Dropping Your Nets and The Miracle of the Fishermen

This Sunday I preached on Mark 1.14-20, when Simon Peter, Andrew, James and John are first called as disciples. The fact that uneducated fishermen help Jesus found a major world religion is what I call “The Miracle of the Fishermen.” This sermon also explores what it takes to answer Christ’s call: Faith, trust and an ability to drop your nets, symbols of the trappings of this world, in order to go on a quest for a new kind of life. This sermon is best understood if you read “The Drum Major Instinct” post before this one.

The Miracle of the Fishermen

A simple goal for today’s sermon is that if somebody asks you the names of the 12 disciples, you at least get these two – James and John, the sons of Zebedee. This is the second time in two weeks they have entered into scripture and the sermon. Last week, we listened to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King’s sermon, “The Drum Major Instinct” which was also preaching from the Gospel of Mark, in the 10th chapter when James and John later come to Jesus and ask to sit at his right hand and left hand when he comes into his kingdom.

King points out that instead of condemning James and John for a selfish request Jesus uses it as an opportunity to teach and redefine greatness. Jesus says that the greatest among you shall be servant to all. That if you want to be first, be first in love, be first in moral excellence, be first in service. And to quote King: “by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.”

These four fishermen, Simon, Andrew, James and John, they are in all likelihood illiterate and uneducated. They speak in a rough Galilean dialect. They don’t know Plato or Aristotle, who were already over 400 years old. But these fishermen are about to demonstrate powerfully and unequivocally the truth that all you need is a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love to be blessed by God.

This scripture is the beginning of an amazing story, a story I call the Miracle of the Fishermen. We’ve heard the miracle of the fish, how Jesus fed thousands with just a few loaves and fishes. But the miracle of the fishermen is even more profound in my opinion. Billions over the course of history have been exposed to the teachings and good news of Jesus Christ, and it was made possible through the miracle of the fishermen. These commoners, these average Joes fishing by the sea of Galilee, are given a new vocation by the call of Jesus Christ. They are called into a life of service, and they go on to change the world.

Simon, the first called in this passage, is known better as Simon Peter or Saint Peter, the first pope and most prominent among the Apostles. This uneducated fisherman goes about the very difficult task of establishing the church of Jesus Christ in the world. Throughout the Gospel of Mark, the disciples are constantly making mistakes and failing to understand Jesus, but in the end they go on to continue the ministry of Jesus Christ faithfully, and are responsible for each of us being in this room today.

God, through Jesus, went about ushering a new age by gathering together some simple fishermen and giving them a new definition of life, a new definition of greatness, and a new vocation. You are no longer fishermen, he tells them. You are fishers of Men, you are my disciples and servants of all. And their lives, and the world around them, are transformed.

This is one of the things I love most about Christianity. Our savior was not a king or a powerful leader. He wasn’t “great” in the traditional sense. He was an unheard of thirty-something who’s cousin, John the Baptist, was arrested and he stepped up to lead the religious movement. He gathered up some good hearted but seemingly unqualified fishermen to be his partners in this task, to teach and train and entrust with the church.

Some of the most incredible things about our faith are not supernatural claims, but rather the things that are historical. Few people argue that Jesus wasn’t a spiritual leader teaching common people that grew into a major world religion. The miracle of the fishermen, that Jesus was able to start something phenomenal and enduring by asking strangers off the street to join him in his ministry, doesn’t depend on believing in God, acknowledging that Jesus had supernatural powers or believing there was a Holy Spirit empowering and walking with these disciples. Buddhist, Muslim, Atheist and Agnostic can all agree that these four fishermen were about to change the world.

But that’s not to say that these fishermen are unremarkable from the outset. The very fact that they could answer a call that so many others could not is a testament to their character, and is perhaps the defining qualification for their role as a disciple. In last week’s sermon, King talked about certain “James and John qualities” that we all have, that desire to be important, of wanting recognition, of wanting to lead the parade. But today’s scripture show us some different James and John qualities: Faith and trust.

Think about it. You’re fishing with your father and the rest of your community, and some rabbi comes up to you and tells you, “come, follow me.” And you drop what you’re doing and actually go. You leave your life behind. You leave your nets, you leave your father, in order to start following Christ. That takes a lot of faith, a lot of trust in Christ to provide for your needs, and willingness to take a profound risk for another kind of life.

I think it is very symbolic and fitting that they leave nets behind. Nets entangle and trap you – and how many people are unable to follow Christ because of the trappings of this life? When we are called to be servants of others, when we are called into a life of truth and learning and generosity and love, what are the nets that entangle us? We are given a couple examples in the Gospels – a rich young man comes to mind, a man who was invited to sell his possessions and follow Christ, but couldn’t do it.

But wealth is just one trapping. Mark is a sparse gospel and only mentions the most important details, and he makes a point to mention that James and John left their father, Zebedee, behind with hired workers. They could have very easily spent the rest of their lives working with their father, staying close to their families. Some would even argue that it would have been right thing to do, that it is selfish and wrong to leave your father behind and join a cult where some guy with long hair talks about peace, love and the coming age of God’s glory.

As important as families are, as much as we love our home towns, and maybe even the churches we grew up in, they can be nets that trap us. If they keep us from becoming our fullest selves, if they keep us from following in the footsteps of Christ, of being a loving servant of all humanity, then they are an entanglement greater than wealth or worldly power.

It’s hard to see loved ones as potential obstacles to closeness with God. But the great religions tell us that the spiritual quest, the Way of Christ or the Path of Buddha, requires leaving behind the nets of the world, the things that hold your mind captive, the things that limit your compassion. You have to abandon your nets on the lake shore in a quest for love and truth. Those nets can be things that are obviously negative and destructive – like drug addiction. But they can also be things that are usually life-giving and positive, like family relationships or a loved one.

The Buddha left his life as a wealthy prince, including his wife and son, to seek enlightenment. James and John left their father. Mohammed was an orphan who had to leave Mecca in exile, rejected by his clan and extended family. Jesus was driven out of Nazareth, proving the scripture that a prophet is never welcomed in his home town. Sometimes following God, sometimes seeking the divine, requires some painful separations.

And if you can even manage to cast off those nets to follow your bliss, if you cast off those nets to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, it’s not always pleasant. You might face judgment from this world. I had a couple buddies who got involved with drugs, and when they tried to get sober, their friends who were still using called them disloyal. They were told they were selfish for seeking their freedom. They were told to change back.

No doubt there were people who called Simon, Andrew, James and John selfish and disloyal. They didn’t have fancy houses or positions of power in society to leave behind, but they did have their profession, their fishing nets, and their families, like Zebedee sitting in his boat. But thank God they knew not to listen to the voices of sabotage, thank God they had the faith and the trust in Jesus to lay down their nets, to let go of their trappings, and follow him.

I want to be clear that I’m not telling you to sell all your possessions and join a commune. I’m not telling you to divorce your husbands or wives or leave your families in order to go on a spiritual quest in the Himalayas. But I am asking you to think about your trappings. What are the things that hold you back? What are the things that keep the miracle of the fishermen from taking root in your life? What is preventing you from being a full disciple of Jesus Christ?

If I answer that question honestly, I would say that even as an adult I am particularly concerned with what my parents think, and getting their approval. I’m not sure I could leave my father behind in that boat. It’s not a bad thing that I think so highly of my parents – after all the Bible tells us to honor thy mother and father. But I need to be living for God’s approval, not the approval of others, even my closest loved ones. I need to take the vocation that Jesus gives me, to fulfill Christ’s expectations of me, and not the expectations of Mom or Dad or Sara or anybody else.

But here’s the wonderful thing about the call of Jesus Christ and the expectations of God: They are accessible to everyone. God wants you to be faithful. God wants you to be friendly. God wants you to be generous, to be compassionate, to be thoughtful, to seek justice, to want to know the truth. God doesn’t care if you are a scribe or a fisherman, a pharisee or a tax collector. Your station is irrelevant, your heart it everything. Look what God was able to do through just a few Galileans. Through a couple common fishermen. This is the beginning of the church. This is the beginning of the culture and religion you and I inherited as Christianity. And it begins with a call from God, and four men with the good sense to drop their nets and follow their savior. AMEN.

MLK Sunday Sermon: Drum Major Instinct

I picked the drum major instinct sermon to abridge and read for my congregation this Sunday, along with some observation at the end, not because of the controversy around the quote on the memorial, but because it is a beautiful, prayerful and relevant sermon that resonates today as much as it did fifty years ago. The sermon is based on Mark 10.35-45 and was preached about 2 months before King’s death. Here’s how it was preached this morning:

Let it Be Said

This MLK weekend is special in several respects. Today is King’s birthday and people all across the world will be having a candlelight vigil for unity among the non-violent movements for social change. We have a lot of people in the streets, all around the world. Whether it’s brave folks in Syria or Russia or the United States, there are people non-violently seeking change and freedom and King lingers in the mind of people here and all around the world. So tonight right after youth group, at the Community House, at 7 o’clock, we will have a brief and impromptu candlelight vigil to join with a worldwide movement for peace, justice and unity. All of you are welcome to attend. I imagine there will be some prayers, some silence and some music. You should come.

But there’s another landmark, literally, surrounding this MLK weekend. It’s the first one after the dedication of the MLK memorial on the Washington Mall. When King stood on the steps of the Lincoln memorial in the national mall, and told the gathered thousands that he had a dream, many told him he shouldn’t be there, including friends like Bobby Kennedy, and I don’t think anybody thought that one day he too would have a memorial near this monument to liberty and freedom.

But even today it isn’t done without controversy. Yes there are still racists who despise what King stands for, but the nature of the monument itself calls into question whether this nation has wrapped its head around what King was trying to say to them. The central quote of the monument is a symbol of this – not only is it taken grossly out of context, it isn’t even his words. It says, “I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness.” Maya Angelou thinks it makes him sound arrogant, and it conveys the opposite of what he was preaching when he said something similar. In light of the controversy, a committee has been formed to change the quote. You may have read about this, it was just announced. Fortunately for me, it just adds relevance to what I had chosen to read for you today. This week I spent time reading, rereading and abridging King’s “Drum Major Instinct” into a shorter version for today’s worship.

I picked this sermon not because of the misquote on his memorial, although this will help you understand what he was saying about being a drum major. I picked this sermon because he is preaching from the gospel, preaching the word of God and preaching to a church, not that different from this one here: A church of Jesus Christ concerned with truly living out the call and ministry of Jesus in the world. To understand King, you have to see him foremost as a pastor. It is fundamental to his identity and leadership. So let us return to today’s scripture, but do it in the words of Dr. King. Here we go:

‘The setting is clear. James and John are making a specific request of the master. They had dreamed, as most of the Hebrews dreamed, of a coming king of Israel who would set Jerusalem free and establish his kingdom on Mount Zion, and in righteousness rule the world. And they thought of Jesus as this kind of king. And they were thinking of that day when Jesus would reign supreme as this new king of Israel. And they were saying, “Now when you establish your kingdom, let one of us sit on the right hand and the other on the left hand of your throne.”

Now very quickly, we would automatically condemn James and John, and we would say they were selfish. Why would they make such a selfish request? But before we condemn them too quickly, let us look calmly and honestly at ourselves, and we will discover that we too have those same basic desires for recognition, for importance. That same desire for attention, that same desire to be first. Of course, the other disciples got mad with James and John, and you could understand why, but we must understand that we have some of the same James and John qualities. And there is deep down within all of us an instinct. It’s a kind of drum major instinct—a desire to be out front, a desire to lead the parade, a desire to be first. And it is something that runs the whole gamut of life.

And so before we condemn them, let us see that we all have the drum major instinct. We all want to be important, to surpass others, to achieve distinction, to lead the parade. Alfred Adler, the great psychoanalyst, contends that this is the dominant impulse. Sigmund Freud used to contend that sex was the dominant impulse, and Adler came with a new argument saying that this quest for recognition, this desire for attention, this desire for distinction is the basic impulse, the basic drive of human life, this drum major instinct.

When we were in jail in Birmingham the other day, the white wardens and all enjoyed coming around the cell to talk about the race problem. And they were showing us where we were so wrong demonstrating. And they were showing us where segregation was so right. And they were showing us where intermarriage was so wrong. So I would get to preaching, and we would get to talking—calmly, because they wanted to talk about it. And then we got down one day to the point—that was the second or third day—to talk about where they lived, and how much they were earning. And when those brothers told me what they were earning, I said, “Now, you know what? You ought to be marching with us. You’re just as poor as Negroes.”

And I said, “You are put in the position of supporting your oppressor, because through prejudice and blindness, you fail to see that the same forces that oppress Negroes in American society oppress poor white people. And all you are living on is the satisfaction of your skin being white, and the drum major instinct of thinking that you are somebody big because you are white. And you’re so poor you can’t send your children to school. You ought to be out here marching with every one of us every time we have a march.”

Now that’s a fact. That the poor white has been put into this position, where through blindness and prejudice, he is forced to support his oppressors. And the only thing he has going for him is the false feeling that he’s superior because his skin is white—and can’t hardly eat and make his ends meet week in and week out.

And not only does this thing go into the racial struggle, it goes into the struggle between nations. And I would submit to you this morning that what is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy. And if something doesn’t happen to stop this trend, I’m sorely afraid that we won’t be here to talk about Jesus Christ and about God and about brotherhood too many more years.

But this is why we are drifting. And we are drifting there because nations are caught up with the drum major instinct. “I must be first.” “I must be supreme.” “Our nation must rule the world.” And I am sad to say that the nation in which we live is the supreme culprit. And I’m going to continue to say it to America, because I love this country too much to see the drift that it has taken. God didn’t call America to do what she’s doing in the world now. God didn’t call America to engage in a senseless, unjust war as the war in Vietnam.

But let me rush on to my conclusion, because I want you to see what Jesus was really saying. What was the answer that Jesus gave these men? It’s very interesting. One would have thought that Jesus would have condemned them. One would have thought that Jesus would have said, “You are out of your place. You are selfish. Why would you raise such a question?”

But that isn’t what Jesus did; he did something altogether different. He said in substance, “Oh, I see, you want to be first. You want to be great. You want to be important. You want to be significant. Well, you ought to be. If you’re going to be my disciple, you must be.” But he reordered priorities. And he said, “Yes, don’t give up this instinct. It’s a good instinct if you use it right. It’s a good instinct if you don’t distort it and pervert it. Don’t give it up. Keep feeling the need for being important. Keep feeling the need for being first. But I want you to be first in love. I want you to be first in moral excellence. I want you to be first in generosity. That is what I want you to do.”

And he transformed the situation by giving a new definition of greatness. And you know how he said it? He said, “Now brethren, I can’t give you greatness. And really, I can’t make you first.” This is what Jesus said to James and John. “You must earn it. True greatness comes not by favoritism, but by fitness. And the right hand and the left are not mine to give, they belong to those who are prepared.”

And so Jesus gave us a new norm of greatness. If you want to be important—wonderful. If you want to be recognized—wonderful. If you want to be great—wonderful. But recognize that he who is greatest among you shall be your servant. That’s a new definition of greatness.

And this morning, the thing that I like about it: by giving that definition of greatness, it means that everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s theory of relativity to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant.

I know a man—and I just want to talk about him a minute, and maybe you will discover who I’m talking about as I go down the way because he was a great one. And he just went about serving. He was born in an obscure village, the child of a poor peasant woman. And then he grew up in still another obscure village, where he worked as a carpenter until he was thirty years old. Then for three years, he just got on his feet, and he was an itinerant preacher. And he went about doing some things. He didn’t have much. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family. He never owned a house. He never went to college. He never visited a big city. He never went two hundred miles from where he was born. He did none of the usual things that the world would associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.

He was only thirty-three when the tide of public opinion turned against him. They called him a rabble-rouser. They called him a troublemaker. They said he was an agitator. He practiced civil disobedience; he broke injunctions. And so he was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. And the irony of it all is that his friends turned him over to them. One of his closest friends denied him. Another of his friends turned him over to his enemies. And while he was dying, the people who killed him gambled for his clothing, the only possession that he had in the world.

When he was dead he was buried in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone and today he stands as the most influential figure that ever entered human history. All of the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, and all the kings that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man on this earth as much as that one solitary life. His name may be a familiar one. But today I can hear them talking about him. Every now and then somebody says, “He’s King of Kings.” And again I can hear somebody saying, “He’s Lord of Lords.” Somewhere else I can hear somebody saying, “In Christ there is no East nor West.” And then they go on and talk about, “In Him there’s no North and South, but one great Fellowship of Love throughout the whole wide world.” He didn’t have anything. He just went around serving and doing good.

This morning, you can be on his right hand and his left hand if you serve. It’s the only way in.

Every now and then I guess we all think realistically about that day when we will be victimized with what is life’s final common denominator—that something that we call death. We all think about it. And every now and then I think about my own death and I think about my own funeral. And I don’t think of it in a morbid sense. And every now and then I ask myself, “What is it that I would want said?” And I leave the word to you this morning.

If any of you are around when I have to meet my day, I don’t want a long funeral. And if you get somebody to deliver the eulogy, tell them not to talk too long. And every now and then I wonder what I want them to say. Tell them not to mention that I have a Nobel Peace Prize—that isn’t important. Tell them not to mention that I have three or four hundred other awards—that’s not important. Tell them not to mention where I went to school.

I’d like somebody to mention that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to give his life serving others.

I’d like for somebody to say that day that Martin Luther King, Jr., tried to love somebody.

I want you to say that day that I tried to be right on the war question. (Amen)

I want you to be able to say that day that I did try to feed the hungry. (Yes)

And I want you to be able to say that day that I did try in my life to clothe those who were naked. (Yes)

I want you to say on that day that I did try in my life to visit those who were in prison. (Lord)

I want you to say that I tried to love and serve humanity.

Yes, if you want to say that I was a drum major, say that I was a drum major for justice. Say that I was a drum major for peace. I was a drum major for righteousness. And all of the other shallow things will not matter. I won’t have any money to leave behind. I won’t have the fine and luxurious things of life to leave behind. But I just want to leave a committed life behind. And that’s all I want to say.

Yes, Jesus, I want to be on your right or your left side, not for any selfish reason. I want to be on your right or your left side, not in terms of some political kingdom or ambition. But I just want to be there in love and in justice and in truth and in commitment to others, so that we can make of this old world a new world.’

This sermon made me think about the kind of life I want to leave behind, and challenged me to reign in and redirect my ambition and ego, the same instinct for attention we all have, and to hear how Jesus Christ has defined success differently than the rest of the world.

But this also has a profound message for us as a collective community. I have tremendous faith that United Church of the Valley will continue as a church family and institution for many years to come. I have faith we will address the deficit in our budget, I have faith we’ll keep the metaphorical doors open. But what’s the point of survival? What kind of life are we going to lead? What kind of legacy are we going to leave behind? What is going to be said for UCV?

Do we want it said that we had the biggest steeple or the greatest choir? Do we want it said that we had the best programs, the most dynamic minister, or the most educated congregation? Do we want it said we were a drum major in the pomp and parade of life? No, that legacy is shallow in comparison to this: Let it be said that United Church of the Valley tried to love somebody. Let it be said that United Church of the Valley tried to be right on the war question. Let it be said that United Church of the Valley tried to feed the hungry. Let it be said that United Church of the Valley welcomed everybody, no matter where they were on their journey. Let it be said that United Church of the Valley wasn’t afraid to pick up the cross. Let it be said we loved Jesus Christ.

We are going to survive, and we are going to continue to strive to be on the left side or the right side of Jesus, not because of some selfish or material reason. We continue to strive, we continue to survive, because God is transforming this world around us, and we want to be there –to be there in love, in justice, in commitment, so that this old world can me made anew. AMEN.

This Sunday @ UCV 12-18-11

Brothers and Sisters

This Sunday morning promises to be a wonderful worship experience as we light a candle for peace. A family oriented service, we will be having our Christmas pageant. All children are invited to participate in the pageant – if they do not have an assigned role we will have extra costumes with parts that are easy to play. The pageant is more than just the story – there will be music by youth, including Bayley and Jeremy Stevens, Lilli Elwood, Ruth Dunlop and Robert Davidowitz. We will also have a puppet appearance courtesy of Gerry Nicholas and guests from the Murrieta Food Pantry. After service the Christmas Bazaar will continue, and I already know I’m going to buy more of Corina’s salsa. There will be all sorts of great crafts and gift ideas, including some treats from my wife’s kitchen. It will be a great Sunday morning and I hope to see you there.

Sunday evening, starting at 5 p.m., there will be a youth party at my house (36035 Tahoe St., Winchester, CA). All youth and young adults are invited to attend, from 6^th grade up. There will be games, music and food, not to mention an adorable puppy named Izzy.

However you celebrate this holiday season, I hope you find enjoyment and meaning in these next few weeks. I hope this time of anticipation and hope brings you closer to God and more aware of all the goodness in the world.

Peace and Love,

Rev. Joe

Creeping Sharia or creeping ignorance?

Last summer, when there was an anti-Islamic campaign to deny Muslims in Temecula a building permit for their mosque, I got a crash course in a dangerous group of people who want to undermine our American way of life and destroy our freedoms – and they are not Muslims.

There is an organized, vocal and willfully ignorant group of people who believe in a conspiracy called “Creeping Sharia.” These people support illegal surveillance of US citizens, the torture of “enemy combatants” suspected of terrorism, and will even attempt to interfere with the First Amendment guarantee to the free exercise of religion. The Bill of Rights was a condition of our Constitution, it was part of the social contract this country and is a major part of what makes this country great. In an irony lost upon them, there is a group of self-professed “patriots” who want to deny constitutional rights to Muslims in this country in order to “preserve the American way.”

Based on the level of paranoia, the belief in“Creeping Sharia” ranges from “Muslims are infiltrating the United States to undermine it from within” to “Barack Obama is a secret Muslim and part of a global conspiracy to fly the Muslim flag above the White House.” Yes, there are misguided – and quite frankly impious – Muslims out there who use their faith to justify hate and aggression. But the vast majority of terrorists are not United States citizens and have failed repeatedly to weaken America in any significant way. What concerns me far more than American Muslims and “creeping Sharia” is the creeping ignorance of certain Americans who want to destroy basic civil liberties and constitutional protections because of their hatred and fear of Islam.

America is too great a country to be ruined by foreign forces. As Abraham Lincoln famously said, “if destruction is our lot, America must be its author and its finisher.” It’s US citizens that choose willful ignorance above religious freedom and social inclusion that will weaken this country. It’s cowards who let the fear of Islam and terrorism drive their citizenship, instead of love and equality, who pose the greatest threat to the home of the brave.

This weekend Lowe’s pulled its advertising from a fairly benign Learning Channel show called “All-American Muslim.” The show is about Muslim families in the United States who are proud of their citizenship and are in many respects average Americans. There are a couple “family values” groups, that ascribe the the “Sharia conspiracy” that feel this show is too favorable to Muslims. The depicted Muslims are not radical or scary, so instead of acknowledging that some of the 1.8 billion Muslims in this world might be honest Americans, they protest the show and convince advertisers to remove support.

What is significant about Lowe’s decision is not that it directly undermines freedom of religion – Lowe’s isn’t actively destroying the fabric of our society. But they are bowing to pressure from, and taking the side of, people who are actively seeking to persecute Muslims and undermine the true American way of life – liberty and freedom for all people. Lowe’s not only made a cynical and unprincipled decision in pulling their ads, I’m sure ultimately it will be a poor business decision as well. But Lowe’s was responding to a growing group of people who present a far bigger threat to America than terrorism – the ignorant. Willfully clinging to false and destructive beliefs, and becoming an activist for the forces of hate and division as opposed to peace and unity, that can be far more dangerous than bombs or guns.

The worst part about all this is it associates hate with two great religions. The clash between “Christians” and “Muslims” is primarily geo-political, not theological. Muslims are supposed to respect Jews and Christians as “people of the book” and revere Moses and Jesus Christ. Christians, a persecuted religious minority in Rome, were instructed to treat non-Christians with kindness, and “as far as it depends on you, live in peace with everyone” (Romans 12.18). Nothing in either tradition justifies violence or bigotry toward each other. In fact, when you ask Muslims in other countries if they support violence against American civilians, those who support violence give political reasons (war and occupation) while those who oppose it give religious reasons (Islam has strict rules about conduct in warfare, and targeting unarmed civilians, women and children is forbidden).

True piety does not involve persecution. Christian anti-Islamists should be more concerned with their own faith’s values than those of Islam. Followers of Christ should always follow the path of love, and should not only support but advocate for the rights of minorities in this country.

This Weekend @ UCV 12-11-11

Brothers and Sisters,

I can’t believe Christmas is already so close! Sara and I are enjoying our first Christmas married and in a new home. We bought our first Christmas tree. I also climbed up into the big California Pepper tree in our front yard for the first time to string some lights. Compared to our neighbors it’s a modest Christmas display, but it’s special to us.

This weekend is an opportunity to do lots of Christmas-oriented activities. Tomorrow morning we will be transforming cardboard tubes into beautiful candy packages for the Murrieta Food Pantry, to be handed out with the Christmas boxes. We will be meeting at 9 am at the Community House to do this – it’s a great opportunity to have fun and serve your neighbors in this time of goodwill.

Sunday morning at 10 a.m. is Bell Sunday! I’ll be bringing a Tibetan song bowl, which is the closest thing I have to a bell, and you are encouraged to bring any bells at home with you for our hymns! Not only that, but our handbell choir has some amazing music planned for us. My sermon will be on the nature of joy, how it differs from pleasure or happiness, and the 126^th Psalm will be read.

We will be taking the Disciples of Christ Christmas offering this Sunday, which goes to the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (DOC), and it will also be the first Sunday of the Christmas bazaar, which will have tables to support Habitat for Humanity, Chacraseca Nicaragua and United Church of the Valley.

Last but certainly not least, at 4 p.m. on Sunday at the Community House, we will be having the annual Posada. We will have crafts and a piñata for the children and delicious food for all. After dusk we will enact the Christmas story by traveling to local homes as Mary, Joseph, shepherds and angels to sing traditional Christmas songs. Each house “turns Mary away” until we return to the Community House, where we are “invited in” to celebration and hospitality. Families from HW help and ESL have been invited, as well as other local residents, and I truly hope you can make this diverse and meaningful event.

This weekend the LDS church is doing its Nativity displays (tonight and tomorrow night at the LDS church on Pauba Rd.) and I know from the Interfaith council and members of UCV that this is a great event as well. Whatever you do this weekend, enjoy the holidays and be sure to take time to celebrate the gift of Christ we have all received.  

Merry Christmas!

Rev. Joe

Hope and the Apocalypse

This Sunday I confessed that I am an apocalyptic Christian, although not in the way that most people assume. I don’t believe in arbitrary destruction, eternal punishment and narrow raptures where a tiny elect is spared an epic tragedy. I do believe that God will be revealed, in full, and that the world will one day be transformed to a state of cosmic justice and harmony. I think we’ll be around a lot longer than 2012, but who knows what the future may have in store. This sermon is based on Mark 13.24-37 and was delivered on the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27.

Finding Hope in the Apocalypse

I consider myself an apocalyptic Christian. I don’t tell people that often because it invokes a ridiculous and destructive theology that frankly embarrasses Christianity. No, I don’t believe there will be a rapture and that the vast majority of the earth will be left behind to suffer through a great tribulation. God is loving and just, not arbitrary and cruel. And even if God was cruel enough to condemn billions to destruction and save but a handful, I doubt fundamentalists would be the ones that God finds solely worthy of grace.

You see, when most people hear “apocalypse” they think of passages like this in the Gospel of Mark. They think of the sky falling, Jesus on a cloud of glory. They think of lakes of fire and horsemen of the apocalypse. It’s not a positive association, so unless you are horribly dissatisfied with the world and everyone in it, you don’t look forward to the second coming. Early Christians, and many contemporary Christian fundamentalists, are in that place of deep disgust with the world and the powers that control it. Cosmic justice, to them, involves quite a lot of purging before you get to anything that is remotely positive or inspiring. Those of us who don’t think the Justice of a perfect and loving God involves eternal punishment, we usually get uncomfortable, disgusted or just plain creeped out before we get to the positive parts of the apocalyptic theology and values.

When I think of the apocalypse, I don’t think of the sky falling. I think of this passage from the end of book of Revelation: “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

The word apocalypse does not mean destruction, and it does not mean Armageddon. It is from the Greek for revealing or appearance. It is called the Revelation of John, not the Destruction of John, because our ultimate fate is not destruction, it is not death, but the full revelation of God. It is everlasting life in the New Jerusalem, it is ultimate unity and oneness with God. The dualism of good and evil, pain and pleasure, life and death, they give way to a singular unity. The final chapter of Revelation tells us: “There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.”

So when I say that I’m an apocalyptic Christian, I simply say that I have faith that those who practice love and perseverance, those who resist the greed and evil of the world, are destined for eternal unity with God. But more than a belief in heaven, it’s a belief that ultimately heaven will be reflected here on earth, that God’s will and reign will ultimately be victorious spiritually and materially. There will come a day when all those on Earth say “everything has been made anew, and the old order of things has passed away.”

I was on a walk with a friend, and asked what the apocalypse looks like to me. One of the many strange things I believe is that technological growth is growing at an exponential rate, meaning that what we’ve seen in the past 100 years is nothing compared to what we’ll see in the next 10. We launched a giant robot to Mars this week. This is just the beginning of what we will be capable of in the next decade, let alone my lifetime. So when I imagine what it looks like for the old order to fall away, and a new one to rise, it is related to the staggering leaps of exponential growth.

Technological growth will get to the point where the economy of scarcity – the finite nature of goods and resources which makes the accumulation of wealth come at the expense of others, will give way to an economy of abundance, where all have every material need imaginable, and happiness and character will be defined solely by spiritual, emotional and intellectual pursuits. Getting there will be hard. The powerful invested in the old system will try their best to stunt and oppress progress. Across the world we are seeing what happens when the masses wake up and oppose the oppressive systems of the world – whether it’s massacres in Syria or police brutality right here in California, it is a fact that progress comes at the price of pain, struggle and perseverance.

So in my imagination, I see an ultimately optimistic transformation of society through technology, but an immediate future of conflict, political struggles and suffering. That’s the basic storyline of Revelation and other apocalyptic literature. It gets a lot worse before it gets a lot better, so hold on tight, be prepared for anything and persevere. What is the ultimate message of today’s scripture? “And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.” War, struggle and death are coming, but something grand is waiting for you on the other side. So stay awake for it.

Now, I can easily be as wrong about technology transforming our society as every other apocalyptic Christian has been wrong. In fact, starting with Jesus in this passage, who says that this generation will not pass away before all these things take place, I find myself in a long line of false predictions that simply highlight the truth of the words qualifying his prophecy – “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.”

So I don’t know. Technology can continue to do what it has always done – give us a higher-tech society dominated by war, violence, greed and human suffering. While there is evidence that we are living in the most peaceful time of human history, it sure doesn’t feel that way. Whether its a Wal-Mart shopper pepper-spraying other shoppers over video games, or NATO airplanes taking out 25 Pakistani soldiers, this week is full of examples of how far away we are from the New Jerusalem. But I still have faith that the world can and will change for the best, and if it happens in my lifetime, I want to be found awake by God.

Because at the core of the apocalypse is hope, not fear. That’s why the lectionary picks an apocalyptic passage to begin the Advent season. Advent is the liturgical New Year. Today is the first day of Advent, which is the first liturgical season. The majority of Christians who associate the apocalypse with negative judgment and destruction might think Mark 13 is a strange choice for the New Year, and especially for Christmas time. But in a way, the birth of Christ was an apocalypse, too.

Remember, Apocalypse means Revelation, and in Christ God’s character and message for the world is revealed. God’s love and sacrifice is lived in the flesh, and in Christ we find our salvation. We believe the world can change because it already has once before. We are living in two thousand ten, anno domini, or in the year of the lord. We orient time from the birth of Christ, because Christ’s birth ushered in a new era. In Christ our hope is founded, and we should never fear Christ’s return.

2012, and this liturgical cycle, will be a very interesting year. We do indeed live in interesting times, and I imagine 2012 will embody the oddity of now. One thing 2012 will be marked by is the resurgence of apocalyptic theology. We have already suffered through 2 prominent false predictions about the end of the world, and we are going to suffer through many more in the coming year. Many of these predictions will take the mystical and ecstatic imagery of Revelation literally, which is like reading the Lord of the Rings and insisting it is a history book.

Revelation is not a literal prediction of anything, it is a mythological vision. It was almost excluded from the Bible because it was too cryptic and mystical, which the church fathers worried would make it too difficult to understand and open to abuse. While I’m glad they kept it, if apocalyptic literature is going to distract you from the true message of the Gospel – that God is love, that we serve God by serving our neighbors, and that the resurrection shows that new life springs forth from our suffering and setbacks, then it would be better that it wasn’t in the Bible at all.

But I think it’s there for a reason, to remind us that the crosses we bear are not the end, but the beginning of new life and Resurrection. The injustice of the world is not permanent. God will not let it stand forever. One night, in a lowly manger, a mother will lay down the child that will change the world. God has been revealed to us before and will be revealed to us again.

I’ve encountered a lot of despair these past few years. A lot of people are struggling emotionally and financially, and they don’t really think its going to change. Sometimes we want to give up and go to sleep. But persevere. Have hope. We are not destined for destruction and we do not bear the cross in vain. God will be revealed, in full. This age will be wiped away and we will enter into God’s kingdom. We will dwell in the New Jerusalem. So have hope. Christmas is coming. We are going to receive a great gift, and it’s not death but love and life eternal. AMEN.

 

Happiness and Gratitude (and humility)

This morning’s sermon was on Psalm 100, which I read in the New Revised Standard Version, King James and The Message, to hear three different perspectives (it was not an endorsement of any translation, except NRSV which rocks). The essential message is that we need humility and gratitude as human beings to be happy and full people. God doesn’t need our gratitude, we need our gratitude. Thanksgiving, prayer, and worship are just a few ways we foster humility and happiness. Delivered Sunday morning (Nov. 20) at UCV.

Happiness and Gratitude

Today’s sermon is titled “Happiness and Gratitude” because the two are significantly and deeply related. If any of you knows somebody who is deeply grateful for being alive and who gives thanks before every meal who is also an unhappy person, I would love an introduction to this anomaly. I’ve never met a person who was both grateful and miserable. With stress, with adversity, with discouragement, one of the first things to erode is our sense of gratitude, and when we lose our gratitude, our happiness comes next. So anything that we do that makes us more grateful for life, anything we do to foster gratitude, whether it’s a blessing before a meal or an entire holiday like Thanksgiving, serves to make us happier, more complete people.

I read the Psalm of Thanksgiving three times in three translations because I wanted you to hear it from different perspectives and for it to set in. I also wanted you to hear some of the ideas the scriptures associate with gratitude and thanksgiving: Worship, singing, praise, awe for creation, knowledge of God and reverence for God. I think an overarching concept, which encompasses all of these things, is humility. Humility is what keeps us grateful. Humility keeps us happy, satisfied and fulfilled.

Yet humility is not a prominent virtue in our society. I don’t think I’m making a controversial statement when I say that our culture is not a humble culture. Whether its the athletes we elevate, the politicians we elect, the movie stars we watch, or the executives we reward with obscene wealth, we celebrate ambition and tolerate, even reward, arrogance. The famous Shaker song tells is ’tis a gift to be simple, yet “simple” has become a pejorative in society, and achievement and success are valued more than honesty and integrity.

Don’t get me wrong. Ambition has its place, and I think it is important. But only when its an ambition motivated by love for neighbor, an ambition that is not only subservient to love and kindness, but directed and animated by it. But even when ambition is positive, it cannot be at the expense of humility.

Humility, like generosity, is a spiritual practice that needs to be practiced and fostered. Humility is shown in acts and deeds, but primarily its about the heart. It’s a heart that knows, deep down, that you are not any better than anyone else, and not any worse. It accepts that we didn’t get where we are alone – we didn’t create ourselves and we didn’t bestow our own blessings upon ourselves. A humble heart knows that we are God’s children, that there is so much beyond our own hearts and minds.

Psalm 100 sounds pretty, but it is more than just pretty words to be sung before service. It lays out the things that foster humility. It begins by encouraging us – make a joyful noise, and worship the Lord with gladness. Come into God’s presence with singing. That’s what we try to do on Sunday morning – through song, word and fellowship, we try to make a joyful noise, a faithful noise, for the Lord.

When I was younger I didn’t really understand worship. It wasn’t a matter of faith or loving God. I loved God – but I didn’t really get why God would even want to be worshiped. I got wanting us to be good people, I got wanting us to be in fellowship and friendship with each other, I even got why we should study scripture and discuss theology. But God is supreme, not insecure or conceited. God doesn’t need reassurance and praise, God doesn’t need constant thanks. God doesn’t want us groveling.

I wasn’t alone in not understanding the importance of worship and prayer. I’ve often heard atheist criticize the common Christian conception God for being vain and arbitrary. A big man in the sky who requires your constant allegiance and praise to avoid eternal torture. Although a ridiculous and intellectually lazy description of God, it has a point. A God that must be worshiped to satisfy its ego and quell its anger is not exactly worthy of admiration.

But this misunderstanding – and my personal discomfort with worship when I was younger – comes from seeing worship as something for God’s benefit instead of for our benefit. I was challenging the idea that God needed worship without asking myself whether I needed worship. Now, ten years later, I organize and lead worship almost every week, but I still don’t think God needs it. We need it. We need time every week to work on humility, to be thankful, to lift up our highest values, and to simply recognize that there are more important things in life than our individual struggles and blessings.

To me, bowing before the Christian God and submitting to the ideals of the scripture is less important than bowing before the God of love and the ideals of wisdom. Human beings are capable of terrible, evil things when they see themselves as better than others, or above the law, or simply morally superior to others. True worship prevents you from making an idol of yourself, keeps you humble, and works on your perspective. And by being humble, expressing thanks and coming to God in prayer, you make yourself happier. Worship moves us from self-centeredness to God-centeredness.

But you don’t have to be a believer to understand the miracle of life or understand how amazing it is that we are here today. The more we understand the universe, the more sophisticated we become in our scientific understanding, the more amazing it all becomes. We are one planet among 8 or 9 in the solar system, depending on poor Pluto, and we rotate around just one star among billions in this galaxy. And this galaxy is just one of billions. And now it appears there may be dimensions of space and time that we do not experience, and there may be multiple universes, equally as vast and incomprehensible as ours. The fact that we are here, in this moment, and have the awareness to know how unique and special that moment is, is perhaps the best illustration of the miracle of life.

Regardless of what belief or non-belief you profess, it should be self-evident that our lives are precious, and small and fragile in comparison to the cosmos. That’s why I think gratitude is such a suitable theme for tonight’s Interfaith celebration, a good common ground for people from all walks of life to come together and build community. As the chair of the Interfaith Council, the thing I see that is most destructive to interfaith relations is arrogance and ignorance. The arrogance that you have nothing to learn from other faiths and the willful ignorance that results from that attitude.

That arrogance is frustrating, but more significantly, I think, is that arrogance never leads to happiness and fulfillment. It stands in the way of truly loving God and neighbor. Humility is a prerequisite for an honest relationship with God, and few things can damage your relationship with God more than unchecked arrogance.

Last week I shared with you my spiritual journey in generosity – I talked about the thoughts and faith that went into filling out my pledge card this year, and above that what motivates generosity in general. This week I find myself preaching on another area that I’ve been working on and growing in for some time. I’m not always a humble person. I’m ambitious by nature, and have to keep that ambition in check and make sure it stays positive and helpful in my life. Ambition can lead you into overestimating your abilities, and sometimes you try to change things that are beyond your control. You become obsessed with success and failure, instead of simply doing your best to be faithful. I have found several things that help me keep perspective. Whenever I journal, I write three things that I am grateful for at the bottom of the page. Studies show that people who express gratitude have a more positive outlook on life and report higher levels of happiness. Personal experience tells me that it’s true and that constantly expressing gratitude keeps me humble and grounded.

Another thing that has been working really well for me is blessing each meal. If you don’t already, I want to encourage each of you, just for this week, to say a quick grace before each meal, in the spirit of Thanksgiving. You don’t have to say it aloud, make a show of it, or make anybody else at the table uncomfortable. But whether with a silent prayer or a group prayer before each meal, just give thanks for the food. I don’t always sit at a table when I eat, let alone say grace. But let’s give it a shot, just for one week, just for Thanksgiving. I bet in just one week, you’ll feel a change.

Praying before meals, worshiping God Sunday morning, and counting your blessings is not about blind obedience or vain piety. They are time-tested and ancient ways to foster loving and happy people and for our own benefit. God is not some kind of meglomaniac that demands constant praise and wants to hear our every thought in prayer. God doesn’t need our gratitude. We need our gratitude. We need it to stay grounded, we need it to stay healthy and we need it to be happy and fulfilled. I hope this Thanksgiving is a chance for you and your family and friends to gather around a table and celebrate the things that make life meaningful. Happy Thanksgiving and AMEN.

The Path to Generosity

Sunday was “Stewardship Sunday” when many of our members turned in their pledge cards for 2012. Preaching on money isn’t easy, but I did my best to speak to the importance of generosity in one’s spiritual life. I’ve never met a person who tithes and finds it unrewarding or misses the money. I focused on myself a lot in this sermon, because giving is so personal I figured it would be best to speak of my personal growth in this area. Hope you enjoy!

The Path to Generosity

In Divinity school I participated in a semester long Bible study that was truly transformative and set me down the path of being a more generous person. The Bible study was focused on a subject I was always uncomfortable with: Money. Every week we read several scriptures about money and generosity. We studied global poverty, a subject in which I was well versed and helped lead, yet took on a new dimension in this small group. And here’s the unique part of the study – we actually shared our budgets with each other and asked each other questions like “Do I earn and spend money justly?” and “How much do I give?”

It wasn’t comfortable at first. People got to see how cheap I was – you have all this money saved away and I’ve seen the couch in your bedroom. It’s gross Joe. But after the initial blushing, I realized some important things. In some ways, this Bible study was a spiritual audit and the news wasn’t all bad – I was working part-time at homeless shelter and part-time at a Bible society. I volunteered at my local church. I was proud of how I made a living, and how I used my time and talents. I was getting good grades at a great university, and enjoying my education.

But there was a piece missing. With the exception of loose donations on Sunday morning of whatever was in my wallet, somewhere between 5 and 20 dollars, I didn’t give away much of what I made. At this point, most of what I earned and then some was going to Harvard, but there was still room to give money to the non-profits I support.

At the end of the study we also did something really uncommon. It was the only time in my life I’ve done this. We had a check writing party. Through consensus, based on our semester long study, we decided how much we would give and where, and then had a potluck where signed and collected checks for the Mennonite Central Committee.

I’d love to tell you that I instantly became a tither, a person who gives a deliberate, planned and significant portion of their income to charity. The truth is the path to generosity, for me, is slower than that. I gave more than before, but it wasn’t a simple change in my budget.

Ultimately generosity is not about numbers, or a line item in your household budget. Generosity is spiritual practice, which means its a spiritual talent fostered over time. It’s not about percentages of income, it’s not about pledges or good deeds, but a spiritual state of being. Generosity is action-oriented, but it’s not actions, but rather it’s an internal disposition.

If a gun was put to my head and I was told to go over to a homeless veteran and give her money, would you call me generous or credit me with a kind deed? Even though I did a good work, it wasn’t out of my own heart, therefore not a reflection of my character or sincerity. There is a reason we consider free will essential to true generosity. Paul writes, “Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” Giving is about your heart, it’s about your relationship with God. It’s not about your checkbook.

In the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 21, Jesus watches rich men giving to the temple treasury. Then he watches a destitute widow put in her two pennies. He declares to his disciples that she gave the most, because she gave all that she had, and with all that she was. The wealthy in our society get the term philanthropist, are courted by non-profits and write the biggest checks, but that doesn’t make them the most generous. In fact, as a percentage of income, low-income Americans give the most to charity. But it’s not about amount or percentage, it’s about spirit. Rich or poor, your gift is defined by what is inside, it’s defined by Paul’s notion of “cheer” – the satisfaction of knowing that you are tending to the ministry of the everyday saints, doing what you can to build up the kingdom of God. To be a cheerful giver, I think you have to understand what you are doing on a deeply spiritual level. I know as your pastor I’m supposed to be spiritually mature and an example of this, but the truth is I’m not sure I’m quite to that level yet.

The way I see it, there are three levels to giving – obedience, duty and wisdom.

In some ways, I’m still rooted in the first level. My primary reason for giving is pretty basic and old-school theology – God tells me to. He who has two coats shall give to the one who has none. It is part of the great commandment, to love God and neighbor. Commandments are important because they are the foundation, but they are only a spiritual beginning. The Christian faith is so much more profound than rule-following. Yet, there’s a deep part of me that thinks that part of what God has given me doesn’t belong to me at all, and I’m required to share it or be judged.

The second level of giving is past judgment and obedience, but still in the world of obligation. It’s about social duty and practicing good citizenship.

As a pastor, I have a special obligation to give to the church. I cannot ask my congregation, my brothers and sisters who have entrusted me with spiritual leadership, to do something I cannot or will not do myself. But more than that, my position in society is only possible through generosity. I do a lot of important things, but I don’t make money for people. A society without generosity is a society without pastors, without non-profit workers like my wife Sara, and really without a lot of other jobs I find valuable. I refuse to benefit from generosity and not practice it. If I am generous, I get to live in a society that is generous. That is what I mean by duty.

But beyond duty, there is a wisdom in giving that I am acquiring as I age. Paul uses a simple metaphor when he says “My point is this: Those who sow sparingly reap sparingly and the one who sows bountifully will reap bountifully.” How you give is related to how you receive. Paul’s not talking about harvesting money, here. Putting money in the collection plate is not a financial investment – God is not going to “pay you back” later with special favors. God doesn’t repay dollar for dollar. The blessings of heaven are too valuable to be turned into a commodity or bought with a tithe.

But the prosperity preachers are indeed on to something – they scratch the wisdom of giving without understanding it. Generosity does indeed bring with it profound rewards and the blessings of heaven. They are right when they say that. But it’s not necessarily a material harvest. It’s better than that. It’s an emotional, spiritual and holy harvest. It is a harvest of righteousness.

When I was studying Islam at Harvard, I was inspired by an explanation of the Muslim equivalent of the tithe – Zakat. Every Muslim who is able is supposed to give 2.5% of their total wealth in alms. My professor likened it to pruning a tree – zakat isn’t seen as diminishing your wealth any more than trimming a tree diminishes the tree. It is to make the tree healthy and promote new growth. It shows God you are responsible with your blessings, and makes room for new blessings.

I’ve spent most of my life uncomfortable with my blessings and privileges. I always felt like I had too much. And I still do. I have a wonderful wife, a comfortable home, a meaningful and exciting job, and good friends. I am close with many people who are struggling to find work, and others who are working too hard for too little pay to support their families. At the shelters and pantries I meet people who are scarred by war, disabled by addiction, or oppressed through poverty. I do what I can to help, but I struggle with why I have advantages that others are denied.

Some people call this “liberal guilt” although you don’t have to be liberal to get it, and many liberals don’t feel this way at all. I’ve been the pastor of UCV for almost two years, and this is the third pledge card that I have turned in. The blessing that I’ve received is that I finally feel like I’m getting to that third level of giving, that I’m doing this cheerfully. I’m not doing it because God tells me to, or because it’s expected of a pastor, but because I’m trimming back the tree. I’m not losing anything. I’m giving some money away, yes – money that I could buy some fun stuff with, or hold in savings during an unstable economy – but I know I’m making room for new growth. I know that I’m sowing seeds of righteousness. And after two years of regular, planned giving to the church, and to other charities and missions, I am more comfortable with money than I have ever been in my life. I’m also more comfortable with the other blessings I have received in life. My liberal guilt is still ever-present, but it is alleviated through positive action and just giving.

Giving doesn’t make you poor. People don’t go bankrupt because they gave too much to charity, and I’ve never met a person who gives regularly and misses the money or regrets their generosity. The kid in me who is cheap and uncomfortable with money looks at these people, these cheerful givers, with amazement. But the part of me that is turning in my pledge card today is beginning to understand it.

I’ve talked about myself a lot in today’s sermon, and that’s because giving, especially financial giving, is pretty personal and I can’t speak for anybody but myself. And know that even though I don’t see these pledges, or know what anybody gives, if I did I wouldn’t pass judgment. Paul writes that we give according to our means, and that we measured by what we have, not what we do not have. In other words, he rejects the idea that everybody should give 5 or 10 percent, but rather that each person must earnestly and prayerfully decide what is appropriate.

And above all, a gift must be given voluntarily, without coercion. I hope our stewardship campaign has informed you about the needs of the church, how money is used and what you can do to contribute. I hope it hasn’t been an exercise of arm-twisting or coercion. That’s not what we’re about. We’re about democracy, collective action and true generosity. Giving from a place of guilt or obligation robs a person of the true reward of giving – the satisfaction that you are none the poorer for your gift, that you are serving the needs of your neighbor and sowing the seeds of righteousness. You are amplifying your own blessings, and the blessings of others.

The Disciples of Christ state that “We a movement for wholeness in a fragmented world” – we are a movement for peace amongst violence, we are a movement for hope in the face of fear, we are a movement for healing in a world full of suffering and we are a movement for generosity amid greed. You are making a difference, in your world and in your own life, by being part of this movement. So give cheerfully, as you are able, and know that you have God’s love with you wherever you go. AMEN.

This Sunday @ UCV 11-6-11

Brothers and Sisters,

Happy Thursday! And Happy Birthday to Anne Crutchfield. This weekend has some great things in store: Tomorrow morning, 7:30 a.m. at the Methodist Church on Adams and Kalmia, I will be helping the Food Pantry set up and distribute food. As I mentioned on Sunday, anybody from the congregation is welcome to come and participate. If you can come, please just email me so I can expect you, and if not there is still an easy opportunity to help – this throughout November we are doing a food drive for the Pantry in preparation for Thanksgiving. During communion on Sunday we are going to bring up food to bless and send to the pantry – so helping is as simple as bring a can of food, or other non-perishable like instant potatoes, with you on Sunday.

This Sunday is All Soul’s Sunday, meaning it is a day we honor those who have passed. We will be reading the names of members who have departed through the years, including the two losses this year: Rita Park and Virginia Jacobsen. Everyone is invited to bring a single flower for any loved one they would like to remember and honor, and there will be an opportunity to bring the flower forward during the opening hymn. I will be bringing a flower for Robert Morse, the father of my future sister-in-law, a kind man who died of brain cancer earlier this year while still in his 40s.

We will be continuing our stewardship series in preparation for next week, which is stewardship Sunday. My sermon will be on the importance of memory, especially when it pertains to wisdom and life. It is my great hope to see you this Sunday as we honor those who have passed in flesh but remain with us as a great cloud of witnesses, a spiritual presence that endures eternally.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev. Joe

God is Love, not Fear

Sunday’s sermon was on 1 John 4.16b-21, a passage about the nature of God and the nature of love. This passage tells us that God is love, and that perfect love castes out fear. A mature faith is motivated by love of one’s neighbor, not fear for one’s self. This letter, and my sermon, pushes us and asks us to go get past reward and punishment and love our brothers and sisters because those who abide in love abide in God.

Fear and Perfect Love

The first line of this passage is one of my favorites. It can also be translated: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God and God in them.” To me, this is a reminder that those who do the work of love in this world – the work of peace and justice and charity – they are doing God’s work. Maybe they call themselves atheists, or agnostics, or Muslims or Sikh, but those who do the work of love do the work of God, and they should be our partners in progress for society. Those who share a love for neighbor are allies in this life. More than we are divided by country, class or religion, we are bound together in love.

Love is the foundation of all good relationships, beginning with our relationship with God. As the passage puts it, we love because God first loved us. It is the basis of all healthy relationships and of all just societies. It is our highest commandment and highest ideal.

I’ve been thinking a lot about love this week, since I had the honor of performing a wedding on Friday evening in wine country, for Burley and Rachel Wright. Burley grew up in David French’s church, and his parents have been long time residents of this community. In my message, I told them that love is so much more than a feeling that they share – it is a daily practice and a powerful force in this world for good.

I really like the idea of love as a practice. The feeling of love is important, but it is incomplete if it is not translated into actions and deeds. Rachel and Burley took the love they felt and chose to commit to each other, to forge a life-long partnership and to live out that love together. Complete love is more than sensation – it bears fruit.

I brought a pomegranate with me today. When Sara and I moved into our home, we didn’t know what kind of tree was in our backyard. It wasn’t until we saw the fruits that we knew the tree in our backyard was a pomegranate tree. Lemon trees don’t produce pomegranates. Likewise, a loving soul does not produce fearful or hateful people.

That is why this passage tells us that people who claim to love God but hate their neighbors are liars. Those who love God love others. Whether they admit it or not, for people full of judgment, hate or fear, something has gone awry with their relationship with God. Perhaps their relationship with God is based more on dogma and damnation than it is on love. Maybe they don’t realize it, but something on a deeply spiritual level is out of whack.

That goes for us, too, though. We all experience the occasional flash of anger and resentment of another person. But when we find ourselves hating a brother or sister, something is not wrong with them. Sure they might have human flaws. Maybe they are frustrating and annoying and mean. But when you feel hate, something is not wrong with the object of your hate but the status of your heart.

We all get angry, and we all dislike the company of certain people. But that’s different from hate. Hate is something you allow to take root, it is something you nurture. Fear, on the other hand, is trickier and therefore more dangerous.

I don’t think the fear of this passage, the fear that undermines perfect love, is anxiety or fright. The letter of John is not talking about people who get nervous in public, or the jolt you get when somebody sneaks up on you and shouts “Boo!” John is talking about the kind of fear that drives actions, the kind of fear you let into your heart, the kind of fear that coerces you to forgo your higher values, like love and peace, in order to obtain the illusion of security. It’s the fear that keeps us from being generous and tells us to hoard for ourselves. It’s the fear of punishment or judgment that keeps us silent when we see something wrong. We are talking about spiritual fear.

One of my biggest concerns for our society is how common spiritual fear is in public life. After 9/11, we were encouraged to be afraid of terrorism, and that fear was used to justify aggressive surveillance and warfare. In the financial collapse of 2008, we were told that the global economy was going to collapse if we didn’t hand over tax-payer bailouts, zero interest federal loans and other special favors to financial institutions guilty of recklessness. With high unemployment, fear of losing a job has been used to get people to work harder for less money.

Now truly, some of those things we are told to fear are scary. They are certainly a lot scarier than haunted houses or any Halloween costumes you might see tomorrow night. But perfect love does not succumb to fear, but castes it out and defeats it.

Today’s passage tells us that, “there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love.” What I hear in this passage is that love is courageous. The loving Christian is not some child who fears his parent. We don’t practice love because we are afraid of punishment – we practice love because we have love in our heart, for God and for our neighbor. A mature faith is motivated by concern for one’s neighbor, not a fear for one’s self.

So when we confront things like global warming and terrorism, issues shrouded in fear and intimidation, we don’t ignore them, nor do we approach it with a base and selfish concern for our individual welfare and security. Let love motivate us. We should protect our neighbors from violence because we love them. We should preserve and enrich our environment not because of God’s wrath because we want God’s creation to thrive.

Our passage today points to the irony of claiming to love God but disdaining God’s creation. We are told, “those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen.” In other words, if we cannot handle God’s creations in the here and now, if we cannot even love God’s own children, how can we possibly love something as big and mysterious as God?

But here’s the flip side – the more we learn to love our neighbors, the more we learn to love God. That is why it is important to set aside a Sabbath, why it is important to take time to worship God in fellowship with other people who are also committed to love, peace and community. Community events, like tonight’s pumpkin glow, can be opportunities to go about the practice of love for one’s neighbor.

One of the great things about church community is that it throws random and sometimes disparate people together who might otherwise never get the opportunity to interact. This leads to great blessing, but sometimes it leads to social conflicts. As long as there has been a Christian church, there has been infighting. That’s why this letter was written, because brothers and sisters weren’t treating each other right. But I firmly believe that people committed to living in love and living in God, can not only find a way to be together in peace and harmony, but can amplify love and do so much more together than they could individually.

So when you feel anger, frustration or hate with another person – maybe it’s a coworker, or a boss, or a friend – realize that anger is natural but hate is an affliction on the soul. And when you feel fearful about the present or the future, let the love that is in your heart cast that fear out. Let your better angel prevail, and do allow yourself to be controlled by fear, but rather motivated by love. If you cast our fear, you can love your neighbor not because you fear hell or because you expect reward, but for this simple reason: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.” AMEN.