New Years Day 2012 Rev. Laurie Furr-Vancini
Revelation 21:12-6
Luke 13:6-9 Palms Presbyterian Church
A New Day
Once every seven years – give or take a year because of Leap Year—
New Years Day falls on a Sunday.
Welcome to that day.
Let’s put some things on our New Years Table (not be confused with our communion table)…
Most of you are the ones who don’t make a big party of New Year’s Eve.
Some of you do, but not most of you.
Most of you really want to be here today or you would not have made the effort.
(After all, this is a sort of “free pass Sunday”)
One service, no Sunday School,
I don’t even know if we have snacks in Patten Hall…
Look, no choir….no special music….
Pinch Hitter Preacher….
(I traded Christmas Day off for preaching on New Years Day…)
Aside from all that, we are here….
And we will make the best of it.
Please pray with me: God of this New Year, God of our every year. Thank you for dwelling among mortals, among us. Make our time together a holy time.Fill each person here with your Holy Spirit. Make us a holy people. Amen.
From earlier this week:
I’m in Atlanta, or rather, Decatur, with my family.
We are staying with college friends who live at the edge of Columbia Seminary.
The New Years sermon must be written.
We will leave for Nashville for the Wake Forest Bowl Game in three hours.
More college friends, the kids, hotel, tailgate,
Sermon writing needs to take place now or in a car of chaos.
The seminary library is my destination. I
love the quiet, the closed off-ness.
I love the smell of old books and the feeling of retreat for the purposes of serious study.
It is freezing.
And I have no coat. It will be warm in the library.
I break away from the warm house, get in my van and make my pilgrimage to my alma mater.
I walk up the steps to the brick building on the quad.
The library is locked tight.
And so are all the other buildings.
Doesn’t anyone work here the week between Christmas and New Year?
Isn’t this a holy week, too?
Don’t they know traveling preachers have sermons to write?
I stand on the campus alone in the cold and I am resentful and sad.
It isn’t about the library anymore.
It’s about me not getting what I want.
It is about locked, cold doors and cold wind blowing.
And suddenly, it also about what ifs and jealousy of others for whom doors always seem open.
As I simmer in the middle of the quad, I wonder why I have these feelings because the good folks of Columbia have a day off to spend with their families.
Resentment, sadness, jealousy, what ifs….
Isn’t this the way we could spend much of our lives if we are not careful?
I’ll make the best of it.
I go back to my car, pondering those feelings in my heart.
Surprised that I had such a strong, visceral reaction.
I begin driving.
I get on Missionary Drive and head towards downtown Decatur.
A squirrel sitting in the middle of the road darts away from the car.
It has been standing over the body of a second squirrel. A dead squirrel.
Mate? Brother? Sister? Mother? Friend?
I didn’t know squirrels mourn,
But there is no doubt that this squirrel is mourning.
Our scripture from Revelation is already in my mind—
“God will be with them; God will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more;
mourning and crying and pain will be no more”
It is a promise, but does it already exist, as well?
At least in some form?
And could it be true for mourning squirrels, for all of creation, as well?”
I wait for a train to go by and then cross the tracks.
I see several bundled up homeless people and I think about how cold it was last night.
I find an open parking meter and park.
Two hour limit.
Do I have change?
Yes, lots of nickels.
A nickel gets two minutes.
I scrounge around in the bottom of my purse.
2 mintues, 2 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes….
I get up to an hour and 17 minutes.
That is how much time I have in the coffee shop to write a sermon for
New Years Day 2012.
I’ll make the best of it. God expects no less.
I order a cup of coffee.
I have already had breakfast, but I also get a banana and a piece of
Pumpkin bread to give to the next person I see who looks homeless and hungry.
I scan the coffee shop.
No one here looks physically hungry, so I sit down.
An acoustic version of “Honey Let Me Be Your Salty Dog” comes on.
A memory from Macclenny flits by. But I don’t grab it and think about it.
I let it pass. Time is ticking.
I reread the Revelation verse and parable of the fig tree.
O God, please don’t cut me down, give me one more year.
I take out a clear piece of paper and colored markers.
I write in different colors:
New Year
Baptism
Communion
New Heaven and New Earth
“Water as a gift from the spring of life!”
Fig tree, fruit, Manure, Digging Around
Alpha, Omega
My task? To link these up.
And time is ticking.
The title of the sermon at my ordination was called
Connecting the Dots.
The pastor, who was a good family friend said, “Follow where the Lord leads you, but don’t erase the dots behind you…connect them, not just on paper, but in reality…. Connect them for yourself and your family and connect the dots for others…..”
Baptism, Communion, New Year, Fig Tree, New Heaven….
Come on. Make the Best of It.
And it occurs to me, as if a revelation, that for God “make the best of it” is actually a cop out.
Because God expects more than the best of it.
God expect the best of us.
God came and dwelled among us and within us not so we could slog by in this world and in our life, making the best of it,
But so that we can be God filled creatures ourselves. Created in the image of God.
Lived out in the life of Jesus, as our pioneer and role model for God-like living.
From our first cry, God claimed us.
At our last breath, God will claim us.
At baptism, God’s grace showered over us.
Not with the promise of a walk in the park, lovely, perfect life where all the doors are open.
There is no promise that we will not stand over the body of one we love and mourn,
There is no promise of no hungry and homeless people,
There is no promise that we won’t be filled with sorrow, regret and jealousy for the what ifs in our lives.
The promise IS that God is with us and in us.
And that God will be with us.
And that the day of those promises will come.
A time of a new heaven and new earth to hope for and pray for
And we see just enough glimpses of that time to come,
We are participants in enough holy moments,
We dig around enough and feel the dirt in our hands enough to know that the promises of baptism,
of scripture,
the promises made when we gather at the table….
That they are true.
We gather at the font to baptize,
Because we believe in the promises of God’s grace.
Because we believe in the power of God in Christ Jesus over the evil in the world.
Because as a body of believers, we claim God’s promises not only for ourselves but for brothers and sisters of all ages, stages, races, backgrounds. And we are in this together.
We love, because God first loved us.
And we gather at the table together renewing our bonds with God and with community…
Strengthening who we are and who we are called to be.
Empowered to “go forth” as disciples and as a community of disciples.
This what we do here….
Reading the bible,
thinking on the word,
telling stories,
baptizing, gathering at the table,
connecting the dots,
rooting around in the dirt and manure of life…..and proclaiming “Jesus is Lord”….
Isn’t this more than just “making the best of it?”
And we are linked with those who come before us
And those who come after us.
But still, it is a New Day for us.
A New Year to decide who we will be.
As individuals, As a community, as a country, as a world.
I leave the coffee shop.
The sun is shining now and I don’t miss not having a coat.
I see a young mother kiss her child as she puts him in a stroller.
Two Muslim women in head scarves walk by.
Teenagers are laughing in the adjacent park.
I look around for someone to whom I can give the banana and the pumpkin bread. It is later and the homeless have crept into the shadows.
I know that just because I do not see them, they are not there.
And I will not forget them, I vow.
I think WHAT A BLESSING IT HAS BEEN THAT THE LIBRARY DOORS WERE LOCKED.
I arrive at my car and I have two minutes left on the meter.
The bells on the courthouse chime.
Today is a new day.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Prayer for Harmony
So...there is a family at our church...the Toma family. A number of months ago, they talked to me about transracial adoption. They were already in the process of adopting in the foster care system of Florida and were being considered for an african-American girl. As my only experience in transracial adoption involved having adopted a daughter from China, I do not declare myself an expert. I suggested they trust their instinct and their ability to open their hearts. At first, it seemed that child would not be the child for them, as the foster mother decided to adopt her. Then, the foster mother changed her heart and the little girl, Harmony, began visiting with the Tomas. Everyone fell in love.
As Harmony moved in with the Tomas, the question arose whether to change her name. Harmony is a perfectly lovely name, but the Toma wife/mother is Melody. Too kitschy? Would people think the Tomas named her so as to have Melody and Harmony together? How would this naming affect big sister, Karla, who would be out of the musical naming group? It was decided that the little one had had quite enough change in a brief lifetime and Harmony would remain.
Today, I traveled to the downtown Duval County courthouse with this family along with some of their neighborhood friends. We pulled up in a limo and scrambled out of it into the 95 degree heat of Jacksonville. We took pictures at the riverside....a bunch of dressed up white folk with a black as pitch toddler in a fancy dress and a bow in her hair. Harmony smiled from ear to ear. She gave out hugs willingly, but would return to cling to her Mama and Papa.
Following the brief service, I was invited to offer a prayer. The judge (Judge Gooding) suspended the proceedings of the court and invited me to join him and the Tomas at the front of the courtroom. What an honor and a blessing it was for me to be part of the day. Thank you Toma family. There will be the hardships all families experience yet to come. Today, a celebration!
Prayer at the Adoption of
Harmony Kiehl Toma
August 11, 2011
Creator God,
You made us in love and for love. By your imagination, you form families in different ways, through birth, through adoption, through fostering, through marriage…..
By your sense of humor, you gift us with smiles for each other and with the ability to laugh at the smallest expressions and movements.
By your providence, you place in our arms exactly the child and parents and siblings that will complete us.
By your steadfast love, you equip us with what is needed to live in that family: patience, wisdom, care, gentleness, understanding and more patience.
Where there is woundedness, sow healing.
Where there is abandonment, sow fulfillment.
Where there is emptiness, sow an everlasting bond.
We pray this morning for families all over. May their hearts break open and receive your children through adoption.
We pray for perseverance and courage for families who are in the often lengthy and often frustrating adoption process.
We pray for our government and agencies and the governments of other countries that the adoption process may be made ever and ever easier: that the adoption process not be a yoke to bear, but a glorious time of re-union for your children.
We pray for the day that there is no need for adoption, when hunger and thirst cease for your children and when no one raises a hand or weapon against brother or sister. Restore your creation.
As the Toma family expands, may their joy expand and be a witness to others. Bless Karla in her role as big sister. Bless Jeff in his role as father of two and lone male in the house and bless Melody in her role as mother extraordinaire.
Let Harmony not only dwell in their household, but sing and dance and love with abandon throughout their house and beyond, all the days of their lives.
Amen.
Rev. Laurie Furr-Vancini
As Harmony moved in with the Tomas, the question arose whether to change her name. Harmony is a perfectly lovely name, but the Toma wife/mother is Melody. Too kitschy? Would people think the Tomas named her so as to have Melody and Harmony together? How would this naming affect big sister, Karla, who would be out of the musical naming group? It was decided that the little one had had quite enough change in a brief lifetime and Harmony would remain.
Today, I traveled to the downtown Duval County courthouse with this family along with some of their neighborhood friends. We pulled up in a limo and scrambled out of it into the 95 degree heat of Jacksonville. We took pictures at the riverside....a bunch of dressed up white folk with a black as pitch toddler in a fancy dress and a bow in her hair. Harmony smiled from ear to ear. She gave out hugs willingly, but would return to cling to her Mama and Papa.
Following the brief service, I was invited to offer a prayer. The judge (Judge Gooding) suspended the proceedings of the court and invited me to join him and the Tomas at the front of the courtroom. What an honor and a blessing it was for me to be part of the day. Thank you Toma family. There will be the hardships all families experience yet to come. Today, a celebration!
Prayer at the Adoption of
Harmony Kiehl Toma
August 11, 2011
Creator God,
You made us in love and for love. By your imagination, you form families in different ways, through birth, through adoption, through fostering, through marriage…..
By your sense of humor, you gift us with smiles for each other and with the ability to laugh at the smallest expressions and movements.
By your providence, you place in our arms exactly the child and parents and siblings that will complete us.
By your steadfast love, you equip us with what is needed to live in that family: patience, wisdom, care, gentleness, understanding and more patience.
Where there is woundedness, sow healing.
Where there is abandonment, sow fulfillment.
Where there is emptiness, sow an everlasting bond.
We pray this morning for families all over. May their hearts break open and receive your children through adoption.
We pray for perseverance and courage for families who are in the often lengthy and often frustrating adoption process.
We pray for our government and agencies and the governments of other countries that the adoption process may be made ever and ever easier: that the adoption process not be a yoke to bear, but a glorious time of re-union for your children.
We pray for the day that there is no need for adoption, when hunger and thirst cease for your children and when no one raises a hand or weapon against brother or sister. Restore your creation.
As the Toma family expands, may their joy expand and be a witness to others. Bless Karla in her role as big sister. Bless Jeff in his role as father of two and lone male in the house and bless Melody in her role as mother extraordinaire.
Let Harmony not only dwell in their household, but sing and dance and love with abandon throughout their house and beyond, all the days of their lives.
Amen.
Rev. Laurie Furr-Vancini
Monday, May 16, 2011
Charlie's Confirmation Blessing
Charlie's Confirmation Class (that's him in the Scooby Doo shirt)
CHARLIE'S CONFIRMATION BLESSING
Charlie,
We ask God’s blessings upon you this day.
More than just for happiness, we ask for joy.
More than just for strength, we ask for courage.
More than just for concern, we ask for empathy.
More than just for wealth, we ask for a rich life.
More than just for care, we ask for love to fill his life and his heart.
In times when you are alone, may you be content rather than lonely.
In times when you are in a crowd, may you make decisions as an individual.
May you see God’s light and walk in it.
May you seek goodness.
God’s blessings upon blessings we ask for you
so that you might continue being a blessing for others
all the days of your life.
May 15, 2011
Sunday, February 20, 2011
At the Feet/A Groupie of John Philip Newell
At the Feet/A Groupie of John Philip Newell
This weekend Palms Presbyterian church hosted John Philip Newell as our visiting theologian for 2011. I have now shared 3 meals, listened at his feet, practiced chanting and body prayer, shared local Jacksonville beer and been his “book signing bouncer”.
If you are not familiar with John Philip Newell, I direct you to his web page www.jphilipnewell.com . Beyond what you can learn on the web page I can tell you that he is a gentle soul with a smile and words that can light up a large sanctuary of people. I can tell you his drink of choice is a cold beer in a bottle (though he will take it in a frosted glass) and that in the February sun of Florida he gets sunburned.
I take away much from his visit on which to think and pray. He is written much, so I do not need to repeat that which he says better and in first person.
Here are some take away phrases:
Made of God
Yearnings for Oneness
Love Longings
Relationships
New Ancient Wisdom
Radically New Ways
Heart of Present
Deeply Challenged
Deeply Loved
The Deepest Truth
Oneness
Profoundly False Ways of Seeing
Mystery of Creation
Mystery of Christ
Two Loves: Love of Christ and Creation
Journey of Listening
The Heartbeat of Christ
Deep Within
In the Midst of Pain, We Listen
Mystery Swirlings of Energy that Seek New Life and New Beginnings
Reconnected to the Sand of the Very Beginning
The Time in Which We Live
The Earth is Literally Throwing Up Ancient Books of Scripture and
Testimony of Jesus
Heart of the Light of Tradition
Shadow Side of Tradition
Infinitely Deep Well of Truth
What has Happened to Our Instinct for Unity
We have a Response-Ability
Give Ourselves to the Healing Again
Holy Instinct for Unity
Without Peace in the House of Abraham
There will be No Peace in our nations.
This weekend Palms Presbyterian church hosted John Philip Newell as our visiting theologian for 2011. I have now shared 3 meals, listened at his feet, practiced chanting and body prayer, shared local Jacksonville beer and been his “book signing bouncer”.
If you are not familiar with John Philip Newell, I direct you to his web page www.jphilipnewell.com . Beyond what you can learn on the web page I can tell you that he is a gentle soul with a smile and words that can light up a large sanctuary of people. I can tell you his drink of choice is a cold beer in a bottle (though he will take it in a frosted glass) and that in the February sun of Florida he gets sunburned.
I take away much from his visit on which to think and pray. He is written much, so I do not need to repeat that which he says better and in first person.
Here are some take away phrases:
Made of God
Yearnings for Oneness
Love Longings
Relationships
New Ancient Wisdom
Radically New Ways
Heart of Present
Deeply Challenged
Deeply Loved
The Deepest Truth
Oneness
Profoundly False Ways of Seeing
Mystery of Creation
Mystery of Christ
Two Loves: Love of Christ and Creation
Journey of Listening
The Heartbeat of Christ
Deep Within
In the Midst of Pain, We Listen
Mystery Swirlings of Energy that Seek New Life and New Beginnings
Reconnected to the Sand of the Very Beginning
The Time in Which We Live
The Earth is Literally Throwing Up Ancient Books of Scripture and
Testimony of Jesus
Heart of the Light of Tradition
Shadow Side of Tradition
Infinitely Deep Well of Truth
What has Happened to Our Instinct for Unity
We have a Response-Ability
Give Ourselves to the Healing Again
Holy Instinct for Unity
Without Peace in the House of Abraham
There will be No Peace in our nations.
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Semon from January 30, 2011
Laurie Furr-Vancini
Genesis 2 and 3 (selected verses) January 30, 2011
Luke 24 (selected verses) Palms Presbyterian Church
Story of My Life
We will get to the Luke text later, I promise.
I would like to open with a prayer by J. Philip Newell
Who will be with us in a few weeks as our visiting theologian:
We watch this morning
For the light that the darkness has not overcome.
We watch for the fire that was in the beginning
And that burns still in the brilliance of the rising sun.
We watch for the glow of life that gleams in the growing earth
And glistens in sea and sky,
We watch for your light, O God,
In the eyes of every living creature
And in the ever-living flame of my own soul.
If the grace of seeing were ours this day
We would glimpse you in all that lives.
Grant us the grace of seeing this day.
Grant us the grace of seeing. Amen.
Etiologies are stories that explain why things are like they are.
We are not about etiology this morning.
We could be, but we are not.
Genesis is full of them and we could get caught up and lost in them today if we are not careful.
We won’t be talking about why snakes don’t have legs and why they bite and why we are so scared of the slithering serpents.
We won’t be talking about why we wear clothing
We won’t be talking about why there is pain in childbirth or why it is difficult to grow crops.
We won’t be talking about why we die.
All of those stories explaining why things are like they are in Genesis 3.
Beyond those stories, we will put aside any notion or preconceived idea of “the Fall” – central to Milton’s Paradise Lost.
A term which does not occur in the bible.
And…we will not even venture to talk about a notion of marriage not
As partnership, but as male dominated and patriarchical.
That feels good to get that out of the way…..
But if we aren’t talking about any of that, what will we talk about?
If we are tasked to think about “What it means to be human”
This morning we are here to talk about the truth.
We shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.
Is that a promise or a threat?
We turn to Genesis.
Before time there was nothing.
Once upon a time, God created and it was good.
It was perfect and lovely and static and non-changing.
The green was always green, the river flowed, the tree stood tall and proud with fruit on it.
No storms, no challenges, no unmet needs.
The woman and the man walked blissfully unaware, partners in creation.
Free from understanding,
Responsibility, cravings…..unashamed.
Things were good. (hmmmm………..)
There was but one thing that could not be had:
The woman and the man had been told by the Creator not to eat of the
fruit of the tree.
One day, along came a trickster.
Because a trickster always comes along.
And the trickster, interestingly enough, spoke the truth.
Lest we make the trickster into the bad guy:
The trickster said, “If you eat of the fruit your eyes will be opened and you will be like your Creator, knowing good and evil.”
Hmmmm….the woman said, I would like to know more and see more
And be more and do more…
No easy prey bitten and subdued by the trickster,
this conscious actor on the stage of life chooses:
“seeing the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise….she took and ate.”
In her desire for the wisdom of God, she took and ate.
Given the choice, she chose knowledge.
She gives it to the man and he without dialogue takes and eats, as well.
God gets angry and does a lot of cursing….literal cursing.
The woman and man do a lot of blaming which makes them look silly to us, because we know they did it.
We saw and heard what happened.
Not only that, I think they would do it again.
We like to see ourselves in the audience, but in reality, we are the actors.
And we would do it again.
God throws God’s hands up (my vision)
and repeats the truth the Trickster had earlier proclaimed,
saying, “Behold, they have become like one of us,
knowing good and evil….”
It happened just like the snake said it would.
I don’t know about you,
but it is difficult for me to see what is so wrong here.
It’s all very human.
They disobeyed.
We disobey all the time.
They did that which the Creator God did not want them to do.
We do that all the time.
The woman, at least seemed genuinely interested in bettering their situation. She wanted to be more like her Creator.
She wanted understanding.
She wanted to know between good and evil, she rationalized.
We rationalize.
We are not being willful or mean spirited.
Is it wrong to want to be more than I am?
Is it wrong to want to taste the sweetness that lies within our reach?
What if God is the Trickster, keeping us from being all we can be?
Holding us back from our potential with a capital P!
Now we are talking about What it Means to Be Human.
All good questions.
It’s a good story.
It’s our story.
Since it is our story,
rather than try to answer all the questions the story raises,
rather than try to take it and make it
that which it isn’t,
Claim what it is.
Your story. Our story.
They disobeyed.
We disobey.
They craved more.
We craved more.
They misunderstood.
We misunderstand.
They blamed.
We blame.
They wanted wisdom.
We want wisdom.
They sought truth by their own hand.
We seek truth by our own hand.
Oh yes, that we all understand.
The truth in the story we understand.
They took the fruit and ate…
And their eyes were opened and they recognized.
They recognized they were naked.
And they were ashamed.
And they hid from God.
God comes and the cursing begins….
“And then the Lord God makes for them garments of skins,
and clothes them”
And sends them out of the garden.
That is our story.
Our story of humanness.
Take that story and hold it in your hand and in your mind for a moment,
While we go to another story--that is also our story.
From the book of Luke, the 24th chapter,
selected verses from the translation of Laurie:
Many, many years later.
Two people were walking, going from the big city to a village,
and they were talking.
While they were talking and discussing together,
Jesus, came and walked beside them.
“BUT, their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”
Jesus said, “what are ya’ll talking about while you are walking?”
And they stopped walking.
They stood still.
They looked sad.
“Are you the only guy around
who doesn’t know the things that have happened in Jerusalem?”
And Jesus, baiting them, said,
“What things?”
And they said, “How Jesus, the prophet, mighty in deed and word
before God was handed to the priests and rulers and was crucified.
We thought he was the one who was going to save Israel.
But now, it has been three days.
And not only that,
but some of our women in our group amazed us early today.
The women went to the tomb and could not find his body,
They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels
Who said Jesus was still alive???
Some men in our group went to check out their story.
They found the empty tomb as they said, but did not see Jesus.
The three walked on and Jesus, whom they still did not recognize,
Interpreted scripture to them, beginning with Moses and all of the prophets.
So…..they get to the village where they were going.
And the two asked unrecognizable Jesus
to stay with them because it was pretty much nighttime.
So Jesus went in to stay with them.
“When he as at table with them, he took the bread and blessed,
and broke it, and gave it to them.
AND THEIR EYES WERE OPENED
AND THEY RECOGNIZED HIM….”
Jesus vanishes and the two are dumfounded into action,
running all the way back to the big city of Jerusalem,
finding the 11 disciples (Judas is no longer with us) and
“Then they told what had happened on the road,
and how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Hold on…it gets even better.
Jesus apparates again.
And again tells interprets all the scripture and charges them saying:
“You are witnesses, the seers who then tell, of all these things.
And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you;
But stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high”.
This is the Word of our Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Now, we have a story in either hand.
And we are holding them.
They are both our stories.
In both stories there are two people together with closed eyes.
There are two people who cannot see and understand the Truth.
In both stories there is a third player:
In one…the Trickster
In one…Jesus
In both stories the eyes are opened upon the eating and sharing of food.
In both stories, the need for clothing is noted
and GOD will be the one who will clothe.
One literal clothing to cover our shame as we move out of the garden.
One spiritual clothing to bless us as we move out into the world.
In both stories the players are being sent out.
There is much alike in these stories…but, there is also, much difference.
One story is a story of Good News.
One story is one of Bad News.
One causes great joy.
One causes great shame.
One story involves blessing.
One story involves cursing.
One story involves the food being blessed:
“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it and gave it to them”
One story involves going out into the world to tell the promise and joy and life that the risen Christ offers.
One story involves going out into the world of endless work and toil and pain.
That first story, from Genesis.
We recognize ourselves in it.
Our eyes are open to that:
We disobey.
We craved more.
We misunderstand.
We blame.
We want wisdom.
We seek truth by our own hand.
This is our story.
But friends, we have to believe that there is more to that story.
There is the Declaration of Forgiveness at the end of the Prayer of Confession.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.
Because the other story is just as much our story.
And the second story redeems the first.
It doesn’t do away with that story.
It doesn’t trump it or replace it, it redeems it.
This is our redemption story.
We walk with Jesus, sometimes not even recognizing him.
He teaches us and interprets scripture for us
both when we know and can name our teacher as Jesus
and when we think it is just a stranger walking alongside us.
We crave the Truth.
We want to believe in the empty grave…..in the story of the women….
We tell others.
We sit down at table together.
We hear the familiar words:
“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it and gave it to them”
And, ahhhh,... we pause at those words, because they are so familiar.
We pause at this part of the story because it is, indeed, sounding
And feeling more and more like our story.
And our eyes are opened….
And we recognize Jesus in our midst….
Maybe only for a second…
Because he vanishes….
And returns and vanishes again…
Jesus, playing now you see me, now you hear me,
now you recognize me,
now you follow me,
now you speak of me…..
And because of the other story….”now you don’t”
But, at least now our eyes are opened.
We can read both stories.
We are in both stories.
Both stories are us.
We are to go forth, created,
clothed, fed,
blessed, broken and redeemed,
eyes wide open to be witnesses…..
tellers and livers of the story, in the story.
The stories of our life!
Genesis 2 and 3 (selected verses) January 30, 2011
Luke 24 (selected verses) Palms Presbyterian Church
Story of My Life
We will get to the Luke text later, I promise.
I would like to open with a prayer by J. Philip Newell
Who will be with us in a few weeks as our visiting theologian:
We watch this morning
For the light that the darkness has not overcome.
We watch for the fire that was in the beginning
And that burns still in the brilliance of the rising sun.
We watch for the glow of life that gleams in the growing earth
And glistens in sea and sky,
We watch for your light, O God,
In the eyes of every living creature
And in the ever-living flame of my own soul.
If the grace of seeing were ours this day
We would glimpse you in all that lives.
Grant us the grace of seeing this day.
Grant us the grace of seeing. Amen.
Etiologies are stories that explain why things are like they are.
We are not about etiology this morning.
We could be, but we are not.
Genesis is full of them and we could get caught up and lost in them today if we are not careful.
We won’t be talking about why snakes don’t have legs and why they bite and why we are so scared of the slithering serpents.
We won’t be talking about why we wear clothing
We won’t be talking about why there is pain in childbirth or why it is difficult to grow crops.
We won’t be talking about why we die.
All of those stories explaining why things are like they are in Genesis 3.
Beyond those stories, we will put aside any notion or preconceived idea of “the Fall” – central to Milton’s Paradise Lost.
A term which does not occur in the bible.
And…we will not even venture to talk about a notion of marriage not
As partnership, but as male dominated and patriarchical.
That feels good to get that out of the way…..
But if we aren’t talking about any of that, what will we talk about?
If we are tasked to think about “What it means to be human”
This morning we are here to talk about the truth.
We shall know the truth and the truth shall set us free.
Is that a promise or a threat?
We turn to Genesis.
Before time there was nothing.
Once upon a time, God created and it was good.
It was perfect and lovely and static and non-changing.
The green was always green, the river flowed, the tree stood tall and proud with fruit on it.
No storms, no challenges, no unmet needs.
The woman and the man walked blissfully unaware, partners in creation.
Free from understanding,
Responsibility, cravings…..unashamed.
Things were good. (hmmmm………..)
There was but one thing that could not be had:
The woman and the man had been told by the Creator not to eat of the
fruit of the tree.
One day, along came a trickster.
Because a trickster always comes along.
And the trickster, interestingly enough, spoke the truth.
Lest we make the trickster into the bad guy:
The trickster said, “If you eat of the fruit your eyes will be opened and you will be like your Creator, knowing good and evil.”
Hmmmm….the woman said, I would like to know more and see more
And be more and do more…
No easy prey bitten and subdued by the trickster,
this conscious actor on the stage of life chooses:
“seeing the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise….she took and ate.”
In her desire for the wisdom of God, she took and ate.
Given the choice, she chose knowledge.
She gives it to the man and he without dialogue takes and eats, as well.
God gets angry and does a lot of cursing….literal cursing.
The woman and man do a lot of blaming which makes them look silly to us, because we know they did it.
We saw and heard what happened.
Not only that, I think they would do it again.
We like to see ourselves in the audience, but in reality, we are the actors.
And we would do it again.
God throws God’s hands up (my vision)
and repeats the truth the Trickster had earlier proclaimed,
saying, “Behold, they have become like one of us,
knowing good and evil….”
It happened just like the snake said it would.
I don’t know about you,
but it is difficult for me to see what is so wrong here.
It’s all very human.
They disobeyed.
We disobey all the time.
They did that which the Creator God did not want them to do.
We do that all the time.
The woman, at least seemed genuinely interested in bettering their situation. She wanted to be more like her Creator.
She wanted understanding.
She wanted to know between good and evil, she rationalized.
We rationalize.
We are not being willful or mean spirited.
Is it wrong to want to be more than I am?
Is it wrong to want to taste the sweetness that lies within our reach?
What if God is the Trickster, keeping us from being all we can be?
Holding us back from our potential with a capital P!
Now we are talking about What it Means to Be Human.
All good questions.
It’s a good story.
It’s our story.
Since it is our story,
rather than try to answer all the questions the story raises,
rather than try to take it and make it
that which it isn’t,
Claim what it is.
Your story. Our story.
They disobeyed.
We disobey.
They craved more.
We craved more.
They misunderstood.
We misunderstand.
They blamed.
We blame.
They wanted wisdom.
We want wisdom.
They sought truth by their own hand.
We seek truth by our own hand.
Oh yes, that we all understand.
The truth in the story we understand.
They took the fruit and ate…
And their eyes were opened and they recognized.
They recognized they were naked.
And they were ashamed.
And they hid from God.
God comes and the cursing begins….
“And then the Lord God makes for them garments of skins,
and clothes them”
And sends them out of the garden.
That is our story.
Our story of humanness.
Take that story and hold it in your hand and in your mind for a moment,
While we go to another story--that is also our story.
From the book of Luke, the 24th chapter,
selected verses from the translation of Laurie:
Many, many years later.
Two people were walking, going from the big city to a village,
and they were talking.
While they were talking and discussing together,
Jesus, came and walked beside them.
“BUT, their eyes were kept from recognizing him.”
Jesus said, “what are ya’ll talking about while you are walking?”
And they stopped walking.
They stood still.
They looked sad.
“Are you the only guy around
who doesn’t know the things that have happened in Jerusalem?”
And Jesus, baiting them, said,
“What things?”
And they said, “How Jesus, the prophet, mighty in deed and word
before God was handed to the priests and rulers and was crucified.
We thought he was the one who was going to save Israel.
But now, it has been three days.
And not only that,
but some of our women in our group amazed us early today.
The women went to the tomb and could not find his body,
They came back saying they had seen a vision of angels
Who said Jesus was still alive???
Some men in our group went to check out their story.
They found the empty tomb as they said, but did not see Jesus.
The three walked on and Jesus, whom they still did not recognize,
Interpreted scripture to them, beginning with Moses and all of the prophets.
So…..they get to the village where they were going.
And the two asked unrecognizable Jesus
to stay with them because it was pretty much nighttime.
So Jesus went in to stay with them.
“When he as at table with them, he took the bread and blessed,
and broke it, and gave it to them.
AND THEIR EYES WERE OPENED
AND THEY RECOGNIZED HIM….”
Jesus vanishes and the two are dumfounded into action,
running all the way back to the big city of Jerusalem,
finding the 11 disciples (Judas is no longer with us) and
“Then they told what had happened on the road,
and how Jesus was known to them in the breaking of the bread.”
Hold on…it gets even better.
Jesus apparates again.
And again tells interprets all the scripture and charges them saying:
“You are witnesses, the seers who then tell, of all these things.
And behold I send the promise of my Father upon you;
But stay in the city, until you are clothed with power from on high”.
This is the Word of our Lord.
Thanks be to God.
Now, we have a story in either hand.
And we are holding them.
They are both our stories.
In both stories there are two people together with closed eyes.
There are two people who cannot see and understand the Truth.
In both stories there is a third player:
In one…the Trickster
In one…Jesus
In both stories the eyes are opened upon the eating and sharing of food.
In both stories, the need for clothing is noted
and GOD will be the one who will clothe.
One literal clothing to cover our shame as we move out of the garden.
One spiritual clothing to bless us as we move out into the world.
In both stories the players are being sent out.
There is much alike in these stories…but, there is also, much difference.
One story is a story of Good News.
One story is one of Bad News.
One causes great joy.
One causes great shame.
One story involves blessing.
One story involves cursing.
One story involves the food being blessed:
“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it and gave it to them”
One story involves going out into the world to tell the promise and joy and life that the risen Christ offers.
One story involves going out into the world of endless work and toil and pain.
That first story, from Genesis.
We recognize ourselves in it.
Our eyes are open to that:
We disobey.
We craved more.
We misunderstand.
We blame.
We want wisdom.
We seek truth by our own hand.
This is our story.
But friends, we have to believe that there is more to that story.
There is the Declaration of Forgiveness at the end of the Prayer of Confession.
The light shines in the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it.
Because the other story is just as much our story.
And the second story redeems the first.
It doesn’t do away with that story.
It doesn’t trump it or replace it, it redeems it.
This is our redemption story.
We walk with Jesus, sometimes not even recognizing him.
He teaches us and interprets scripture for us
both when we know and can name our teacher as Jesus
and when we think it is just a stranger walking alongside us.
We crave the Truth.
We want to believe in the empty grave…..in the story of the women….
We tell others.
We sit down at table together.
We hear the familiar words:
“When he was at table with them, he took the bread and blessed, and broke it and gave it to them”
And, ahhhh,... we pause at those words, because they are so familiar.
We pause at this part of the story because it is, indeed, sounding
And feeling more and more like our story.
And our eyes are opened….
And we recognize Jesus in our midst….
Maybe only for a second…
Because he vanishes….
And returns and vanishes again…
Jesus, playing now you see me, now you hear me,
now you recognize me,
now you follow me,
now you speak of me…..
And because of the other story….”now you don’t”
But, at least now our eyes are opened.
We can read both stories.
We are in both stories.
Both stories are us.
We are to go forth, created,
clothed, fed,
blessed, broken and redeemed,
eyes wide open to be witnesses…..
tellers and livers of the story, in the story.
The stories of our life!
Sunday, January 9, 2011
Haves and Have Nots
Haves and Have Nots
I have a child who is almost 9.
I have doctors.
I have congressional representatives.
I have judges.
I have directors of community outreach.
I have neighbors.
I like the idea of “Congress at My Corner”.
I have compassion.
I have a soul.
I have confusion.
I have sorrow.
I have conflict.
I have bitterness.
I even have something close to hate.
I do not have a gun.
I do not know the term “extended clip”.
I do not have a desire to hurt others.
I do not have a clear understanding of what brings folks to this point.
I do not have clarity.
I want to have hope:
that we are smarter than this,
that we can come together on the need to be civil in a civil land,
That we want more than this,
That human nature is better than this,
That, as a community, we can be more sane than this with
kindness, gentleness and self-control and holding each other accountable, rather than rhetoric of violence and hatred.
God, give me hope.
God, give us hope.
I have a child who is almost 9.
I have doctors.
I have congressional representatives.
I have judges.
I have directors of community outreach.
I have neighbors.
I like the idea of “Congress at My Corner”.
I have compassion.
I have a soul.
I have confusion.
I have sorrow.
I have conflict.
I have bitterness.
I even have something close to hate.
I do not have a gun.
I do not know the term “extended clip”.
I do not have a desire to hurt others.
I do not have a clear understanding of what brings folks to this point.
I do not have clarity.
I want to have hope:
that we are smarter than this,
that we can come together on the need to be civil in a civil land,
That we want more than this,
That human nature is better than this,
That, as a community, we can be more sane than this with
kindness, gentleness and self-control and holding each other accountable, rather than rhetoric of violence and hatred.
God, give me hope.
God, give us hope.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Third Sunday in Advent
African beasts crafted of raffia.
Glimpses of children, younger, encased in felt starts, sloppily painted frames, metal hearts.
The world clear, then frosted with the lone strand of blinking lights.
Glass, plastic, cardboard coated:
Hickory Dickory Dock
Woodstock
Cindy Lou Hoo
Wake Forest Deacon
R2D2.
Reminders of locales:
Carved tree of redwood
Delicate Eifel Tower
Brightly festooned ox cart
Dark-faced shell angel
Rodeo Santa
Olive wood crèche,
Next to local
Palm Trees,
Alligators,
Hula snowman “Be Merry” and Santa “Put a Little Jingle in Your Step”.
Lights through glistening tears now:
First Christmas Together
First House
Pets long gone
Babies first Christmas, then another. Ceramic booties:
“be careful—they are heavy and breakable!”
Wooden carved Chinese baby, bundled, the long-red tassel broken off and lost.
A paper crafted Jack-In-The-Box from little hands long ago. Mine.
Put it in the back of the tree. It is ugly, but holds a place.
Arks, Angels, Stars, Crosses,
Little fingers crafted popsicle stick Mary, Joseph and Baby:
Sprigs of hay gone long ago.
But I know it was there.
One Christmas long ago.
Glimpses of children, younger, encased in felt starts, sloppily painted frames, metal hearts.
The world clear, then frosted with the lone strand of blinking lights.
Glass, plastic, cardboard coated:
Hickory Dickory Dock
Woodstock
Cindy Lou Hoo
Wake Forest Deacon
R2D2.
Reminders of locales:
Carved tree of redwood
Delicate Eifel Tower
Brightly festooned ox cart
Dark-faced shell angel
Rodeo Santa
Olive wood crèche,
Next to local
Palm Trees,
Alligators,
Hula snowman “Be Merry” and Santa “Put a Little Jingle in Your Step”.
Lights through glistening tears now:
First Christmas Together
First House
Pets long gone
Babies first Christmas, then another. Ceramic booties:
“be careful—they are heavy and breakable!”
Wooden carved Chinese baby, bundled, the long-red tassel broken off and lost.
A paper crafted Jack-In-The-Box from little hands long ago. Mine.
Put it in the back of the tree. It is ugly, but holds a place.
Arks, Angels, Stars, Crosses,
Little fingers crafted popsicle stick Mary, Joseph and Baby:
Sprigs of hay gone long ago.
But I know it was there.
One Christmas long ago.
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