Second Word

The Second Word

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 “Save us!”

On Sunday, people were saying it with joy and excitement, like they maybe thought it was true. Because that’s what “Hosannah!” means – “Save us!”

On Friday, the tone is much different, both from the people, and the one thief.

Now, it’s bitter sarcasm; it’s despair that becomes mockery.

- amazing how hope can make you so fragile, teetering so precariously over love and hatred, joy and bitterness.

In a way, their hatred and bitter sarcasm shows the hope underneath, the hope that is cracking under the strain of waiting so long and feeling it will never be realized.

What keeps hope alive? What is the food of hope?

It’s memory.

We have hope that God will be merciful to us, because we remember that he has been merciful to us.

How do we remember? We tell the stories – over and over and over. We make monuments, and write books. We act the stories out, we put them into poems and songs and art and liturgy. Every week, we meet together and remind each other.

Like the Seder meal, we have hope God’s promises will be fulfilled, because we remember how they have been fulfilled. And that memory works both ways. We ask Jesus to remember us, and he asks us to remember him.

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.

Do this in remembrance of me.

“Today you will be with me in paradise.”

I am with you now in your suffering. You will be with me in paradise.

Remember this.

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

You are a promise

Year A, Proper 3
Readings: Isaiah 49:8-16a 1 Corinthians 4:1-5 Matthew 6:24-34 Psalm 131

Thus says the Lord, “I have kept you and given you as a covenant to the people…” (Is 49:8)
A covenant is a promise. God says, “I have… given you as a promise to the people…”
God has given you as a promise to this town and this place. God has given you like a promise to the people of Silsbee and Hardin County. You are part of God’s promise to the people you live around and come to know and care about.
What kind of promise? – for one, a promise of justiceWhat kind of promise? Isaiah talks about things like helping people establish themselves and get back their lost, wasted or stolen heritage. Those are promises of justice.
We are part of God’s promise to this community – and that includes working for justice for people who are being mistreated and hurt and taken advantage of.
Examples
For many years, Gary Monday served as a police officer and saw all kinds of abuse and violence and exploitation – and part of his job was to serve justice by catching the offenders and sometimes by restoring some of what was lost in the damage. Gary was part of God’s promise of justice to the people he served. He was also part of God’s promise of justice to the offenders themselves – because as Paul would argue, being shown that you’ve broken the law gives you a clear call to turn around and change.
But Gary couldn’t possibly keep the whole of God’s promise of justice to all those people by himself (though sometimes, people seem to expect that of the police). There are lots of pieces to our justice system, and lots of people involved in each of those pieces.Betty See worked for many years with victim’s services, and part of her job was to help the victims re-establish themselves – to gain back some sense of security and dignity and self-confidence.
Diane Bebee is now extending her previous work as a social worker and therapist. She’s working to establish The Roosevelt House here in Silsbee. It’s going to be a place of refuge for girls who have been temporarily taken out of their homes because of abuse or neglect.
Right in the back of the church here, sharing space with us, is the Samaritan Counseling Center. You can see the sign when you go out the kitchen door. It serves some of these same children by offering counseling to cope with the abuse they have suffered.
Earl Stover works as a judge, and his job is also part of God’s promise of justice to the people of this community. Our laws serve as guides to set down what we understand justice to be – what kinds of interactions between people reflect justice and what kinds of interactions reflect injustice… It’s the job of judges to interpret those questions in individual situations. When a judge administers justice well, it can give people the opportunity to make things right.
Justice and Grace
This is similar in some ways to the function of the service of reconciliation in our prayer book – just as our justice system doesn’t assume people are perfect, the church also doesn’t assume people are perfect, that we will never mess up, that we will never hurt each other. Of course we will – of course we do. Both the church and our legal system assume that we will mess up. They provide ways to deal with the wrong things we do and also give opportunities for us to turn around and do things differently and re-join the work and service going on.
Fr. John used to be a lawyer, serving as part of God’s promise of justice in that capacity, and now he is a priest and offers us in an even more obvious way God’s promise of justice – which includes grace and forgiveness.
All these things: making just laws, justly enforcing laws, justly interpreting laws, helping victims, helping offenders, offering avenues for reconciliation and grace and forgiveness – these are all part of the same promise of justice that God makes – and that God has given us some responsibility for upholding.
That’s a really big responsibility – to uphold God’s promise of justice - Justice is a tall order. That’s why it takes so many people doing different parts – and each doing them conscientiously. None of those parts are dispensable. Each one of us individually is not so strong or powerful, but together, and with God, we can stand up against injustices and defend people who are being hurt and taken advantage of, especially those who can’t stand up for themselves. And we can work to reconcile and restore people who are doing the hurting as well. God’s justice covers a lot of things.

Don't forget
An important part of justice is not forgetting things that are unresolved, not forgetting people who are still suffering, but making sure we remember until things are made right.
There are lots of people still stuck in bad circumstances, and they are wondering if anybody knows or cares – or if they have been forgotten by everyone, if even God has forgotten them…

But God doesn’t forget. God doesn’t forget any of the people he has made. ‘Can a woman forget [her own baby]? Even these may forget, but I will not forget you,’ God says, ‘See, I have inscribed you on the palms of my hands.’ (Is 49:15-16)God doesn’t forget any of us. He has our names written on his hands.
What can we do to remember the people and situations we should not forget?
One big way is prayer.
With her prayer beads, Bette Cheek holds in her hands the people God’s given her to remember – including everybody here at St. John’s – and everyday, she prays for us. And she makes prayer beads so other people can do the same. I’m sure many of you have some. Glenda Gray’s pictorial directory can be a similar tool. You can look at the pictures and pray for people and pray for the church. The prayer list in the bulletin is another tool - we pray aloud for these needs Sunday and Wednesday of each week. The Daughters of the King have studied and made vows to pray regularly, and they meet together to stay accountable to that calling. They also wear their crosses everyday to help them remember they have committed themselves to prayer.
Our prayer book includes prayers about every kind of situation the church feels must be remembered – and they’re laid out in a regular rotation so we cover them all. The prayers of the people we do each week also remind us of all the areas God’s hand covers – and for which we also share some responsibility. Justice is only one of them. Our worship is intentionally structured so we will be reminded on a regular basis of all the things God is concerned for – all the things God promises – for us and for everyone.
But being reminded is just the catalyst, just the first part to get things started – if I remember and then forget again, remember, forget, remember again.. without anything ever actually happening as a result, what good is that? The reason we remember is that remembering God’s promises should change the way we live.

God has given us as a promise to the people around us – and God does not forget his promises.

You are a promise.
We are a promise.

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Given to St. John's, Silsbee
May 25, 2008

Seeing and Knowing God

Easter 6, Year A
Readings: Acts 17:22-31 Psalm 66:7-18 1 Peter 3:13-22 John 14:15-21

Do you know God?
Have you ever seen God? How do you know God is real?

Bob and Joyce are driving to Houston. As they come into the city, traffic starts to pick up. Just as they enter a construction zone, Bob spots a car stalled, partly in their lane because of the construction barricade. He looks in the mirror to move over, and there’s a semi in the other lane – there’s not enough space for all three vehicles – and nowhere for Bob and Joyce to go.
They both flinch, expecting impact – and then, somehow, they’re on the other side.
“How did you do that?” Joyce asks, amazed.
“I don’t know,” Bob says. “It wasn’t me.”

How do you know God is real? Have you ever seen God?
Lots of you have children and grandchildren. Think back to holding that brand new little baby for the first time – those perfect, delicate ears, beautiful eyelashes and tiny fingernails.
Look at your own hand and the lines on your knuckles, the roadmap of purple veins just under your skin.
“The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things.” (Acts 17:24-25)
It feels like this is true – that there must be somebody responsible - It feels like there must be a God, but how do we know God is real if we can’t see God?
Can you see your eyelashes? Why not? Because they’re too close to your eyes.
Maybe we can’t see God because God is too close. Paul tells the people in Athens, “indeed he is not far from each one of us.”
Can you see your heart? Why not? Because it’s inside of you.
Maybe we can’t see God because God is inside of us. Jesus tells his disciples, “You know [the Holy Spirit], because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”

Just because you can’t see something, doesn’t mean it isn’t there.
Sometimes you can feel what you can’t see
You can’t see your eyelashes because they are too close to your eyes. But, you can move the tip of your finger near your eye and feel the tiny hairs brushing against your skin, so you know they are there.
You can’t see your heart, because your heart is inside you - but you can put your thumb in the little space between your collar bones and feel bom-bom as it pumps blood through the arteries in your neck.
I can’t see God, but there are times when I feel that God is with me. I remember once in early spring, taking a walk in the middle of the afternoon, and suddenly, I felt that God was walking with me. I didn’t see him, but I knew he was there. It seemed that if I leaned my head over, it would be resting on his shoulder.
I remember how familiar and simple it felt to be walking together like that with God, and I remember feeling surprised that it was so familiar and so simple – as though we already knew each other very well.
You don’t have to see God to know him. And you already do know God, and he knows you. “Indeed he is not far from each one of us.”

Jesus told his disciples, "I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth …. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.”
Jesus, the Father and the Spirit are all connected with each other and with us, so when we encounter God, it will probably feel familiar rather than strange and frightening.
In a way, this can make God’s presence hard to recognize. If we are expecting God to be completely different from anything we know, we may be surprised to encounter God in a way that feels close and familiar.
Philip, one of Jesus’ disciples, asked him, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”
And Jesus said, “Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father.”Don’t make it more difficult than it is – you know this already
Sometimes, we can make things more difficult than they are.
Some things are difficult and complicated; that’s true. But some things are simple, and we make them complicated when they don’t need to be.
For example, how do you feel about Algebra?
x + 2 = 5 Solve for x. If you’re like me, just hearing ‘ x’, you feel a mild panic. But relax and think about it – slow down. You already know this. It’s actually familiar. If you start with 2, how do you get to 5?
You have to let yourself recognize the familiar parts and realize that you know them so that you don’t panic or give up. Don’t make it more difficult than it is.
For some people, reading and spelling cause the panic.
How do you spell ‘Episcopalian’?
It’s so long and has all those syllables! I can’t do it.
Yes, you can – slow down – listen to the sounds. What are the letters that make those sounds? Just do one at a time. You already know this. It’s actually familiar. Don’t make it more difficult than it is.
Learning to read is similar – for someone learning to read, looking at all those words can be intimidating. They’ll just start guessing. You have to tell them, “Slow down, look at what’s there; don’t guess.“
When it connects – that those letters represent familiar words – it’s like epiphany – like revelation.
Knowing God is similar. It may seem intimidating or even impossible to think about trying to know God.
How can I know God? I’ve never seen God. God is totally ‘other’ – completely beyond human comprehension.
Except that Jesus and Paul both say it’s not like that.
We’re God’s children, Paul explains, so we know God already, because God made us and takes care of us. In him we live and move and have our being, and He is not far from each one of us. We know the Spirit, Jesus says, because he is with us and will be in us.
God is familiar, even if we can’t put words to it or explain it. So don’t worry about what you can’t see, what you don’t know; look at what’s there. We’ve seen God reflected to us in thousands of ways. We’ve seen God reflected through people and events; we’ve seen God reflected through the beauty of the world around us; we’ve seen God reflected in scripture, in the liturgy, and we’ve seen God reflected in our own hearts.
CS Lewis says we each have a ‘God-shaped hole’ in our hearts, so even before we recognize what’s missing in our lives, the shape of the emptiness traces an outline of what God must be like to fill it.
Don’t make knowing God more difficult than it is – you already know God. And He knows you.
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Given to St. John's, Silsbee
April 27, 2008

Taking away sin

Year A - Epiphany 2
Readings: Isaiah 49:1-71 Corinthians 1:1-9John 1:29-42Psalm 40:1-12


John the Baptist points to Jesus and says 'Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.'
This is a really central part of how we understand who Jesus is and what he does for us.
Jesus is the Lamb of God
and he takes away the sin of the world.
But it's kind of a complicated idea, and it requires some background to get a grasp on what it means and how it works.
I want to look at three things mainly:
What does 'Lamb of God' mean?
What is sin?
How does Jesus take it away?
First, what does it mean to say Jesus is the Lamb of God?
It's an image that takes a lot from the context of the society in which Jesus and John the Baptist lived. For many thousands of years, people have made their living raising animals for food and other benefits. In the area where John and Jesus lived, many people raised sheep, which were a key component in that society's economy. It might be like the buffalo for the Plains Indians or whales for people groups living around the Arctic. Or it might be like oil or timber for this area.
Many people during the time of the Hebrew scriptures raised sheep, so there are a lot of stories relating to shepherds and sheep. Back in Genesis, Abel, one of Adam and Eve's sons, brought a lamb to offer God. It represented the return on his work, and he was giving it to God. We still do that; it just looks a little different. We don't bring live animals up here and put them on the altar, but we do bring offerings to God from the return on our work - and in a money-based economy, what we usually bring is some form of money. It's even still called an 'offering'.
This idea of an offering of thanksgiving was one association John's disciples could make when John pointed at Jesus and said, 'Here is the Lamb of God...'
Depending on the kind of offering, sometimes the priests and the people who brought it would eat part of it. Today, a lot of people brought food also to celebrate another year at St. John's and hear what the church has been able to do with its resources and time, so if someone brought deer sausage, that would maybe in some way be similar.
Another association is that of a sin offering. Later Jewish laws for worship included an elaborate system of sacrifices to pay for sins. For one kind of sin, if you were the king, you'd have to bring a cow; if you were a prince, you might have to bring a male goat. If it was for a sin you did on purpose, intentionally, you'd probably have to pay extra for it, along with a sin offering. If it was a sin you did unintentionally or just by being careless, the penalty would be less. Under this system, a lamb was one type of offering made to pay for sin.
So, when John pointed at Jesus and said, 'Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world,' this was part of the meaning.
Another very important story relating to Jesus as the Lamb of God is the Passover story in Exodus. The people of Israel became slaves in Egypt for a long time until God sent Moses to lead them out of slavery. The only problem was that the Pharaoh didn't want to let them go. God send 10 plagues on Egypt to diminish Pharaoh's attachment to the Israelites. Part of the story of the plagues is the story of the Passover, when God sent the final plague, which caused the first-born of every household to die.
God instructed Moses to tell each family to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on the door of their house, and they were protected from the destruction of the plague. On that night, Pharaoh let them go, so they were protected from death and also freed from slavery. For more than three thousand years now, since about the 13th century BC, the Jews have celebrated Passover each year, re-enacting and remembering God's deliverance. This story is also part of our story as Christians.
When John pointed at Jesus and said, 'Here is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!' his students who heard him could relate it to many things: an offering to God, a sacrifice to pay for sins, and a reminder of God's deliverance from slavery and death.
So, on to the second question - What is sin?
Sin is a kind of slavery and also a kind of death, and Christ's sacrifice delivers us from these. But thankfully few, if any of us have any direct experience of slavery, and though we have experience with death, it's still very hard to understand on this side of it.
Sin has also been described as a separation - separation from God. It's a broken connection, a missing relationship that ought to be there, an estrangement.
Sin can be defined in many ways.
One way to think of it is that sin is a kind of debt.
What is a debt?
A debt is when you owe something, like when you borrow money or finance something, or when somebody buys you something and you promise to pay them back.
Now, I should clarify that I'm not saying that debt is a sin. I'm saying that sin can be thought of as a kind of debt. Debt is one metaphor to understand what sin is.
So, if you're in debt, I'm not saying that makes you a sinner. A lot of people are in debt, including me. Probably almost everybody either currently is in debt or has been at some point. That's partly what makes it a good metaphor, because people can relate to what being in debt means. We know what causes it, what results from it, what it feels like to be in debt and hopefully also what it feels like to get out of debt.
So, sin can be thought of as a kind of debt. And a debt is when you owe something.
On a ledger, it's a negative number. It's negative both in the sense that nobody likes it and also in the sense that it's the opposite of a positive number. To cancel it out, you have to put an equal or bigger positive number in there.
Because what is a negative?
It's a lack - an absence - something is missing - it's like a hole.
Here's another way to think of it.
This glass is empty.
How do you get it not to be empty? Do you remove the emptiness? Take away the emptiness?
No, but you can put something in, and when you put something in, it's not empty anymore.
A few weeks ago in Sunday school, we were talking about evil, and there's one idea that says maybe evil is a kind of lack - a kind of emptiness or a kind of nothing - where there ought to be good, there's not. It's similar to the way darkness isn't exactly a thing itself - it's just how we describe where there isn't any light.
How do you get rid of darkness? You bring in a light.
So to get rid of evil, you don't exactly take it away; instead, you put something good there.
How does Jesus take away sin?
He puts himself in the place of the sin - and even after all that the payment of sin takes out of him, Jesus is still infinitely good.
Infinite good minus the sins of the whole world is still infinite good.
What is happening when Jesus 'takes away' the things where we're lacking?
Something positive happens.
How does he remove a separation? By making a connection.
How does he take away emptiness? By filling it.
How does he subtract a debt? By paying it.
Sin is a debt, and Jesus pays the debt of the whole world by becoming a sacrifice. He takes away what's lacking in us by filling it with his Spirit. He dispells our darkness by making himself a light that shines inside us.
Like the Psalmist, who was lifted out of the desolate pit - pulled out of a depressing hole - and God put a new song in his mouth. 'Great things are they that you have done, O LORD my God!...Oh, that I could make them known and tell them! But they are more than I can count.'
And also similar is the way Paul describes God's grace given to the members of the church in Corinth.
'I give thanks to my God always for you because of the grace of God that has been given you in Christ Jesus, for in every way you have been enriched in him, in speech and knowledge of every kind -- just as the testimony of Christ has been strengthened among you -- so that you are not lacking in any spiritual gift..'
In a minute, we're going to re-enact a lot of this story by telling it again. We do this all the time - every week, because it's important and we need to learn it and remember it. So pay attention.
It's a good story.
Jesus is the Lamb of God and he takes away the sin of the world.
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Given to St. John's, Silsbee
Jan. 20, 2008