Monday, December 21, 2020

Dreams Matter from Matthew 1:18-25 on December 20

 
Have you ever had a really crazy dream?

I have had a couple, thousand, in which my entire recollection is about the desperate need I had to wake up, because something bad or scary was happening.

Some of them have been about going into a really small tight space. I’m a little bit claustrophobic, so when it comes to tight squeezes, I’m out, and I pop up awake!

I remember years ago going to Howe’s Caverns and being unable to go through a labyrinth of rocks, and backing away because I couldn’t see far enough ahead to see the way out. No, not happening! And dreaming about it is just as bad!

And I’ve also had a series of dreams where I would wake up, go back to sleep and end up at the same exact spot in the same dream and have to wake up again!

One night, after going through that three times I finally got up, went to the living room and sat in the recliner for a half hour to break the cycle.

The latest dream was a doozy.

I went to someone’s house to take them to a party, but they weren’t ready yet, so I decided to run to the store for some reason, which was in what appeared to be central Manhattan.

There I promptly got lost and was terrified I wouldn’t find my way back to my friend’s house in time to go to the party. Did I mention the friend was wearing what looked like a wedding dress?

Not that all dreams are bad.

Sometimes there are moments of remembering people and places you haven’t seen in a while. Sometimes dreams are all about what happened to you that particular day.

And other times they are a seeming mishmash of thoughts and experiences all randomly bundled together, as though in your sleep your brain found a box of memories on a shelf, and emptied the contents in a pile on the bed to sort through all before putting it all back in order.

Crazy dreams, I have had!

But I can’t ever remember a time when an angel of the Lord came to me in a dream and said like he did to Joseph, “marry the girl!” Not even with Sue!

Now the scripture doesn’t say that Joseph was sleeping, just that he was “thinking about these things” when in a dream an angel of the Lord came to him.

The language is consistent with the way Matthew presents these things throughout his gospel!

This dream, this vision is a fulfillment of the words of the prophet Joel 2:28, where he says, “Later, I will give my Spirit to everyone. Your sons and daughters will prophesy. Your old men will have dreams, and your young men will see visions”

While Luke speaks much more directly, saying “an angel appeared” to Mary, Matthew speaks more to Joseph’s being one who is “filled with the Spirit” and already prepared to serve the Lord when the call comes in a vision!

The bottom line is that this child is so important and the circumstances so unusual, that both Mary and Joseph needed to know who the child was and that indeed it was the Lord’s doing that he was being born in this way!

So, Joseph, hearing the call to faithful action goes and does what he is instructed to do: he marries Mary and names their son Jesus.

And it is not the only time that Joseph listens and then jumps into action.

Joseph is in fact a model of a disciple, a man or woman of faith who listens and then immediately starts looking for ways to put their faith into action.

Joseph, warned by an angel, takes his family safely to Egypt, even though that must have been wildly confusing, and then when the word comes from yet another angel to go home, bundles up the family and moves back to Nazareth.

Faith is never something that we pull out for a moment and then put back on the shelf. Rather, faith, is the medium that allows God’s call to us to become action.

In fact, it appears that Matthew would love for us to get something real clear in telling us about Joseph’s faith. Real disciples do not just listen and nod their heads in agreement with what they hear.

Real disciples get up and get going and start making a difference, just like Joseph.

So, what is it that God has been inviting you to do? What message has the Lord been sending? Isn’t it time to get up and get going!

And Joseph named Him Jesus! Amen
.

Monday, December 14, 2020

What's in a Name from Luke 1:57-66 on December 13, 2020

“His name is Yohannes.”

So, what’s in a name?

Trying to decide what to name a new child is an amazingly challenging task!

There are all kind of traditions, many which are visible in our own congregation. Like the tradition of naming at least one child of each gender after the parent of that gender.

So, Candy Burnett is actually named after her mother Elizabeth, hence the nickname Candy. And Horace Ketcham was named after his father, who was named after his father, and so Horace, Junior and Lucky Ketcham.

So too in the Miedema family, where Bud was named after his father Thomas (who was also nicknamed Bud, now I’m confused) and Penny who was named after her mother Janet. Yes, she is actually Janet Miedema Antona.

I for one am happy that not all parents follow that tradition. While my father’s name was Jack, and I could have lived with that name, I fear what nickname would have followed me.

And I am thrilled to have not been named after either of my grandfathers, Rufus Oscar or Percival Carrol.

I remember a few years ago that in the book Freakanomics they took up the traditions surrounding the naming of children. Written by an economist and an author, they explored the statistics of naming - and the explanations to come up with some fascinating insights.

One was that for many years in the United States, the current generation of children were given either the names of family members, or the names that were most popular among the wealthy in the generation before.

The authors conclusion was that some parents were giving their children names that they perceived as that of successful people in the hopes that the children would follow the pathway of upward mobility.

Different they noted than the tradition at the time of giving children unique names, so they would not be lost in the crowd, or what seems to be a new tradition, throwback names: Warren, Oliver, Greyson, Lilliana, Lucien, and Noah.

Naming a child in hopes that they will be a great person and do great things is like other traditions, where the child’s name comes from an idea about who the child will be.

“His name is Yohannes.”

Elizabeth knew what his name was to be and when the naming ceremony and circumcision time came on the eight day and the Rabbi came to do what was tradition, the men in the family wanted to name the child after his father.

After all, Zechariah was going to be able to say his name out loud as was tradition.

So, the men in the family took on the responsibility on his behalf and wanted to name his “Zechariah”! I mean, what a great name, the name of a man who had encountered an angel of the Lord in the Holy place!

What could be better! How could any child not have a blessed life with such a blessed name?

But Elizabeth said, “No, his name is Yohannes.”

And so, thinking her perhaps a bit befuddled and wondering perhaps if her husband would overrule her, something that actually happened back then, they asked Zechariah.

He wrote “His name is Yohannes.”

And in that moment of faith, believing with his whole heart now what the angel had said, his tongue was released and the praises of Almighty God flowed from his lips!

You know, sometimes we forget that we are reading a story originally written in Greek translated to English. We forget that Jesus name in Hebrew would have been Yeshua, Joshua, or transliterated into Greek as Jesus.

Yeshua is the Hebrew name meaning “he who saves his people”, just like Yohannes is the name meaning “God has been gracious”.

Names are important.

Not only do they identify us, but they connect us to a larger story than just our own. The connect us to generations that have gone before and they connect us to the possibilities that lie ahead.

Today, once again, as we will next Sunday, we baptize a child who is connected to a story of faith that comes through his parents and a story of faith that he will continue.

It is always a privilege and an honor to baptize such a child and to glimpse for a moment what it is that God might be doing in this story.

A moment of insight much like that at the naming and circumcision of John, the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, and one of the blessed sons of God.

Today, we pray for Matthew Joseph Terwilliger, his parents, his sponsors, his family and the whole church, that this sacramental moment will color and guide his life as he is connected to the amazing story of God’s grace given in Jesus.

And we pray, that as we think of John the son of Zechariah and Elizabeth, we would see in him all that God was doing, as he prepared the way for the Lord who was to follow, Jesus.

“His name is John.” Amen.

Monday, December 07, 2020

Simple Faith from Luke 1:26-38 on December 6, 2020

So, are you a Zechariah or a Mary?

One of the things I have always wanted to be is fearless. I am not, not at all. But it seems to me that being fearless is kind of amazing.

Think of all the opportunities in life you might have taken if you were fearless! If only the “do not be afraid” thing worked for us, think of where you might be right now.

Not that where we are is bad. God has a way of using not only our strengths but also our weaknesses to build his kingdom. And God is using us now in ways that are amazing. But just imagine how life would change if we gave up being afraid for Advent, and chose instead, fearlessness.

Now, I am not talking about recklessness. That is a whole different deal. Choosing to drive crazy fast, well over the speed limit, on a two-lane highway not knowing what is ahead seems to me is more foolhardy that fearless.

Fearlessness to me is the courage to do hard things, even though they are hard. To try cooking a crazy new main dish without knowing what it will taste like. Deciding to enter a marathon so that you will have to train and get ready.

Traveling to a country you’ve never been to, to see what it is like. Signing up for college classes after you have been out of school for a long time.

My wife Sue is fearless.

She decided to go to graduate school almost 15 years after finishing college. She decided that she wanted to try doing mini triathlons, while knowing that running would be a huge problem.

She has taught herself with friends help how to make quilts that are simply amazing, knowing full well that she would make mistakes and have to start over.

The great symbol of her fearlessness is her starting a crocheted prayer blanket, getting halfway done, realizing that it is coming out the wrong size, and tearing it all out and starting over. That in my book is just crazy! But for her the destination justifies the journey!

To do it, you have to be strong willed. You have to be confident in yourself, that even if you don’t know the way, you will get there!

You have to believe deep in your soul that you will figure it out. You have to be willing to trust the mission, the guide, and yourself.

Sound like anyone you know? Are you a Zechariah or a Mary?

You have to be willing to take a path that leads to an unknown outcome, even if that is frightening and might lead to some hurts or problems. Having a willingness to go where others might not see what the results will, but for some reason, you do.

While Zechariah last week wasn’t fearless and couldn’t see the outcome, Mary is made of stronger stuff. One of the most amazing things about Mary is her fearlessness.

Visited by an angel, this remarkably strong, wise, faithful, young woman says “yes” to God, because while the pathway is unclear, the problems, the setbacks, the dangers, the toil - she sees the outcome the angel envisions for her, and fearlessly says, yes!

How did Mary put it according to Luke, “I am the Lord’s servant! Let it happen as you have said.”

Now I don’t know about you, but I am much more a Zechariah than a Mary! I would probably be like, Bill Cosby in that old Noah sketch when God tells him to build an ark, and he says, “right”!

Zechariah, even though as faithful and righteous as Mary, sees only the problems, the challenges, the impossibility of it all. Zechariah is the “grinch” of the real Christmas story.

He is not fearless.

He is devoted, his heart is right with God, but he can’t see far enough down the road to see the possibilities and long for them.

I may have told you that our daughter Katie got a Peleton bike, and in order to encourage her I challenged her to a 30 day ride off. What was I thinking?!

I have a plain old stationary bike I use and it is not the same as the fancy schmancy Peleton bike, but we both are using the Peleton resources to ride, her on the bike with the huge fancy screen and me on the app on an old ipad

Let me be clear, riding almost every day is hard!

Everything hurts, arms, legs, back, posterior. I lost the first challenge. The bet was the winner had to buy the other a coffee and a bagel. I fully intend to lose all the challenges if I can.

But here is the thing. Both of us are putting in massive miles. I had almost 425 accumulated yesterday. And yes, Katie is still ahead of me, all because Katie is fearless.

While the family argues sometimes that she is more like me and Brian is more like Sue, in this Katie is just like her mother, fearless enough to see the possibility of amazing end results and then choosing to go way out on a limb to make those results possible.

Just like Mary did!

Choosing to say yes, because what was important was not the journey, but the destination.

Are you fearless like Mary? Or afraid like Zechariah?

Is there a task, an opportunity you get to get to, to take, but haven’t yet because your fear is holding you back?

Now is the time to listen to the angel and get going.

Mary was amazing. An example for all of time of a faithful follower listen to God and being fearless!

Be like Mary. Amen.

Monday, November 30, 2020

Not Prepared from Luke 1:5-20 on November 29

So, have you ever been told something that you totally failed to process?

I love watching the TV shows like America’s Funniest Home Videos, where someone is hinting to another person about something really important and they just totally don’t get it.

Like the daughter who is trying to hint to her mom that she is pregnant, but mom is just not tuned in.

All of us have been there at one time or another! We are off in our own little worlds, thinking about something entirely different, without a clue about what is happening right before our eyes.

And then, of course, totally unprepared for what we are about to see and hear.

However, none of us ever had a case of it as bad as Zechariah!

Even though he is in the Holy Place, a place where Zechariah should have known God could and would visit and leave messages, Zechariah is clueless.

Because Zechariah was focused and prepared for what he thought he was supposed to do, not at all prepared for what God was going to do!

Kind of like some of us, who are so totally into Christmas preparations, that we are not prepared for the coming of the Christ!

Unintentionally, Zechariah becomes a striking example of what can go wrong when we take our responsibilities seriously, but don’t see the big picture.

We ought to be asking: What is God doing here? What does God really want? And, most importantly perhaps, what does God want me to be doing as his faithful follower.

Zechariah was a Levite, a descendent of one of the sons of Jacob, whom God made Israel. Levi’s progeny from the time of Moses were to see to the work of worship of Yahweh by the people of Israel.

They watched over the Tabernacle, the holy tent that traveled with Israel in the wilderness and then sat in Shiloh. And then after the Temple was built by Solomon in Jerusalem, were responsible for the sacrifices and the other regular daily rituals and worship activities that when on there.

Every male Levite who was physically able, went to Jerusalem for two weeks to serve in the Temple, with responsibilities both mundane and profound, including the responsibility morning and evening to offer a sacrifice of incense on the incense altar in the Holy part of the Temple, right outside the door to the Holy of Holies.

The incense was a visual and aromatic symbol of the prayers of the people rising up to heaven.

And this time when Zechariah went up to Jerusalem, he was chosen by a lottery to be the one who would burn the incense and then come out and bless all the people gathered.

He was focused, he was prepared, he was going to do his job exactly right. His mind was on the task, a task that most Levites would only perform once in a lifetime, if at all.

And then it all went off the rails. Because God had other plans!

Has that ever happened to you? Is it happening now?

No one expects an angel!

But the angel appeared anyway!

A son would be born to Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, a son God had chosen to be a special messenger to his people Israel.

Now no one knows for sure what Zechariah was thinking, but one has to be suspicious, that Zechariah was completely thrown off track.

He was focused on getting the tasks right, doing the job to the best of his ability, with no thought that in burning the incense, his most fervent prayers would be caught up in the smoke!

It never occurred to Zechariah, that the God he worshipped and longed to serve with his whole heart might right then and right there answer those prayers.

Have you ever been preparing so carefully for something that you end up being unprepared for what really happens?

Have you ever prayed fervently, with your whole heart, never suspecting that God’s answer might come right as you were praying?

We hope for an answer. We long for an answer some day.

But none of us expect an angel!

But there he was, frightening as can be, and in the moment, all Zechariah could think was, “wait, what, not now, I have to get this task done, I have to go back out and bless the people!

Oh jeez, not now, I can’t have a son, a messenger like Elijah, a forerunner of the Messiah, because I have things to do.”

And in that moment, Zechariah, faithful Zechariah, ever so slightly pushes away God’s answer.

But God is not surprised, nor hurt, nor moved.

Instead he seals the deal with the reluctant Zechariah by sealing his lips, so that Zechariah, who for a moment forgot all about the power of prayer, would understand something new about prayer and the God to whom his prayers ascended.

Its as if God touched Zechariah’s lips with a burning coal, just like he did Isaiah’s, burning away the sin of Zechariah’s doubt, but leaving a mark that would remind Zechariah of his encounter with the angel.

Not another spoken prayer, until Zechariah, you understand its power!

Zechariah had prayed for like forever that he and Elizabeth have a child, and that God would fulfill his promise to Israel, but it had simply never occurred to Zechariah that God might be planning to answers his prayers!

How about you?

What are you praying for?

What are you praying about?

Do you really understand the power of prayer?

And, are you really prepared for the one who is coming?

Amen.

Monday, November 23, 2020

Give Thanks from 1 Thessalonians 5:12-24 on November 22

So, are you ready for Thanksgiving? You have the turkey, the stuffing, the green bean casserole?

Ask my wife Sue about the green bean casserole. She says the only blessed thing about it is how good it feels when you stop eating it.

You see, she’s not a real vegetable lover, so generally, we don’t include squash or even candied yams on our table, or even candied carrots. Maybe some corn.

And this year like last year we will have roasted brussels sprouts, but those are for all the adults at the table, including Noah! Not Sue.

The wonder of Thanksgiving that feeling of being blessed when we gather with the folks we love and the folks that love us.

But with COVID cases once again growing, our celebration of being blessed is threatened, and our impatience with it is growing!

We want everyone to be safe! We want everyone to get through this unscathed! But we want everyone at the table too, and this virus is just making it all a mess.

And in a world of immediacies, we find the slow grind of more and more and more cases exhausting. We know we have to do what we can to stop the growth of the virus, because we have seen the potential devastation it can cause.

We don’t want our hospitals overflowing, even if they can treat the disease better now than they could in March and April.

We don’t want to lose loved ones, or have them sick now, and potentially sick for months and years after the virus has done its damage.

But we are tired and sad and strung out and we just want the world to go back to the way it was without Covid. But…

It’s not, and so we search, in our better moments, our thinking and praying moments, asking God to enlighten us, open our hearts and minds to the Spirit’s presence so we can be of one mind in facing these troubled days.

We want to know, as we the community of faith, how to face the challenges our world is now experiencing, what are we to do, how we are to think, and what is to be our approach to making a difference.

And it turns out that Paul answers that question in 1 Thessalonians 5, when he tells the folks in Thessalonica to “Always be joyful and never stop praying. Whatever happens, keep thanking God because of Jesus Christ. This is what God wants you to do.”

Rejoice, pray, and thank God!

You see, Paul is not telling you how to feel about what is happening around you.

You are welcome to be crabby if you need to, you are welcome to be a bit down about it all. You are even welcome to go on Facebook and whine to the world about how Covid is screwing up your plans for the Guinness book record turkey roast!

Well, actually, we would all appreciate if you didn’t. There is far too much whining on Facebook already!

But, you can feel bad about it all.

However, a better choice would be to rejoice, pray, and thank God!

Rejoice, because there are many things besides Covid that are happening in our lives. In some houses a new baby has, a new marriage has taken place, a new job has been started.

In other houses, there is a full table, someone has recovery from a scary illness, or someone has retired. In some a soldier has come home, in others a college student without cooties, and in some while life has been rough, a moment of peace as come.

Yes, there are troubles. And we could focus on them.

Instead, Paul reminds us that instead we can rejoice, most importantly because God has sent Jesus into our lives and the strengthening power of the Holy Spirit, and the appropriate response to that is always to bring the sacrifice of praise!

We are to be jubilant in all things. Even in the struggles. Because as the people of God we see beyond the struggles to an amazing God who even in the midst of the storm is steering the boat and guiding us safely home.

And, beyond rejoicing, we are also to pray.

Not wimpy little prayers, but big whopping prayers, asking for God’s love and care and presence and power to be revealed in the midst of the storm.

To raise up a lighthouse, or to open our eyes so we can see it. To steer us away from the rocks, or if we crash, to get out of the boat safely and onto shore.

God will be with us until the end of time, so let’s act like it, acknowledging in prayer, private and in community, that the God who loves us, is loving us in the midst of all we are struggling with.

That God has us, like the rescuer who has a grip on us that won’t let the floods sweep us away, guiding us to solid ground, where we will be able once again to stand and lift our hearts in prayer.

We are to pray with boldness, with joy, and with thanks, because we have seen our mighty God touch the lives of all kinds of folks, including you and I.

What an amazing experience it would be if every person who is listening to our worship online today, and everyone who is here in person, wrote out a list of all the things we are thankful for, and then we attached them all end to end just to see how the long the list was?

What do you think?

Would it be ten feet long? 20? 50? And even then, would it contain all the wonderful things that we have been blessed with, the people, the experiences, the material things, and most importantly, the relationships, with family and friends, with the community of faith and with God.

We have reason to give thanks! And when we add that to our joys and our prayers, is has the possibility of completely overwhelming our whining about all the stuff we whine about.

Yes, there are reasons to pout, feel sad, and wish it was different.

But there is also reason to rejoice, pray and give thanks.

The choice is ours!

But which one do you think will change our hearts and make us more like Jesus?

And having rejoiced, prayed and given thanks, God will bless us with the peace that passes all understanding, even in the midst of Covid.

May it be so! Amen.