Some days…

     Sunday we continued our England travels by exploring the national parks of Exmoor and Dartmoor.  We stopped in Lynton, where most of our group spent their time shopping.  Of course, we took off, walking out to the Valley of the Rocks… incredible views!  

    We also saw a number of truly beautiful gardens on our way out of the city… all in people’s yards.  Afterwards we took the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway (which is “the highest and the steepest totally water powered railway in the world”) down to Lynmouth, a little village at the bottom of those cliffs.  We learned about the flood that came and destroyed the city, killing many and taking many homes into the ocean.  David and I continued to be a bit rebellious and while others were exploring cafes and grabbing lunch, we walked along the river to beautiful views of falls, flowers and small gardens.  We then headed to Porlock for lunch, but it being Sunday, everything was closed. So we went on and had a short stop in Minehead, which is a little larger community.  While the rest of our group again ate and shopped, we went on a search for gardens and found some lovely flower gardens. 

    Afterwards we spent the night at Bovey Castle.  We arrived there fairly late with just enough time to eat and go to bed and we left early yesterday morning for our Monday adventures.  It was a disappointment to all of us that we were there for just a few short hours.  For me, I’ve never stayed in a place so nice before and honestly felt a bit intimidated.  It was beautiful!

    Monday, yesterday, we only had one real stop: we went to Dorset for the things I was most looking forward to about this tour: we went to Athelhampton Manor and Gardens where we had high tea and then explored the manor and Elizabethan gardens.  We were given a tour of the manor by a highly educated historian.  He was interesting, but I started to panic when what was supposed to be an hour tour approached the second hour mark.  I didn’t want to listen anymore, as interesting as it was: I was worried there would not be enough time for the gardens, so I snuck out and went for a marvelous stroll in the gardens by myself, to be joined a half hour later by David who had stayed for the end of the house tour. Truly lovely.  

    Last night as well as this evening we stay in Evershot, a small village of 230 residents!!  But the grounds where we are staying are once again INCREDIBLE!

     The last two days were very good days for us!  

    But one of those two days was not such a good day for our bus driver.  Our driver has worked for tours for six years, and according to him, has never had problems.  But many of the roads he was driving on were TIGHT in their turns and extremely narrow, which meant that when we were faced with a car coming the other direction, sometimes there were real issues about which car would back up, how far, and how turns would be made at all by such a big coach.  Up until now, our driver has done fine. But yesterday as he moved way over towards the hedge wall to give enough room for a fast on-coming car to pass, there was an ominous crunching sound.  Sure enough, the hedge wall was hiding a brick wall which significantly scraped the bus. Then, as he went around one very steep curve, the back of the bus hit the ground and knocked loose a part of the rear fender.  Finally as we were on the M5, suddenly those of us near the front saw the blur of wings and heard a loud BAM as a pigeon flew into the windshield.  Our driver was beside himself.  But his day did not completely end there… The tour guide told him what room he was supposedly staying in at the hotel and told him to ask the front desk for the key.  He did so, was given the key, and when he opened the door to the room, he was greeted by a completely naked elderly woman just stepping out of the shower. He apologized in response to her screams, hastily shut the door, and went back to reception to find he was actually supposed to be in a different room.  Our driver could not figure out why everything in his day seemed pear-shaped. 

    What was a glorious day for us was a BAD day for him.  People can be in very close proximity to one another and yet have completely divergent experiences.  Those experiences tend to effect how we see and ultimately understand the world. Even when we are in the same space each person’s experience is vastly different and therefore effects our feelings and thoughts.  Is it any wonder that we have a hard time understanding one another?  Objectivity, while important, can be elusive for any of us.  For me, this so obvious example of people in the same situation experiencing the day in such opposing ways was a reminder to be more grace-filled towards those around me.  Much of the time we just don’t know what others are going through.

Revenge in our hearts?

     I’ve been thinking about comments I’ve heard recently that basically come down to, “Because I’ve suffered, you should too.” Or even, "Because WE'VE suffered, you should too."

“Because I had to take that test in order to get into that job/profession/group/activity other people should have to as well.  If they don’t, it’s not fair!” 

“Because I received corporal punishment as a child, I think this next generation of kids should also have corporal punishment.  It didn’t kill me so it won’t kill them!” 

“Because I had to go through several rigid screenings in order to be part of this group, everyone else should as well.” 

"Because we have been hurt, we need to make other people hurt too."

Recently there was a huge controversy that involved one of the ordination exams that was offered this past year.  A scripture was chosen for those studying to become Presbyterian pastors that they needed to translate from original Hebrew, do an extensive biblical study on, and then create a congregational bible study from that passage.  This is a part of every exegesis ordination exam that every Presbyterian pastor must take to be ordained in our denomination.  The scripture they picked this last year, though, was one that could have been considered deeply traumatic for many.  It was Judges 19 in which a Levite’s concubine was gang-raped, murdered and dismembered.  Survivors of sexual assault were outraged at the insistence that they be required to study and write about this passage and basically called the committee’s choice that they handle such a passage a form of “hazing”.  Without going too far into the controversy, I found it interesting that one of the arguments for continuing with this passage again came back to the “well we had to look at hard passages to become pastors, so they should too.”  The use of the word “hazing” to describe the exam also backs this idea.  Those who are hazed remember what they had to do in order to “join the club” or the fraternity and they feel it is, therefore, only fair that those who follow should also have to suffer as they did. 

While these examples take many forms and have been said in many differing situations, they all come back to that same thing: I suffered, so others should too.

               This is very problematic.  While I have written about this for my congregation, I wanted to say something more about this using words that are not as "churchy" because, while I think this is especially problematic for people of faith, I also believe it is simply problematic just because as human beings, we should be striving to do better.  Every single day there are so many good things that come to us that we did not earn or deserve.  And there are so many gifts that come our way that we can take no credit for at all. On a small scale, how many times have you gone over the speed limit, or failed to use your turn signal but have not been given a ticket?  How many times have you made a mistake such as talking behind someone’s back, exaggerating a story in a way that you knew would be hurtful to those you spoke about, or were cranky with someone you valued in a way that could have ended the relationship, only to have the experience of finding that those mistakes have not led to the terrible consequences which could have followed?  How often have we experienced being forgiven for the harsh words, or loved beyond the mistakes? 

         In the bigger picture, did you do anything that earned you where you were born?  Did you do anything to have been born into a family that had enough resources to feed you, to house you, to educate you?  Did you do anything to deserve classes and lessons and friends and family who have been kind and loving?  Did you do anything to deserve going on family vacations or trips to the park or zoo or circus as a kid?  How many times have you just barely scraped by on an exam or in some other way and experienced others simply being kind because they could be?  

       But as a people we don’t tend to focus or remember the times we've experienced such beauty or kindness or grace nearly as intensely or as often as we focus on and remember what we consider an injustice to ourselves.  And as a result, we fail then to find the gratitude to extend that grace to those around us, but instead insist that because we suffered, others should too.  And while this may be very human, "an eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."  We need to do better.  We need to focus less on revenge and on the idea that because I have suffered, you should too, and instead choose more often that because I've been gifted in so very many ways in this lifetime, I will extend those gifts and that grace to you as well.  

     We have the power to create a kinder, gentler world.  And it doesn't take much to move from "it's not fair!" to "How can I help?  What can I do to make your world a tiny bit better?"  My hope is that we could all try to move in that direction, one step at a time.

The Ten Commandments

 

Matthew 22:34-40

Exodus 19:1-6, 20:1-2

               Today we hear the preamble to the Ten Commandments and we will be doing a series, based on the Narrative lectionary, on these ten commandments over the next few weeks.  We have four weeks on this.  Today, which is an intro to the ten commandments, next week in which we look at the commandments that instruct on how we are to be in relationship to God, the following week, in which we look at the commandments that instruct on how we are to relate to people, and a closing week summary.

               Today we start with an overview.  In many ways, this will be more of a small bible study than a sermon.

               The ten commandments are written into two places in the Old Testament.  Here, in Exodus 20, and the second time in Deuteronomy 5.  There are differences, however, in the two occurances.  One of those differences comes in the form of the explanations for the Sabbath commandment.  In Exodus the reason for the Sabbath commandment is that God created in 6 days and rested on the Sabbath, therefore the Sabbath, we are told, is holy and will be a day of rest for all creation. Since God rested on the seventh day, we also are to rest on the seventh day.  In Deuteronomy the reason for the Sabbath is instead about justice:  Remember that God brought you out of slavery and commanded you to keep the Sabbath day for all:  In Deuteronomy, the Sabbath law is an insistence that all people be given time off from their work.    

               But there are other things about these ten commandments that make studying them or even talking about them an interesting challenge.

               For example, how many of you are aware that not all groups of people number these same ten commandments or even name them in the same way?

 Numbering the Ten Commandments¹

Jewish	Catholic, Lutheran, Orthodox	Reformed, Anglican, other Protestants
1. I am the Lord your God
2. No other Gods(and no graven images)	1. No other Gods (and no graven images)	1. No other Gods
		2. No graven images
3. Do not misuse God’s name	2. Do not misuse God’s name	3. Do not misuse God’s name
4. Keep the Sabbath	3. Keep the Sabbath	4. Keep the Sabbath
5. Honor father & mother	4. Honor father & mother	5. Honor father & mother
6. Do not murder	5. Do not murder	6. Do not murder
7. Do not commit adultery	6. Do not commit adultery	7. Do not commit adultery
8. Do not steal	7. Do not steal	8. Do not steal
9. Do not bear false witness against a neighbor	8. Do not bear false witness against a neighbor	9. Do not bear false witness against a neighbor
10. Do not covet your neighbor’s spouse or house	9. Do not covet your neighbor’s spouse	10. Do not covet your neighbor’s spouse or house
	10. Do not covet your neighbor’s house

Many people would say these are subtle and unimportant differences.  In general, I would agree with that.  That being said, these differences tell us a couple things: first, that scriptures and the things that the scriptures tell us are not as clear or as straight forward as we might like them to be, even with something as major and as consistent across faiths (Jewish, Muslim and Christian) as the ten commandments.  Second, what these differences also tell us is that different groups of people emphasize and value different things.  As a result, we see things differently, we read things differently, we hear things differently and we even number things differently.

That being said, as the passage in Matthew points out, these ten commandments can, loosely speaking, be broken into and summarized by Jesus’ recounting of the law.  It is two-fold:

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.

And

Love your neighbor as yourself.

That sums up the ten commandments.

 

The other and important point that I want to make today is that today’s verses which I read to you from Exodus precede the ten commandments.  They are the seed that then grows into the plant.  Or they are the prelude to the ten commandments.   And what do today’s verses say?  They say that what is of primary importance is God’s relationship with God’s people.  God “lifted you up on eagle’s wings and brought you to me” in chapter 19.  And in chapter 20, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” 

The relationship starts with God.  The covenant begins with God’s interaction: God creating, God inviting, God protecting, God raising, God saving, God returning the people home.  The people have been brought out of slavery.  The people have been brought home from exile.  God is faithful.  God is loving.  And it begins there.  God then invites us to enter into the covenant with God by responding out of love for God and God’s people.  God does not give the law as a way to establish relationship.  God does not give the law as a means to salvation.  God establishes the relationship, declares and proves God’s love and then invites us into right relationships with all creation by following the guidance God has given us.  God cares about our neighbors.  God cares about each one of us.  And that means that we are called to love with all that we have and all that we are because God cares about those people we are called to love. 

As commentator Rolf Jacobson says, “And that is good news. Good news for my neighbor. God loves them so much that God tells me not to kill, steal, commit adultery, and so on. And good news for me. God loves me so much that God tells my neighbor not to kill, steal, and so on.”

Finally, I want to point out that these commandments are not meant to be burdens.  They aren’t meant to limit freedom.  Instead, they are descriptions of how living fully loved and fully loving appears.  We are not meant to do these things out of a sense of guilt or sacrifice.  We are meant to do these things out of gratitude, out of love for God.  Because we have been so loved, we are invited to be that loving in return.  And out of our gratitude we are invited into those actions.

This is the same reason, by the way, for why we do not have an “altar” in Presbyterian churches.  We are not called to SACRIFICE.  We are called to give out of gratitude and thanksgiving.  Our giving, our loving should not be out of guilt and should not feel like a burden, like pain.  It should be our joy to give, our joy to offer what we have and who we are because we are so loved, so changed by that love that we can do nothing else but give, share, and delight in the God who made us, loved us into being, and continues to love us into each new day. 

Barb George passed on to me a story she had found.  It reads: “One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, 'Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday?  He must really be a nerd.'  I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.  As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him.  They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt.  His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him... He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes . My heart went out to him. So, I jogged over to him as he crawled around looking for his glasses, and I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him his glasses, I said, 'Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives.' He looked at me and said, 'Hey thanks!' There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before.

“We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him. Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again.   I stopped him and said, 'Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of  looks everyday!' He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship. Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd.  He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous! Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, 'Hey, big guy, you'll be great!' He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled.... ' Thanks,' he said. As he started his speech, he cleared his throat, and began ... 'Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years. Your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach...but mostly your friends.... I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them.  I am going to tell you a story.'  I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told about the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend.  He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his Mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home.  He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile.  'Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable.' I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment.  I saw his Mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize it's depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions.  With one small gesture you can change a person's life.”       

               I think about that story.  The kid who was kind in the first place was kind because that was his nature.  It was his nature to reach out and care for the bullied child.  In turn, the kid in the story who was being bullied, he gave his speech, he lifted up his friend, not out of a sense of guilt, or obligation.  It was not a burden to him to have to share this story.  It was not out of a sense that he had to do that to be “saved” or to be in relationship with the first boy.  The relationship already existed.  And out of his gratitude for that relationship he built up his friend, he shared the story, he gave the speech. 

               This is the same with God.  It is God’s nature to love us, to reach out to us, to care for us and build us up.  It is God’s nature to be proud and encouraging and supportive.  And our response, our call to follow what have come to be known as the ten “commandments” should be a response of love and gratitude.

               It is with this introduction that we will begin our study next week.  For this week, I invite you to think through why you do what you do.  Is it out of love and gratitude?  Or is it out of obligation?  And if it is out of obligation, if it does not give you joy to love in return, to serve in return, then I encourage you to find a different way of serving and loving God.  Because these ten commandments?  These are to be Good News.  An added burden is not Good News.  No, these are not a burden, these are an invitation.

               Thanks be to God.  Amen.

Footwashing - The Third Sacrament

John 13:1-17

Psalm 51:7-12

    How many sacraments are there in the Presbyterian church?  Two. And what are they?  Communion and Baptism.

    How do we define “sacrament” then?  Something Jesus did, something he had done to him, and something that he calls us to do for each other.  Obviously this is different in some other denominations.  

     Catholicism: “Sacraments are efficacious signs of grace, instituted by Christ and entrusted to the Church, through which Divine life is given. There are seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Reconciliation, Anointing of the Sick, Matrimony, and Holy Orders. Sacraments are classified as Christian Initiation (Baptism, Confirmation and the Eucharist), Sacraments of Healing (Reconciliation and Anointing of the Sick), and Sacraments of Commitment (Matrimony and Holy Orders).”

      Similarly, for more conservative Lutherans, “The Lutheran sacraments are "sacred acts of divine institution". These Lutherans believe that, whenever they are properly administered by the use of the physical component commanded by God along with the divine words of institution, God is, in a way specific to each sacrament, present with the Word and physical component. And for them there are also seven.  

       But for our sister church, the ELCA, as well as the Methodist church and the UCC there are also only two and they are same two that we have.

       According to our Book of Order, The Sacraments are “gifts of God for the people of God. They are a visible, tangible, and even taste-able way of experiencing God’s immeasurable grace and unfathomable goodness—the same grace and goodness we have come to know above all through Jesus Christ, God’s Word made flesh. The Sacraments are “signs” and “seals”—signs of God’s gracious promise and seals of God’s life-giving Word. They show us who God is and what God has done for us and for our salvation in Jesus Christ, expressing God’s claim upon our lives and confirming Christ’s calling to be faithful disciples. At the same time, the Sacraments provide a way for us to respond to God’s grace and goodness with our gratitude and praise, offering our lives in joyful service. The Sacraments unite past, present, and future. We remember the history of God’s saving work and proclaim the mystery of faith: the dying and rising of Christ for the salvation of the world (see Romans 6:3–4 and 1 Corinthians 11:26). We rejoice in the presence of the risen Christ and celebrate the new things that God is doing in the world, here and now. We also look with hope to the day of Christ’s coming again, at the dawning of God’s new creation. The Sacraments are Trinitarian events. They represent our celebration of, and participation in, the redeeming work of Jesus Christ. As noted above, they are gifts of God’s goodness and grace. We receive these gifts only by the power of the Holy Spirit, who also works through the Sacraments to equip us for ministry in Christ’s name. Therefore, in the Sacraments we give honor and glory to God Almighty, through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit.”

      So then, given all of that, and especially the first statements that sacraments are three things: something Jesus had done to or for him, something Jesus did himself and something he calls us to do: are there other things that we should define as sacraments?  

What was foot washing then?  Feet are dirty: they work hard.  But it was also touch:  intimacy.  

        But not only do we not consider it a sacrament now, but we tend to avoid it like the plague.  When services do choose to have foot washing, we always also offer hand washing.  We offer it because we recognize that it is very, very hard for some people to participate in it.  Why is this one so hard for us?  Humiliating?  Embarrassing?  Uncomfortable?  We don’t usually think of our feet as “private” but they are, aren’t they?  Having another human being touch, or clean our feet is scary.  It is vulnerable.  Similarly, touching another person’s feet is vulnerable.  I think the closest we get to this currently in our culture is going for a massage.  If you’ve never had a massage, let me tell you, it is a very vulnerable thing to both experience and to offer to another.  When I have had massages, I always wonder, “what will they judge about my body?  Will they find that mole on my back disgusting?  Will they avoid that scar on my foot?”  Putting those aside and accepting what they offer is only made easier by the fact that I pay them to do it.  So then with foot washing: you offer your feet to someone, perhaps someone you value, perhaps someone you don’t know at all.  But there is no payment.  It is a gift given and a gift received.  And that can be very, very hard.  

I think we tend to believe that somehow it must have been a less vulnerable act during biblical times.  But it wasn’t.  Foot washing then, too, was a very intimate and personal act.  It was also a deep service.  And to do it, to serve another in this way of washing another’s feet required a great deal of humility.  Just as allowing your feet to be washed requires and required a great deal of humility.  That conversation where Peter struggled to accept the foot washing offered to him by Jesus shows just how hard it was.  Peter LOVED Jesus.  But to accept this kind of act from him?  It did not seem right, it was too vulnerable, for both of them, to comfortably accept.  

But those acts of service, those acts of caring, those acts of loving matter so much more than we can ever, ever imagine.  

I want to share with you a personal story.  Three years ago now my C5 group: Contra Costa Clergy Cohort went to Alabama to look at our history around racism.  We went to the Lynching Museum, and we went to the church that had been bombed, killing 5 young African American girls who were about to be baptized.  We went to many of the historical sites from the Civil Rights Movement.  It was a very disturbing trip, but an incredibly important one.  But the truth is that I knew it would be hard.  So when one of our folk here died, someone I really, deeply loved and valued, the “excuse” not to go was a welcome one.  Then it came that the date that had been picked for the memorial was during the time I was supposed to be gone.  I called the leaders of the trip, told them of my dilemma, and then prayed.  I prayed hard.  And despite the difficulty of the anticipated trip, I decided I really, unfortunately, had to go.  I needed to learn.  I needed to experience everything that there was there to learn, and I needed to do it with this amazing group of pastors, many of whom were African American and would give me a very unique and personal perspective.  I went.  The trip was as hard as I anticipated, but was also deeply, deeply important for my own learning and for the connections we have since made that led us to develop our amazing Belong Circle of communion with our sisters from an African American congregation.  

What was unexpected for me was a conversation that we all had after returning from our trip.  The C5 group of pastors and faith leaders who had gone on the trip met to discuss and debrief the experience.  One of the questions that was asked was “what was the most impactful event of the trip for you.”  One of the Faith in Action leaders, an African American faith leader from Oakland stood up and said to the group, “This will surprise you, I have no doubt.  But the event that had the biggest impact for me on this trip was Barbara’s decision to go on the trip, despite the fact that this meant she would not be able to participate in the memorial service of her parishioner.  That gave me hope.  That a white woman would choose to face the horrible truths of the country’s very racist and violent history over the celebration of life of someone she valued.  It gave me the hope to believe that maybe other white people are also ready and willing to hear, to learn, to listen and to be present, to be an ally with those of us struggling in this country.”  He was right that it surprised me.  It also humbled me, deeply.  I didn’t think my presence on the trip mattered.  I had thought I had gone for my own learning.  I had not the slightest, smallest idea that the decision to go would matter so much to this man.  

The truth is we have no idea who we impact or how.  We have no idea what is an act of service to others.  We are called to show up, to wash feet when we have the opportunity to do so, to be present when we are asked.  Choosing vulnerability, choosing openness with one another makes more difference than we can know.  

In the church we tend to put on a shield of “propriety”.  We wear our best clothes, we put on appropriate behavior.  We are guarded.  James Angell in his book, “Yes is a world” wrote, “Church ought to be a set of moments when we become most expansively, openly and honestly ourselves.  Yet it is in the church where we often find it hardest to be ourselves: where we are often the most guarded, the most paranoid, the most unsure of being accepted and understood.”  The church is a place in which, every Sunday, we take time to acknowledge our brokenness and our need for God’s forgiveness to make us whole.  And yet still, we hide – from each other, from the world, and maybe even from God.  Nowhere is this more evident than in our avoidance of foot washing.

Amy Frykholm, who writes for the Christian Century, wrote, “The history of the church does not necessarily confirm this instinct of mine. To me foot washing has a sacramental quality—a place where heaven meets earth, where the scandal of the incarnation is as vivid and present as it is in the Eucharist. But foot washing has never been a sacrament. In fact, church historians have found no instances in which the idea of foot washing as a sacrament was even considered. John’s Gospel is the only one to mention foot washing. The passage in John begins with the briefest mention of the supper that would become so central to the Christian tradition. Instead, the passage introduces foot washing via a declaration of Jesus’ love in the context of the betrayal that will lead to his death. ‘And during supper, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself.’”

In my lectionary bible study group the question was asked, what if, instead of the last supper that is present in the synoptic gospels, we had instead adopted the sacrament of footwashing as a regular practice?  How would the church be different?  What if, instead of being fed regularly in our church services, we were invited into service: serving one another through foot washing regularly?  Remember that Jesus washed Judas’ feet too.  And if we were called each month or each week to wash the feet of one another, perhaps people we aren’t close to, perhaps people we don’t even like, what would that have done for us as a church?  Perhaps we would not be so very proper.  

Fred Rogers, whom most of you know as Mister Rogers also saw the deep sacramental quality of foot washing.  Francois Clemmons, became the first African American to have a recurring role in a children’s TV show when he was hired to play the part of the policeman in Mister Roger’s Neighborhood.  At some point he was interviewed about one episode in particular.  Mr. Rogers was sitting on a hot day, resting his feet in a plastic baby pool of water.  He invited Clemmons to come and join him.  To quote Clemmons,  “The icon Fred Rogers not only was showing my brown skin in the tub with his white skin as two friends, but as I was getting out of that tub, he was helping me dry my feet.” That scene, which was revisited in their very last episode together in 1993 touched Clemmons very, very deeply and in a way he had not expected.  Mr. Rogers, a Presbyterian minister, had washed his feet.  It was extremely personal, and extremely sacramental.  

     This Maundy Thursday we will probably have foot washing as part of the service, and I invite you to take the time now, during lent, to think through whether you are willing to be real, to be open, to be vulnerable with each other.  I invite you to consider whether you will allow another human to touch your feet, to clean your feet, to be with you in that way.  I also invite you to consider whether you will be willing to offer to clean another’s feet in return.  We are all called both to serve and to be served.  And in this particularly vulnerable way we have a unique opportunity to try something new.  

Foot washing is a reminder of water, of being washed, of serving and being served, of God’s call to us to step out, try things that may normally not be comfortable, to look for God in those uncomfortable feelings, events and situations, to look for God in the unexpected.  I hope that we can find ways to honor and remember this third sacrament with more intentionality.  Amen.

Being Born From Above

 

John 3:1-21

Psalm 139:13-18

1/23/22

What happens in today’s story?  In today’s gospel reading, Nicodemus is asking literal questions which Jesus answers at many levels, the least of which is the literal.  Nicodemus’ response is to become very simply perplexed by Jesus’ answers.  He cannot move out of the literal, and Jesus becomes frustrated with him saying “Are you a teacher of Israel and yet you do not understand these things?  …If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things?”  We hear Jesus’ frustration with Nicodemus’ limited understanding and limited views.  But while we understand that when Jesus is talking about being born from above, that he is not talking about an actual second physical birth, none-the-less are we any more understanding of these difficult ideas, of these deep truths?  What does it really mean that “The wind (or spirit) blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes.  So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” Does it mean that we won’t recognize the Spirit because it comes unexpectedly?  Does it mean that everyone born of the Spirit is like the wind, flitting in and out?

So today, I actually want us to do something a little different.  We are going to do a study, rather than have a traditional sermon, and we are going to look at a number of different Biblical passages, all of which talk about “salvation” or “eternal life”.  I want to start by saying that I know we have different understandings within this room about what that even means, and I am not going to talk about what it means right now.  That’s for a different date.  For today I want to talk about how we get there.  Because there are a lot of different scriptures and they say different things.  So, for today I invite you to listen, to think, but also to participate with me in this, exploring these scriptures.

The first passage I want us to look at is Matthew 25, which we spend a lot of time on.  Who remembers the crux of Matthew 25:31-46?  “Now when the Human One[a] comes in his majesty and all his angels are with him, he will sit on his majestic throne.  All the nations will be gathered in front of him. He will separate them from each other, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right side. But the goats he will put on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who will receive good things from my Father. Inherit the kingdom that was prepared for you before the world began. I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.  I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then those who are righteous will reply to him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you a drink?  When did we see you as a stranger and welcome you, or naked and give you clothes to wear?  When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ Then the king will reply to them, ‘I assure you that when you have done it for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you have done it for me.’ Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Get away from me, you who will receive terrible things. Go into the unending fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels.  I was hungry and you didn’t give me food to eat. I was thirsty and you didn’t give me anything to drink.  I was a stranger and you didn’t welcome me. I was naked and you didn’t give me clothes to wear. I was sick and in prison, and you didn’t visit me.’ Then they will reply, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and didn’t do anything to help you?’  Then he will answer, ‘I assure you that when you haven’t done it for one of the least of these, you haven’t done it for me.’  And they will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous ones will go into eternal life.”

In this passage what determines salvation?  What is NOT mentioned here?  (faith!).

This passage in Matthew is in great contrast to the passage we just read from John.  But while the passage I read to you from John talks about faith being the doorway to God, I now would like to read to you from the book of Mark 1:21-28: “Jesus and his followers went into Capernaum. Immediately on the Sabbath Jesus entered the synagogue and started teaching. The people were amazed by his teaching, for he was teaching them with authority, not like the legal experts. Suddenly, there in the synagogue, a person with an evil spirit screamed, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are. You are the holy one from God.’ ‘Silence!’ Jesus said, speaking harshly to the demon. ‘Come out of him!’ The unclean spirit shook him and screamed, then it came out. Everyone was shaken and questioned among themselves, ‘What’s this? A new teaching with authority! He even commands unclean spirits and they obey him!’ Right away the news about him spread throughout the entire region of Galilee.” 

Who is it in this passage that actually recognized and believed that Jesus was the Holy One, the Son of God?  Who was it?  It was the demon.  In Matthew 8 there is a story very similar to this about the demons in two men who also recognize Jesus for who he is.  They also then submitted to Jesus will.  To quote Matthew 8:32: “Then Jesus said to the demons, ‘Go away.’ And they came out and went into the pigs.”  So not only did they have faith, but they obeyed him.  Are they then saved?

Now I’d like to read from you from 1 Corinthians 12:8-10:  “A word of wisdom is given by the Spirit to one person, a word of knowledge to another according to the same Spirit, faith to still another by the same Spirit, gifts of healing to another in the one Spirit, performance of miracles to another, prophecy to another, the ability to tell spirits apart to another, different kinds of tongues to another, and the interpretation of the tongues to another.”

One of the many things that this says to me is that faith is a gift.  So, if what you need for salvation is faith, but faith is a gift from God, what does this say for those who have not been gifted by faith?  Did God pre-ordain them to not receive salvation?  Does this mean God has purposely withheld faith and therefore salvation from some?  Hm.  That wouldn’t be a very loving God would it?

One of my favorite passages is from Romans 14:8-11. “If we live, we live for the Lord, and if we die, we die for the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we belong to God.  This is why Christ died and lived: so that he might be Lord of both the dead and the living.   But why do you judge your brother or sister? Or why do you look down on your brother or sister? We all will stand in front of the judgment seat of God.  Because it is written, As I live, says the Lord, EVERY knee will bow to me, and EVERY tongue will give praise to God.”  This is also reflected in Luke 3:4-6:  A voice crying out in the wilderness: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make his paths straight. Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill will be leveled. The crooked will be made straight and the rough places made smooth. And ALL people will see God’s salvation.”

So, the question that is raised by this for me is, if every knee will bow and every tongue give praise to God, and if all people will see God’s salvation, that sounds awfully inclusive.  And if salvation is achieved through faith or confession or belief, or even works, how does these passages fit into that?

Finally, we have the passage from John 14.  Jesus says, “I am the Truth, the Way, the Life.”  “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  Many Christians have interpreted this to again say that all we have to do is believe.  But I don’t hear it this way.  This is about a whole lot more than believing – this is about following in and being in the “Way” and it’s about living “the Life”.  We come to God by following in or going in or being in Jesus’ way- So once again we are back to looking at what Jesus did and what we, therefore, are also called to do.  Jesus loved everyone –including his enemies – forgiving even those who killed him from the cross.  He healed the sick.  He challenged the self-righteous to act with love rather than legalism.  He fed everyone who came to him.  And we are called to do the same. 

As you know, there has been a long-standing controversy among Christians about what it really is that saves.  As these passages point out, this controversy was present from the beginning of Christianity and was therefore written into our very Biblical passages.  But I think that James sums it up for us pretty well in his second chapter vs. 14-17: “My brothers and sisters, what good is it if people say they have faith but do nothing to show it? Claiming to have faith can’t save anyone, can it?  Imagine a brother or sister who is naked and never has enough food to eat.  What if one of you said, “Go in peace! Stay warm! Have a nice meal!”? What good is it if you don’t actually give them what their body needs?  In the same way, faith is dead when it doesn’t result in faithful activity.”  We try to separate these things out, but James tells us that they really can’t be separated out.

And that leads us back to today’s passage.  In the lectionary passage today, the story of Nicodemus, while Jesus uses the phrase, “you must be born from above” and it is only Nicodemus who uses the phrase “born again”, an idea Jesus challenges as showing a lack of understanding.  It is ironic, then, that so many Christians have bought into Nicodemus’ phrasing of needing to be “born again”, not paying attention to the fact that not only is this not Jesus’ idea, but that Jesus actually gets upset with the way Nicodemus fails to understand Jesus.  We can again become Nicodemus by being literal about a need for a second birth.  We can become formulaic in our understanding of what it is to be “saved,” the very thing Jesus is confronting.  Nicodemus is trying hard to make these ideas of being born of water and spirit literal and tangible – graspable.  We understand that.  We, too, want these ideas to be understandable, clear-cut, simple and spelled out for us.  Tell us what we need to do to be saved.  Make it clear for us and easy.  But Jesus says “no”.  “Being born of water and spirit” cannot be rigid, or fixed.  If it becomes cliché or codified, it loses depth of meaning.  Being born both of water (especially in the form of baptism) and Spirit requires putting aside certitude and assumptions – that is part of what Jesus means when he declares that the Spirit will blow where it chooses and we will not know from whence it comes or where it is going.  Trying to pin down faith in a formulaic or set way cheapens it and destroys it.  Instead, being born from the spirit invites us to recognize that God’s full character as revealed in Jesus will reshape our lives only if we stay open to where the Spirit leads, to where it blows in spite of and in contrast to our assumptions and expectations. 

A tourist came too close to the edge of the Grand Canyon, lost his footing and plunged over the side, clawing and scratching to save himself.  After he went out of sight and just before he fell into space, he ran into a scrubby bush which he desperately grabbed with both hands.  Filled with terror, he called out to heaven, “is there anyone up there?”  A calm, powerful voice came out of the sky, “yes.”  The tourist pleaded, “Help me!  Help me!”  The voice responded, “Are you a believer?”  “Yes, yes!”  “Do you have faith?”  “Yes, yes!  I have strong faith.”  The voice said, “In that case, simply let loose of the bush and trust that everything will turn out fine.”  There was a tense pause, then the tourist yelled, “Is there anyone else up there?”

Having enough faith, loving others enough – striving to do these things is all part of the journey.  It is all something we grow into. The question “Have you been saved?” for me is always be answered with, “I am on the way” because it isn’t a switch – either on or off.  It is a process of becoming more faith-filled, becoming more loving, following more closely in the path of Jesus every day.  Many seem to be able to point to a moment in time when they came to faith or offered their life to Jesus.  But I see even by their actions that they are, too, are really still on their way to true faith –most have not yet reached the point where, like Jesus, they are willing to give up their lives so that others, even their enemies, may live. 

So, as always, the question remains, where is the good news in this?  All of the passages we read today give us some insight into salvation.  But the Good News is that ultimately, salvation is not about us - it is about God.  It is God who saves.  It is God who loves us.  It is God who gives us the grace that leads us “home.”   And for me, what all of these different passages say, what God’s grace points out, is that I really can’t be in the position of judging anyone else’s path.  It is not for me to limit how or to whom God’s grace extends.  My concern needs to be about following the best I can in the path.

I want to share with you a quote from Charles Peguy (French poet & essayist 1873 – 1914) “Grace is insidious.  When grace doesn’t come straight, it comes bent. When it doesn’t come from above, it comes from below. When it doesn’t come from the center, it comes from the circumference. We may finish a way we never began, but we shall finish. This age, this land, this people, this world, will get there along a road they never set out on.”

And finally, I want to end finally with a poem written by Ken Rookes intitled,

Sometimes I am born from above

Sometimes I am born from above;

my spirit soars and I sense

that greater Spirit touching and caressing

my soul. Perhaps it is merely

my imagination, but I feel myself

rising above my petty concerns,

my selfish fears. In these moments

my soul sings (with Dame Julian),

all shall be well;

and my conviction grows deeply

that I must employ all my best efforts

to make it so.

At other times

I find myself firmly tethered

to this dust-filled earth, and those same

inward preoccupations push urgently

and insistently to the front,

and I worry, like the man in the story;

will I have enough, and have I got it right,

and will those gates be opened to me?

Sometimes I am born from above

and I feel the Spirit’s wind blowing,

blowing, and hear her singing

with words outrageous

and melody unconstrained;

thus I find myself moving awkwardly

but unembarrassed amidst rhythms

half-learned, infused with life

and never fully understood.

 

Let us be open to God’s Spirit today and everyday.  Amen.

 

Earning our Due

 

Exodus 16:1-18

Jonah 3:10-4:11

Matthew 20:1-16

 

            As a people we have a really hard time with grace.  Or rather, we have a really hard time accepting that God is gracious to those we feel do not deserve it.  At the same time, we do want that grace for ourselves. 

            I think about when I was a 19-year-old working as a volunteer in mission in rural Alabama for a summer.  One night I was driving home very late to the house where I was staying. I was driving on abandoned, empty, quiet, dark, rural roads.  Apparently though I ran a stop sign.  Suddenly out of no-where there were sirens and I was pulled over by a Sherriff.  He explained to me that I’d run a stop sign.  I told him, honestly, that I didn’t see the stop sign and wasn’t aware that I’d run it.  He still would have been absolutely within his rights to give me a ticket, but instead he offered me grace.  He let me off with a warning and sent me on my way.  That was the first time I had ever been pulled over, and I was deeply grateful that he had not given me a ticket.  It was grace, pure and simple.  I had not deserved that response, but he chose to give it anyway. 

            Still, despite the grace that was offered me that day, there are times when I see a car speeding down the highway, weaving in and out of traffic, often blaring music without regard for others, that I find myself wanting them to be pulled over and given a ticket.  I did not get a ticket I deserved, but it is still hard for me sometimes to want that same grace for those around me.  I find I can make assumptions about who they are, what their motives are.  I fail to see with God’s eyes, eyes of compassion and understanding and insight in those moments.  I want justice, and I forget about grace.

            The grace of God is so evident in all three of the scripture readings for today, as well as the human response to that grace.  In the passage from Exodus, we continue the story of the Israelites flight from Egypt.  They’ve been rescued by God from slavery, but now they are struggling against the difficulties of the wilderness.  They don’t think it’s fair.  They’ve been in the pain of slavery and now they are in the pain of being in the wilderness.  We might see it differently.  They’ve been led out of slavery and they are STILL complaining.  But God doesn’t have the same sense of justice as we might.  God listens to their complaints, listens to their whining and gives them what they ask for, providing for them again and again.  It is grace, pure and simple.  They haven’t earned that kind of care.  They haven’t deserved to have their every prayer and complaint answered.  But God provides it none the less.  Out of grace and out of love, God provides.

            Then we come to the story of Jonah, and I think Jonah’s reaction is so very, very human.  Jonah has been sent to warn his arch-enemies of God’s coming wrath.  Jonah doesn’t want to do it and we can understand why.  Nineveh was the capital of Israel's greatest enemy, Assyria. Nineveh's deliverance in Jonah's lifetime meant that Assyria would go on and destroy the northern kingdom and put all of Israel firmly under the thumb of Assyria as its vassal. God sending Jonah to Nineveh would almost be like sending a Jewish person into a Nazi camp with the message that God was going to punish them unless they changed.  It would have been terrifying, it would have put his life at risk, and for what purpose?  But he went.  God offered Jonah grace by seeking after him even when Jonah had said “no”.  God offered Jonah grace by rescuing Jonah from the storm in the belly of a fish.  God offered Jonah grace by providing a plant to give him shade.  God offered Jonah grace again and again and again.  But when, out of gratitude for that grace, Jonah does eventually do what God has asked and goes and confronts the people of Nineveh, they actually do listen and then God offers THEM grace.  And Jonah’s response?  To become angry, hurt, surly, defiant.  Jonah willingly accepted the grace that came to himself.  After all, God is a good God, a loving God, a God of the Israelites and Jonah is working FOR this God.  So of course God would not punish Jonah for his rejection of God’s call, of course God would not exact justice on Jonah for running away.  God would offer grace.  Of course.  But to the Ninevites?  That’s a whole other animal.  And Jonah becomes enraged.

            Finally, we come to the gospel lesson.  And we have workers on both sides who may have felt the situation was unfair.  We have those who have worked hard in the sun all day long.  And we have those who have waited and waited to be hired but weren’t hired until the end of the day.  Both sets of workers need to feed their families.  And in the end, God’s grace, the grace of the master in the parable, is extended to all of them.  All of them are given the wage that will feed them and their families for that day.  But inevitably someone was unhappy.  And declared in loud and strong voices that life just isn’t fair. 

            The truth is, from a personal perspective nothing is EVER fair.  When we fail to understand or have compassion or care for others, when we can only see from our own needs, our own experiences, then nothing is ever fair.  We don’t get what we think we deserve.  Others seem to get more than we think they deserve. 

As some of you know, when Eldest was very young they attended a very elite private school in Oakland.  Head-Royce.   This was an amazing school academically that had a strong vision for social service and for caring for those in the community, and made it part of their curriculum for the kids to be involved in service to the less fortunate.  I loved that about the school. They valued giving opportunities to kids of all kinds, so Eldest was on full scholarship to attend this school, and I felt incredibly grateful that they had that opportunity.  At the same time, personally, I struggled on a daily basis with the decision to send Eldest to this school, because Eldest was surrounded at this school by others who had so much more than we had.  And instead of Eldest realizing that we are incredibly wealthy when we look at the big picture, the world, and that we therefore have a huge responsibility to care for the world and to share our resources with those who have less, instead, Eldest would come home with things like, “Sophia has her own little house in the back yard.  Why don’t I have my own house in our backyard?  Amanda has a hot tub and a swimming pool and a play room in her house.  Why don’t we have those things?  Julia lives in a five story castle.  Why don’t we live in a five story castle?”   She was walking away from her friends and playmates not with a sense of gratitude for the abundance that she had in her life, but with a sense of life not being fair, not treating Eldest fairly, of somehow being deprived in a world in which Eldest felt, as a peer to these other children, entitled to have “more,” and what was of more concern, Eldest began to devalue Eldest’s self as somehow being a child that must not be as worthy as these other kids with all of their wealth.

How many of you have seen the movie, “the Gods Must be Crazy”?  In it there is a native group of bush people who are filmed and who act in the film.  After the film was made, an article was written by an anthropologist who had lived and worked with the bush people about the devastation that the filming had created for this bush tribe.  There are rules, good rules, mostly that require that when anyone does work, they are paid for it.  If a person isn’t paid, it is a kind of exploitation.  But what happened in this particular case was that not everyone in the tribe was in the film.  So before the film was made, everyone in the tribe had the exact same amount; everything was shared, everything was in common.  It was very little, people had almost no material possessions before this film was made.  But still, all the people in the tribe felt grateful, felt rich, felt they had more than enough.  But then the filming crew paid some of the tribe members for their participation in the film.  In so doing, they introduced inequity into the tribe.  And that inequity led to a sense of unfairness on the part of those who weren’t paid.  Now some had things that were just theirs, and others were lacking in those things.  People began to feel poor, and eventually the tribe began to fight within itself and the tribal culture for this one group at least, was utterly destroyed.  Ironically, the film that destroyed them included a story line that told it’s own story about this very inequity and about the dangers of “things” being introduced into these cultures.

One of the churches I served was near a mega-church that had several pastors and one of the pastors was bitterly complaining to the other pastor with whom I worked, about the amount of pay she received.  She was complaining because she received less than one of the other pastors at her church.  But the pastor who was complaining was making twice what the pastor I was working with made, four times what I was making, simply because her church had more money - though she worked no more than either of us.  It again was a matter of relative position, though I have to say it was very ironic that she chose to complain to a person who was making about half of her income.  And that my senior pastor then chose to complain to me who was making half of HER income.  It is easy to get on board the entitlement train.  It is easy to see in what ways we are not being cared for as others, rather than seeing how even more people have even less than we do.

            Again, it is a matter of perspective.  But the bottom line is that our sense of entitlement robs us of gratitude, and of being aware of the amazing grace that God gives us every week, every day, every moment.  I want to say that again.  Our sense of entitlement robs us of gratitude and an awareness of grace.  When we start feeling that life is unfair, that we don’t have what we deserve and that others are getting more than is “just” it becomes harder to see the riches and blessings in our lives, it becomes harder to connect with grace, it becomes harder to connect with God. 

            I remember hearing a wonderful skit done by comedian Louis CK on a tonight show episode.  He said this, “Everything is amazing right now and nobody is happy.  In my lifetime the changes in the world have been incredible.”  He goes on to talk about the telephone and how much it has changed over time.  About banks and how to obtain money then versus ATM’s now and the ability to charge things so easily now.  “And now we live in an amazing, amazing world and it is wasted on the (worst) generation of just spoiled idiots that don’t care.  Because now people with their phones are like… ugh… Give it a second!  It’s going to space!  Can you give it a second to get back from space?!...  I was on an airplane and there was high speed internet on the airplane.  This is the newest thing that I know of that exists.  You can open up your laptop on an airplane and get on the internet.  It’s fast, I’m watching YouTube clips and I’m on an airplane!!  And then it breaks down and they apologize, “The internet is not working.”  And the guy next to me is like, “pshaw!  This is B.S.!”  Like how quickly the world owes him something he knew existed only 10 seconds ago!  Flying is the worst one because people come back from flights and they tell you their story and it’s like a horror story.  They act like their flight was like a cattle car in the 40s in Germany.  That’s how bad they make it sound.  It was the worst day of my life!  First of all, we didn’t board for 20 minutes.  And then we get on the plane and they made us sit there on the runway for 40 minutes!”  “Oh really?  And then what happened?  Did you fly in the air, incredibly, like a bird?  Did you partake in the miracle of human flight while contributing zero?  You’re flying!  That’s amazing!  Everybody on every plane should just be going “OMG!  Wow!”  You’re sitting in a chair in the sky!  But no, “The seat doesn’t go back a lot!”  People complain about delays.  New York to California in 5 years.  That used to take 30 years and a bunch of people would die on the way, and have a baby.  You’d be with a whole different group of people by the time you got there!  Now you watch a movie and you’re home!”  But yes, we have this sense of entitlement, and we don’t seem to be able to let that go.

            So in the face of this, my challenge to all of us is to recognize that we have a choice about how we deal with life.  Will we choose to focus on what feels unfair?  Will we focus on the hardships we face unfairly while others seem to have lives touched by undeserved rewards and grace?  Or will we choose to see the grace that is given to us, to celebrate it and to pass it forward to others?  To celebrate the times when others also receive that grace, even when it is undeserved? 

            I’ll admit, celebrating the grace, the second chances, the opportunities, the gifts that others receive when they don’t deserve it is not easy, at all, for any of us.  On a daily basis, I hear people stating what so and so deserves because of things they’ve done that were evil or bad or wrong.  We want to see people punished.  We want JUSTICE, again, at least for other people.  When we make mistakes, I think we want forgiveness and grace.  But it is rare, RARE to hear people celebrating the grace that others are given undeservedly, especially when that grace comes in the form of forgiveness or lack of punishment for misbehaviors.    

            We are not living in a gracious world.  But we are called to follow in God’s ways, in Jesus’ ways and be graceful.  We are called to celebrate God’s grace extended to all of us.  We are called to extend that grace ourselves.  So that is my challenge for all of us, each of us today.  To be more graceful and less judging.  To be more grateful and less complaining.  To let go of feelings of entitlement and instead to celebrate each and every gift that we have been given.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.