Epiphany in Three Parts

 

John 2:1-11

Psalm 104:14-16

1/9/22

               The 6^th of January is the actual day set aside for the celebration of Epiphany.  That is the official end of the Christmas season or the 12 days of Christmas.  Do you remember what Epiphany actually means?  According to several different dictionaries, here are the definitions:

·        the manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles as represented by the Magi (Matthew 2:1–12).

• the festival commemorating the Epiphany on January 6.
• a manifestation of a divine or supernatural being.
• a moment of sudden revelation or insight.

In the church, however, we recognize that Epiphany actually has three parts.  We say that the “manifestation of God” is revealed in these three parts.  The first part then is when the Magi show us that Christ was made manifest not only to the Israelites, but to all people.  They themselves were not Israelites and yet they were witnesses to Christ’s coming.  The second part is the Baptism of Christ in which God proclaims Jesus as God’s son.  And the third is what is described in the gospel of John as Jesus’ first miracle which we read about today – turning water into wine.  All three of these, together, are the epiphany because all three of these are thought to manifest or reveal who Jesus is.  But I find the lectionary texts for today to be extremely interesting because today is “Baptism of the Lord” Sunday and yet we are not hearing about the baptism.  Instead, we are remembering the turning of the water into wine.  We will come back to this in a minute.

               Looking at this passage, this story of Jesus turning the water into wine, there is so much here inviting reflection.  What does it mean, for example, that Jesus’ first miracle was one of celebration?  His first miracle was not of healing someone, or raising someone from the dead (like Lazarus).  It wasn’t raising someone out of oppression, or restoring a person back into their community. It wasn’t feeding people.  Jesus’ first miracle wasn’t about doing anything NECESSARY, or liberating, or holistic.  Or rather, it wasn’t doing anything that most of us consider necessary.  But the very fact that this was his first miracle, one of enhancing celebration, adding to the celebration of a wedding, of commitments made and the community gathering, has a great deal to say to us about what God values about humanity.  The miracle was one of extreme abundance and abundance in the form of joy, of good things, of life, of happiness, of celebration.  Remember that the amount we are talking about here of water turned into wine was about 40 gallons.  This isn’t a small amount: this is a huge, overabundant amount.  And the point here?  We aren’t meant to simply survive this life.  We aren’t meant to simply grow through and from this life.  We are meant to celebrate it, and to celebrate it abundantly.  Remember, Jesus came eating and drinking.  As one commentator said, “God does not want our religion to be too holy to be happy in.” (Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Feasting on the Word – Year C, Volume 1: Advent through Transfiguration.)

               I’m reminded of a praise song called Thrive.  The lyrics:

Here in this worn and weary land
Where many a dream has died
Like a tree planted by the water
We never will run dry
So living water flowing through
God, we thirst for more of You
Fill our hearts and flood our souls with one desire
Just to know You and to make You known
We lift Your name on high
Shine like the sun, make darkness run and hide
We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives
It's time for us to more than just survive
We were made to thrive

…

Joy unspeakable, faith unsinkable

Love unstoppable, anything is possible

We know we were made for so much more than ordinary lives.

It’s time for us to more than just survive

We were made to thrive!

               This is a wonderful story about God’s abundance, and love for us to have that abundance, to celebrate, to live.

               But there are things here to struggle with as well. Commentator, Carol Lakey Hess said this, “It may seem like a travesty to turn a narrative about divine abundance into a trial of God, and yet it is passages like this one about divine extravagance that make God's absence in the face of poverty, suffering, and evil stand out. How do we reconcile a story of potent generosity with a world of tremendous need? If God is both generous and able, then apparently God continues to express Jesus' attitude: what is that to me?  Because we trust that God wants abundance (plentiful wine and lavish food are common symbols of God's grace in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament), we follow in the footsteps of the mother of Jesus by prodding God for divine compassion and generosity….. Theologians who grapple with theodicy, justifying God's goodness in face of suffering and evil, come to various conclusions. Some say that it is not yet God's hour; others say God relies on human compassion to do the will of God.  Still others dare to argue that God continues to need the heirs of Jesus' mother to go on prodding divine generosity…. This troubling text invites us to trust so much in God's generosity and abundance that we, like the perceptive mother of Jesus, nudge God with our observation: they have no wine.”  

What does all of that mean?  Perhaps it is a daring proposition to utter, but Jesus makes it clear that we are called to be partners with God in making this life the extravagant abundance that God is all about.  We are called to be part of it beginning with simply asking for God’s abundance to come here, to come now, as Mary did with Jesus, and as we do through our prayers.    

But that is truly only the first step.  We are also called to be part of co-creating that abundance for all people through our actions.  Carol Lakey Hess continued by saying this, “In Toni Morrison's masterpiece Beloved, a white mountain girl named Amy Denver aids pregnant Sethe as she escapes slavery. Seeing Sethe's bloody back torn from the whip and astonished by the degree of her mutilation, Amy utters, "Come here Jesus… Wonder what God had in mind."  John 2, however, reveals what God has in mind—abundance, and the mother of Jesus nudges us to ask what God had in mind—during slavery, the genocide of Native peoples, the Holocaust. And Amy Denver does here what the mother of Jesus does in John 2—she poses the question and nudges the Divine.”  But I would add that she didn’t just ask God for intervention.  She stood on the strength of God to intervene herself, to stand up for injustice, to confront it, to change it, at least for the person right in front of her.  Mary asked for what she wanted: prodded, poked, demanded, stood up for it until it too was granted.  And again, that is what we are also called to do: to work for what we believe is right and just.  To work for all people to have the abundance that God has created for all of us to share.

            I think about some of the big times when people in this very room have done that.  And you have.  Despite the energy and time that it cost you, people in this room have taken on the care of someone else.  Many of you have taken people into your homes and cared for them, in some cases for just a night, in other cases for months and even years.  Some of you have spoken out against prejudiced comments and injustices.  You have given of your time, resources, talents to be part of helping others.  You pray, and you act.  And in doing both, you bring abundance and you celebrate abundance.  When we make feasts for the people of Winters Nights, we are bringing and celebrating abundance.  When we raise money for Monument Crisis Center or Hope Solutions, we are providing abundance.  When we provide tutoring for Hope Solutions, we are celebrating the abundance of our time, our resources.  When we help provide clean laundry and food, we are providing and celebrating abundance. 

            On this Baptism of the Lord Sunday, we remember that Jesus was called and blessed in his baptism and that we too are called and blessed in our baptisms.  We remember that just as Jesus prayed and acted, we are called to do the same.  So why would we be listening to the story of the water into wine on this day?  Because that story of abundance is deeply connected and tied to the story of Jesus’ call.  It is a sign that at the heart of Jesus’ ministry, of Jesus’ call is the promise of abundance, of life, of good things, of celebration.  And it is a reminder that as we, too, are called in our baptisms, we too are to be bearers of abundance to a world struggling to feel it has enough, is enough, will be more than enough, will be enough to celebrate.   

As we are bearers of this message and light, we recognize that we have two parts to that bearing and both are necessary – the praying and the doing.  Through both, Jesus continues to be revealed.  And God’s work continues to be done.  And through both, we bear abundance.  Jesus was enough.  The world has enough.  And YOU are enough.  The sooner you believe that, the sooner you will be able at act as the bearer of abundance that you are.  Thanks be to God for abundance, for calling, and for the ability to step into that abundance with hope, joy and promise.  Amen. 

Come All Who Thirst

Isaiah 55:1-13

John 4:13-14

12/12/21

 

               Today is the third Sunday in Advent.  And we are invited to remember on this “joy” day of Advent, that God’s coming is one of great and unexpected joy: that we find God in the surprising, the beautiful, the weird and different, and in the most unexpected places.  So, I invite you to pause for a minute and think of when you were surprised by something beautiful that brought you joy.  As you think I will name a few places that I have found recently: the email from Rina/Honey/James that began a wonderful friendship with them and Lizzie: a real gift.  Kristi applying for our director position here.  A bouquet of flowers arriving on my doorstep from Hope Solutions.  Getting to see the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit and being deeply touched by it.  Seeing my son so easily making friends at school.  Hearing the deep questions at our Bible study: all of these things have been deep gifts where God’s joy, God’s delight, God’s beauty showed up unexpectedly and profoundly for me.  Do you have those joy moments of your own in your mind?  Share one with your neighbor.

But on this day, I want to tell you that on this joy day, it is not just that we are called to delight in the God who comes to us in beautiful and unexpected ways.  I want to say to you something different.  I want to tell you that it is also God’s joy to delight in YOU.  God has given you this life to LIVE it.  I had a wonderful conversation recently with one of my heroes: Rev BK Woodson,  a pastor friend of mine in Oakland whom I respect, admire and value immensely.  I was telling him that I felt our purpose in life was love, kindness, generosity, service.  I said to him that for me I also thought preaching, teaching, caring for the “least of these”, parenting, nurturing was part of my job or purpose in life.  That this thing called pastoring is what I am to do with my life.  And that part of my struggle with SABBATH and rest has been that when I rest, when I am not actively DOING, I can sink into a feeling that my life has no value, no worth.  In those moments of non-activity or non-service, I feel useless and pointless.  BK challenged me and said, “God gave you life to LIVE it.”  He said our purpose in life is to celebrate this beautiful life God has given us and that we honor God through delighting in the good of this amazing world.  Look around!  Take time to delight in the good!

Father Gregory Boyle, in his book Tattoos on the Heart, described a time when his father was dying of a brain tumor.  He was in the hospital and he requested a pillow from home – but specifically a pillow from his wife’s side of the bed.  Father Boyle said to him, “you know, the hospital provides pillows...” but this was what his dying father had requested.  Father Boyle and his mother went into the hospital room, gave him the pillow and then his mother left to use the restroom.  He writes,

“I’m about to make small talk about the view… but I turn and see that my father has placed the flowery pillow over his face.  He breathes in so deeply and then exhales, as he places the pillow behind his head.  For the rest of the morning, I catch him turning and savoring again the scent of the woman whose bed he’s shared for nearly half a century.  We breathe in the spirit that delights in our being – the fragrance of it.  And it works on us.  Then we exhale (for that breath has to go somewhere) – to breathe into the world this same spirit of delight, confident that this is God’s only agenda.” P151

               Later he wrote, “I was brought up and educated to give assent to certain propositions.  God is love, for example.  You concede, ‘God loves us,’ and yet there is this lurking sense that perhaps you aren’t fully part of the ‘us.’  The arms of God reach to embrace, and somehow you feel yourself just outside God’s fingertips.  Then you have no choice but to consider that ‘God loves me,’ yet you spend much of your life unable to shake off what feels like God only embracing you begrudgingly and reluctantly.  I suppose, if you insist, God has to love me too.  Then you can explain this next moment, when the utter fullness of God rushes in on you – when you completely know the One in whom ’you move and live and have your being,’ as St. Paul writes.  You see, then, that it has been God’s joy to love you all along.  And this is completely new.   Every time one of the Jesuits at Dolores Mission would celebrate a birthday, the same ritual would repeat itself.  ‘You know,’ one of the other Jesuits would say to me, for example, ‘Your birthday is Wednesday.  The people are throwing a ‘surprise party’ for you on the Saturday before.’  The protests are as predictable as the festivities.  ‘Oh come on,’ I’d say, ‘Can’t we pass this year?’  ‘Look,’ one of my brothers would say to me, ‘This party is not for you – it’s for the people.’  And so I am led into the parish hall for some bogus meeting, and I can hear the people ‘shushing’ one another – el padre ya viene.  As I step in the door, lights go on, people shout, mariachis strike themselves up.  I am called upon to muster up the same award-winning shock from last year.  They know that you know.  They don’t care.  They don’t just love you – it’s their joy to love you.”

One day, a professor entered the classroom and asked the students to prepare for a surprise test.  They all waited anxiously at their desks for the test to begin.  The professor handed out the exams with the text facing down as usual.  Once he handed them out, he asked the students to turn over the paper.  To everyone’s surprise, there were no questions – just a black dot at the center of the white sheet of paper.   The professor, seeing the expression on everyone’s faces, told them the following:    “I want you to write about what you see there.”  The students, confused, got started on the inexplicable task.  At the end of the class, the professor took all the exams and started reading each one out loud in front of all the students.  All of them, with no exception, defined the black dot, trying to explain its position in the center of the sheet. After all had been read, the classroom was silent, and the professor started to explain.  “I’m not going to grade you on this, I just wanted to give you something to think about.  No one wrote about the white sheet of paper.  Everyone focused on the black dot – the same thing happens in our lives.  We have a white piece of paper to observe and enjoy, while we always focus on the dark spots.  Our life is a gift from God, with love and care, and we always have reasons to celebrate – nature renewing itself every day, our friends around us, our jobs that provide our livelihood, the miracles we see every day.  However, we insist on focusing only on the dark spots—the health issues that bother us, the lack of money, the complicated relationship with a family member, the disappointment with a friend.  The dark spots are very small when compared with everything we have in our lives, but they’re the only ones that pollute our minds.  Enjoy each moment that live gives you.  Be happy and live a life filled with love.”

I believe it was Jill who passed this onto me at the beginning of COVID and I want to share it with you now: 

Me: Hey God.

God: Hello.....

Me: I'm falling apart. Can you put me back together?

God: I would rather not.

Me: Why?

God: Because you aren't a puzzle.

Me: What about all of the pieces of my life that are falling down onto the ground?

God: Let them stay there for a while. They fell off for a reason. Take some time and decide if you need any of those pieces back.

Me: You don't understand! I'm breaking down!

God: No - you don't understand. You are breaking through. What you are feeling are just growing pains. You are shedding the things and the people in your life that are holding you back. You aren't falling apart. You are falling into place. Relax. Take some deep breaths and allow those things you don't need anymore to fall off of you. Quit holding onto the pieces that don't fit you anymore. Let them fall off. Let them go.

Me: Once I start doing that, what will be left of me?

God: Only the very best pieces of you.

Me: I'm scared of changing.

God: I keep telling you - YOU AREN'T CHANGING!! YOU ARE BECOMING!

Me: Becoming who?

God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light and love and charity and hope and courage and joy and mercy and grace and compassion. I made you for more than the shallow pieces you have decided to adorn yourself with that you cling to with such greed and fear. Let those things fall off of you. I love you! Don't change! ... Become! Become! Become who I made you to be. I'm going to keep telling you this until you remember it.

Me: There goes another piece.

God: Yep. Let it be.

Me: So ... I'm not broken?

God: Of course Not! - but you are breaking like the dawn. It's a new day. Become!!!

               IN today’s scripture from Isaiah we are told to enjoy the richest of feasts.  We are told that in listening to God we will really live.  God tells us that God’s ways are more and expanded and bigger than we can imagine.  And that the sun and rain and snow come down as gifts to all.  As we read, “Yes, you will go out with celebration,

    and you will be brought back in peace.

Even the mountains and the hills will burst into song before you;

    all the trees of the field will clap their hands.

 In place of the thorn the cypress will grow;

    in place of the nettle the myrtle will grow” 

               And Jesus too says, “The water that I give will become in those who drink it a spring of water that bubbles up into eternal life.”  These are words, too, of celebration, of delight.  Of JOY.

We always read in the Christmas story, “'Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.”  This advent, I’d like you to consider that that great joy is for YOU, too.  That Jesus’ awaited coming was the amazing and often surprising joy of a baby born in hard circumstances: the first born to a young couple.  The joy is that while they may not have stayed in the inn, they stayed somewhere.  The joy is that others celebrated with them. The joy is that God was there with them, in the baby, in the relationships, in the birth.  And that joy is for YOU, too.  That God is with you, Emmanuel, God with us.  And that God calls you to live lives of celebration and thanksgiving and gratitude and joy!  Thanks be to God.  Amen. 

Humor Sunday - Does God Have the Last Laugh?

 

Luke 24:13-35

               Some jokes to start us off:

Funny signs: in a shoe repair store: We will heel you. We will save your sole. We will even dye for you.

In a Podiatrist's office: Time wounds all heels. 

On a Septic Tank Truck: Yesterday's Meals on Wheels

At an Optometrist's Office: If you don't see what you're looking for, You've come to the right place.

On a Plumber's truck: We repair what your husband fixed. 

On another Plumber's truck: Don't sleep with a drip. Call your plumber.

At a Tire Shop in Milwaukee: Invite us to your next blowout.

On an Electrician's truck: Let us remove your shorts.

In a Non-smoking Area: If we see smoke, we will assume you are on fire and will take appropriate action.

At a Car Dealership: The best way to get back on your feet - miss a car payment.

Outside a Muffler Shop: No appointment necessary. We hear you coming.

In a Veterinarian's waiting room: Be back in 5 minutes. Sit! Stay!

At the Electric Company: We would be delighted if you send in your payment on time. However, if you don't, YOU will be de-lighted.

In a Restaurant window: Don't stand there and be hungry; come on in and get fed up.

In the front yard of a Funeral Home: Drive carefully. We'll wait.

In a Chicago Radiator Shop: Best place in town to take a leak.

 

As I’ve shared with you before, Christine Longhurst wrote, “Laughter Sunday (also known as Holy Humour Sunday, Hilarity Sunday, God’s Laughter Sunday, Bright Sunday or Holy Fools Sunday) has its roots in a number of different Christian traditions.  Churches in 15th century Bavaria used to celebrate the Sunday after Easter as Risus Paschalis (‘God’s Joke,’ or ‘the Easter laugh’). Priests would deliberately include amusing stories and jokes in their sermons in an attempt to make the faithful laugh. After the service, people would gather together to play practical jokes on one another and tell funny stories. It was their way of celebrating the resurrection of Christ – the supreme joke God played on Satan by raising Jesus from the dead.  However, the observance of Risus Paschalis was officially outlawed by Pope Clement X in the 17th century. Perhaps people were having too much fun.  In 1988, the Fellowship of Merry Christians began encouraging churches to resurrect some of these Christian traditions—to celebrate the grace and mercy of God through the gift of laughter and joy.  G.K. Chesterton once wrote: “Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly. Never forget that the devil fell by force of gravity. He who has the faith has the fun.”

               So that is the background of Humor Sunday.  While the psalms we read encourage joy, and laughter is a good way to get there, it is more than that.  There is also humor in the Bible.  Some of the stories are joyful, but others are downright funny.  Professor Hershey Friedman says that the different types of humor we find in scripture include, sarcasm, irony, wordplay, humorous names, humorous imagery, and humorous situations.  An example of humorous names: Caleb, one of the 12 spies sent by Moses into Canaan, means “dog”.  Ichabod, the grandson of Eli, means “no glory”.  When the Israelites were fleeing Egypt, they used sarcasm in confronting Moses by saying, “was there a lack of graves in Egypt that you took us away to die in the wilderness?”  An example of humorous imagery: In Samuel, Achish said to David, “Why did you bring him to me? Do I lack lunatics that you have brought this one to carry on insanely in my presence?"  Jesus says, “"You are like a person who picks a fly out of his drink and then swallows a camel".  Additionally, God names Isaac “laughter” – the one who leads us forward, who is our ancestor in faith is named “laughter”. 

               Laughter is a gift from God in so many ways.  Research shows that laughing actually has pain-reducing capacities, and it raises our pain threshold so we can tolerate pain better and we experience it less when we are laughing and for some time after a full, strong laugh.  It helps us learn – we learn better after a good laugh.  And it boosts our immune-enhancing capacities.  When we laugh fully and completely, we are said to “lose” it.  What we actually “lose” in those moments is our distraction of everything else – our distraction of our self-consciousness, our distractions of the stresses in our lives, we stop fleeing our stressing out and instead are completely present in the moment – and that moment, the NOW is where God is. 

               Laughter is often a sign of health, a sign of healing, a sign of resurrection.  When a congregation is struggling, you can often tell the level of conflict in that congregation by whether or not people can laugh together.  If they can’t, you know the conflict is very serious.  If they can, it either is not so bad, or the congregation is on the way to healing.  It is a sign of hope, a sign of life, and a sign of resurrection.

I love that God surprises us still, catches us still, in unexpected moments, with laughter.  That it is the kind of gift that can surprise and sneak up on you, and remind you to not take things so very seriously.  I want to tell you a story about Palm Sunday.  I only had three little parts, but the first part, the most serious part I led was the opening prayer.  As you know, we did Palm Sunday through zoom.  So I was at home, sitting on my couch with my laptop computer on my lap.  I began the prayer, and the cat jumped up on the couch next to me to try to climb onto the computer on my lap.  David was right there and he grabbed hold of her to put her on his lap, but as I continued to speak, the cat became more and more determined to sit on my lap, and on the computer, during the prayer.  About half-way through the prayer as I watched David struggling to keep this incredibly determined cat off my lap, I suddenly was hit with a fit of the giggles.  Of course, we are taught from a very early age, that giggling during prayers is not appropriate.  So, I was trying my hardest, as I continued the prayer, to stifle my giggle.  But as often happens when we get giggly at inappropriate times, the attempts to control it often make it worse.  I actually ended the prayer early because I knew I couldn’t hold the laughter in any longer. 

But as I thought about it afterwards, I felt that God had intervened for me that day.  God had reminded me not only to not take myself and my leadership so seriously, but that also, God is the God of joy and laughter.  When we are so serious all the time, we miss the gifts right in front of us.  We are called to praise God every day.  To rejoice in God everyday.  Sunday is not more holy.  And that hour of worship should not necessarily be more serious.  When we take ourselves too seriously, when we forget our own humanity and fail to be humble, God will find a way to remind us, even if it is just through an attack of the giggles.

I remember reading a story about a pastor who had a small interaction with a parishioner right before service.  He forgot that his mic was turned on and as he walked away he said something inappropriate in the mic about the parishioner.  He then went into the bathroom, and all heard his business through the mic.  He could have recovered from this, he could have, if he had had the humility to laugh at himself.  We all make mistakes, all of us do.  And when we can own them and laugh at them, usually others can forgive us and laugh with us too.  Unfortunately this particular pastor was so embarrassed that he chose to resign instead.  What a sad commentary on our inability to laugh.

Today we hear the story of the road to Emmaus.  And it starts in tragedy, in sorrow.  People had hoped for Jesus to be the one to redeem Israel: to save Israel from the Roman oppression.  Not only did he not do that, but he was killed in a most horrible manner.  The hopes of the people were dashed.  Additionally, they heard strange rumors that he was resurrected, but they hadn’t seen him.  They were confused, devastated, didn’t know what to believe.  They were upset, they were devastated, they were “downcast.”  But then they learn that Jesus has been resurrected.  They experience him, they see him, they break bread with him.  Do you not think they laughed with joy when they recognized Christ in their midst?  Do you not think that they broke into peels of delighted laughter when they realized how blind and unseeing they had been?  I can’t imagine it happening any other way!

But then one has to ask.  Did that mean that hope had returned for them?  Joy has returned for them.  But Jesus still was not what they had wanted.  He still didn’t overturn the oppression of the Romans.  He still was not a military leader who will take back what belongs to the people.  He still was not “in your face” with those who were harming the people.  He came, and he disappeared.  He showed up, but he didn’t stick around.  No, instead he called the disciples to continue his work, to be the voice of hope and love and grace for the community.  But he still did not take away free will, change their world in the way that they wanted or hoped.  And so, I ask the question, Does God have the last laugh?

Yes.  God laughs at our ideas of what a “king” should be.  God laughs at our ideas of what God should be.  God laughs at death.  God laughs at fear.  God laughs at every expectation that is out there.

But that’s not to say that God’s laughter is unkind.  God laughs because we don’t understand.  Our vision is too small, our understanding is too limited.  Our wants and even our hopes are just too small.  And so God laughs.  But it is the laughter of a parent who sees a newborn child delight at peek-a-boo as they learn “object permanence” and that a disappearing parent still exists, still returns, still loves them.  It is the laughter of a parent when the child laughs at paper being torn to shreds: I sent all of you that wonderful YouTube video of the baby laughing hysterically at paper ripping.  And the parent was laughing too.  All of us were laughing – you can’t help it.  The baby’s delight and laughter are so infectious that you can’t help but laugh along with him.  It is the laughter of a person when a chimpanzee sees a magic trick and cracks up because they don’t understand how the quarter could have disappeared. 

We are invited to laugh too: to not take ourselves so very seriously that we can’t enjoy this precious, wondrous, amazing life that God has given to us.  We are invited to let go of our expectations of ourselves that life will go a certain way, that we will do everything right, that things will be smooth or easy.  We are invited to let go of the idea that we have to “know” everything and instead to delight at our own lack of knowing, at our own surprise at the way life happens, at our own attempts to do everything right, knowing that we won’t get it right, but that grace is there for us even so.  We are invited to LAUGH.

And this takes us back to the story of the road to Emmaus.  You notice, they did not recognize him on the road.  He was only recognized after they invited him to come and eat with them.  Once again we see that God, that Jesus, that Christ never forces himself or God-self on any of us.  Jesus was present, but he was only known to the disciples when the disciples CHOSE to invite him in.  We have choice.  We have agency.  Do we allow God and God’s presence and God’s gifts into our lives?  Do we allow the gifts of laughter into our hearts, and the joy that follows into our lives?  It is a choice we can make.

As I wrote this, I found myself reflecting on when my kids were very young.  At one point we met another young mother who was anti-silliness.  She felt it was undignified and stifled anything that bordered on laughter in herself and especially in her young child.  And I found myself thinking, often, what an incredible tragedy that was that she rejected this life-giving, joy-giving, healing gift of God.

In our home we laugh a lot.  There is a great deal of silliness in our house, enough so that my kids sometimes wonder if other parents could ever be as silly as I am.  We have faces we make that our unique to our family, we have silly things we do with our voices and with specific songs.  We play.  My greatest memories are the times of laughter with my kids.  I wish that for you as well.  Not jokes, necessarily: but just pure, sheer silliness.  You’ve seen symptoms of that for those of you who’ve been to our home: googly eyes on the fridge, a toy that sits on my desk that is a laughing stuffed “pill”, my choosing one Humor Sunday to dress as a Leprachaun, etc. 

Anne Lamott said it this way:  “Laughter is carbonated holiness”.  Laughter is carbonated holiness!

One of my favorite images is of a laughing Jesus.  I love that image because it reminds us that part of what it is to be human is laughter.  Laughter is a gift from God.  Not something to be avoided when it comes to religion.  We are often nervous putting laughter and religion together.  But they should go hand in hand.  After all, who created laughter?  How gave us this wonderful gift of humor that calls us to not take ourselves or anything so very seriously? 

And to end with some more jokes:

For Lent, I gave up fast food, pizza, ice cream, and ...obviously... not lying.

A priest ,a rabbit and a minister walk into a bar.  The bartender asks the rabbit, “What will you have?”  The rabbit shakes his head and answers, “I have no idea, the only reason that I am here is because of Autocorrect.”

 

 

God Celebrated

                                Luke 15:1-32

       Once again here we have an extended passage of verses we don’t usually hear together.  And yet, these verses all go together very well.  They are all stories of the lost being found, and the found being celebrated.  The sheep that was lost was sought after, found, and celebrated as it was returned to the flock.  The coin that was lost was sought, was found and was celebrated after being found.  And the son who was lost, came to his senses, returned and was celebrated. 

            Can you think of things that you’ve lost that have really mattered to you?  A small thing, perhaps like a necklace or letter that meant something to you, or a big thing, perhaps, like a house that you had to move away from or a car that was in an accident.  Maybe it’s not a thing that you’ve lost but a situation: maybe a job, or a relationship.  Maybe what you’ve lost is a cultural thing: days when children could play outside and visit their neighborhood friends without their parents helicoptering over them, the times when only one adult in a family had to have a job.  Some of the hardest loses I think are the losses we experience when a deeply held belief is overturned: a belief that the world was a certain way, or the belief that God was a certain way.  When those kinds of things are confronted and overturned, it can be incredibly painful, incredibly hard.  Sometimes, we feel grief, or nostalgia for the past, and can’t identify what it is that is lost.  We feel this nebulous, “I want things to be the way they were before!” without being able to really name what it is we feel we’ve lost.  Sometimes those memories of the past are also incomplete or missing things.  For example, that yearning for a time when only one adult per family had to work is also missing the fact that when women wanted to work or had goals or aspirations, they weren’t allowed to fulfill them.  Those times when kids could play freely with neighborhood kids were not actually safer times, just times when we were less aware of the dangers that kids were exposed to and the traumas that our children experienced.  I think for myself, there finally came a realization that my nostalgia for the past was often more about knowing how that past turned out… it turned into today, after all.  Whereas I don’t know how today will turn out – I don’t know if I’ll survive this day, or if my children will, or if there will even be a survivable world left for any potential grandchildren.  And so, I crave what seems like a simpler time, when in fact it was only “simpler” because I didn’t know as much, wasn’t aware of the problems to the same extent, and again, they ended in today, so I know that I survived it.  But regardless, there is a sense of loss, a depth of grief, even when I can look at it in the face and challenge it for what it was, that grief is there.  And sometimes it is unbearable.

            In the face of that, what would you do to search for that which you’ve lost?  What would you sacrifice to fill that space of grief, to find that which you valued once more?  I think about Carol Weir, who would not let go of Ben when he was kidnapped in Lebanon, but who did everything in her power, talking to our government, raising awareness, fighting for the release of her husband.  She gave up her comfort, her solitude, her anonymity, to stand up, to fight, to get her husband home.  I think of the mother’s who began MADD.  They found a world that was unsafe for children when a drunk driver killed their sons, their loved ones.  And while they could not get their sons back, they could fight with everything in them to make sure other mothers did not suffer that same loss.

            Did others always approve of what these women that I’ve named did?  No.  Carol got a lot of pushback and even hatred coming her way.  But she would not give up fighting for her lost sheep, her lost coin of great value.  MADD mothers also had pushback, but they, too kept fighting for what they had lost: their sons, those they loved.

            All three of the gospel parables for today are a response Jesus tells us as he confronts a situation in which the pharisees and legal experts were grumbling against Jesus for spending his time with “sinners and tax collectors”.  They were questioning why Jesus was spending time with people everyone had designated as “bad.”  He was welcoming and eating with these “bad” people.  In contrast to many people’s belief that some people are “bad” and some people are “good”, Jesus does not see it that way.  Instead, he describes some people as found, and some people as lost.  The lost people, those he is choosing to spend time with, are valuable to God, as he describes in these stories.  They are a lost sheep of the flock, they are a lost coin of great value, they are a child of God.  And Jesus is not content to just discount them as “bad”.  He wants them saved, he wants them healed, he wants them FOUND. 

            And I would say this is a challenge for all of us.  It is a challenge for us to remember that there aren’t “bad” people, there are only lost people.  And how are we to interact with lost people, the same way that Jesus did – we are to try to find them, to seek them, to help them.

           Who are those people for you?  Who are the people you don’t want to be around, individuals or groups of people you don’t want to be associated with?  Who are those for you?  Do you struggle then, when you see people you want to respect hanging out with those “bad” people that you don’t approve of, that you’ve written off?  And to take it a step further, when you see your friends hanging out with people you don’t approve of, what do you think?  How do you feel?  If it’s someone you admire and respect and then you see them eating with and spending time with people you really detest, how do you feel?  Do you discount them?  Do you lose respect for them when you see them with “undesirables”?  Maybe it’s easier to think about this in terms of our kids.  What do we do and how do we feel when we think our kids or grandkids are hanging out with a “bad crowd.”  When it’s my kids, I have, historically, worried about them being corrupted.  I’ll own that.  I remember the time when I was really concerned about a friend Eldest had made.  I was concerned because I saw this friend making really bad choices: lying to her parents, hiding inappropriate “hookups”, trying drugs and other questionable substances.  She was running wild.  And I was concerned.  But in talking with Eldest about my concern with honesty and openness, Eldest said to me, “My friend needs someone to be here for her when her world crashes, as it will with all that she is doing.  She needs someone solid to be here and show her there is another way.  She needs me.  And I will stay friends with her through this, offering another model for how to be, even offering advice, if she asks for it, until she, too, has finally found her way home.”   Okay.  I still worried, but at the same time, I was also impressed.  She was doing exactly what Jesus said God would do in the stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin: she was searching deep into the heart of her friend for that lost soul, seeking her out, and helping her to come “home.”

       I want to point out that there is a big difference between the stories of the coin and sheep, on one hand, with the story of the prodigal son on the other.  In the stories of the sheep and the coin, both of these could not be found on their own.  Both were sought after, with intention, with commitment until they were found.  How do we expect to find the sheep if we don’t seek after it?  Do we just let those we feel we’ve lost “go”?  Do we give up on the one family member we can’t reach, can’t connect with, can’t “find” because we don’t agree, or don’t understand, or have “lost”? 

        I think that maybe the Pharisees and Legal Experts judged Jesus because they were, in fact, convicted by Jesus.  We are told by all scripture that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves, that we are to love even those whom we don’t like, even those we hate.  And by love that means we are to care for them, to want their highest good, to be kind to them, even when that is not reciprocated.  They knew this.  But they weren’t living it out.  In contrast, Jesus was.  He did not see people as beyond redemption, beyond saving, beyond help.  He reached out to them, was kind to them and loved them.  He was doing what the Pharisees knew they should, just as Eldest was doing with her friend what I knew I should.  And that became judgement on their lips.  Jesus’ actions convicted them.  And instead of owning, they judged and condemned him.  

        The story of the prodigal son is a little different.  That son had a lot more agency.  That son had to return on his own.  The father in the story saw him coming back and ran out to usher him home, to bring him back completely into the fold, but the son had to make some steps first, some intention towards turning home.  And my guess is that the elder son in the prodigal story is the Pharisees and legal experts themselves.  They have became so bound by the written law that they have forgotten the spirit behind it: the call to care for and love one another.  They have become so lost, that when Jesus welcomes in the “lost” younger son, they just resent it, they want the father all to themselves, and all that is his, they have forgotten how to celebrate the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son returning.  They have forgotten that those Jesus is spending time with are also children of God.  They have forgotten that that lost younger brother is “this brother of YOURS”, not just “this son of the Father’s”.  Jesus never finishes the parable of the prodigal son.  We never know if the older son in fact does come into the house to celebrate with the son who has returned.  We don’t know because we are still waiting to see.   In the end, it will be up to them to decide to celebrate with the Father and the son the return home of the younger son, if they ever do.  In the meantime, he is missing a great party, as are they! 

         And that is the final point that I want to make through another story.  There is a wonderful video based on a children’s book.  The book and video are entitled Lost and Found by Oliver Jeffers.  I would love to be able to share them with you, but because of copyright issues I can’t do that through YouTube.  However, if you are interested, I have bought copies of both and would gladly share them another time.  In a rare exception, the video of this story is better than the book.      

        In the story, Lost and Found, a penguin walks into a little boy’s house.  The little boy is not thrilled about this.  And the penguin doesn’t seem to be leaving on his own, so he decides the penguin is lost and needs to get home.  He takes the penguin to the lost and found, but no one says they are missing a penguin.  Then he takes the penguin to the pet store, but then feels bad and doesn’t leave him.  He goes to the library to find out about where penguins come from and discovers they come from the South Pole, so he tries to put the penguin on a boat, but the boy's voice is small and the ship leaves without the penguin.  So, the boy builds a boat to take the penguin there himself.  As he is getting ready to go the narrator said, “And so the boy worked out an ambitious plan to get the visitor back to where he belonged.  But he never stopped for a moment to considered just what his visitor was doing there in the first place.”  They each “pack” a little bag, and they travel down to the South Pole, having adventures on the way, and in the end he finds a place with many, many penguins just like the one that has been with the boy.  He leaves him there and gets back in the boat to travel home.  But in the boat he finds that the penguin had left his suitcase.  When he opens it, he finds the only thing in this “box of treasures” was a picture the penguin had taken of himself and the boy: that this was what he valued.  The boy thought the penguin valued “home”, but what he found was that the penguin valued him, the boy.  And so he found, “that perhaps someone wasn’t lost… just lonely.  And maybe they weren’t the only one.”  After another little adventure, the boy and the penguin finally reconnect and go “home” together.  But the film ends with these words, “So, all began with someone lost and someone found.  Who is to say which was which? There was a boy and there was a penguin, strangers from opposite sides of the ocean.  And like the beginning of any friendship, theirs is a remarkable story indeed.”

            Perhaps, then, like the boy in the story, we will find, when we choose to spend time with those we consider “lost” , those from the opposite side of the ocean, that we too will ask, “who is to say who was lost and who was found”.  If it turns out that it was we, then, who were lost, and if we let ourselves be found, we can be guaranteed that God will celebrate with all the angels and heaven.  Amen.

Outreach to the Slipping Away

Exodus 32:1-14

Philippians 4:1-9

Matthew 22:1-14

Today I want to talk about faith – our commitment to our faith and our call to share that faith with others.  And I want to start by asking your opinion about why, in the United States in particular, people are so much less committed to going to church.  If you were here in person I would ask you to actually give me your answers, but since we are not together in person, I invite you to take a moment of silent reflection to consider why this might be.

            In the Exodus passage for today we are given a glimpse into one of the reasons people slip away from their faith.  In this Exodus story, Moses has gone up on the mountain to commune with God and he has been gone a long time.  This leader for the Israelites has been the person who, like the Saints for Catholics, has been the intermediary for them with God.  The Israelites seems to be unable, uncomfortable, or unwilling to connect to God directly, so they rely on Moses to do it for them.  So when Moses, their connection to God, is gone for too long, they beg for something else concrete to connect them to the divine and to lead them forward…in this case, they beg for an idol – a golden calf – who will “go up before us.” 

            This story shows us that one reason people leave church or leave their faith is that they have no one to help them experience God.  Do you think this applies to today as well?  I would say it absolutely does.  That while many more of us recognize that we can connect with God directly, for many people experience of God does not come easily.  For whatever reason, many people don’t hear God’s voice or experience the mystery of God in direct, personal, acknowledgeable ways.  Or, maybe what’s more accurate, we all go through dry spells in which we don’t recognize God’s actions or don’t feel God’s presence or hear God’s voice in the way we may feel we need at that time.  I think that this time where we connect to each other virtually only, through zoom or phone or YouTube or Facebook or whatever medium you use is in some ways a mirror for the ways we successfully or not so successfully connect with God – not face to face the way we like to connect with one another.  And for those for whom this way of connecting to one another is hard, think how much harder it is for them to feel and experience God’s presence.    

The shared experiences of others who are connecting well with God, who are feeling God, seeing God, then, can be very helpful to us during those faith crises.  Hearing the stories of others’ experience of God can help us to remember times when we did feel more connected to God in a concrete way, and can help us to hold on to the faith as we remember and experience God through other peoples’ experiences of God. 

But in our mainstream churches, and perhaps especially in the Presbyterian Church, we don’t share or hear these stories very often.  As the “frozen chosen” Presbyterians are, we have become so intellectual, and so suspicious of the experiential and emotional when it comes to spirituality, that we won’t talk about or share our living and real experiences of God: or we don’t share them very often.  Not to say that there isn’t good reason for this suspicion.  We’ve all heard about folk who claim God has led them and who do horrific things, or worse claim that God is leading them to do the specific horrible things that we see.  We’ve all heard about leaders of various kinds who lead others to mass suicides and other acts of destruction under the guise of Divine guidance.

But we also, as people of faith, are called to trust that God really does communicate with us here and now.  And when we do have those experiences, but fail to share our stories, when we fail to stand up and say, “well, this is how I’ve experienced God, this is how God has touched me, and through that I hear God’s call to love my enemies and to care for all people and all creation – not to destroy it”  - when we fail to communicate this, then the only voices that get in the news as claiming connection with the Divine are often voices of hatred, voices of people who claim God hates all the people they hate, people claiming God’s voice as justification for outrageous and cruel behaviors, or people who know that they can claim divine connection as a way to control and hold power over others.  Is it any wonder in the face of this, that so many are leaving the faith and leaving the church?  The only thing they hear about faith is from people who spew hatred and claim it is God’s will that they do so.  People don’t hear about the beautiful and life-giving experiences of those connecting with God on a regular basis because we are afraid to share those stories, afraid we will be labeled as crazy.

While it may sound like I’m lecturing you on this, I’m really not.  I’m not because I think that pastors are especially culpable in this.  In talking with my pastor friends about why they are pastors, most of them became ministers because of their real and tangible experiences of God.  And while it used to be that preaching was testimony – an every week sharing of the experiences, informed and interpreted by scripture, of the real and living God, we no longer do this, or we don’t do it to the same degree. 

So, one of the reasons people slip away is that they don’t connect to the Divine and don’t hear enough from people who do. We fail to translate for folk the experience of a present God into today’s world, leaving people to build idols of work or money or fame, or sometimes even unhealthy relationships because they have been left out in a faith desert for too long.

In today’s passage from Matthew we see another reason.  The Matthew passage shows us  a God who invites into the faith and into God’s kingdom those who are God’s “chosen” people, beloved people, who seem like they would be most anxious to come and express gratitude for what they have.  But the master in the parable is surprised by their response.  Instead, those God invites in first often choose not to come, but rather they go about doing their own thing, oblivious to the fact that everything they have is a blessing from God – sure of their own self-sufficiency in what they have achieved and gained in their lives.  So we see from this that some people turn away from the faith because they are, frankly, too comfortable.  They claim credit for their own comfortable situations in life and don’t feel they have a need for God.

Jesus continues in his parable to show that God is angry with this response, but God turns instead to those who seem less likely to come, those who are struggling, who are suffering, and invites them in instead.  And most of these, who need God, and need God’s banquet, come - and come prepared to delight in the feast God has spread for them.  But even then there is one who does not come prepared.  There is one who chooses not to make any effort, but assumes that the grace of the celebration that is offered comes without any effort on our part.  He comes dressed inappropriately – or rather, he comes without respect or a committed heart.  This part of the story can be hard to understand, so let me flesh this out a tiny bit.  As my lectionary group discussed this, someone said it was like the person showed up right now at this big celebration without a mask.  They did not come prepared to think about others, take care of others, do what was generous and compassionate by showing up appropriately for this wedding celebration.

He, too, then is left out of the party.  Because faith does require a very minimal effort on our part.  Continuing in genuine faith requires more than just showing up for the party.  It requires offering respect to God, and love to God’s people.  It matters what we do.  And there are consequences for our actions.  And for some, the responsibilities of faith will seem to outweigh the gifts of faith.  They, too, then, do not remain.

In our adult study some of us read a book called Mary Magdalene Revealed by Meggan Watterson.  And she says it this way, “Spirit is ethical.  You have to ask in order to receive.”  This has stuck with me for a number of reasons.  God’s love is always offered, God’s grace is always offered.  But God does not force it on us.  It is in our asking for it that we open ourselves to receive it.  That means it is a mutual meeting, again a meeting within the contract of genuine, respectful relationship.  God will not force God-self onto us, will not force us to join the party.  God makes the biggest effort, always, to meet us, to find us, to seek us.  But we are never made to join, to be open to that grace, to recognize the blessings that are there for us every day.

So today’s scriptures show us three of the reasons people do not remain in faith or in church.  They fail to experience or be shown others’ experiences of the Divine, they feel they don’t need God but are self-sufficient, and they don’t want the work that comes with being people of faith.

In his book, Have a Little Faith, Mitch Albom also describes some of these reasons and adds some others as to why he, too, had slipped away from faith.  He explains it this way, (p11-13): “It wasn’t revolt.  It wasn’t some tragic loss of faith.  It was, if I’m being honest, apathy.  A lack of need…Who had time?  I was fine.  I was healthy.  I was making money.  I was climbing the ladder.  I didn’t need to ask God for much, and I figured, as long as I wasn’t hurting anyone, God wasn’t asking much of me either.  We had forged a sort of ‘you go your way, I’ll go mine’ arrangement, at least in my mind. … Over time, I honed a cynical edge toward overt religion.  People who seemed too wild-eyed with the Holy Spirit scared me.  And the pious hypocrisy I witnessed in politics and sport – congressmen going from mistresses to church services, football coaches breaking the rules, then kneeling for a team prayer – only made things worse.”  At another place he says, (p.6) “[Humanity] likes to run from God.  It’s a tradition.  So perhaps I was only following tradition when, as soon as I could walk, I started running…”.  Albom slipped away out of apathy and the sense of self sufficiency, just as the rich folk in our parable.  He slipped away because for him it was an intellectual exercise rather than an experience – just as in the passage from Exodus.  He slipped away because the religious people he saw and heard from most weren’t made perfect by their faith and that seemed hypocrisy to him.  He slipped away because the culture is suspect of religion, and it was easier to not participate in something others judge and see as superstitious, or as he put it in another passage (p157), “Part of the reason I drifted from faith was that I didn’t want to feel defensive about it. ”  And he slipped away because it is easier to run from God – because God does call us to a life that is different from what our culture says is acceptable and appropriate.  Again, as with our parable, faith requires commitment and action on our part as well…and that is not easy.  To quote once more from the book, his Rabbi said, “’Now commitment is something you avoid.  You don’t want to tie yourself down.  It’s the same with faith, by the way.  We don’t want to get stuck having to go to services all the time, or having to follow all the rules.  We don’t want to commit to God.  We’ll take Him when we need Him or when things are going good.  But real commitment?  That requires staying power – in faith and in marriage.”  And if you don’t commit, I asked.  ‘Your choice, but you miss what’s on the other side.’ What’s on the other side?  ‘Ah,’ he smiled. ‘a happiness you cannot find alone.’”(P 145).

            These are just some of the reasons that people drift away or fall away or stay away from faith.  And yet our scriptures tell us to “go and make disciples of all nations.”  Again, in the Presbyterian faith, we tend to be afraid of the “e” word- evangelism.  So I want to ask you, why should we care if people don’t have faith, don’t go to a church?  What business is it of ours?  Is evangelism important and if so, why?  Let me put this another way.  What does your faith do for you?  What does your church do for you? 

            For me, there are a number of reasons to be part of a church: our faith communities provide care.  80% of soup kitchens and food pantries are supported solely by faith communities.  Faith communities provide safety nets and places of care for us and for others.  More close to home, our faith communities support one another when we are in tragedy or crisis, they send cards, make phone calls, offer rides, bring food, offer child-care, pray with one another.  One of my favorite movies that really shows what community can be is “Lars and the Real Girl”.  It’s an odd movie about a person suffering a mental illness crisis.  But when he went through a tragedy that, for all intents and purposes was not even “real” for anyone else, the community of faith still showed up to support him.  They still brought casseroles and sent cards and presents and offered support to Lars when he was in crisis, despite the fact that he was grieving something that didn’t exist.  They came by the house with their knitting and with food and they just sat.  “We sit.  That’s what we do when tragedy strikes.  We sit,” a church member declared.  That’s what we do for each other in faith communities.  When tragedy strikes, most people find their help and support from their faith communities.

            Secondly, churches tell us “I am somebody because God loves me.”  I am somebody, because I have the love of God.  Isn’t that worth sharing with others?

            Granted, for some people faith is just about fear and guilt and shame.  But we claim to believe in a good God, and my personal experience of that God is that She/He is a God of life, a God of daily resurrection, a God of love. 

            I want to share with you a piece of my experience of God today (today’s “testimony” for you).  I remember having a conversation with a pastor friend in which we were discussing hard times that we both had gone through.  And he asked me if the hard times had changed my faith at all.  “Oh absolutely!” I responded.  “So, does that make it harder for you to preach, especially whenever you were or are in the midst of crisis?” he asked.  And for a minute I couldn’t answer because I was confused by his question.  It really took me a minute to understand that he had assumed that difficult times threw my faith into crisis.  But that is not what I meant when I said that challenges and crises changed my faith.  The crisis in my life has indeed changed my faith – but always, every time, by deepening it.  Each time, I’ve had to look hard at things I never wanted to see.  I have had to face things I never, ever could have imagined or dreamed that I would face.  But through it all, God’s presence each time has become tangible for me in a way that I cannot deny.  It has been tangible through the love of people in my congregations; through their words, hugs, smiles, care.  It has been tangible through the love and outreach of my friends and community – and the deepening of those relationships.  It has been tangible as faith has encouraged people here and elsewhere to share their own hard experiences at a much deeper level, deepening both my ability to pastor to them and our mutual friendships.  It has been tangible as I have received e-mails right when I needed them expressing love, care, support, and encouragement.  It has been tangible as music with words and sentiments I needed to hear showed up in my life exactly when I needed to hear them.  It has been tangible through the scripture passages that have come up or that I have read right when I needed to hear them.  It has been tangible by the strong, strong sense of God’s presence with me, by the whispered words from the Holy Spirit, by the face of Jesus remembered and shining through you.  It has been tangible through my children, their words, their challenges even and of course their daily blessing.  That is the God I know. 

            Finally, while God does ask of us commitment and while God calls on us to be God’s people, which is not easy, at the same time, what we gain from the giving is always so much more than we actually give.  Again to quote Mitch Albom, “As is often the case with faith, I thought I was being asked a favor, when in fact I was being given one.”

            God gives us life.  Our faith gives us life.  For these reasons, we are asked to share our faith. 

            If you had just discovered a wonderful restaurant wouldn’t you want to share that?  If you had just discovered a wonderful new food, wouldn’t you want to share that?  People recommend books to me all the time, movies, YouTube videos. 

            We feel like somehow sharing faith is different because we don’t want to be pushy and our experience with most evangelists is that they are.  But we don’t have to be pushy about our faith.  We can share our excitement about our church, our community and our faith in the same way we share about a good book, or good food or a good restaurant.  We can share our excitement without insisting that people commit to something they know nothing about yet!  The people who say, “Commit to Jesus now and he will save you,” without first inviting people to get to know Jesus are really missing something.  How can you commit to something or someone you don’t know?  We don’t marry people we don’t know.  And if you do commit to something you don’t know, in these days, what is likely to be the depth of that kind of commitment?

            So one of the ways we share our faith is simply by expressing our enthusiasm for it.  Another way is by living that out in such a thorough way that people are excited by what they see and want to be part of it.

            Jewish tradition actually tries to discourage converts, emphasizing the difficulties and suffering that the Jewish people of faith have and do endure.  Maybe we should try that.  I mean, frankly, I am much more intrigued by something when people tell me I can’t be part of it then when they try to convince me I want to be part of it.  After all, as the saying goes, many of us don’t want to join any club that would have us as members, right?  And people like to suffer for a good cause, something they really believe in.

            Finally, I strongly encourage you to share more of your experiences of God with one another.  Because these tie us to each other in the hard times and boost our faith when it may waver. Bottom line, there are lots of reasons why people fall away from faith or their faith communities.  But there are more reasons to share our faith and to invite people to be part of that.  So I invite you to try, to invite others into the good news of your faith.  We have little to lose. They have everything to gain.  Amen.