Initial thoughts on Day Six

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

 

We are so quick to kill Jesus in our worship.  It becomes self serving. We are worshiping what Christ did for us rather than worshiping Christ by following what he taught. To show you what I mean, today we visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. There were thousands of people on a pilgrimmage to see the place where Jesus was crucified and buried. After visiting the magnificent Sepulchre, which seemed like a city in and of itself, we sojourned to the teaching steps of the temple.  The southern steps of the temple is the one place in all of Israel that you can be most certain Jesus walked.  This was the place where the rabbis taught the crowds.  It was also a place the poor would gather. Jesus certainly walked this platform during his life and his boyhood according to the Gospel of Luke…and we were the only group there. Here’s the point. You couldn’t squeeze any more people near the tomb, but no one was on the teaching steps.  We like to lift up Jesus’ death because then our worship again becomes about us, at least, what Jesus did for us.  Leaning on Jesus’ life and teaching transforms us and molds us into the kingdom. Yes we are to pick up the cross, don’t get me wrong, the cost discipleship is great, but Jesus’ teaching asks us to empty ourselves in love of God and neighbor. But no one is at the steps.  There’s no fancy church standing in it’s place.  No street vendors.  No one kissing the ground.  No icons or candles.  It’s simply steps.
We are so quick to sing about blood and the cross, placing pierced hand stickers on our trucks, and asking people, “Are you saved?”. If atonement is our only message it fundamentally becomes a theology of our self. We only worship what God has done for us rather than worshiping God.
I guess what I’m trying to say in my sleep deprived state is we should be spending more time on the teaching steps than venerating a tomb
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Holy Land: Day Five

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

 

Today we saw so much that it is hard to process it all, so a short post is in order. I plan to write more tomorrow. At any rate today we visited the mount of olives, the garden of gethsemane, mount Zion, the house of caiaphas, the upper room, and King David’s tomb.
One meaningful moment floods my memory. At caiaphas’ house we visited the “holding cell,” in which Jesus was likely to have stayed. After descending three stories we found ourselves in the pit. Our bishop led us in reading Psalm 88.  In lieu of quoting this psalm, I encourage you to read it yourself.  Try reading it in a low lit area, maybe in a small room with only a candle for your light.  When you have finished reading the Psalm, blow the candle out, and sit in the darkness for a moment…
…we did the same at the bottom of the pit. We were all together in the same place, but in the darkness, you feel so alone.  It didn’t matter that we had 40 people in that small place. As the psalm says, “darkness was my only friend.”. Lord Jesus, what did we do to you…
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Holy Land: Day Four

Posted on January 16, 2012 by
…and the walls came a tumblin’ down…never to be built again. Today we traveled to Jericho in a Palestinian controlled area, the West Bank.  Several soldiers met our driver at a checkpoint and asked who we were.  Quickly they raised the blockade and we went on our way (by the way, this checkpoint was nothing like the Israeli checkpoint outside of Bethlehem.  The Israeli checkpoint had guns and a huge wall…Prince of Peace help us).  Jericho could have easily been missed.  From the road it looks like a pile of dirt, but as you climb the path you look down into an excavated pit containing one of the oldest structures in human history, a cylindrical stone building 10,000 years old.  That’s thousands of years before Abraham!
Humans have been here for so long, yet we still can’t seem to figure out how to live in peace.  True, abiding peace. Not conformity or uniformity.  Well, these have their place, like a choir singing in unison.  Having a uniform sound, all conforming to one note can be lovely and ethereal, oh but to add harmony, adding a different voice all it’s own dancing with the melody…this is not music…it is beauty. Two, three, twelve parts each voice is its own, all in the same key. The key is the key.  All of the voices in their individuality must be in the same key, whether it be a lamenting A minor, a joyful C major, or some strange and postmodern E sharp diminished.  You see, the key is the key, and the key is Christ.  Many parts, but one body, one Lord, one Spirit, one baptism, one salvation, one eternal God.
After spending some time at Jericho we went to Qumran, where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found. I don’t have all that much to say about Qumran.  Archeologists may have been more profoundly impacted by caves in the rock face and newly upturned ground revealing ruins of the Essene Community, but I could have skipped it and kept on living. You will just have to read their blogs.
Not quickly enough, we loaded the bus for the Shepherd’s Field.  On the outskirts of town we explored caves carved out of the rock, which provided shelter for the shepherds as they watched their flocks by night. Others had a more powerful experience in the field than I because I spent most of my time convincing myself to spelunk through the narrow and dark and stuffy and narrow and treacherous and foreboding caves. Ok, foreboding might be strong, but if you know my fears, this is one.
Many years ago when I was in middle school our church youth group went spelunking in caves in Tennessee. I wanted to challenge myself to the “Wild Tour,” a four hour caving experience through narrow passage ways, crawl spaces, and careful ledge walks.  Three and a half hours into the tour I heard our tour guide shout to us that the upcoming portion of the cave can be explored in one of two ways–you can either crawl above or below the hourglass shaped opening, but we are not to try to crawl through the middle.  Well, I couldn’t decide if I wanted to crawl high or low, so eventually I found myself stuck.  I wasn’t a small young man either. I never have been.  My arms were pinned to my sides.  My legs couldn’t move. I was stuck. I also came to the realization that in a very real sense, I was being buried alive. My heart began to race, my breathing became shallow, and tears starting flowing as I, in a panic, screamed out to anyone who would listen, “I’m stuck!” My friend, David, who was touring behind me put his feet in the small of my back and kicked me through the opening.  It hurt.  My body was hurt, my feelings were hurt, I was embarrassed, and I wanted to go home.  So, most with our party whipped right through those caves, but I…I needed more time, but I did it and I have the video to prove it.  So, I didn’t have time to ponder the “Gloria in Excelsis Deo,” nor did I see the actual shepherd to walked by while our group was there, but Jesus got me through the cave.  For what else could I ask in that moment?
After briefly touring the Church of the Shepherd’s field we journeyed to Bethlehem.  We  visited the Church of the Nativity, one of the oldest intact churches (roughly 1,500 or so years old).  Your journey begins by entering a small door hewn so you have to bow as you enter the sanctuary. The ancient stone and faded icons seem to whisper a mystery to you saying, “To you is born this day, a savior, who is Christ the Lord,” which is what I should have heard in the Shepherd’s field, but a delayed revelation is a revelation all the same.
The church is just beautiful. We waited in line to go into the cave where tradition holds that Jesus was born (I know, another cave, right?  I guess the Spirit knew what it was doing asking me to stay and travel the caves at the earlier stop).  When you go down into the cave under the altar you see the natal star, which is a fourteen point gold star marking the place where God became flesh. Was this the actual place?  Doesn’t matter. It will take your breath away anyway. After each of us had a moment to meditate we all starting singing Christmas carols. It was profound. It was corporately personal, and I’m still trying to figure out what that means. Singing “Silent Night” in a cave marking the incarnation, is just…what true and abiding peace feels like..
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Holy Land: Day Three

Posted on January 14, 2012 by

 

We moved quickly today, spending ten minutes here, twenty minutes there. We began the day taking a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee.   The first thing which  came to mind was how quickly the winds would change.  One moment a cold wind would be churning the waves and the next moment it seems as if the waves remembered the Christ we follow because the water became glass, singing a hushed, “Peace, be still.” Secondly I realized how close we were to the borders of Syria and Lebanon, thinking about the dangerous I’ve heard on the news about these two countries.  But what am I afraid of?  My memory doesn’t match the wind’s, for Jesus crossed to the other side of the lake. What a risky move.  I feel like Peter saying,  ”Lord, what were you thinking?”
     Now I’ve used Jesus crossing to the other side of the lake many times in sermons as a means of saying, “Jesus wasn’t afraid to share his faith,” but going to the other side of the lake is far more bold than saying a tentative “Merry Christmas,” at the grocery store.  Why have I not been so bold? What the hell am I afraid of? Rejection? Mockery? Shame? Maybe, but you see, Jesus didn’t go over to the other side of the lake with a fifty pound Bible.  He brought with him healing and grace, the goodness of God which even if rejected transforms lives (the people rejected him, but the story remains alive in my strangely warmed heart).
After docking at the ultra modern (and a bit out of place) boat museum, we rode to Capernaum (in full disclosure, I can’t quite remember what the exact order of our schedule was for the rest of the day, but just go with it. The rest of what you will hear is true even if not chronologic). Capernaum is where Jesus lived for a good part of his ministry. It’s so small it’s hard to believe. I understand why Jesus went into the mountains to pray.  In capernaum, there was no where to hide.
Hidden beneath a glass-bottom church are the ruins of what is thought to be Peter’s home.  Left behind pottery fragments suggest the site’s importance.  Early pottery fragments were household items not unlike other homes, but later fragments are those used in worship, which would br found in first century house churches. Because Jesus goes to capernaum to heal Peter’s mother-in-law of her fever, it is quite likely that this was the home.  Regardless if it is or isn’t the actual home of Peter, the ruins are saturated with history and a loud silence of holiness.
After leaving Capernaum we journeyed to the site of the sermon on the mount. The hillside near the eastern shore of Galilee make a natural amphitheater, at which Jesus could have easily spoken to thousands of people. You can almost see the story come to life. I would imagine that even a nonbeliever could feel that something very special happened here.  Most to the point is what the crowd would have seen while Jesus was preaching.  Across the river there were two large cliffs which were Zealot strongholds, makeshift fortresses for those who were actively resisting Rome with the sword. This become particularly heavy when you can hear, with a faithful ear, Jesus saying, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be children of God.” How did they hear this when they were daily dwarfed by these fortresses.  You might expect a messiah to say, “Blessed are those who win back our land, for they will be children of Abraham,” but these are not the words of our Lord.
Returning to the bus we moved on to Tabgha, the place of the feeding of the 5,000.  It was a small but beautiful church, whose altar rests over a large rock where tradition holds Jesus fed the multitudes, keeping in mind that this is a stone’s throw away from the mount of the beatitudes. I wish we had been able to spend more time here, but we were rushing to stay on schedule at this point, so I don’t have much to say other than I will spend more time here next time when I bring the whole family here in the future.
We quickly went to the Primacy of Peter, the location of where the risen Lord asked Peter, “Do you love me…feed my sheep.” This was a moving place, and it was the only place, looking at the geography, that this could have happened (at least as my untrained but spirit-filled eyes could see). I did not feel that someone walked along and simply said, “Yeah, we will say that this happened here.”
Our final stop of the day was the Jordan River, and this has been the most moving experience of the trip thus far.  The Jordan was peaceful with a quiet rain falling from above.  Overhead there were birds swirling and a rainbow against the dark clouds.  You just can’t make this up! Minus the commercialism on the ledge behind me, I felt, even though it was a corporate experience, it was so personal like Aldersgate. My heart was strangely warmed in the cold rain and frigid waters. Christ has taken away my sin, even mine. We sang, “Down in the River to Pray,” as people came forward to remember their baptism. The song shifted  to “Wade in the Water,” as we finished coming forward. Don told us that the water of John leads to the Dead Sea.  The Spirit of Jesus’ baptism is one which leads to life eternal.  It was one of those beautiful moments you know that it will be difficult to forget.
Tomorrow we turn our face toward Jericho, Bethlehem, and Jerusalem…
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

Holy Land Day Two

Posted on January 14, 2012 by
“Spring,” by Vivaldi is a beautiful movement of music.  It’s light and happy.  It’s adds a spring to your step…unless it’s screaming at you from the phone receiver, breaking your coma-like sleep. It’s like a tall and beautiful sunflower which catches the wind and thumps you in the face.  Let’s say, it took a bit of effort to get out of bed.
After breakfast we loaded the bus for Beit Shean, one of the cities of the Decapolis. It was an impressive site with tile mosaics and towering columns. The engineering of the baths were most impressive. It was a city built to make foreigners feel small like the Lincoln Memorial or the Washington Monument.
With our eyes to the sky and our mouths wide open…the rain came.
Our driver told us that as far back as people lived in this place, rain was a blessing, so he promised to pray for a curse for the rest of the trip. This wasn’t any rain.  It was a chill you to the bone kind of rain.  It even hailed as we were driving past the Valley of Armeggedon. I thought I was going to see Christ’s return there for a moment.
After Beit Shean we traveled to Herod’s Caesarea, an engineering marvel of the ancient world. The rain was so terrible we didn’t spend much time there other than watching the movie which explains how the harbor city was built and how many different civilizations came to call it their own.
From there we traveled to Megiddo, a city overlooking Armeggedon. One of the remarkable features was the tunnel to the water source which is deep within the earth.  The tunnel was dug so that city residents could visit the spring without leaving the city walls. This was especially important during times of war.
Our final stop of the day was Nazareth. We first visited the largest church in the country, the Church of the Annunciation, built by the Catholic Church. I’ll have to just show you the pictures because its beauty is difficult to descrive with words.
For starters the church encompasses what is thought to contain the entire old city of Nazareth, a population of three hundred or so. Surrounding the courtyard are pieces of modern artwork of the Madonna from many different countries. The courtyard gives us a glimpse of the three “M’s” used as a theme throughout the campus–Mary, Multinational, and Modern.
The church is a sanctuary on two levels linked through a circular hole in the roof/floor. The bottom floor is very simple, almost minimalist. The altar is an actual house dating from the time of Jesus.  Tradition has it that this was Mary’s house and consequently, the very place that Gabriel announced the coming Christ to Mary.   It’s humbling and powerful, and it’s simplicity is to convey the humanness of the incarnation.
The second floor is quite different. It is vibrant and full of modern art depicting the Madonna. It is decorated and ornate, communicating Christ’s divinity. You can almost see the eternal being emptied into the finite through the circular opening.  Quite moving and difficult to describe without pictures.
Our next stop was the Orthodox site of the Annunciation.  Like most Orthodox sanctuaries, it was adorned with icons and every inch was a canvas of the saints. Off to the side of the sanctuary, according to the Orthodox Church,  is the only natural water source in Nazareth, a continuous spring which has flowed for thousands of years.  I’ll upload a video so that you can see this spring as well. The Orthodox tradition says that the angel Gabriel visited mary at the source of water, and with only one source, it wasn’t difficult to discern.  This second site almost seemed more reverent and mysterious with the water’s perpetual flowing in the background.
Tomorrow we will see THE source of water in the region, the River Jordan.  See you tomorrow!
.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Holy Land Day One

Posted on January 13, 2012 by

 

Eventually I will add pictures, but I am short on time…

Day One:

I’ve never been to the Holy Land before. Being a novice has its blessings and curses, and it’s always good to start with the blessings.   As a first-timer, everything is a new and exciting experience, and I stand in awe of some of the simplest things.

Our double-decker bus (also a first for me) was filled with such an interesting mix of people. On my right sat a newlywed girl from Tel Aviv, eager to get home to see her husband again.  She was a graduate of the University of Texas, where she studied marketing and advertising. On my left I spoke with Rabbi Kate from Cornell University.  She was leading a group of Jewish students on their “Birthright Tour.”  Rabbit Kate’s community receives a grant each year to send Jewish students to Israel, which as Rabbi Kate puts it, is a birthright of all Jewish children. She was newly ordained in the reform movement of the Jewish faith (I’m guessing your figured as much since women are not ordained in more Orthodox movements of the faith).

The flight was long and not as comfortable as I would have hoped, but I did get to watch “Moneyball,” an epsiode of Doctor Who, and I nearly finished Angry Birds. I decided to begin the trip with lighter intellectual stimulation.  I’ll leave heavy meditation,  prayer writing, and biblical study for the trip home. Also a new for me was breakfast on a plane.   It wasn’t IHOP, but I still thought it was pretty cool to be eating breakfast over the Atlantic.

We arrived at our hotel after what seemed like days of travel.  We pulled into the Royal Plaza Hotel in Tiberias, a simple, modern establishment full of people  people from all over the world. Dinner was a spread of fresh fruit and vegetables, several different kinds of bread, hummus, $3 Pepsi and fish which still had their heads  (called “Peter’s Fish.” I guess Peter didn’t know how to clean fish).     The real thing I remember about dinner is how thirsty I was.  I was careful not to drink hardly anything because of some of the horror stories I had heard about drinking foreign water, so as soon as I sat down for dinner I drank like a camel starting a trek across the Gobi. But I wasn’t only thirsty for water.  I was anxious and excited, thirsty for the life giving water this trip would bring.  Of course, now that I’m in Galilee with a sense of awe and that out of body experience oh my God I’m hanging out in Galilee feeling…I have to sleep. Little did I know that the next day I would find the water after which I had been yearning in a small grotto in a small town at the top of a modest hill called Nazareth.

Posted in Uncategorized | 2 Comments

CEB Blog Tour: Christmas Evangelism

Posted on December 9, 2011 by

Jesus is sitting in the synagogue, as he normally does on the Sabbath.  Today he is the lay liturgist for the service, so he is invited to the pulpit.  ”Brother Jesus, would you please read the Word of the Lord today.”  Jesus unrolls the scroll of Isaiah and proclaims, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me.  He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor”  (CEB). He calmly sits down and then says, “By the way, this word is fulfilled in your hearing.”

The crowd raves and shouts, “Amen, Amen, Brother Jesus,” but Jesus replies, “Wait . . . I’m not finished.  You’re not going to like this, but do you remember Elijah, how he was sent to a Gentile town?  Well, once I get going I’m going to be inviting a lot of folk to this house of God and they are outsiders, outcasts, undesirable.  They probably won’t vote for the same person you will be voting for.  They probably love people you don’t think they should.  Friends, we are all in need of healing, grace, justice and mercy, especially those whom we have shut out because of our zealous following of a Law written in stone instead of the law which should be in our hearts.”

Then the congregation turned on him.  They got very angry and drove him out of town.  They even wanted him dead, but he simply went on his way.

Christmas is prime time for evangelism.  It is a time in which the world is begging for the church to proclaim the gospel.  Department stores change their displays.  Businesses hand out bonuses and host parties.  City Hall hangs holly and ivy.  Even the nominal Christian puts a tree in his or her living room.  The world is begging for the church to give meaning to this transformation.  Unfortunately, many of the self-avowed righteous (SAR’s) answer this call through Pharasaic rejection rather than holy healing.

SAR’s become offended when someone says, “Happy Holidays,” instead of “Merry Christmas.”  Never mind the fact that “Holidays” is rooted in “Holy Days” as in the “Holy Days of the Christmas season.”  Remember–it is a full twelve days.

“Keep Christ in Christmas,” some say, as if it is something which needs to be protected instead of proclaimed.  Yes Christ is at the center of Christmas, but instead of “keep,” should we rather say, “show?”

What I mean is this.  Too often our model of Evangelism is like reading Luke 6 backwards: start with “Woe to you,” then show the blessings; then heal the crowd; then meet them where they are.  Or in another way, reading Luke 6 backwards suggests that we ask for confession, then we work to heal the soul, then we form relationship.

I am suggesting we use Luke 6, as written, as our model of evangelism, especially during this time when the world is hungry.  What did Jesus do?  First, he met the crowd where they were–”Jesus came down from the mountain with them and stood on a large area of level ground.”  Second, he healed their wounds–”The whole crowd wanted to touch him, because power was going out from him and he was healing everyone.”  Finally, Jesus revealed to them the beauty of the kingdom of God–”Happy are the poor . . . Happy are the hungry . . . happy are those who weep . . . Woe to you who are rich, full, and popular.”

Having this backwards is like seeing the hungry under the overpass, and when they ask for bread we say, “You should feast on the bread of heaven.”  The act of giving IS the bread of heaven.  The disciples wanted to send the crowd to Walmart to buy their own bread.  Jesus, rather, sat them all down and said, “You feed them.”  He met their need.  He left them full, and only when they returned did he say, “I am the bread of heaven.  What you saw yesterday is the kingdom I’m talking about.”

Meet people where they are–The world is hungry.  Does Old Navy change their display for Transfiguration Sunday?  Do not reject consumerism, rather renarrate it.  Go into Old Navy and buy a sweater for someone who has none, and here’s the kicker–tell Old Navy what you did.

Meet people where they are, then heal their wounds through the Spirit of God as best you can.  Not everyone hears, “Merry Christmas” with the same joy.  For some, this is a blue season.  For some, especially those who have been wounded by the church, “Merry Christmas” may sound like hypocrisy, bigotry, and exclusivism.  Instead of rejecting a “Happy Holidays,” serve the person twelve times, once for every day of the season, and here’s the kicker–when they ask you why on earth you did that, tell them “This is what having a Merry Christmas looks like.”

Meet people where they are, heal them of their wounds, and then reveal to them the beauty of the Kingdom of God.  For the brave soul who wanders into a Christmas Eve service, ask them their name before handing them a bulletin.  Instead of telling them the hundreds of things your church does, offer to treat them to breakfast before next week’s service.  Instead of telling them they need to get to church more often, be the church for them.  Serve them.  Love them.  Invite them to your small group.  Pray for them and with them.  Instead of telling them what you love, ask them what they love and find a way for them to express their gifts in the Kingdom.

Before rejecting those who say “Merry Christmahannakwansika,” meet their needs, heal their wounds, and reveal to them the beauty of the Kingdom.  For those who love scripture, read Luke 6 and do likewise.  Meet them.  Heal them.  Show them.  Amen.

http://CommonEnglishBible.com/CEB/blogtour

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

World AIDS Day Reflection

Posted on December 1, 2011 by

Good art is a medium through which we are transported beyond ourselves.  It is a symbol, a sign, which points to a truth beyond its brushstrokes, masonry, or melody.  Without a means of pointing to the truth beyond our self, the only place to turn is inward.  When humanity turns inward, generosity, kindness, and love of neighbor becomes self-preservation, hateful discrimination, and oppression of those who seem weak.  The inward turned spirit is a world without art.

It is a world in which song has no melody, expressing only noise.  It is a world in which story has no meaning, revealing no past, no present, and no future.  It is a world in which relationship is void of touch, robbing us of held hands, the passion of a kiss and the comfortable vulnerability of an embrace.  When our brothers and sisters are dying of AIDS due to the lack of education, prevention, compassion or blindness, the world slowly turns inward and art’s funeral march begins to process.

We gather here today to give meaning to the story, to remember God’s children who have died.  We gather here today to sing louder than the noise of hatred and fear.  We gather here today to hold hands with one another, reversing the inward turn of blindness and self-preservation.  We gather here today in the hope that AIDS will be buried and the artful truth and beauty of community, compassion, and love will live.  Amen and amen!

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Pastoral Prayer, Sunday, November 20, 2011

Posted on November 20, 2011 by

Gracious God, your power was revealed when you raised Christ from the dead and seated him at your right hand to divide the nations as judge.  Guide us through Christ in the power of the Spirit, so that we may inherit your promise and be filled with the courage to embody that promise to those who are searching.

Holy Father, Father of Christ who identifies with the least of these, help us to be filled with a desire to commune with the least as we are called to commune with Christ.  Help us not simply to feed the hungry, but eat with the hungry.  Help us not simply to visit the sick, but work for healing.  Help us not simply to be an advocate for the lost but to search for them and tell them that they have been found by God.

Almighty and everlasting God, whose will it is to restore all things in your well-beloved Son, the King of kings and the Lord of lords: Mercifully grant that the peoples of the earth, divided and enslaved by sin, may be freed and brought together under his most gracious rule.  We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever as we continue to pray saying:

Our Father, who art in heaven

Hallowed be thy name

Thy kingdom come, thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven

Give us this day our daily bread

And forgive us our trespasses

As we forgive those who trespass against us

Lead us not into temptation

But deliver us from evil

For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

What We Do Know Is This

Posted on November 6, 2011 by

One day a pair of twins in their mother’s womb started talking to each other.  One said to the other, “I wonder if there’s more to life that this?”  “Why would you ask,” the other twin replied.  “We have everything we need right here.  It’s warm and cozy.  We are always being fed.  We have total freedom.  No one is telling us what to do.  We can take a nap whenever we want.  Why would you spend any time thinking about anything else?”  The first twin answered, “Oh, I’m quite happy hear, but I wonder.  You know sometimes when the walls start pushing in on us and the pressure gets a bit painful?  I wonder if that’s preparing us for something else, something outside of this world.”  The other twin said, “Yes it hurts sometimes, but that’s just the way things are.”  The first twin interrupted, “I wonder if there is a different world out there, you know, a world of light.”  “What’s light?”  “I don’t really know, but something tells me that we aren’t seeing all there is to see.  I wonder if, one day, we will be able to see who is taking care of us, the one who has given us this place of warmth and nourishment.  I wonder if we will see her face.”  The other twin thought for a moment and said, “Go suck your thumb.”

“See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God . . . what we do know is this, when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is.”  It seems as if a child in the womb waiting to be born penned these words, and it is in a way, because we are all children of God living in the hope of communion with God and the resurrection to come.  It is remarkable that the author of 1 John says that we will see God as he is because we never see anything as it is.

The other night I saw a PBS show titled, “The Fabric of the Cosmos: What is Space.”  It was a fascinating program.  Of course, I get goose bumps when thinking about the universe and all of the amazing things God created.  I think one of God’s most interesting creations was his first: light.  It’s all around us.  It allows our food to grow and our eyes to perceive the world around us.  Light is the only constant in the universe.  Throughout space, it always travels at the same speed; however, as powerful as light is, we still cannot see the world as it is.

What we see and feel and hear is always in the past.  I’ve talked about this before, but let me explain.  You may think that you are hearing me in real time, but it takes time for the sound to travel from the speakers to your ears and then it takes time for your brain to make sense of what is being said, so the words you are hearing and perceiving were actually said a fraction in the past.  It’s hardly noticeable here, but experience a fireworks show.  You see the explosion, and then a beat later you hear it.  So, you are hearing what happened in the past.  But the same also holds true with light.  What you actually see happened a fraction of a second in the past because it takes time for light to travel to your eyes.  Look at the night sky.  The stars we see are so far away that it takes thousands of years for the light to travel to us.  Because everything in the universe is moving, the stars we see aren’t actually where we see them to be.  We see them as they were thousands of years ago.  Now, this may seem a bit silly and pointless, but the truth that we never see or hear or feel anything as it is, is mind melting.  “We will see him as he is,” is astounding, and it’s something that the world simply cannot offer.  This is good news.

Today we gather to remember.  We remember our loved ones who are in communion we God.  We gather around the table to remember Christ, and here’s the mystery.  When we gather around the table, time stops, so to speak.  Our faith tells us that when we gather around the table we experience Christ in a real and present way.  Our faith also tells us that when we gather around the table we are dining with all of the saints in heaven.  Sometimes we say that we hope to see our mother again or our brother again.  The truth is that when we gather around the table . . . we do.  When we gather, Christ promises to be present; therefore all those who died in Christ are present as well.  Remember, our eyes, our ears, our hands are always working in the past.  The world knows no other way.  When we gather around the table, we taste the bread and we drink the wine, but we experience hope.  Hope remembers the past, but it is a present reality, which points us to the future.  Through God’s grace, God has given us the gift of hope.  It is the one thing in the universe in which time has not affect.  With hope we remember the past, we hold it in the present, and it points us to the future.  “All who have hope purify themselves, just as he is pure,” our scripture says today.  In other words it is this hope which allows us to see God as he is: the one who took on flesh and died so that we might live and follow his way.

We remember our loved ones today with light because light is a symbol of our hope.  After all, light is the only constant in the universe.  I wonder if that’s what the author of 1st John means when he says in chapter 2 that God is light and we are children of that light.  Life may be as confusing as this sermon, but what we do know is this:  We will see him as he is.  Amazing!  May you be filled with the light of hope this day and forever.  Amen.

Posted in sermons | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment