How much faith is enough?

10/2

After we read Psalm 137 this morning, I played “By the rivers of Babylon” by the Melodians…covered by Bobmarley and Linda Ronstadt among so many others. It’s part of my stretching out to do songs I  thought I could only  do with Jeremy, now  on my own.

I talked about  its last verse:

Happy shall they be who take your little ones

and dash them against the rock!  

Earlier this week I had posted on Facebook and asked if this was from the Koran or Bible. Radical Islam has nothing on us when it comes to redemptive violence. The  best sermon I ever heard on this verse was by Walter Wink who said we can’t ignore these verses. God wants us to say what we truly feel. And by giving it up to God, we let it go. 

Our Gospel today is Luke 17:5-10

As we begin, I need to clear a way a couple of things…..

First of all, we have slavery…cultural considerations and all, nothing here is to be read as Jesus condoning slavery. .and as to Jesus’ question, "Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? The answer from his disciples could be, that SOUNDS exactly LIKE WHAT JESUS WOULD SAY….

Then there is this issue of thanks…we DO need to thank people for doing their job…people need to feel appreciated…I remember a member who once told when she asked her boss about  raise, the answer was “Your raise is you have a job.”

Looking at this  another way,Jesus is making a point that there’s no extra credit for  doing what you’re supposed to do…During World War II, the French Huguenot village of Le Chambon sur Lignon, where every family  saved a Jewish family, did not want to be honored…We only did what was right they said. When asked why, they pointed not the quote above their church door, ”little children love one another” We could do no other, they said. 

So…the question is, How much faith is enough?

I’m going to be personal here. FAITH. I’ve been waiting for weeks for my Social Security  check. There’s been one issue after another. Last week, it was due to come in on Monday. By Wednesday, it still wasn’t there. Here it is… I’ll take responsibility for nuclear proliferation, climate change, Israel-Palestine and (maybe) Donald Trump.  All I’m asking God for is a little help on a simple bank transaction. 

And I remembered all the rules about praying…if you really want it, ti won’t come through. You just need to let go and let God. All of that. Then I  realized that’s what you call magical thinking..So I remembered the psalms and said what I felt. And it still didn’t come. 

What does faith looks like, feel like?

Traditional community organizing talks about “winnable issues…” something  has to be “definable, measurable, achievable…” Sharon Welch says that’s not necessarily so. You do something because it’s right, just to make the next step possible…not to accomplish the whole thing…..which may not happen in your lifetime. 

Of course the Rosa Parks action of refusing to move then back of the bus was planned, part of a strategy, not just the random act of a tired woman. …BUT…nevertheless, the actions of one person launched the Montgomery Bus Boycott that was a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights struggle. 

Our bulletin cover this morning features Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers.  His one man silent option toot stand for the national anthem has led to a growing movement to draw attention to the ongoing persecution and life threatening reality for black Americans.

Kaepernick’s witness had now spread to New York City Council where council member Jumaane Williams refused to rise for the opening pledge to allegiance. After receiving death threats, other council members like Brad Lander have line him in solidarity. 

Cornel West in a recent podcast with our member Russ Jennings (https://www.podcat.com/podcasts/odplze-love-in-a-dangerous-time/episodes/ugnnwb-revolutionary-christianity-a-talk-about-dangerous-times-with-dr-cornel-west-ldt066)  speaks of the issue of timing…an individual’s action either lights a spark or goes unnoticed…but you keep trying anyways, just because it’s right. 

In the end, faith is like pregnancy. You can’t be a little bit pregnant, you are or you’re not. Even the tiniest bit of faith is faith, and that’s where we begin.

Leila's communiuon table

Psalm 137:1-9

1By the rivers of Babylon-

there we sat down and there we wept

when we remembered Zion.

2On the willows there we hung up our harps.

3For there our captors

asked us for songs,

and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,

"Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

4How could we sing the Lord's song

in a foreign land?

5If I forget you, O Jerusalem,

let my right hand wither!

6Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,

if I do not remember you,

if I do not set Jerusalem

above my highest joy.

7Remember, O LORD, against the Edomites

the day of Jerusalem's fall,

how they said, "Tear it down! Tear it down!

Down to its foundations!"

8O daughter Babylon, you devastator!

Happy shall they be who pay you back

what you have done to us!

9Happy shall they be who take your little ones

and dash them against the rock!

Gospel Luke 17:5-10

5The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!" 6The Lord replied, "If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, 'Be uprooted and planted in the sea,' and it would obey you.

7"Who among you would say to your slave who has just come in from plowing or tending sheep in the field, 'Come here at once and take your place at the table'? SOUNDS LIKE WHAT JESUS WOULD SAY8Would you not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, put on your apron and serve me while I eat and drink; later you may eat and drink'? 9Do you thank the slave for doing what was commanded? 10So you also, when you have done all that you were ordered to do, say, 'We are worthless slaves; we have done only what we ought to have done!'"

Sixth Sunday of Easter: Do you want to be well?

5/1/16

Welcome back Seed  Group and Open Choir

Today our friends from the Seed group/open Choir have joined us again. They open our service with  songs from the southern African-American tradition; call and response, moving in circles. I wonder about the skein from this music to the full out high decibel rock in the Pentecostal service next door.

beginning

Our topic for reflection today is Do you want to be well?

I was in Louisville last week.  Another meeting of the Presbyterian Mission Agency Board, the national board of directors of the Church, so to speak. It was another trying and sad experience. Another wave of budget cuts in the wake of ever declining dollars. The loss of more staff, good friends, faithful servants.

                   

In the midst of the depressing meeting, I need a break. So I went to Stevie Ray’s Blues Bar. Their Tuesday night open blues jam. There I found a community of people who had been playing together for decades. And they welcomed me a stranger from New York. They were supportive, encouraging. I heard stories of how they had been there for each other. I often find in the music community what it is the church is supposed to be. It’s what our brother Dion offers as the host of our Friday night Open Mics.

Russ reminds us that we should  have the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the  other. And the first thing that jumps out at me from the  newspaper is income inequity. What commentators call the velvet rope economy.

 The Time article. has this to say:

With disparities in wealth greater than at any time since the Gilded Age, the gap is widening between the highly affluent — who find themselves behind the velvet ropes of today’s economy — and everyone else.

It represents a degree of economic and social stratification unseen in America since the days of Teddy Roosevelt, J. P. Morgan and the rigidly separated classes on the Titanic a century ago.

When top-dollar travelers switch planes in Atlanta, New York and other cities, Delta ferries them between terminals in a Porsche, what the airline calls a “surprise-and-delight service.” Last month, Walt Disney World began offering after-hours access to visitors who want to avoid the crowds. In other words, you basically get the Magic Kingdom to yourself.

When Royal Caribbean ships call at Labadee, the cruise line’s private resort in Haiti, elite guests get their own special beach club away from fellow travelers — an enclave within an enclave.

“We are living much more cloistered lives in terms of class,” said Thomas Sander, who directs a project on civic engagement at the Kennedy School at Harvard. “We are doing a much worse job of living out the egalitarian dream that has been our hallmark.”

Emmanuel Saez, a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley, estimates that the top 1 percent of American households now controls 42 percent of the nation’s wealth, up from less than 30 percent two decades ago. The top 0.1 percent accounts for 22 percent, nearly double the 1995 proportion.

But even as income inequality and the wealth gap stoke the discontent that has emerged as a powerful force in this year’s presidential election, for American business it represents something else entirely. From cruise ship operators and casinos to amusement parks and airlines, the rise of the 1 percent spells opportunity and profit.

So in our other hand is the Bible. And today’s passage is John 5: 1-9:

¹After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

²Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes.³In these lay many invalids-blind, lame, and paralyzed. 4, 5One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, "Do you want to be made well?" ⁷The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up; and while I am making my way, someone else steps down ahead of me." ⁸Jesus said to him, "Stand up, take your mat and walk." ⁹At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.

That is the question:  Do you want to be well?

In this story, a man has been paralyzed for 38 years .(I can’t help but think of my mom, working her way through rehabilitation after a stroke…going from full freedom and movement one day to dependency on others the next..)The man describes the local health care system….a pool ….an angel troubles the waters…then the first one in gets healed…for 38 years he’s been pushed aside…the system doesn’t work…

So what does Jesus do? Does he helps him get to the water first? NO. He tells him to get up and walk…he avoids the stacked system altogether….moves outside the lines and creates a new reality.

That’s the Jesus question: Do you want to be well?

In addition to the bad news in Louisville, I also heard exciting stories from churches…moving outside the lines…

Like Madrona Grace church in Seattle…building their tiny houses….131 square feet…loft, kitchen, living space….first built for their  shelter volunteers, they realized, why not for homeless people? So tiny houses are soon to build for homeless people. At a cost of $12 to $20000 a house. The Wood Technology Center of Seattle Central College is providing all the labor, building the homes to specifications provided by the church. 

Tonight is our night to serve a meal at the shelter at SPSA. I hear more and more churches starting open table meals like Jan Hus…or Broadway Presbyterian …where all are welcome and break bread together…where all are served, volunteers and guest alike.  A new way to be church. Or perhaps a very old way. Metaphoric and existential simultaneously.

That is the question: Do you want to be well?

Our Washington DC ministry staff person J. Herbert Nelson had this to say in response to what was happening in  Louisville: Assumed attrition is not a vision…and certainly not a stragtegy…

The Presbyterian Outlook has important questions for us to answer:

1.     How do we address the problems inherent in our economic system while continuing to participate in them?

2.     What are some effective ways of challenging unhelpful myths about our economic system?

3.     How can faith communities play a prophetic role and help build a society that can make people whole? 

(You can see more at: http://www.onscripture.com/seeking-wholeness-inherently-flawed-system#sthash.Mp1l5MYP.dpuf)

Do you want to be well?  Sharon Welch reminds us that the dominant ethic of our culture is that of  control. For good or bad intentions, either way, control is inherently violent to the spirit. What she calls for is an ethic of risk, that is where life is….that is where we can be well…where we can heal and be well again..

God grant is the courage to risk…

After we pray, we share bread and cup together, our own symbolic open table. Open choir and members, all together. Our friends sing again. And I close with these words from Revelation 21:10, 22:1-5

¹⁰And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

¹Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ²through the middle of the street of the city. On either side of the river is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.³Nothing accursed will be found there any more. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him; ⁴they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵And there will be no more night; they need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

John, Rachel and Mario

Are you a patriot?

7/5

It’s the 5^th of July. The Sunday after the 4^th. And today, after Jeremy and I tried to  rehearse in the sanctuary, now transformed into a theatre for Noche Flamenca and their production of Antigona, we decided to worship in the chapel and so we are there. And as we have ben doing, we begin with Every time I feel the Spirit.

OPENING SONG   Being the weekend of the 4^th, we begin with Woody Guthrie’s This Land is Your Land:
This land is my land,
From California to the New York Island,
From the Redwood Forest to the Gulf Stream waters,
This land was made for you and me.

As I went walking that ribbon of highway
I saw above me that endless skyway,
I saw below me that golden valley,
This land was made for you and me.

I roamed and I rambled, and I followed my footsteps
To the sparking sands of her diamond deserts,
All around me a voice was sounding,
This land was made for you and me.

When the sun came shining, then I was strolling,
And the wheat fields waving, and the dust clouds rolling,
A voice was chanting as the fog was lifting,
This land was made for you and me.

One bright sunny morning, in the shadow of the steeple,
By the relief office I saw my people,
As they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if,
This land was made for you and me.

Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me,
Was a great big sign that said, "Private Property,"
But on the other side, it didn't say nothing,
That side was made for you and me.

Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking my freedom highway,
Nobody living can make me turn back,
This land was made for you and me.

Woodland and grassland and river shoreline,
To everything living, even little microbes,
Fin, fur, and feather, we're all here together,
This land was made for you and me.

I mention that the last verse was added by Pete Seeger as an environmental/climate verse.

We begin our service of the word with Psalm 48, usig this as a response:

Great are you Lord, you are  holy and just
By yoiur power we trust in your love
Great are you Lord, you are  faithful and true
By your mercy you proves you are  love.

Our Epistle is 2nd Corinthians 12: 2-10,

Which I follow with my doo wop By the Grace of God and then the GOSPEL Mark 6: 1-13.

Our reflection was like this:

So what did you do to celebrate the 4^th of July? When you look back, which 4ths were your favorite? Where have you seen fireworks? I can think of beaches, of neighbors’ back yards, Riverside Park. And one incredible year when I was invited to the Pawnee nation annual pow wow and watched as they entered the ceremonial grounds carrying an American flag to chants and drums. I asked what they were doing.

It’s the flag song, they said. We sing it to welcome back our men from the wars. And remember those who did not. The contrast of the flag, no national anthem, their own song of thanksgiving and lament, was profoundly moving.

What does it mean to be a patriot?  All the major league teams yesterday wore hats and uniforms with stars and stripes and flag motifs. I suspect that had more to do with merchandising and marketing than patriotism.

Today we are singing two great songs, call them patriotic songs, with interesting stories. Woody Guthrie wrote This Land is Your Land…in 1940 in response to Kate Smith’s God Bless America. He originally called it God blessed America. His anti-capitalist critique was not part of what I learned growing up.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful in 1893 after a visit to Pike’s peak. Never married, In 1910, when a colleague described free-flying spinsters as fringe on the garment of life, Bates answered: I always thought the fringe had the best of it. I don't think I mind not being woven in.

She lived for 25 years with Catharine Coman, her love since her Wellsley college days.

So there you have it…two of our most loved patriotic songs…one written by a communist (sympathizer?) and the other by a lesbian. (And I hope that annoys someone somewhere..)

I thought about this a lot this week as Jeremy’ wife, our graphic artist Priska Wenger, became a citizen. About what is pledged. And at the ballgame I went to with my brother in Detroit, They held a special court session right at homeplate to welcome 45 new citizens. I loved it as the camera panned their faces, from the corners of the world.

SO what does it mean? Clearly love of country. And with that, It’s been a roller coaster ride:

*Black lives matter

* The ongoing assault on voting rights

*Ongoing mass incarceration

*The Charleston massacre

* Marriage equality

Scripture has some clues.

First Paul. The famous thorn in the flesh passage. No one knows exactly what that was. Bur nite that he prayed and prayed and prayed to have it removed. And it never was. And that should tell us something.

He says My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."…and ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

When Howard Rice, then president of San Francisco Theological Seminary,  ran for moderator of the General Assembly, he was confined to a wheel chair. In the question and answer period, someone asked um how he would hold up to the physical challenges of the job, he responded with this quote. And that my friends, was the election.  s

What does that mean? What is your greatest weakness.  How does it make you strong? I suppose we learn from them, we have to find ways to work around them. Took me years to learn I had adhd and depression and countless doctors and…for me it is still an issue. And I am still responsible to find ways to deal with it. My disability activist friends look for healing, not curing. Perhaps it means we have to be completely reliant on God.

But as a nation….Sharon Welch has said that our dominant culture is one of control. That in itself can be for good or evil or both. She calls for an ethic of risk…Ultimately control is impossible. And risk is necessary for peace. (In the new Cuba –US relationship, …who’s at risk there? I just read an article concerned about Cuba;s natural environment once it opens up. Then there are the ongoing US-Iran negotiations.

Jesus says "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them…..

. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

We need the prophetic voice of loving critique. (Abraham Joshua Heschel….said that a true prophet comes from a  people and speaks to  a people..and must never be divorced from that people. )

One of the signers John Witherspoon was a Presbyterian.  Our theology of imperfection serves us well. NO one and even more no party or official perfect.  As in IAF, ALL must be subject to critique.

Bill Coffin, chaplain at Yale during my time there, at the peak of the Vietnam war, brought these words of Katharine Bates to my attention:

America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

Let this, with love be our prayer today…

SECOND READING 2 CORINTHIANS 12:7b-10

Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given to me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated. ⁸Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me, ⁹but he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness." So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. ¹⁰Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

GOSPEL MARK 6:1-13

¹He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him. ²On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! ³Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him. ⁴Then Jesus said to them, "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them. ⁶And he was amazed at their unbelief.

Then he went about among the villages teaching. ⁷He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. ⁸He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts; ⁹but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics. ¹⁰He said to them, "Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

So what did you do to celebrate the 4^th of July? When you look back, whiuch ines were your favorite? Where have you seen fireworks? I can think of beaches, of neighbors back yards, Riverside Park. And one incredible year when I was invited to the Pawnee nation annual pow wow and watched as they entered the pow wow grounds carrying an American flag to chants and drums. I asked what they were doing.

It’s the flag song, they said. We sing it to welcome back our men from the wars.

What does it mean to be a patriot?  All the major league teams yesterday wore hats and uniforms with stars and stripes and flag motifs. I suspect that had more to do with merchandising and marketing than patriotism.

Today we are singing two great songs, call them patriotic songs, with interesting stories. Woody Guthrie wrote This Land is Your Land…in 1940 response to Kate Smith’s God Bless America. He originally called it God blessed America. His anti-capitalist critique was not part of what I learned growing up.

Katharine Lee Bates wrote America the Beautiful in 1893 after a visit to Pike’s peak. Never married, In 1910, when a colleague described "free-flying spinsters" as "fringe on the garment of life", Bates answered: "I always thought the fringe had the best of it. I don't think I mind not being woven in."

She lived for 25 years with Catharine Coman, her love since Wellsley days.

So there you have it…two of our most loved patriotic songs…one written by a communist (sympathizer?) and the other by a lesbian. (And I hope that annoys someone somewhere..)

I thought about this a lot this week as Jeremy’ wife, our graphic artist Priska Wenger, became a citizen. About what is pledged. And at the ballgame I went to with my brother in Detroit, They held a special court session right at homeplate to welcome 45 new citizens. I loved it as the camera panned their faces, from the corners of the world.

SO what does it mean? Clearly love of country. It’s been  roller coaster ride:

*Black lives matter

* The ongoing assault on voting rights

*Ongoing mass incarceration

*The Charleston massacre

* Marriage equality

Scripture has some clues.

First Paul. The famous thorn in the flesh passage. No one knows exactly what that was. But notice that he prayed and prayed and prayed to have it removed. And it never was. And that should tell us something.

He says My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness."…and ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.

(Howard Rice story….that was the election)

What dos that mean? What is your greatest weakness. How does it make you strong? I suppose we learn from them, we have to find ways to work around them. Took me years to learn I had add and depression and countless doctors and…still an issue. And I am still responsible to find ways to deal with it. My disability activist friends look for healing, not curing. Perhaps it means we have to be completely reliant on God.

But as a nation….Sharon Welch. Our dominant culture is one of control. That in itself can be for good or evil or both. She calls instead for an ethic of risk…Ultimately control is impossible. And risk is necessary for peace. (Cuba –US…who’s at risk there? US-Iran..)

Jesus says "Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house." ⁵And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them…..

. ¹¹If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them." ¹²So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent. ¹³They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.

We need the prophetic voice of loving critique. (Heschel….from a  people to a people..) One of the signers John Witherspoon, Presbyterian.

Our theology of imperfection serves us well. NO one and even more no party or official perfect.  (IAF)ALL must be subject to critique.

Bill Coffin, at the peak of the Vietnam war, brought these words of Katharine Bates to my attention:

America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

Let this, with love be our prayer today.

To introduce our prayers, Andre sings, Just a Closer Walk With Thee and for  our

OFFERTORY, How Great Thou Art. Today is a Sunday for EUCHARIST. And so we celebrate with bread and cup. And close our service with the Kathy Lee Bates song,  O Beautiful:

O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

O beautiful for pilgrim feet,
Whose stern impassion’d stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America! God mend thine ev’ry flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!

O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife,
Who more than self their country loved,
And mercy more than life!
America! America! May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness,
And ev’ry gain divine!

O Beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam,
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America! God shed His grace on thee,
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!

We were blessed today to have with us the two new summer interns from the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations. And now on to enjoy the rest of the day….