After watching the uncompromising situation in Washington I would like for every Senator and member of Congress to memorize the following poem.
The Place Where We Are Right
by Yehuda Amichai
From the place where we are right
Flowers will never grow
In the spring.
The place we are right
Is hard and trampled
Like a yard
But doubts and loves
Dig up the world
Like a mole, a plow.
And a whisper will be heard in the place
Where the ruined
House once stood.
What we have observed in the last few weeks as accusations and polarizations rule the "houses" of congress makes me feel like it is indeed a "ruined house." There is such uncompromising anger in Washington that the whispers that need to be heard can not be listened to.
The big issues are not simple talking points to prove ideological realities. The big issues are complex and will involve some very hard choices...and compromise. But it seems that the children of Washington have trampled around so long that the yard is hard because they have to be "right." While they are being right fear is ruling the money markets and the people who think that the social safety net is being unwoven.
Being right is not the most important thing sometimes. Listening to all the "rights" and realizing that all of them cannot be "true" in a system of government that is supposed to represent many interests of a very large "community" is a needed addition to the name calling and label making agendas. Ah there is the other problem. Does anyone really believe that we care about the total community anymore?
Those shouting the loudest seem to fear that community interests are "taking over" individual "rights." Somebody tell the children in Washington to stop by a local motel and steal the book that is in the top drawer of the bedside table. There they will find prophets shouting about selling the poor for a pair of shoes and living in fine houses. Being right took second place in the
bible to being just and caring about the total welfare of the community.
We seemed scared that we are going to lose something that is "ours." Look, we need to fix systems including things like Medicare and Social Security. But throwing things at each other from various fox holes with flags flying over them proclaiming various themes of being right is not doing anybody any good.
The place is hard and trampled like a yard. We need some healthy doubts to make us all realize that the solutions are complex and will take give and take. I'm not even going to mention the other word in the poem....love. There is little love left in our nation's capital. It is now full of mean-spirited "individuals" who want to be right.
My prayer is that the still small voice that often must be listened to as a whisper will somehow fill the ruined house. We need a new attitude from our leaders. Being right is not getting us anywhere but lost.
jody
Friday, July 29, 2011
Monday, July 18, 2011
Big Questions
Well if you don't want to know don't ask, right. I asked my congregation a few months ago what they wanted to hear from the pulpit and I've been "trying" to preach on those subjects the past few weeks. It's been a challenge. I think I'm going back to picking what "I" want to preach about and going over to the "don't ask don't tell" philosophy of picking subject matter.
The most requested topic was forgiveness. It seems a lot of people struggle with this issue. Basically we don't' want to forgive another because it just does not seem "fair." We think we are excusing or blessing bad behavior. Forgiveness is for the person forgiving. It may have nothing to do with the person to whom the forgiveness seems aimed. It is a matter of "giving up all hope for a better past" so that one can move to an expanded future.
Forgiveness means to quit playing old grievance stories. I usually always tell Lewis Smedes story, "the Gift of the Magic Eyes" that he uses in his book, "Forgive and Forget." It is the story of a man who ends up bent over with a heavy heart because he cannot forgive his wife for her adultery. An angel informs him that though she did wrong his unwillingness to even look at her as a person apart from him who was needy and selfish was weighing him down and preventing him from moving on with his life.
He says he is "helpless" to do anything so the angel asks if he wants to be "free." He does not how so she promises that every time he tries to look at his wife as a person apart from him who acted out of her own pain the angel will come by and take a pebble from his heart. It took a long time but pebble by pebble he found a way to gain a lighter heart.
I ended the sermon by holding up a small container of pebbles and offering them to my people: "Here are your pebbles. What do you want to do with them?"
The following weeks the topics included "science and religion" and last week "resurrection of the body, heaven, and hell." Basically I said there was really no conflict with science and religion if you have a healthy up to date religion. Many believers do not practice what old Paul suggested: "When I was a child I thought and acted like a child but when I grew up I gave up childish things." The kind of religion that uses the bible as a science book misuses the bible. Mature faith studies the bible for what it is not what it is not.
God can and did use "big bangs" and evolutionary principals obviously since they are scientifically true. God is not simple or stupid. We just have to keep up.
And last week it was resurrection-heaven-hell. (I'm going back to sermons about "let just all love each other.") The summary: Resurrection of the "body" means that we take who we are and what we do or do not do with us to eternal life. We don't take the "flesh" but we do take "the body of evidence." Heaven is going to be a surprise but a good one and it is most likely "another dimension" that is as close as our next breath rather than beyond the last galaxy. Hell is biblical but often misunderstood and the words sometimes mistranslated. Consuming fire could be refining fire and what some want to translate "eternal damnation" could also be translated "pruning" after a set amount of time."....Big difference.
I simply left my people with the words of the "cheater of death" who told his fear-filled disciples, "Hey don't be so dog-gone scared...In my dad's house there are so many rooms you can't count them and I'll be there with things all prepared for you." With Jesus' few references to Hell he mostly used the word Ghenna, which referred to the burning garbage pit outside Jerusalem where often flesh would burn and gnashing of teeth could be heard as dogs scavenged through the remains. I wonder if Jesus is interested in burning up garbage or burning up people? You decide.
When you think about it, and that is what grown-up believers do, everybody starts out from different "starting places" in eternal life. What was your starting place? How much choice did you have? From my starting place I ended up a United Methodist Christian. I had love, shelter, and guidance from my starting place. Lots and lots of folks start from different places. I'm tired of hearing security seeking Christians condemn others whose starting places were very different.
Let's get on with helping God heal the world and give the judgement stuff back to God whose job it is to begin with....
So in summary: We need help with forgiveness because it hurts "us" if we live in the past. God is very big and very smart and can do science better than we can...and...Heaven is real, what we do matters, and Hell is a mystery that God will have to figure out...personally I think God will have to "take out the garbage" in the end. We don't do so well with it.
Jody
The most requested topic was forgiveness. It seems a lot of people struggle with this issue. Basically we don't' want to forgive another because it just does not seem "fair." We think we are excusing or blessing bad behavior. Forgiveness is for the person forgiving. It may have nothing to do with the person to whom the forgiveness seems aimed. It is a matter of "giving up all hope for a better past" so that one can move to an expanded future.
Forgiveness means to quit playing old grievance stories. I usually always tell Lewis Smedes story, "the Gift of the Magic Eyes" that he uses in his book, "Forgive and Forget." It is the story of a man who ends up bent over with a heavy heart because he cannot forgive his wife for her adultery. An angel informs him that though she did wrong his unwillingness to even look at her as a person apart from him who was needy and selfish was weighing him down and preventing him from moving on with his life.
He says he is "helpless" to do anything so the angel asks if he wants to be "free." He does not how so she promises that every time he tries to look at his wife as a person apart from him who acted out of her own pain the angel will come by and take a pebble from his heart. It took a long time but pebble by pebble he found a way to gain a lighter heart.
I ended the sermon by holding up a small container of pebbles and offering them to my people: "Here are your pebbles. What do you want to do with them?"
The following weeks the topics included "science and religion" and last week "resurrection of the body, heaven, and hell." Basically I said there was really no conflict with science and religion if you have a healthy up to date religion. Many believers do not practice what old Paul suggested: "When I was a child I thought and acted like a child but when I grew up I gave up childish things." The kind of religion that uses the bible as a science book misuses the bible. Mature faith studies the bible for what it is not what it is not.
God can and did use "big bangs" and evolutionary principals obviously since they are scientifically true. God is not simple or stupid. We just have to keep up.
And last week it was resurrection-heaven-hell. (I'm going back to sermons about "let just all love each other.") The summary: Resurrection of the "body" means that we take who we are and what we do or do not do with us to eternal life. We don't take the "flesh" but we do take "the body of evidence." Heaven is going to be a surprise but a good one and it is most likely "another dimension" that is as close as our next breath rather than beyond the last galaxy. Hell is biblical but often misunderstood and the words sometimes mistranslated. Consuming fire could be refining fire and what some want to translate "eternal damnation" could also be translated "pruning" after a set amount of time."....Big difference.
I simply left my people with the words of the "cheater of death" who told his fear-filled disciples, "Hey don't be so dog-gone scared...In my dad's house there are so many rooms you can't count them and I'll be there with things all prepared for you." With Jesus' few references to Hell he mostly used the word Ghenna, which referred to the burning garbage pit outside Jerusalem where often flesh would burn and gnashing of teeth could be heard as dogs scavenged through the remains. I wonder if Jesus is interested in burning up garbage or burning up people? You decide.
When you think about it, and that is what grown-up believers do, everybody starts out from different "starting places" in eternal life. What was your starting place? How much choice did you have? From my starting place I ended up a United Methodist Christian. I had love, shelter, and guidance from my starting place. Lots and lots of folks start from different places. I'm tired of hearing security seeking Christians condemn others whose starting places were very different.
Let's get on with helping God heal the world and give the judgement stuff back to God whose job it is to begin with....
So in summary: We need help with forgiveness because it hurts "us" if we live in the past. God is very big and very smart and can do science better than we can...and...Heaven is real, what we do matters, and Hell is a mystery that God will have to figure out...personally I think God will have to "take out the garbage" in the end. We don't do so well with it.
Jody
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Is Anybody Paying Attention Anymore?
Ok the other day I turned out of my driveway and drove my usual route to work. I passed four people out walking. All of them had their heads down looking at a phone. I suppose they were texting.
Two of them were literally in the road. They were not even on the sidewalk which I suppose could be considered a "safe-texting-zone." So here's my point. Pay attention to where you are going. I don't mean that as ugly as it sounds. I mean pay attention to the walk not the text. You are passing by flowers, trees, people, (cars), and well....life.
Those who are not texting are talking on the cell phone as they walk. Leave the phone at home. It will be there when you get back from your walk. Walk and pay attention. I read this week that the Painted Bunting is on the loose. They are mutl-colored birds that do not visit us for long. One them could land on one of the texter/talker' shoulders and he or she would not even see the colors for the text/words or whatever.
We are becoming too "connected" for heaven's sake. Separate yourself from technology at least for a walk. There are sounds out there that are not coming from a device. They are coming from crickets and birds and why did you know that the breeze even makes a sound. You have to be sort of quite to hear the sound of the breeze but it is worth the wait.
Look up when you walk. Listen to the breeze when you walk. Life is getting too full. To fill our walks with ears full of sound waves and our eyes full of "text" is to leave us empty.
As Emily said in the play "Our Town" after she was allowed to come back from death to observe one day in her life; "Does anyone realize life while they are living it?"
I hate to tell you Emily but it is worse than when you came back.
Realize life...now.
Jody
Two of them were literally in the road. They were not even on the sidewalk which I suppose could be considered a "safe-texting-zone." So here's my point. Pay attention to where you are going. I don't mean that as ugly as it sounds. I mean pay attention to the walk not the text. You are passing by flowers, trees, people, (cars), and well....life.
Those who are not texting are talking on the cell phone as they walk. Leave the phone at home. It will be there when you get back from your walk. Walk and pay attention. I read this week that the Painted Bunting is on the loose. They are mutl-colored birds that do not visit us for long. One them could land on one of the texter/talker' shoulders and he or she would not even see the colors for the text/words or whatever.
We are becoming too "connected" for heaven's sake. Separate yourself from technology at least for a walk. There are sounds out there that are not coming from a device. They are coming from crickets and birds and why did you know that the breeze even makes a sound. You have to be sort of quite to hear the sound of the breeze but it is worth the wait.
Look up when you walk. Listen to the breeze when you walk. Life is getting too full. To fill our walks with ears full of sound waves and our eyes full of "text" is to leave us empty.
As Emily said in the play "Our Town" after she was allowed to come back from death to observe one day in her life; "Does anyone realize life while they are living it?"
I hate to tell you Emily but it is worse than when you came back.
Realize life...now.
Jody
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Going Green
Going Green is in these days. It is an expression that offers the chance for environmental sensitivity. It means that whatever activity is going to happen the priority will be to use up as little of earth's resources as possible.
Well it seems that nature had the idea first before it became a slogan. Spring is the time when all of life goes green. My wife's garden is definitely going green and red and yellow and bursting out all over. It is the season of new creation.
The birds sure love it. I can barely keep the bird feeders full. Their favorite color seems to be green. They sing about it, play in it, and fly through it. Life is happening all around and green is its primary color.
I recently spoke words of encouragement to the class of 2011 at the College from which I graduated 42 years ago. Wait a minute let me catch my breath....42 years ago? The college colors are, you guessed it, green and white. Those eager faces who listened to my words were "green." They were new to the world. They may think they are ready to burst forth and be full blown grown ups but I reminded them that they were "green" and it was OK. They were supposed to be.
I cautioned them to be mindful that they were beginners in learning not graduates of it. I offered them a poem that I often read to those standing before me who are being married. Here it is:
EPITHALAMION
The raw materials of love are yours–
Fond hearts, and lusty blood, and minds in tune;
And so, dear innocents! you think yourselves
Lovers full-blown.
Am I, because I own
Chisel, mallet and stone,
A sculptor? And must he
Who hears a skylark and can hold a pen
A poet be?
If neither's so, why then
You're not yet lovers. But in time to come
(If senses grow not dulled nor spirit dumb)
By constant exercise of skill and wit,
By patient toil and judgment exquisite
Of body, mind and heart,
You may, my innocents, fashion
This tenderness, this liking and this passion
Into a work of art.
I told them if they lived life carefully they would remember these words so that even though they were not yet adults "full blown" that "by patient toil and judgement exquisite" they might fashion the life they were given "into a work of art." In so many words I reminded them they were still green and they were supposed to be if they wanted to truly grow.
And now for the rest of us I remind all who read these words that we are always to remain a bit green. If we think we are finished then we are. Life is about growth. We must be open to what the day's sunlight will bring us.
This Sunday I'll speak to another group of graduates. This time it will be high school students. Yes, they are even more green but they probably think they are farther along than they are. They'll learn in time that they are not "full blown." So I'll give them some additional words from the lips of "Red Molly." It is a song I use sometimes at points of transition to remind all who will listen that "this is the best time of your life." Here are the words:
MAY I SUGGEST
From: New Non-Fiction (2001)
Copyright © Susan Werner
May I suggest
May I suggest to you
May I suggest this is the best part of your life
May I suggest
This time is blessed for you
This time is blessed and shining almost blinding bright
Just turn your head
And you’ll begin to see
The thousand reasons that were just beyond your sight
The reasons why
Why I suggest to you
Why I suggest this is the best part of your life
There is a world
That’s been addressed to you
Addressed to you, intended only for your eyes
A secret world
Like a treasure chest to you
Of private scenes and brilliant dreams that mesmerise
A lover’s trusting smile
A tiny baby’s hands
The million stars that fill the turning sky at night
Oh I suggest
Oh I suggest to you
Oh I suggest this is the best part of your life
There is a hope
That’s been expressed in you
The hope of seven generations, maybe more
And this is the faith
That they invest in you
It’s that you’ll do one better than was done before
Inside you know
Inside you understand
Inside you know what’s yours to finally set right
And I suggest
And I suggest to you
And I suggest this is the best part of your life
This is a song
Comes from the west to you
Comes from the west, comes from the slowly setting sun
With a request
With a request of you
To see how very short the endless days will run
And when they’re gone
And when the dark descends
Oh we’d give anything for one more hour of light
And I suggest this is the best part of your life
So...May I suggest to you that we are all "green" and that if we stay open to continued growth this is the best time of our life.
Jody
Well it seems that nature had the idea first before it became a slogan. Spring is the time when all of life goes green. My wife's garden is definitely going green and red and yellow and bursting out all over. It is the season of new creation.
The birds sure love it. I can barely keep the bird feeders full. Their favorite color seems to be green. They sing about it, play in it, and fly through it. Life is happening all around and green is its primary color.
I recently spoke words of encouragement to the class of 2011 at the College from which I graduated 42 years ago. Wait a minute let me catch my breath....42 years ago? The college colors are, you guessed it, green and white. Those eager faces who listened to my words were "green." They were new to the world. They may think they are ready to burst forth and be full blown grown ups but I reminded them that they were "green" and it was OK. They were supposed to be.
I cautioned them to be mindful that they were beginners in learning not graduates of it. I offered them a poem that I often read to those standing before me who are being married. Here it is:
EPITHALAMION
The raw materials of love are yours–
Fond hearts, and lusty blood, and minds in tune;
And so, dear innocents! you think yourselves
Lovers full-blown.
Am I, because I own
Chisel, mallet and stone,
A sculptor? And must he
Who hears a skylark and can hold a pen
A poet be?
If neither's so, why then
You're not yet lovers. But in time to come
(If senses grow not dulled nor spirit dumb)
By constant exercise of skill and wit,
By patient toil and judgment exquisite
Of body, mind and heart,
You may, my innocents, fashion
This tenderness, this liking and this passion
Into a work of art.
I told them if they lived life carefully they would remember these words so that even though they were not yet adults "full blown" that "by patient toil and judgement exquisite" they might fashion the life they were given "into a work of art." In so many words I reminded them they were still green and they were supposed to be if they wanted to truly grow.
And now for the rest of us I remind all who read these words that we are always to remain a bit green. If we think we are finished then we are. Life is about growth. We must be open to what the day's sunlight will bring us.
This Sunday I'll speak to another group of graduates. This time it will be high school students. Yes, they are even more green but they probably think they are farther along than they are. They'll learn in time that they are not "full blown." So I'll give them some additional words from the lips of "Red Molly." It is a song I use sometimes at points of transition to remind all who will listen that "this is the best time of your life." Here are the words:
MAY I SUGGEST
From: New Non-Fiction (2001)
Copyright © Susan Werner
May I suggest
May I suggest to you
May I suggest this is the best part of your life
May I suggest
This time is blessed for you
This time is blessed and shining almost blinding bright
Just turn your head
And you’ll begin to see
The thousand reasons that were just beyond your sight
The reasons why
Why I suggest to you
Why I suggest this is the best part of your life
There is a world
That’s been addressed to you
Addressed to you, intended only for your eyes
A secret world
Like a treasure chest to you
Of private scenes and brilliant dreams that mesmerise
A lover’s trusting smile
A tiny baby’s hands
The million stars that fill the turning sky at night
Oh I suggest
Oh I suggest to you
Oh I suggest this is the best part of your life
There is a hope
That’s been expressed in you
The hope of seven generations, maybe more
And this is the faith
That they invest in you
It’s that you’ll do one better than was done before
Inside you know
Inside you understand
Inside you know what’s yours to finally set right
And I suggest
And I suggest to you
And I suggest this is the best part of your life
This is a song
Comes from the west to you
Comes from the west, comes from the slowly setting sun
With a request
With a request of you
To see how very short the endless days will run
And when they’re gone
And when the dark descends
Oh we’d give anything for one more hour of light
And I suggest this is the best part of your life
So...May I suggest to you that we are all "green" and that if we stay open to continued growth this is the best time of our life.
Jody
Friday, May 13, 2011
Left-over Easter
I've been on a blogging vacation...but for now I thougth I'd share with you what I shared with my people on Easter...It's all about "Mr. Saturday Night"
Mr. Saturday Night Gets the Last Laugh
John 20: 1-18
His name was Buddy Young and his older brother and supporter was Stan. The whole movie Stan puts up with Buddy and his insults. In fact Buddy’s main form of humor was insults such as looking at a woman in the audience during one of his Saturday night stand up comic routines and pointing her out saying, “Wow who puts on your make-up, Ringling brothers?....or …Did you get too close to the Avon Lady when she exploded.”
Another scene in the movie after Buddy is an aged out comic and is no longer a headline he looks at his brother Stan and says, “So what do you do down there now that you’re retired?”… “I play golf and enjoy my friends,” responds Stan. A surprised Billy says, “You got friends?” Stan shoots back, “Yea they came with the condo. You could get friends or cable so I chose friends.” Buddy responds, “Over cable?”
Then comes a famous line I want you to hear today. Buddy says to Stan, “Did you see what I did there?” This small line is full of meaning. It is an inside way between brothers of saying something like, “Did you pick up on my way of turning things around so that the joke worked…Did you see what I did there?”
The movie I am alluding to is “Mr. Saturday Night” a 1992 movie staring Billy Crystal who plays the aging stand up comic Buddy Young. Throughout the movie his older brother Stan tries to help Buddy but there is really no helping this self-absorbed sarcastic but very talented comedian. But at various times in the movie Buddy says to Stan, “Did you see what I did there?” This line is a way of describing the moves of a joke. Of course if you have to explain a joke it looses something but between brothers this is a way of pointing out the talent behind the comedy.
Well today I offer you another Mr. Saturday night. It seems this Mr. Saturday night pulls off one of the greatest jokes of them all. He outflanks death on Saturday night and come Sunday morning he gets the last laugh. Jesus leaves an empty tomb and in today’s story he sort of says to a mystified Mary, “Did you see what I did there?”
Of course no one quite gets it in our story today. The only laugh they hear is the deep dark laugh of death that overcomes their hopes and dreams. Sure Peter and John run to the tomb but they are not quite sure what to do with what they see.
I mean did you hear the story? Breathless from their run to the cemetery after Mary comes to fetch them to tell them that the body is missing, Peter and John lean into the dim light of the vacant tomb and then..and then…They go back home.
What? This is like saying, “He won the 10 million dollar lottery and then went back home and enjoyed his oatmeal.” Come on something happens here. How could they just “go back home?” I wonder if they could really respond to a Jesus who says, “Did you see what I did here?”
I mean let’s not miss the stand up that Jesus pulls off on the Sunday after Saturday night. He plays a cosmic joke and Death is the fall guy. Woody Allen once said, “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Well our Mr. Saturday night is there when it happens and the joke is at Death’s expense.
There is a book out about the start-up careers of the famous comics of the 1970’s. The title comes from another famous line that comics often use when things are not going well in their stand up routines, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here?” The book is, “I’m Dying Up Here: the Heartbreak and High Times in Comedy’s Golden Era.” The book chronicles the journey of such people as Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Robin Williams.
The introductory line for these comics who follow their “shot in the dark” dream to LA is, “Hey I can be broke anywhere, I might as well be broke somewhere where it’s warm.” Jesus takes a shot in the dark and ends up playing a joke on Death that last jokester who would like to say to us, “Turn out the lights the party’s over.”
Do you ever wonder where Jesus goes those three days that the joke is on him? Well of course we do not have documentation on this but some who study such things think that on Saturday night he is “playing” in Hell. That’s right the oldest version of the Apostles Creed says that he “was crucified dead and buried, he descended into hell, and on the third day arose from the dead.”
It seems that such an ancient affirmation states that there is nowhere that the love of God in Christ will not go…even to Hell looking for the lost. And here I thought at least Jesus would get some rest after 3 years of intense ministry but then this is Jesus we are dealing with here and when it comes to finding lost coins, lost sheep, and lost people..well to Jesus it seems no laughing matter.
Our Mr. Saturday Night is busy even in death because our God will not have death be the last word or the last laugh. Jesus seeks the lost even after he says from his cross in the midst of the laughter of darkness, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here?”
What would it mean to think that on Saturday night when Mary is in the midst of her grief and anticipating going to the cemetery to morn her dead Lord that Jesus is even then looking for the lost? What does it say about a God whose son never gives up even in death though Peter and John are locked away on Saturday night full of fear and left over denial?
It says that we have a Mr. Saturday Night who gets the last laugh on Sunday morning. Part of me would like to think that after what Jesus goes through from Thursday to Friday that he would have at least have a 3 day vacation from trying to save the world. I mean give the poor man a rest…but listen..we are dealing with a God here who longs to save the world. So even though some of us no longer say it in our Creed maybe our Mr. Saturday night is working to save the lost even in his death.
I work with people who are going through hell…the hell of grief..the hell of lost dreams…the hell of lost health…the hell of depression. The hope of Easter is that our Mr. Saturday Night never gives up even in the face of death and Hell.
So today what does this story say to you? Peter and John run to the tomb and really want to believe but notice that they simply “go back home.” Is that the way you came today? Part of you wants to run up here on this Easter Sunday and proclaim “He is risen” but in a few minutes you too will “go back home.” How will you go back? Will you go back home wanting it to be true but not really knowing?
Our story says simply that Peter and John went back home for “they did not yet understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.” Well perhaps my task today is to send you back home understanding the scripture. Notice that the sentence does not say he “would” rise from the dead but that he “must” rise from the dead. Why…because God will not allow death to have the last laugh.
As a pastor I deal all the time with people who have trouble accepting a God who allows so much death in life. I know people who will not come to church because they want nothing to do with a God who allows children to suffer, or tsunamis to happen, or cancer to spread, or wars to rage. Well you do not need me to tell you that there is enough hell on earth to go around but I’m sending you back home with the words ringing in your ears that Jesus “must rise” from the dead because there is too much death out there. There is no place God’s love will not go even on Saturday night. Easter is about victory over death…all kinds of death…not just the death we experience when we take our last breath.
Easter is about a God who is with us on stage when our Saturday nights turn bad. When we or the people we love feel alone on the stage and want to at least whisper because of our fear, pain, or grief, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here?”
Well Jesus can see. He’s been there for you and me. His suffering and death is a way of God saying that you are never alone…even on your dark Saturday nights.
And then there is Mary. I wonder what Mary is doing on that Saturday night before we find her in the garden looking for the body of a dead Lord? Does she go over in her mind what she will do when she arrives at the cemetery? Does she wonder if she can persuade the guards to let her into the tomb so she can say a final goodbye to her lost dream?
But what does she find? She finds an empty tomb, the cruelest of jokes. She assumes that the last sacrilege has happened. Someone has stolen his broken body and laid even more waste to it. She too does not understand the scripture that he “must” rise from the dead for she is still hearing the laughter in the darkness that comes from that black Friday when she heard him say, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”
Mary joins by asking that same question for now this is a God forsaken world. Her Saturday night has convinced her that there will never be laughter again in her life.
So can you imagine when Jesus walks up behind her in her grief and says, “Say why are you crying so much here on this beautiful Sunday morning? Why the sun’s coming up and it looks like to me it’s going to be a wonderful day. What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this anyway? It’s a cemetery after all. Are you looking for somebody?”
And then Mary not knowing the punch-line that is about to come from this very special Mr. Saturday Night steps into Jesus’ stand up routine. “Listen, I do not know who you are or what you are doing here but if you know what they did to my Lord’s body please tell me and I’ll go find him and put him back where he belongs.”
Then comes Jesus’ version of “Did you see what I did there?” All he really needs to say is her name, “Mary” and she knows the joke is on her…and for that matter the rest of the world. Death has been defeated. Mr. Saturday night has the last laugh.
When Mary turns toward the sun she sees not the gardener, nor a dead Jesus. What she sees is Jesus’ “stand up” routine as he stands up in the face of darkness and the laughter of death. Jesus is the ultimate Mr. Saturday night who gets the last laugh on Sunday morning.
Now to all of you who came today I say it’s time to “go back home.” But I send you back home not even as Peter and John went back home. I send you back home with a hope for understanding of the scripture that he “must” rise from the dead. I send you back home hopefully with a smile on your face from the realization that not even hell is safe from Jesus’ reaching love. I send you back home with laugher ringing in your ears from the ultimate punch-line as Jesus laughs in the face of death for us all.
I send you back home with the assurance that even in moments when you utter the words, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here” that you have a God who not only sees but who has been there. I send you home with the Easter promise that the words “must rise from the dead” are true. He did rise from the dead and perhaps he says to you and me today with a resurrection smile on his face, “Did you see what I did there?”
So let me send you home today with a story that will put a smile on your face and laughter in your heart…In a certain village the townspeople always had a Passion Play each year to portray the drama of Holy Week. The people of the village played the various characters.
One particular year they could not persuade anyone to play Jesus. Finally the only one who would agree to play the part of Jesus was the rugged town bully. He was always getting in trouble and often picked fights with the people of the town.
So it came as a surprise when he agreed to play Jesus. The people very much believed in doing the play so they went along with the deal. As the play came to a close the very man who had for so many years pushed his way around town but who was now playing Jesus was carrying his cross toward the scene of crucifixion. The people of the village playing the parts of the crowd who was mocking Jesus on his way to his eventual death were really getting into the part especially since it gave them a safe chance to yell insults at the town bully.
As “Jesus” passed by one man in the village who was in the angry crowd got carried away at his chance to shout at the town tyrant and he suddenly spit in the face of Jesus. At that moment everyone got quite wondering what the cross bearing Jesus would do.
The town bully stopped, looked over at the man, and just before going on with his cross bearing pointed to the man who had spit in his face and simply said, “I’ll be back to take care of you after the resurrection.”……..Did you see what I did there?
Smile…laugh…our Mr. Saturday night gets the last laugh on Sunday morning….and yes even in those moments when you say, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here” he will be back to take care of you after the resurrection.
Mr. Saturday Night Gets the Last Laugh
John 20: 1-18
His name was Buddy Young and his older brother and supporter was Stan. The whole movie Stan puts up with Buddy and his insults. In fact Buddy’s main form of humor was insults such as looking at a woman in the audience during one of his Saturday night stand up comic routines and pointing her out saying, “Wow who puts on your make-up, Ringling brothers?....or …Did you get too close to the Avon Lady when she exploded.”
Another scene in the movie after Buddy is an aged out comic and is no longer a headline he looks at his brother Stan and says, “So what do you do down there now that you’re retired?”… “I play golf and enjoy my friends,” responds Stan. A surprised Billy says, “You got friends?” Stan shoots back, “Yea they came with the condo. You could get friends or cable so I chose friends.” Buddy responds, “Over cable?”
Then comes a famous line I want you to hear today. Buddy says to Stan, “Did you see what I did there?” This small line is full of meaning. It is an inside way between brothers of saying something like, “Did you pick up on my way of turning things around so that the joke worked…Did you see what I did there?”
The movie I am alluding to is “Mr. Saturday Night” a 1992 movie staring Billy Crystal who plays the aging stand up comic Buddy Young. Throughout the movie his older brother Stan tries to help Buddy but there is really no helping this self-absorbed sarcastic but very talented comedian. But at various times in the movie Buddy says to Stan, “Did you see what I did there?” This line is a way of describing the moves of a joke. Of course if you have to explain a joke it looses something but between brothers this is a way of pointing out the talent behind the comedy.
Well today I offer you another Mr. Saturday night. It seems this Mr. Saturday night pulls off one of the greatest jokes of them all. He outflanks death on Saturday night and come Sunday morning he gets the last laugh. Jesus leaves an empty tomb and in today’s story he sort of says to a mystified Mary, “Did you see what I did there?”
Of course no one quite gets it in our story today. The only laugh they hear is the deep dark laugh of death that overcomes their hopes and dreams. Sure Peter and John run to the tomb but they are not quite sure what to do with what they see.
I mean did you hear the story? Breathless from their run to the cemetery after Mary comes to fetch them to tell them that the body is missing, Peter and John lean into the dim light of the vacant tomb and then..and then…They go back home.
What? This is like saying, “He won the 10 million dollar lottery and then went back home and enjoyed his oatmeal.” Come on something happens here. How could they just “go back home?” I wonder if they could really respond to a Jesus who says, “Did you see what I did here?”
I mean let’s not miss the stand up that Jesus pulls off on the Sunday after Saturday night. He plays a cosmic joke and Death is the fall guy. Woody Allen once said, “I’m not afraid of death, I just don’t want to be there when it happens.” Well our Mr. Saturday night is there when it happens and the joke is at Death’s expense.
There is a book out about the start-up careers of the famous comics of the 1970’s. The title comes from another famous line that comics often use when things are not going well in their stand up routines, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here?” The book is, “I’m Dying Up Here: the Heartbreak and High Times in Comedy’s Golden Era.” The book chronicles the journey of such people as Jay Leno, David Letterman, and Robin Williams.
The introductory line for these comics who follow their “shot in the dark” dream to LA is, “Hey I can be broke anywhere, I might as well be broke somewhere where it’s warm.” Jesus takes a shot in the dark and ends up playing a joke on Death that last jokester who would like to say to us, “Turn out the lights the party’s over.”
Do you ever wonder where Jesus goes those three days that the joke is on him? Well of course we do not have documentation on this but some who study such things think that on Saturday night he is “playing” in Hell. That’s right the oldest version of the Apostles Creed says that he “was crucified dead and buried, he descended into hell, and on the third day arose from the dead.”
It seems that such an ancient affirmation states that there is nowhere that the love of God in Christ will not go…even to Hell looking for the lost. And here I thought at least Jesus would get some rest after 3 years of intense ministry but then this is Jesus we are dealing with here and when it comes to finding lost coins, lost sheep, and lost people..well to Jesus it seems no laughing matter.
Our Mr. Saturday Night is busy even in death because our God will not have death be the last word or the last laugh. Jesus seeks the lost even after he says from his cross in the midst of the laughter of darkness, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here?”
What would it mean to think that on Saturday night when Mary is in the midst of her grief and anticipating going to the cemetery to morn her dead Lord that Jesus is even then looking for the lost? What does it say about a God whose son never gives up even in death though Peter and John are locked away on Saturday night full of fear and left over denial?
It says that we have a Mr. Saturday Night who gets the last laugh on Sunday morning. Part of me would like to think that after what Jesus goes through from Thursday to Friday that he would have at least have a 3 day vacation from trying to save the world. I mean give the poor man a rest…but listen..we are dealing with a God here who longs to save the world. So even though some of us no longer say it in our Creed maybe our Mr. Saturday night is working to save the lost even in his death.
I work with people who are going through hell…the hell of grief..the hell of lost dreams…the hell of lost health…the hell of depression. The hope of Easter is that our Mr. Saturday Night never gives up even in the face of death and Hell.
So today what does this story say to you? Peter and John run to the tomb and really want to believe but notice that they simply “go back home.” Is that the way you came today? Part of you wants to run up here on this Easter Sunday and proclaim “He is risen” but in a few minutes you too will “go back home.” How will you go back? Will you go back home wanting it to be true but not really knowing?
Our story says simply that Peter and John went back home for “they did not yet understand the scripture that he must rise from the dead.” Well perhaps my task today is to send you back home understanding the scripture. Notice that the sentence does not say he “would” rise from the dead but that he “must” rise from the dead. Why…because God will not allow death to have the last laugh.
As a pastor I deal all the time with people who have trouble accepting a God who allows so much death in life. I know people who will not come to church because they want nothing to do with a God who allows children to suffer, or tsunamis to happen, or cancer to spread, or wars to rage. Well you do not need me to tell you that there is enough hell on earth to go around but I’m sending you back home with the words ringing in your ears that Jesus “must rise” from the dead because there is too much death out there. There is no place God’s love will not go even on Saturday night. Easter is about victory over death…all kinds of death…not just the death we experience when we take our last breath.
Easter is about a God who is with us on stage when our Saturday nights turn bad. When we or the people we love feel alone on the stage and want to at least whisper because of our fear, pain, or grief, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here?”
Well Jesus can see. He’s been there for you and me. His suffering and death is a way of God saying that you are never alone…even on your dark Saturday nights.
And then there is Mary. I wonder what Mary is doing on that Saturday night before we find her in the garden looking for the body of a dead Lord? Does she go over in her mind what she will do when she arrives at the cemetery? Does she wonder if she can persuade the guards to let her into the tomb so she can say a final goodbye to her lost dream?
But what does she find? She finds an empty tomb, the cruelest of jokes. She assumes that the last sacrilege has happened. Someone has stolen his broken body and laid even more waste to it. She too does not understand the scripture that he “must” rise from the dead for she is still hearing the laughter in the darkness that comes from that black Friday when she heard him say, “My God, my God why have you forsaken me?”
Mary joins by asking that same question for now this is a God forsaken world. Her Saturday night has convinced her that there will never be laughter again in her life.
So can you imagine when Jesus walks up behind her in her grief and says, “Say why are you crying so much here on this beautiful Sunday morning? Why the sun’s coming up and it looks like to me it’s going to be a wonderful day. What’s a pretty girl like you doing in a place like this anyway? It’s a cemetery after all. Are you looking for somebody?”
And then Mary not knowing the punch-line that is about to come from this very special Mr. Saturday Night steps into Jesus’ stand up routine. “Listen, I do not know who you are or what you are doing here but if you know what they did to my Lord’s body please tell me and I’ll go find him and put him back where he belongs.”
Then comes Jesus’ version of “Did you see what I did there?” All he really needs to say is her name, “Mary” and she knows the joke is on her…and for that matter the rest of the world. Death has been defeated. Mr. Saturday night has the last laugh.
When Mary turns toward the sun she sees not the gardener, nor a dead Jesus. What she sees is Jesus’ “stand up” routine as he stands up in the face of darkness and the laughter of death. Jesus is the ultimate Mr. Saturday night who gets the last laugh on Sunday morning.
Now to all of you who came today I say it’s time to “go back home.” But I send you back home not even as Peter and John went back home. I send you back home with a hope for understanding of the scripture that he “must” rise from the dead. I send you back home hopefully with a smile on your face from the realization that not even hell is safe from Jesus’ reaching love. I send you back home with laugher ringing in your ears from the ultimate punch-line as Jesus laughs in the face of death for us all.
I send you back home with the assurance that even in moments when you utter the words, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here” that you have a God who not only sees but who has been there. I send you home with the Easter promise that the words “must rise from the dead” are true. He did rise from the dead and perhaps he says to you and me today with a resurrection smile on his face, “Did you see what I did there?”
So let me send you home today with a story that will put a smile on your face and laughter in your heart…In a certain village the townspeople always had a Passion Play each year to portray the drama of Holy Week. The people of the village played the various characters.
One particular year they could not persuade anyone to play Jesus. Finally the only one who would agree to play the part of Jesus was the rugged town bully. He was always getting in trouble and often picked fights with the people of the town.
So it came as a surprise when he agreed to play Jesus. The people very much believed in doing the play so they went along with the deal. As the play came to a close the very man who had for so many years pushed his way around town but who was now playing Jesus was carrying his cross toward the scene of crucifixion. The people of the village playing the parts of the crowd who was mocking Jesus on his way to his eventual death were really getting into the part especially since it gave them a safe chance to yell insults at the town bully.
As “Jesus” passed by one man in the village who was in the angry crowd got carried away at his chance to shout at the town tyrant and he suddenly spit in the face of Jesus. At that moment everyone got quite wondering what the cross bearing Jesus would do.
The town bully stopped, looked over at the man, and just before going on with his cross bearing pointed to the man who had spit in his face and simply said, “I’ll be back to take care of you after the resurrection.”……..Did you see what I did there?
Smile…laugh…our Mr. Saturday night gets the last laugh on Sunday morning….and yes even in those moments when you say, “Can’t you see I’m dying up here” he will be back to take care of you after the resurrection.
Friday, April 22, 2011
A Good Friday Meditation: He Didn't Want to be There
He Didn’t Want to be There
Meditation for Good Friday
He didn’t want to be there. Pilate usually spent the days at the coast enjoying the cool breezes of the Mediterranean at his palace in Caesarea. His balcony overlooked the sea and he could dream of the day he would be able to return to Rome and get back to civilization away from this forlorn place that seemed to be loved by crusty prophets and religious sages.
Pilate on the other hand had no use for their strange religion of one god. All he cared about was keeping the peace so he could get back home. But he had to make the trip to Jerusalem for their high and holy festivals where the fools would flock to their temple and chant their strange words of hope that had no basis. He had to be present to oversee the crowd control but he didn’t want to be there.
And this time he found himself dealing with another one of their “kings.” Empty words of promise and religious platitudes were fine with Pilate but don’t go calling yourself a king. That did not make for a peaceful religious holiday nor did it set well in the belly of Rome. There was to be only one real king and his name was Caesar.
O, Herod could have his quaint title as “King of the Jews” but everyone knew what that really meant. It meant nothing. It resulted from a back room handshake late at night so that the mob could at least say they had a king. Herod was under Rome’s thumb and everyone knew it including Herod but it worked for the festivals.
But now we had this upstart king who talked about kingdoms not of this world. Pilate would rather be sipping wine on his porch in Caesarea and now he had before him a rather pathetic looking character that seemed to be stirring up the crowd. He tried a ploy to satisfy the mob by offering a good faith gesture. After all Pilate just wanted to get back to his porch by the beach and then eventually back to Rome where they all knew who the king was and who the gods were.
But now the mob would not even accept his offer of release for this donkey driving king. He obviously was no real threat but even the presumption of kingship was a danger with these desperate people. They could make a king out of nobody if left alone and Pilate knew he could not leave them alone but he sure did not want to be there.
So he ordered his bowl of water and washed his hands of the matter. All this guy was to him was crucifixion number 637. He had people crucified with the same frequency he had his evening wine. “Get rid of the bum I want to go home.”
Simon did not want to be there either. He was coming in from Cyrene to enjoy the festival. He got caught up in the crowd as he tried to make his way into Jerusalem. The mob was making their way out screaming as if they wanted something to happen that was not happening fast enough.
Simon found himself pushed to the edge of the teaming swarm when suddenly words came to him as if a landslide covered his tired body. He was weary from his trip and simply wanted to get to his relatives in Jerusalem. He didn’t want to be there, but he was.
“Carry this,” screamed the soldier. “My God this was a cross. This isn’t my cross. I did not earn this burden. Why me?” He didn’t want to be there.
Before Simon knew it the wooden beam was pushed his way. The man who had been carrying it looked half dead already. Simon quickly surmised that the reason he was being forced to bear this cross was that the soldiers must have realized that the crucifixion would not happen if this poor criminal was forced to keep carrying his means of execution. He was going to die on the road and deprive the crowd of the main event.
Simon struggled under the weight of the cross. He didn’t want to be there.
And then there was Jesus. Just the night before he told his father that he didn’t want to be there. “Is there a way to take another road, father? This cup before me is beginning to taste like poison.”
But he was there…broken…beaten…betrayed…beyond hope of saving. Jesus barely made it to the place of the Skull and there his arms were again placed on his cross and the nails driven deep into his writs and feet. He looked up at the horizon and saw Pilate’s courtyard. He looked down from the cross as they lifted him and it up and he saw Simon still recovering from his brief time of carrying the unwanted burden.
Pilate…Simon…Jesus….they didn’t want to be there, but they were.
And because they were there so we are here facing this cross. I do not know about you but I too don’t want to be here.
Could we not fill out some form or go through some exercise of will in order to be redeemed by God? Could we, like Pilate, find some retreat place of solace and go where we could simply hear God speak to us of better days? Why can’t we join Simon in slipping through the crowd and get to a place of calm and safety? Why do we have to be here facing this cross? But we are here because we have to be.
Jesus did not want to be here. He fell in love with life and he so wanted to offer it abundantly to all who would listen and follow. But his way of love was rejected and the one reason we are here despite our unwillingness to be is that his way of love is still rejected…rejected not only by this “not wanting to be here world” but also rejected by us…by me.
So we come and we say first that we are sorry for walking away from his ways of love and forgiveness. We then come to say “thank you” for his willingness to overcome his desire to not want to be here.
So now we know that in all those places we will go that we will not want to go…those places of sorrow…grief…failure of our bodies…and yes even in those places of darkness and evil…wherever there is the deep darkness …where we do not want to be…he was and is there…
And in that place where we forget…in that place we have no other word to call it but “sin”…for us sinners he was there.
Jesus did not want to be there…but he was…Thanks be to God.
Jody
Thursday, April 14, 2011
Jesus and the Moon Roof
Can't you just see Jesus smiling and waving to the people as he makes his way through the crowded streets. His arms gesture back and forth as he acknowledges the acclaim of thousands. From his perch inside the Mercedes he has an excellent view of the teaming masses and the open moon roof helps protect him from a might be trouble maker...even a lone assassin. Secret Service agents posing as disciples surround the car and push away any who would come too close.
Of course it did not happen this way. Jesus ends up on a "colt"... a donkey...some disappointed bystanders may have even called it a jackass. Jesus sure made a fool of those who thought he was going to set up a new kingdom where the gospel of success would rule. Of ccourse they thought it was Jesus who was the fool. But hey Jesus got what he deserved it seems for disappointing all those people. He ended up out on the town garbage heap uttering even more foolish stuff about forgiving those who hung him up there.
Jesus' entrance these days continues to disappoint many people. Lately the rhetoric about priorities of how we are going to allocate our money is heard rather than "Hosannas." Underneath some of these phrases is a view of Jesus' words that somehow seem to come from that moon roof. "Love God and you will be blessed. God wants you to be successful. You are a child of the king and you should live like a king in your castle."
Forgotten are the words that the man on the donkey would have used from his ancestor the prophet Amos: "Thus says the Lord...for the three transgression, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes....they trample the head of the poor into the dust, and push the afflicted out of the way."
Jesus spent a good deal of his time with those who had been "pushed away" and the latest debate about local school budgets and our national budget seems to be willing to do just that so that "we" can make sure we do not lose any of "our" resources for our castles. Sure our systems need reforming. Sure we have created a welfare system that breeds too much dependence. But for God's sake let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater nor change the donkey into a Mercedes.
The gospel of success is a mockery to the man who came into our world in a stable and on a donkey. This coming week is Holy Week. The human face of God will again strip off his shirt and kneel to wash the dirty feet of surprised disciples. He will tell them that real love is serving those who need to be reminded that they are cherished because they do not feel cherished.
He will raise a cup and say "Love is not love until it is poured out...so go pour yourselves out...life is not about keeping...it is about giving." OK, that is a loose translation but it is an extension of what he meant. The cross of Jesus stands today amidst an i pad/i phone/i pod world. None of this technology is bad but the pronoun in front of the device is a symbol of an "i" culture.
Jesus came on his donkey to remind me that it is not all about me. Let's work to make our systems that help the "needy" be made better but let's not sell out for a pair of shoes or a Mercedes.
jody
Of course it did not happen this way. Jesus ends up on a "colt"... a donkey...some disappointed bystanders may have even called it a jackass. Jesus sure made a fool of those who thought he was going to set up a new kingdom where the gospel of success would rule. Of ccourse they thought it was Jesus who was the fool. But hey Jesus got what he deserved it seems for disappointing all those people. He ended up out on the town garbage heap uttering even more foolish stuff about forgiving those who hung him up there.
Jesus' entrance these days continues to disappoint many people. Lately the rhetoric about priorities of how we are going to allocate our money is heard rather than "Hosannas." Underneath some of these phrases is a view of Jesus' words that somehow seem to come from that moon roof. "Love God and you will be blessed. God wants you to be successful. You are a child of the king and you should live like a king in your castle."
Forgotten are the words that the man on the donkey would have used from his ancestor the prophet Amos: "Thus says the Lord...for the three transgression, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment; because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes....they trample the head of the poor into the dust, and push the afflicted out of the way."
Jesus spent a good deal of his time with those who had been "pushed away" and the latest debate about local school budgets and our national budget seems to be willing to do just that so that "we" can make sure we do not lose any of "our" resources for our castles. Sure our systems need reforming. Sure we have created a welfare system that breeds too much dependence. But for God's sake let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater nor change the donkey into a Mercedes.
The gospel of success is a mockery to the man who came into our world in a stable and on a donkey. This coming week is Holy Week. The human face of God will again strip off his shirt and kneel to wash the dirty feet of surprised disciples. He will tell them that real love is serving those who need to be reminded that they are cherished because they do not feel cherished.
He will raise a cup and say "Love is not love until it is poured out...so go pour yourselves out...life is not about keeping...it is about giving." OK, that is a loose translation but it is an extension of what he meant. The cross of Jesus stands today amidst an i pad/i phone/i pod world. None of this technology is bad but the pronoun in front of the device is a symbol of an "i" culture.
Jesus came on his donkey to remind me that it is not all about me. Let's work to make our systems that help the "needy" be made better but let's not sell out for a pair of shoes or a Mercedes.
jody
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