 By Ben Cluff, Lay Preacher
Numbers 21:4-9 Ephesians 2:1-10 John 3:14-21 Psalm 107:1-3, 17-22 May the words of my mouth and the meditation of all our hearts, be acceptable in thy site, O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Good morning - Here we are at this 4 th Sunday of Lent, known as Laetare Sunday. According to the Episcopal Church glossary, the naming of this Sunday as Laetare Sunday, “is derived from the opening words of the Latin Mass, “Rejoice Jerusalem, Laetare Jerusalem, from Isaiah 66:10. The glossary goes on to state, “ The church is called to joyful anticipation of the victory to be won. This joyful theme provides lightning from the penitential emphasis of Lent. Since the 13 th Century, the celebrant of the Eucharist has been permitted to wear rose-colored vestments which express the change of the tone in the Lenten observance, Rejoice, Celebration! - on that note; Let’s take stock, for a moment of our journey so far this Lent; We began with Jesus, upon being baptized, being driven into the wilderness to face temptation for 40 days and 40 nights. This is followed by Jesus informing his closest that he must undergo great suffering and he will be rejected by elders, chief priests, and scribes. And when Peter takes issue with this, Jesus rebukes him, telling Peter, “You're setting your mind not on divine things, but on human things.” And then, last week, we find Jesus expressing great anger and frustration at the marketplace and money changers in the temple. And now, here at this 4th Sunday of Lent, we encounter God’s expression of Divine Love, shown through Jesus' presence here on earth. In our gospel reading today, Jesus makes reference to our Old Testament reading, “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” This link between today’s gospel and Moses' experience in the wilderness has prompted me to reflect on this age-old relationship between God and us humans, here on earth. It certainly has been a back and forth, at times contentious relationship. God’s presence has been constant, and we, I mean the collective we, us humans, have participated in this relationship so diversely. Sometimes we have behaved like petulant children, other times we have behaved as if we are consciously aware that we are recipients of God’s Grace, and at other times we seem so aware that we are recipients of God’s Divine Love, only to return our behavior back to that of petulant children. For example, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we detest this miserable food.” and the turning to Moses - “pray Moses, to the Lord to take away the serpents from us.” And God provides a solution, through the bronze serpent. This is just one of so many of our experiences of trying to get our relationship right with God - this ongoing experience of always striving, falling back, striving again - And God’s provision of a variety of means to us, of experiencing God as accessible - for example the rainbow following the flood, the leadership and care of Moses, the covenant with Abraham, and today on Laetare Sunday, we rejoice and celebrate Jesus life, his death, and resurrection and how all of that makes it possible for us to experience God and God's Love as accessible to us. I want to pause here for a moment and invite us to consider the concept of incarnation. There is a book I have found to be a wonderful resource, it is titled “Making Sense of the Christian Faith” by David J. Lose. The format of the book can seem a little hokey; it is a back and forth, question and answer conversation between two people. I would like to offer some selections from that conversation: Author David Lose writes, “Christians confess that, in Jesus, God became human and took on our life and our situation in the world - showing our hopes and dreams, vulnerability and limitations. This is what Christians call the Doctrine of Incarnation.” Incarnation comes from two Latin words, in meaning into and carne meaning flesh, incarnation literally meaning into flesh. David Lose provides two stories that attempt to portray this notion of incarnation, the first comes from Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard; “He describes the incarnation as being like a royal king who fell in love with a lowly serving girl. How could the king earn her love? He couldn’t do it by a show of power, or she would be intimidated. And he couldn’t just pour riches on her or decree that she was his equal. Then she might just love him for what he could give her, not for who he really is. So He Became a humble servant like her in order to win her genuine love. For Kierkegaard, that helped explain some of incarnation. It tells us why God became human, even if we can’t understand how. “So Kierkegaard thought that God became human in order to win our love.” “Right” “But God wanted our love for the right reasons. God became human so we wouldn’t love God because we were afraid or just for what God can do for us, but we’d love God for who and what God really is.” “And the other story?” “We are not sure who wrote this story. It is about a man, a farmer who never went to church, even though his wife did regularly. Well, one cold and blustery Christmas Eve, after his wife had again pleaded with him but couldn’t convince him to come with her to church, he was reading comfortably by the fire when he heard a thudding against the windows of their house. He looked out and saw that sparrows trying to get out of the cold, harsh wind and attracted by the light and heat inside, were crashing into the windows of the house. He covered the windows, but that didn’t work. So he decided to put on his coat, gloves, and hat and go out and open his barn doors wide, so the birds could find sanctuary there. But they wouldn’t come in. He put the lights on, but they didn’t come. He spread a trail of cracker crumbs, but they wouldn’t follow. He tried to shoo them in, but that only frightened them more. If only, he thought, I could become a sparrow, for a little while, I could lead them into the barn to safety. And at that moment, he realized that’s what Christmas Eve - the story of God being born as a human - was all about.” “So in this story God comes to us in a form we can recognize and understand, in order to communicate to us and lead us to safety.” “Right. It’s about the gap between humans and God that God decides to close in order to help us.” end quote and thanks to David Lose for these stories. I continue to be amazed, struck by the humanity of Jesus, the earthiness of Jesus. Look at our readings this Lent - temptation, being misunderstood, anger and frustration. Jesus is constantly faced with the inherent tension between the secular and the spiritual. The profound secular context of balance and imbalance of power and control in the society in which he lived. Being understood and misunderstood. Being faced with incredible temptation and experiencing grief. Requiring times of solitude and quiet in order to rest, replenish, reflect, and commune. These human aspects of Jesus time on earth, these are our struggles, our temptations, our human experience. Jesus shares them, participates in them and all the while provides guidance, counsel, and comfort for us. Jesus is the human embodiment of the power of unconditional love, without exception and so very importantly, the means by which we are able to experience God in our lives. As a result of being with us, among us, and yet so very different from us, we are able to realize that God knows our struggles. I am sure we are all able to identify times in our lives when God has seemed so very large and so very distant, and so very separated from our daily lives, our daily struggles. And our journey back, or the change in our perception, or our change in being, has so often been through our re-connection with the notion that Jesus' life on earth guides us back to God. God knows our human struggles and we know this because of Jesus' time on earth; and this, when we are open to it, proves to us, once again, that God is not so large or too distant or so very separate from our daily lives. And if we are open to it, we know through this experience that we are loved and God is there for us and it is by grace-and unmerited love and favor of God. When our conscious contact with God seems good, we become aware of the notion that we are of value simply because we exist - the Grace of God. We are all of value because we exist - no exception. As we live in our secular world; as we encounter the inherent tension between the secular and the spiritual - the balance and imbalance of power and control in our lives - of being understood and misunderstood- of being faced with temptation and grief, of feeling the need for rest, replenishment, time for reflection and communion - We can know that we will always be loved and there will always be a safety net, so to speak, because of God’s Grace. The evidence of that is so poignantly provided us in the life of Jesus on earth. On those days when we are able to be secure in this knowledge, we are able to participate in this world, with those around us, those we know and those we we don’t, in a manner wherein love wins, fear is at bay, all is well. Our preservation, our rescue, our salvation is provided to us through the small details of Jesus life and the large events of his life, death, and resurrection. Laetare Sunday! Rejoice! Celebration! For God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish, but may have eternal life. Amen. Making Sense of the Christian Faith by David J. Lose
For example:
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil” (1 Timothy 6:10) Yet we know that folks of means were great benefactors and supporters of not only Jesus and the Twelve, but in the discipleship of many early Christians. Do you get uncomfortable with some of the messages we receive? I know I do, messages like: ‘ Sell your possessions and follow me’ (Luke 18:22) ‘It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God.’ (Mark 10:25) What is wealth? What is rich? It is not as if we are provided with defined financial guidelines that tell us that above a certain dollar amount we have entered into the category of ‘rich’. Or Again Are We? ‘but if we have food and clothing, we will be content with these.’ (1 Timothy 6:8) Our expression of faith, through our liturgy, readings and lessons, poses questions for us to consider, regarding what our approach to life will be. What will our approach to life be as we attempt to live through the grey areas of life? Rather than simply/mindlessly comply with rigidly worded dictates. Our guidance through these grey areas of life often comes to us through parables, such as today’s parable of the Rich man and Lazarus. Much has been written about Jesus’ use of parables as a teaching method. Do they make you think and consider? When it comes to these parables, I sometimes feel as if I hear, but don’t completely understand. My hope and prayer is that as we reflect, we bring our heads and hearts closer together, as we experience these grey areas of life. I am not a billionaire or millionaire. Based on any given yardstick, I am not rich, yet, I know I have bounty that many do not. I have food, clothing, shelter, and more. Sitting down to a home cooked meal, surrounded by those I love, I have thought, “I am living like a lord”. In today’s parable Jesus describes a rich man who dresses in purple and fine linen. Purple was a very expensive dye for clothing, in that time. Jesus tells us that this man feasted sumptuously every day (not just on special occasions, but everyday). These features of Jesus’ description seem to emphasize the degree of this man’s richness. At the gate of this rich man’s estate lay a poor man named Lazarus. Lazarus is described as being covered with sores, longing for the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table, and the dogs would come and lick his sores. I would imagine the dogs may also compete with Lazarus for those scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. The social norms of the day were such that it was a reasonable expectation that those with more would offer something to those with less, regularly. There have been archaeological digs that have provided evidence that benches were regularly built into the walls of great estates, near the gates, where the less well off would sit and receive, those “scraps that fell from the table” of the rich. So the rich man was very rich and Lazarus was very poor and not well. And the rich man consciously ignored Lazarus and his plight regularly, probably daily. And upon the death of each of these men, their conditions changed. And when the rich man was told he would not receive relief from his torment and agony - he said then “Please, at least warn my brothers, so that they may avoid my fate.” But father Abraham replies, “Your brothers have the teaching of Moses and the prophets to guide them. They should listen to them.” (Luke 16:29) The rich man says – “No, father Abraham - if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.” (Luke 16:30) But father Abraham says, “No, No, if they are not able to hear the messages of Moses and the prophets, they will not be convinced, even if someone rises from the dead.” (Luke 16:31) Some interesting features of this particular parable occurred to me, upon reflection; First, Lazarus is named. So often, in parables, we do not have participants personally named; rather they are identified through description only:
And the rich man seems to continue to see and hold Lazarus as a servant or less than: ‘ have Lazarus dip his finger in the water and cool my tongue’ (Luke16:24) ‘have Lazarus go to my brothers and warn them’ (Luke 16:28) The rich man seems to see the world and his participation in it, somewhat superficially: There seems to have been no conversion in his sight, no internal conversion or insight to see he may have participated in the world differently. This seems to be the point attempted to be made by father Abraham regarding the rich man’s brothers: “Everything your brothers need is provided to them through the teaching of Moses and the prophets.” (Luke 1:29) Are they open to hearing the message that guides them to participate in the world in a comforting manner? On the face of it, the status of wealth can appear to exclude one from God or keep one distant from God. Upon reflection, though, we are guided and shepherded toward God, regardless of our socioeconomic status. Paul and Timothy are living in the real world, a world into which we bring nothing and in the end, take nothing. As the rich man and his brothers had Moses and the prophets, we have Jesus, Paul, and Timothy telling us, “and as for those, who in the present age, are rich, be not haughty or set your hopes on the uncertainty of riches; do good, be rich in good works, generous, ready to share.” (1 Timothy 6:17-18) And for all of us, “pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness.” ( 1 Timothy 6:11) Our liturgy this week encourages us to consider where we are rich and wealthy? ; to reflect upon, Where does our cup runneth over? Does our pursuit or desire for richness keep us separate from God and those around us? In contrast to the many loud and dramatic messages of this world to focus on the accumulation of things, status, and wealth, our lessons encourage to be open to messages around us centered in goodness, our priorities ordered to favor faith, love, endurance, and gentleness. We are urged to take it upon ourselves to be still and know God and navigate the grey areas of life with kindness to ourselves and to those around us. You know, I retired from working for 40 years in the field of addiction recovery. My friends in Alcoholics Anonymous taught me this prayer. It attempts to guide us toward the spirit of doing good, being rich in good works, generous, ready to share. God I offer myself to Thee - to build with me and to do with me as Thou wilt. Relieve me of the bondage of self, that I may better do Thy will. Take away my difficulties, that victory over them may bear witness to those I would help of Thy Power, Thy Love, and Thy Way of Life. May I do Thy will always. - Amen
As I have attempted to settle in to my attempts at a more disciplined or structured devotion time for self-reflection, and identify opportunities for positive change, it has occurred to me that 40 days is a significant length of time.
It is usually at this point in our 40 days of Lent that this occurs to me. Trying to incorporate spiritual discipline and time for reflection in a more concentrated and intentional way, than at other times of the year, while the world, our world, continues on as usual, with the accompanying distractions, demands on our time, and requirements. And the distractions seem particularly loud this year, the excitement of what is hopefully, a waning pandemic, mixed with the grave concerns of global events. And as God would have it, our lectionary readings provide us encouragement, at this halfway point. Beginning with Moses, as God captures Moses’ attention in dramatic fashion with a flaming bush, that is not consumed by the fire. Once God has Moses attention; God provides an assignment to Moses, “So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelite s, out of Egypt.” From Moses’ perspective that does not seem a small, easy, or insignificant assignment, as evidenced in his response toGod, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God’s response, “I will be with you”, as God is with us, always. And we receive a pep talk of sorts from Paul in his letter to the church at Corinth. The Church in Corinth is young and evolving, even exhibiting some growing pains. There have been some disagreements, debates and factions within. In today's portion, of this first letter of Paul to the Corinthians, Paul makes comparisons and draws parallels between the Israelite s journey out of Egypt and the young church in Corinth. It would appear that “people are people” pretty consistently overtime. Remember, the Israelite s received guidance, the waters parted for them, they received manna from heaven, and water brought forth from a rock, in order to sustain them. They experienced God’s presence through Moses, as the church members in Corinth experienced God’s presence through Christ. And this is Paul’s cautionary tale: Be aware of the example provided through our ancestors - idolatry, immorality, complaining, grumbling. Paul acknowledges these elements of the human condition are shared by us all. … and the “pep talk” piece of this, is whenPaul offers the reassurance that God is faithful, with the test or with the temptation, God will provide the way of escape. We are in between;
At this point, at this 3rd week in our observance of a holy Lent, we are reminded by Paul and Moses, that God is very present with us. God accompanies us, sustains us, as we encounter the reality of life and how that can, at times, feel so contrary or challenging to our spiritual pursuits. And then in today’s Gospel, we are encouraged, no, urged, to take stock, to take an inventory - and then, as a result of this inventory, change where we need to. The stage is set for us here in the tales of the Galileans killed by Pilate and those individuals that lost their lives when the tower of Siloam fell on them. Throughout our history as humans on Earth we have asked, “Why do bad things happen to good people?” “Were the Galileans worse sinners than other Galileans?” Were the 18killed by the falling tower worse offenders?” Jesus clearly answers, “No” … and then He adds that sense of urgency, “but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”This is not to be interpreted as a threat of punishment, rather, an encouragement to be aware of grace and to develop a new way of seeing. The Gospel today, at this halfway point, reiterates our words from Ash Wednesday, - we are “invited to the observance of aHoly Lent by self examination and repentance.” This word repentance; - to repent has been defined as, “to feel so contrite over ones sins as to change or decide to change one’s ways or to change one’s mind to a new way of seeing things.” And I am quite struck by the parable of the fig tree, as it drives the point home: Lent is not passive - It is action oriented - the gardener will be busy preparing the fig tree for the following year - digging, fertilizing, tending, in order to maintain life. This parable raises questions for us, at this halfway point:
Today’s readings, taken as a whole, bring home wonderful encouragement to us, at this point in our Lenten journey: God is with us God is faithful God provides the way out of testing and temptation God urges us to action I would like to leave you with a Lenten prayer by the Most Reverend Arthur Lichtenberger, who was presiding Bishop from 1958 until 1964. Lord may I Fast from judging others Feast on Christ dwelling in them Fast from fear of illness Feast on the healing power of God Fast from words that pollute Feast on speech that purifies Fast from discontent Feast on Gratitude Fast from anger Feast on patience Fast from pessimism Feast on optimism Fast from negatives Feast on alternatives Fast from bitterness Feast on forgiveness Fast from self-concern Feast on Compassion Fast from suspicion Feast on Truth Fast from gossip Feast on purposeful silence Fast from problems that overwhelm Feast on prayer that sustains Fast from worry Feast on faith ~ Amen |
