it’s not fully incorporated make a little more liquid 50/50 milk/water.

3. Next get your griddle ready on the stovetop, greased.   Have heated to warm/hot.  You will then take a size of the maza mixture (a bit less than a golf ball) and roll in into a ball and then mash until about 1/2 inch thick.  Place arepa on griddle (continue until griddle is full, you may have to repeat multiple times).  Cook evenly on each side in low heat.

4. Can be served warm, they taste very good with butter, or the rest of the container of Queso Blanco on them!  Colombians also eat them with an egg, or they can be sliced in half and stuffed with chicken, beans, or shredded beef.   You can also put slices of fruit on top, like avocado.  Yum!  Arepas can be made with or without the cheese and are sold all over Colombia, it is a very popular food.  They are often a side in a large meal, or eaten alone with café at breakfast.

And if you are a visual person like me, here is the step-by-step that we photographed at home (with thanks to my little kitchen helper)!

Ingredients: Masa and Queso Blanco (You all know where to get water, milk and salt!)…see the plantain leaf wrapping up the cheese!?!

Step One:  Put the masa into a bowl with salt (dry ingredients)

Step Two:  Mix in the crumbled cheese

Step Three: Mix in the milk and water

Step Four: Roll into small balls of dough mixture in hand, flatten out.  Use your fingers to smooth out the edges.
Step Five: Put the arepas on the griddle.  Turn over as they brown.  Make sure to keep enough oil so they do not stick, cast iron skillets are best (some Colombians deep fry theirs, I like to just use the pan method so I can tell myself this is a healthy thing….).  They’ll be crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.  If you make the arepa too thick you can mash it down with the back of the spatula a little bit after you turn it over the first time).  Practice makes perfect….for your final product!!!

Do you remember what it was like to be a child and to be afraid of the dark?   I can remember that fear.  Sometimes at night I would be afraid to put my feet over the side of the bed—the monster hiding underneath might eat them I thought.   When I got old enough to be left home alone, I would sometimes be afraid.  Even though he never left my side, I’d put a leash on our dog Jake (just to make sure!) and make him walk all around the house with me for company and protection.  Even as adults—sometimes we are afraid of the dark aren’t we?  Last year I was visiting a high-conflict area in Colombia staying as a guest in a Pastor’s home.  My childhood fears of the dark came back to me, even though I knew I was in a protected zone.  One night I woke up and needed the bathroom, but the bathroom was an outhouse, many yards away from the house.  I lay in bed a full hour debating my options before I finally worked up the nerve to go outside with my flashlight.  The darkness can be scary sometimes no matter who you are.

This primal human fear is even recorded in the Bible.  We are the not the first ones to have our fears play out at night—to think that something beyond ourselves is happening when the sun has set and the moon is in the sky.   In today’s reading Abraham has just had another conversation with God, another time when God has promised Abraham all sorts of things.  This time Abraham has been told by God what for a man in his time should be the best news ever!  God says, “Abraham—look up at the night sky.  Do you see all those stars?  Can you even count them?  See how many stars there are!  That’s how many descendants you will have!”   Now for some of us this would keep us up all night!  That many children and grandchildren!  That’s a lot of mouths to feed!  Maybe that’s why Abraham was tormented in the night!

Or maybe it was this:  The gravity and the seriousness of the situation facing him.  After God tells Abraham about his plan—all of the descendants; God instructs Abraham to prepare himself for an ancient ritual—the ritual of sealing a covenant. Abraham gathers up some animals—a cow, a goat, a ram, a turtledove and a pigeon.  He cuts each animal in half, right down the middle and lays them out on the ground—creating a path in-between the halves of the animals.  In the time of Abraham, once you make a covenant you walk with the other person you made it along the path created by the halves of the animals.  It is a public sign to the community of your solemn promises to each other.   The unspoken threat is that if either side breaks the covenant—then you end up like one of the animals.

But Abraham has a problem.  He’s got his covenant but has no one to walk the gauntlet between the animals with him.  And from the text we can see that Abraham waited a while for God to show up to walk with him.  Because vultures sniffed out the dead animals and descended upon them.  It is a sad and a grim picture of Abraham.  All alone.  Waiting for God among dead animals while trying to dodge vultures.  And the original reason for this covenant that God is making with Abraham about his decedents?  It is because God hasn’t fully delivered on the first promise three chapters earlier.  Abraham is not yet in the land God has promised him.  God has changed the promise from land to children and a few chapters later God will change the covenant again.  And Abraham by this point in his life is pushing 80 years old. And God still hasn’t shown up.  And so the day draws to a close.  It doesn’t sound like a lot of fun does it?

Maybe it’s hard for us to relate to Abraham and the customs and behaviors that guided his life.   But we can relate to the feeling Abraham had that day as he waited for God and God didn’t show up.  That feeling that the day is over, and yet your problems are still not solved and will still be there when you wake up in the morning.  The person you were waiting for has not shown up. Ever feel like that?  Ever feel like not just a person has abandoned you—but that even God has?

The writers of Genesis tell us that in the midst of this desolation Abraham falls asleep at the end of the day, next to the dead animals.  In his deep sleep he is terrified.  And then God comes and speaks to him—and tells Abraham that yes, he will have decedents but they will suffer, they will be slaves and be oppressed for 400 hundred years.  But eventually they will get back to their land and eventually they will prosper.  But Abraham will not have to live this reality.  He will die in peace when he has lived a good long life.  After all of this God does pass through the covenant-gauntlet…in the form of a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch.  God finally shows up.   But not before Abraham has been tormented.

One of my favorite commentators writes on this passage that what Abraham lived through—that night of searing darkness, loneliness and isolation is like those moments in life that we all have, when something terrible happens, or a series of terrible things happen and we feel like God has walked away from us.  We have a covenant with God, a covenant we expect to be followed—that God will love and care for us.  So where is God when bad things happen?  When terrible things happen?   And Abraham’s moment is like the moments so many live with for so much of the time, moments when depression, whether it is situational or long-term, rob of us of the ability to function or carry out our day-to-day lives.

One woman, her name is Harriet, wrote these words when she was forty-years old and struggling with depression:

I had this dream.  I was standing on the beach.  A tidal wave was sweeping toward me.  It was massive—a massive wave crested by a rim of fire.  I felt tiny.  I knew there was no way out.  I was about to be overwhelmed.  As the wave hit I decided not to fight it. I decided to go with it, to let it take me.  It caught me up, sucked me up to its crest and carried me ashore.  I didn’t die. 

That’s when I learned that my depression was teaching me not to fight it or try to defeat it.  Now I consider my depression to be my ally.  Which doesn’t mean I’m not afraid.  I am.  But I own the fear.  I ride the fear.  The fear doesn’t own or ride me.  I listen to what it has to tell me.[1]

Is this what happened to Abraham that night?  Did he learn in that moment to trust God, even though God wasn’t showing up in the ways he most needed God to?  Or did he learn to let go, even though the loneliness and the abandonment was still with him and still giving him pause as he struggled to follow God?  We do not completely know.  I suspect it was a bit more of the latter, that Abraham just figured out how to function with the uncertainties that life and God kept on handing him.  He was told that it would take 400 years for his descendants to achieve their freedom and of course he’d died before all of that happened.  How did Abraham live with the knowledge of this kind of a burden?  How did he keep moving forward?  How did he not lose hope?  How do we keep moving forward when these things in life happen or when we know that there are still difficulties that lie ahead.  How do we keep on trusting or even believing in God?

Following worship today Mark will be leading a class in the Parish Hall that I hope many of you will stay for.  It is on walking the Labyrinth.  The labyrinth is an ancient tool for prayer and meditation[2], and there is an example of a labyrinth on your bulletin cover.  While there are lots of designs, the idea is that you walk along a path that winds in different ways around a circle and you end up in a central location and have to get out again along the same path.  There are no blind alleys or dead ends.  It is not meant to trick you but to be a way to take a journey along a path that leads you in and then leads you out.   Many people pause in the middle of the Labyrinth and enter into a time of prayer with God.  One spiritual practice is to leave something behind in the middle—a burden or a prayer, a worry or a joy.   Another spiritual practice is to pray to God on the way in and then to listen for God on the way out.   You move through the Labyrinth at your own pace.  The Labyrinth is a spiritual tool; a way of helping us to walk with God even though the path is windy and sometimes might feel like a maze, or even might feel like abandonment.

Even though he is one of the most important characters in the Bible, a “hero in the faith”, Abraham’s journey with God was not neat, easy or tidy.  God disappointed and confused Abraham on more than one occasion.  Trying to understand God’s behavior, or our interpretation of God’s behavior could drive any sane person crazy very easily.  We all experience those “dark nights of the soul” as Saint John of the Cross, a Spanish mystic, wrote 500 years ago.   And there is no easy answer to the questions they ask of us or of our faith.  The only thing we have is to keep on the path.  Keep going with God and keep going with those who have come alongside us to walk along the path for a while.  And keep on pushing at God; keep on asking questions.  So far as I can tell this was Abraham’s method.  And it seems a good one to me in this Lenten Season.

Amen.