What is your vision?

Sermon 10/23

28Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

30I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 32Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Is that text from Joel familiar to you? It’s quoted in our Pentecost story own Acts. It’s apocalyptic.. in its very nature…and if you look close, it’s got prophecy coming from unexpected places…the “sons and daughters” ..”old men”…and a friend once pointed out, it’s seemingly reversed..IE, you‘d expect the young to have dreams, the  old to have visions…and it is all a result of an outpouring off the Holy Spirit…

For months, as I’ve watched our election process,I’ve felt a sense of the apocalyptic…that’s why I love Bob Dylan’s songs like “Hard Rain”…the more I think about it , it seems like everybody’s got a sense of the apocalyptic…

Trump supporters feel like the country’s in peril and only one man save it. 

Others feel that  IF Trump is elected its all over.

Bernie supporters believed it was time for a revolution.

Hmmmmm…..it might be interesting to think about it not in terms of terror to come but what are the dreams? What do the visions look like?

A commentator I have really come to appreciate, Jill Duffield, (editor of Presbyterian Outlook,a former pastor in South Carolina) raises the issue of civility, how protestants make it next to godliness.And how it can curtail community, because we never know what’s really going on.  Paul’s whininess in jail or the tax collector’s fervent prayer. Civility can be used to silence voices. And be a substitute for true community.

BUT…I think what I miss most of all right now is civility. There has been a meanness,a  coarseness like I don’t remember. Though come to think about it,  I do remember:

Barry Goldwater and the nuclear bomb ads

My pastor keeping us after worship to tell us that If Kennedy was elected, the pope would be running the country

George Herbert Bush’s Willie Horton ads against  Dukakis…implying if he were elected black criminals would run wild.

Soo…but nevertheless…there was a tradition of civility, cross aisle friendships…like the surprising close friendship of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Anton Scalia….

Hmmmm….

I like Michelle Obama’s statement (I would vote for her) that when they go low, we go high….

So what am I saying?

It feels apocalyptic to me..with climate change, black lives matter…BUT we’ve lived through a lot of apocalyptic times.

Yes, we need to restore civility, but not silence voices…

The big one is about visions and dreams…do you still have a dream? a vision? what will  we leave behind us?

That’s a pretty big question for me right now…at this stage  of my life..

Can we move beyond apocalyptic fear to having a real vision and working to make it real? What does it  look like? Feel like? It’s up to us to define it…to make it clear

As part of our service, I sang Bob Dylan’s A Hard rain’s a gonna fall…and added these words:

And I’ll sing for the players who take a brave knee

As the anthem plays an black bodies bleed

And I’ll call out the man who wants a great wall

And all who resident while more bodies fall

And I’ll say to straight before it’s too late

It will takeout strong love to our back the hate

And it’s a hard rain’s gonna fall….

Joel 2: 23-32

23O children of Zion, be glad and rejoice in the LORD your God; 

for he has given the early rain for your vindication, he has poured down for you abundant rain, the early and the later rain, as before. 24The threshing floors shall be full of grain, the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.

25I will repay you for the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent against you.

26You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 27You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I, the LORD, am your God and there is no other. And my people shall never again be put to shame.

28Then afterward I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29Even on the male and female slaves, in those days, I will pour out my spirit.

30I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. 31The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD comes. 32Then everyone who calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved; for in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Second Reading 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18

6As for me, I am already being poured out as a libation, and the time of my departure has come. 7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day, and not only to me but also to all who have longed for his appearing.

16At my first defense no one came to my support, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them! 17But the Lord stood by me and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion's mouth. 18The Lord will rescue me from every evil attack and save me for his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen.

Gospel Luke 18:9-14

9He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt: 10"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. 12I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' 13But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' 14I tell you, this man went down to his home justified rather than the other; for all who exalt themselves will be humbled, but all who humble themselves will be exalted."

Third Sunday in Advent: That man gets it

12/17

George is on the steps waiting. I’m a little concerned, it’s been two days now. I ask if he’s still got his apartment. He harrumphs. Yeah. For now. But after January 1...

What happens on January 1?

What, you don’t read your news?

Well,yeah but what news?

The cliff. The fiscal cliff. The fiscal motherfuckin cliff. We all goin over. All goin over. 

I tell him I have to go in. Time for worship to begin.

Shortly before the service begins, Kara comes in. Like a leaf blown in by the wind, dancing on air. She has her hair down, which I have never seen before. A look of wild in her eyes. She’s never been to worship here before. 

As she whirls and twirls and rocks,alternately laughing and crying, I begin to realize that this is different. She’s talking about hatred and persecution and having no money.  And how she’ll dance and strip if she has to. Like Mary Magdalene, her spirit lives in me! If they don’t like it, fuckem, who are they to judge? she says. And starts laughing again. 

Teddy leads her down to the first pew. Gently puts his arm around her. Andre looks over. Cerebral isssue, brain injury, I say. And Andre nods, I knew it. I could feel it, he says.

We sing a new hymn today, commissioned by Mark Koenig, our UN ministries friend, for Human Rights Day. (Last Monday)

You Made Us in Your Image

                AURELIA  7.6.7.6 D ("The Church's One Foundation")

You made us in your image, O God of love and grace;

You treasure every person in every time and place.

You call your world to follow—to see in every one

A person loved and cherished, your daughter or your son.

Your will is for your people to live in safety here,

With dignity and justice, and free from want or fear.

In families and nations, may all know freedom’s song;

May all enjoy the blessing to choose where they belong.

You warn against enslavement and things that would oppress.

You call for living wages, for times of welcome rest.

You call for education for all—not just a few;

You teach us: Welcome strangers, for so we welcome you.

You made us to be equal; you made us to be free—

To speak the truth with courage, to change society,

To follow our own conscience, to choose the words we pray.

O God, may all your children enjoy these gifts each day.

Biblical References:  Genesis 1-2; Exodus 5:1-20; Nehemiah 5:1-13; Psalm 82:1-4; Proverbs 4:1-27; 

Isaiah 58:1-12; 65:17-25; Amos 5:21-24; Micah 4:1-5; 6:6-8; Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 12:28-34; 

John 3:16-17; Acts 10:34-36; Galatians 3:26-29; Hebrews 13:1-9a.

Tune: Samuel Sebastian Wesley, 1864.

Copyright © 2012 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. 

Email: bcgillette@comcast.net Web site: www.carolynshymns.com

As we begin our prayers, and people raise the families of the children in Newtown, Connecticut Sandy Hook Elementary School, Kara seems to come unglued. Seems to be happening to a lot of fragile people around me. As we sing, she claps her hands and sways over intensely.  A young woman visitor, Carrie, looks on warily. Anna with puppy looks equally warily, although she has a litany of mental health resurces ready to share. 

And then it’s time for my reflection. And I have to talk about Connecticut.  We want to ask why. Don’t. Any answer would be disresectful and inappropiate and make the experience of tragedy secondary to some other scheme. Any why is inadequate. I was  reminded today on the op ed page of the Times of Dostoyevsky, in Brothers Karamazov, his questioning, of God. And the complete inexcusability of the suffering of the innocent. His answer isn’t spoken-- it’s carried out in caring for one another of the characters as the story unfolds. We need to look at the heroes. The ones who stepped up and did the right thing without a second thought. Who led children to safety. Protected them. And those who have, who do and who will bring comfort. Look there. Our job is not to prove, disprove, or  defend God. Our job us to love one another.

That was actually the theme of Dzieci’s Fool’s Mass last week Sunday in our chapel. The inmates of the asylum have lost their priest. Now they have to create it on their own. The subtext is what do we do when God seems absent or silent?  We care for one another. And that is enough. 

OH....but there is something we can and must do. We can do something about guns...it is insane that we have more regulations about ladders than guns....that owning guns is a right and heath care is a privilege. There is no need,none, for private citizens to own semi-automatic assault weapons. None. We can d something about that. Can say enough. 

I have to talk about John the Baptist today. This could be the two sides of John the Baptist. This is not a good way to win friends and influence people.  Brood of vipers? Feels good, but what’s up with that? As we learned last week, John was a  son of privilege....What he is saying is a rejection of all privilege....race,class, religion. When he says, who taught you to flee? I’m surprised someone doesn’t say,  ahhhh...YOU told us to flee...

But...as we learned last week in Bible study, Luke may be a different gospel than we thought. Once thought to be contemporaneous with Matthew, scholars now think that Luke was  probably written in the  early 2nd century. Probably by  a wealthy educated person. While Luke presents a God who is clearly on side of poor,long the favorite of liberation theologian, he speaks to  lives that must be lived  in tension....

For example, check this out:

• If you have 2 coats, share one. Obviously, of you’ve only got one, well, keep it. 
• if you have food, share it
• for tax collectors, working  for the empire, take only your proscribed amount...., NOT give up all that you have and follow the poor

* Then he circles back to a prophetic mode one more time

Yes, it does  sounds apocalyptic. Like all the buzz about the  Mayan apocalypse on December 20th this week...Now if it were true, it would certainly  simplify Christmas shopping. BUT Jane had the Mayan elders here a few weeks back...According to them, this date does not point to the end but to an era of spiritual rebirth.. and I’m seriously OK with that. 

Things get apocalyptic enough or us. Every Columbine or Virginia Tech or Sandy Hook Elementary is  apocalyptic enough Facing the end of our own lives is apocalyptic. And in time of living in tension, one thing is clear....we are called on to love one another. 

All these things are going to come together in a celebration of God being with us....God being is us ...coming....very ...soon. 

Following my refection Andre blesses us with his acapella In the Bleak Midwinter, by Cristina Rosetti. Says it’s his favorite hymn of the season.

After our final circle, Carrie asks me if  Sunday mornings are always like this. Before I can answer, Kara is swirling again, in every sense. So I invite her to play the piano. She wiggles her fingers and says, so what do fingers do? They fing!!!! And instead of her usual introspective moody playing, she is furiously pounding the keys. Uh no, Carrie, not always like this. Sometime ore, sometimes less, not always like this...I tell her we are in the process of rebuilding. I tell her we’ve only been back since a year ago March. She tells me she’s Southern Baptist from Alabama. Hope my theology wasn’t too out there for you, I say. No,not at all....uh, it...was ...interesting. I tell her I’d like to talk with her, tell her what we’re up to. What other options there are in the neighborhood. She likes that. 

Teddy has rounded up Kara. tells me he’s going to get her some food, get her to rest. They leave. 

Andre sits in my office and we talk. How Anxious Kara made me. How I was afraid she would drive away Carrie.  But in the end decided that something had drawn her here. And that this was where she needed to be. Andre said, but that’s who you are. Who we are. Why we’re here.  Even when it’s not easy.

Another woman has come in looking for help. He will fed her as well. And direct her to SPSA where there is a shelter. Seems she’s a domestic violence victim. Later in the day, Kara will wake up. Teddy will call Jane, who will call Nancy who will talk Kara out of her mania. No you will not go to a strip club audition, you will go home. Teddy, working with people until the end of the day. That man gets it, he’s beautiful, says Andre.

Late at night, I walk by the church. George is gone. 

* * * * 

Yesterday our friend, brother, companion Teddy Mapes died suddenly. The next post will tell that story. Almost too painful to talk about...