children – Salvaged Faith

No Christmas without Justice and Hope

Posted on November 29, 2020Leave a comment

Text: Genesis 38: 1-30

In Diana Butler Bass’s book, Grounded, she reminds us that our roots are far deeper than our memories.
We are shaped and influenced by generations that have come and gone, whether or not we remember their stories.

In one of my pastoral care classes in seminary we studied family systems and how the patterns and stories of our ancestors influence us today.
We were asked to map out our family tree and to notice how our actions are influenced by the stories we find.
In fact, I brought my own family system with me today… five generations worth of people who lived and loved and died.
I have discovered through this process the strength of matriarchs, the importance we place on loyalty and fidelity, a deep sense of togetherness, but also why I carry such heavy expectations for myself.

However, the story of my identity is not limited to this family tree.
As a person of faith, my ancestral line and spiritual heritage is found all throughout the pages of scripture.
And so during this season of Advent, as we prepare for Christ to make a home in our lives once again, I find myself remembering his own family tree.
Matthew included in his genealogy of Jesus familiar names like Abraham and Judah and David. But he also breaks with custom to specifically name four women: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.
Each week during Advent, we will be exploring their stories to discover how they shape our lives.
How do they ground our sense of purpose and identity?
How do they help us navigate the trials and tribulations of our lives?
How might we call upon these ancestors and their faith in God to help us persevere in our own journey?

Too often, we have neglected their stories and their voices, but this Advent, we will remember each one.
After all, there would be no Christmas without them.
So let’s start where Matthew does:
Abraham was the father of Isaac.
Isaac was the father of Jacob.
Jacob was the father of Judah and his brothers.
Judah was the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar.

Her story begins in Genesis, chapter 38:
6 Judah married his oldest son Er to a woman named Tamar.
If we situate her story in its context, there are some interesting family dynamics to explore.
First of all, there is a pattern in this family of God’s promises being passed down not through the eldest son, but through the favored one.
Trickery and deception is part of this family’s DNA. Abraham lied about Sarah being his wife. Jacob stole the blessing from Esau. In the chapter right before we meet Tamar, Jacob’s sons turn on their sibling Joseph, their father’s favorite.
While some wanted to kill him, Judah, the fourth born, proposed they sell him into slavery but they lie and tell their father Joseph is dead.
As this chapter begins, Judah, like ancestors before him, moves off on his own into Canaanite territory, marries, and has three sons. His seeks to establish his own legacy.
His eldest, Er, marries Tamar, but things are not happily ever after.
7 But the Lord considered Judah’s oldest son Er immoral, and the Lord put him to death.
Tamar is left vulnerable.
She has no children.
She is no longer a virgin.
Her only hope for security comes through a custom of the day called levirate marriage.

It provided a way to care for a widow and continue the family line by requiring the brother of the deceased to step in and produce a son.
But Er’s brother, Onan, was just as bad as his brother.
He refused to plant his seed and complete the task because it would diminish his own inheritance and legacy. Yet, he continued to use Tamar as he pleased.
As Tom Fuerst notes, “Onan makes an active choice to deny Tamar justice and leave her in a position of vulnerability, where her safety, identity, and future remain questionable.” (Underdogs and Outsiders, p. 20)
So, God strikes Onan dead, too.

Under the law, Judah had two options.
He could continue to welcome her in his home, betrothed to his youngest, who was still a child.
Or he could release with an unsandaling ceremony, allowing her the freedom to marry again (Deuteronomy 25:7-10).
He does neither.
He sends her away to live as a widow in her father’s home.
Helen Pearson notes in her book Mother Roots that “as long as Judah had a son, he had no right to turn her away and give her back to her father, an act of total rejection on Judah’s part and an even greater humiliation for Tamar.” (p.56)
She was trapped by an unjust application of the law.
All she could do was wait and hope.
Wait for a child to grow up.
Hope that Judah and Shelah would fulfill their promises.
And so, she waited and hope and prayed for justice.

Years passed.
Shelah became a man, but Judah failed to act.
Rather than sit back and wait and continue to be unjustly treated, Tamar made a decision.
She cast off her widows robes, put on the veil of a virgin, and went to confront him.
Maybe the confrontation itself would remind Judah of what was right and he would take her home to his son, Shelah.
Maybe she was going to press for her release and freedom by spitting in his face and taking off his sandal, as the law allowed.
Either way, there was hope and possibility for justice to be done and for her to be restored.

But Judah doesn’t recognize her.
More than that, he thinks she is a prostitute.
And he is lonely.
He’s far from home, his wife is now dead, no one will know…
And so he propositions her.

I think Tamar’s game plan changes in this moment.
A new possibility for fulfilling the law and bringing about justice comes into being.
As Helen Pearson writes, “With sacred intent Tamar acted to preserve the name and inheritance of her dead husbands, Judah’s sons. Trusting her life to the Lord of the Hebrews, Tamar believed that justice and redemption would come to her.” (p. 60)
She makes a deal with him.
And the payment for her services is secured with a deposit: Judah’s seal, cord, and staff.
They were markers of his identity, “symbols of his authority” (Mother Roots, p. 59), and would create a kind of security for Tamar if in fact this plan works as intended.
It does. Tamar conceives.

Word gets back to Judah that his widowed daughter-in-law is pregnant, and NOW he decides to uphold the law.
The law which required the death penalty for someone having sex outside of marriage.
Conveniently ignoring his own transgressions, he was prepared to condemn her.
But then Tamar produces his seal, his cord, and his staff.
26 Judah recognized them and said, “She’s more righteous than I am, because I didn’t allow her to marry my son Shelah.” Judah never knew her intimately again.
The man who was so quick to judge and condemn is now convicted by her righteousness.
When Tamar gives birth, Judah claims the twin sons as his very own.
A future is secured… not only for Tamar, but for the entire family of Judah.
More than that…
Tamar’s actions are instrumental to God’s plans for the birth of a Savior.

On this first Sunday of Advent, we often focus on hope.
But I am reminded that there can be no hope without the promise of justice.
You see, hope is the force that allows us to keep pursuing what is right in the face of everything that is not.
It is holding on to the possibility that things can and will be different.
We hope because we are unwilling to accept things as they are.
We hope because we believe that there is a future in which dignity and righteousness will prevail.

In the story of Tamar, we discover a situation in which the law designed to provide security and protection was being thwarted.
Judah and Onan and Shelah abandoned the law for their own benefit.
And by refusing to live according to the law, the person it was designed to protect became a victim.
She was forgotten.
Overlooked.
Isolated.
Alone.
Yet she clung to hope.
She remembered God’s promises and God’s laws and worked to bring about God’s justice.
As my colleague, Rev. Elizabeth Grasham writes, “Tamar shines a light into unjust, corrupt, and banal violations of the law and how they hurt women like her and she uses every resource at her disposal to get what she deserves.”

Her legacy became a part of the ministry of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
He called out hypocrisy in the leaders of his time, who used or ignored the law in order to benefit themselves and oppress others.
I think of the story of the woman caught in adultery we find in John 8:1-11.
When she is brought to Jesus by the religious leaders, they wanted to stone her… following the same law that would have condemned Tamar.
But where was the man who had also been involved?
Surely if she had been caught in the act, he had been present as well.
Was this really about the woman, or were they simply using her to make a point and advance their own agendas?
Jesus refuses to play their games and instead confronts their own sinful and guilty hearts.
God’s justice, after all, is not just about getting what we deserve when we have done something wrong.
It is about seeking to restore relationships, repair harm, and rejoice in the dignity of all people.

As we prepare our own hearts and lives for the birth of Christ this year, the story of Tamar invites us to seek justice and to persevere in hope.
Perhaps we have been like Judah: quick to act in our own self-interest without examining how our actions have harmed others.
Advent is a time for us to confess and repent and make things right.
Perhaps we have been like Tamar: forgotten or trapped by situations out of our control.
Advent is a time for us to cling with hope to the promise that God does not forget the downtrodden, but brings about justice for the oppressed.
Perhaps we are simply bystanders in this story, and I am challenged by their own inaction and refusal to name the harm.
Advent is a time for us to use our own voices and bodies to act and bring about the future that we long for, not only for ourselves, but for all of God’s people.
Advent is a time for light to shine on all places of injustice, for truth to be revealed, and hope-filled actions that prepare the way for the child of Mary.
May it be so.

Sing! Play! Summer! – The Old Rugged Cross

Posted on June 30, 2019Leave a comment

Text: 1 Corinthians 1:18-29

A young rabbi found a serious problem in his new congregation.
During the Friday service, half the congregation stood for the prayers and half remained seated, and each side insisted that theirs was the true tradition.
Nothing the rabbi said or did moved toward solving the impasse.
Finally, in desperation, the young rabbi sought out the synagogue’s 99-year-old founder. He met the old rabbi in the nursing home and poured out his troubles.
“So tell me,” he pleaded, “was it the tradition for the congregation to stand during the prayers?”
“No,” answered the old rabbi.
”Ah,” responded the younger man, “then it was the tradition to sit during the prayers?”
“No,” answered the old rabbi.
“Well,” the young rabbi responded, “what we have is complete chaos! Half the people stand and shout, and the other half sit and scream.”
“Ah,” said the old man, “that was the tradition.”

Like that Jewish congregation of sitters and standers, one of the things that I appreciate about the people of Immanuel is that no matter what differences you have, you still come together to worship and serve.
There have been winners and losers and conflict in our history.
There have been folks who got their way and those that didn’t,
people who stayed and people who left.
Sometimes conflict appeared over silly little things.
And sometimes conflict brought to the center of our attention real problems that needed to be addressed by our whole community.

One of the things I love about turning back to these letters from Paul to the first Christian communities is that they help us remember the struggles we face today are problems people of faith have been facing for thousands of years.
There may not be much comfort in that… but at least we have good company!

Paul begins his letter to the church in Corinth by praising God for all of the potential of this amazing congregation.
But then he reminds them of the one thing that is keeping them from realizing God’s will in their midst.
“In the name of Jesus,” Paul writes, “you must get along with each other! You must learn to be considerate of one another and cultivate a life in common.” (message paraphrase)
Paul looks at this church and sees people who are wrestling for the spotlight.
He sees people who think they are right and everyone else is wrong.
He sees people who really do want to be faithful, but are going about it the wrong way.
They think to be faithful, they have to be on the “right team.”
So they pick sides.
They follow Apollos or Cephas.
They throw their lot in with Paul.
Some of them even go around saying, “to heck with all this division… I’m just going to follow Jesus!” And in doing so, they only stoke the fires of competition even more… because, isn’t everyone trying to follow Jesus? Who among us gets to claim that name more than any other?

In the worldly realm of politics, we see this all the time.
There are winners and losers on every issue.
There is competition for money and time and we don’t care who gets run over in the process.
We don’t care who our words hurt or what we do to our nation in the process.

I think about the crisis happening on our nation’s southern border.
Global Ministries and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) have declared today a Sunday of Solidarity with the Suffering of our Children.
They call us to pay attention, to pray, and to respond out of the love of Christ.
We need to become more aware of the devastating conditions in Latin American countries that lead families to pick up everything and risk their lives for a better opportunity.
I think about how complicated our asylum process is and how misunderstood it is by U.S. citizens.
We wrestle with the tension between security and compassion, safety and welcome and long for a solution that isn’t an either/or.
The reality is, this isn’t an issue between Democrats and Republicans, because policies of family separation began under the Obama administration and have simply been continued and enforced under Trump.
This past week, when a government lawyer argued against providing toothbrushes to children, the reality is, she was in court because of a violation of the Flores Agreement under the previous president.
We get so caught up in slinging words at one another and picking sides, that we have closed our eyes to an immoral response to this humanitarian crisis for years.
We become trapped in a cycle of blame.
We are unwilling to examine the problems in our own corner of the political spectrum.
Every side thinks it has the answer and is unwilling to listen to those who are most impacted by the decisions being enacted.

When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he was aware that this continuous practice of win/lose partisan behavior ends up exacting a high cost.
It is not the politicians or the intellectuals or even the biblical scholars who will save us.
We won’t find our solutions by picking a side and tearing the other down.
The only answer that will really and truly bring life is found in the way of the cross.
It is sacrifice.
It is humility.
It is weakness.
It is utter foolishness.
It is everything.

George Bennard was born in Ohio, but grew up in Iowa as the son of a tavern owner and coal miner.
He came to faith as a part of a Salvation Army ministry in his early twenties and became a Methodist evangelist, traveling throughout the Midwest.
One of his journeys took him to Michigan in 1912-13 to help lead a revival and he found himself heckled and ridiculed by some young people in attendance.
Bennard felt low, shamed, let the words of those young people start to get to him…
The world doesn’t always understand the way of the cross.
But he kept his eyes on Christ and began to study and write about his experience.
The words began to flow and before long, he sat with his guitar and finished the song.

The Old Rugged Cross is an emblem of suffering and shame.
It is despised by the world.
It is full of shame and reproach.
And yet… to that very cross we are called to cling.

Paul tells that Corinthian church trapped in their conflict between who is right and wrong that they are called to become fools.
They are called to be the laughing-stocks of their community.
They are called to lay down their weapons of division and look out instead to where God is showing up in the world:
In the weak.
In the lowly.
In those who are considered nothing.
The good news that points to Christ on the Cross seems like sheer foolishness to those hellbent on destruction, but for those on the way of salvation… it makes perfect sense. (paraphrase of the Message).
The cross is what unifies us.
The cross is our standard.
The cross of Christ, his life, death and resurrection, should be the focus of all our decisions.

Faced with any conflict, we should cling to that Old Rugged Cross.
We are called to love as Christ did… sacrificially.
We are called to go to the margins, to the outcast, to the forgotten.
We are called to die to self, to leave behind security and safety in order to be in radical solidarity with others.

I think about Scott Warren, a teacher from Arizona who was arrested for leaving water and sheltering migrants from Central America in 2017.
He broke the laws of our country and found himself in prison because he took seriously the call of Christ to clothe the naked and give drink to the thirsty.
In the midst of a nation pointing fingers and arguing about laws, we are called to find a way through the chaos of difference… and the only path is through the cross.
And sometimes that makes us look like fools by worldly standards.

When we cling to the Old Rugged Cross, we allow Christ to transform us.
We become the crucified and risen body of Christ in the world…
We go to those who suffer and suffer with them.
We enter the lives of the broken and the lost to bring healing and hope.
We share our love and compassion and mercy and in doing so, we share the good news of the salvation with the world.

It is in the weak and the lowly and those the world declares are nothing that we find Christ.
So let us join our hearts in prayer…

(adapted from a prayer offered by UMCOR)
God of All Children Everywhere,
Our hearts are bruised when we see children suffering alone.
Our hearts are torn when we are unable to help.
Our hearts are broken when we have some complicity in the matter.
For all the times we were too busy and shooed a curious child away, forgive us, oh God.
For all the times we failed to get down on their level and look eye to eye with a child, forgive us, oh God.
For all the times we did not share when we saw a hungry child somewhere in the world, forgive us, oh God.
For all the times we thought about calling elected officials to demand change, but did not, forgive us, oh God.
For all the times we thought that caring for the children of this world was someone else’s responsibility, forgive us, oh God.
With Your grace, heal our hearts.
With Your grace, unite us in action.
With Your grace, repair our government and communities.
With Your grace, help us to find a way to welcome all children everywhere,
That they may know that Jesus loves them, Not just because “the Bible tells them so,”
But because we have shown them Your love in real and tangible ways,
And they know that nothing, absolutely nothing, can separate them from Your love.
May the cross of suffering and shame bring beauty and light and love and light to those who are the most in need of love.
And in loving them, in becoming fools for them, in denying ourselves and taking up Your cross, may we find life, too.
Amen.

YES! We Are Able to Care for Our Children

Posted on October 15, 20181 Comment

Text: Mark 9: 33-37, 42-43, 10:13-16

For twenty-seven years, faith communities across the United States have been observing the “Children’s Sabbath,” lifting a united voice of concern for the children in our midst.
Marian Wright Edleman has been instrumental in this work throughout her life. She recalls in a letter of introduction to this year’s observation that fifty years from Dr. King’s Poor People’s Campaign, we are still in the midst of the struggle to end racism, materialism, poverty, and war.
“Many are driven to despair,” she writes, “by assaults on children and family well-being – including rampant and resurgent racism; the devastations of poverty…; the daily, deadly toll of gun violence…; and the heartless ripping of children from the arms of parents seeking refuge in our country. But this time demands that we persist in hope, not despair, and fight with all our nonviolent might until justice is won.”
“All children deserve lives of hope, not despair,” Edleman proclaims.
All children.

So this morning, we are joining together with Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, and other Christians to remember that all children are precious in God’s sight and to answer the call to make a positive impact on their lives.

Our faith, after all, demands that we think about the children.

In the gospel of Mark, which we have been following during this fall series, includes not one, not two, but three different instances in which Jesus prioritizes ministry to and with children… that that’s just in two chapters.
We are called to welcome children, to build them up rather than tear them down, and to even become like them.
The children around us… our children… teach us about what it means to be faithful.
And deciding to follow Jesus means being willing to say that YES!, we are able to set aside our desires and plans and limited vision and open our hearts and our lives to the needs and the gifts of the children around us.

There is another key part of these passages that might be difficult, but it is important to highlight. Our responsibility to care for these children… to set aside our agendas… to prioritize their needs… and to not impair them from abundant life… it isn’t an option.
It is a central part of our faith.
And Jesus even says that if we get in the way of these little ones – well, our own souls are at risk.
It’s that important.

So, I want to take some time this morning to talk about how we, through both the larger United Methodist Church and right here in our local community, how we can say YES! to Jesus by being in ministry with all of God’s children. I want to lift up ways we can “persist in hope, not despair.”

This past week, I was in Atlanta for our fall board meeting of Global Ministries and I want to begin by telling you about signs of hope and good news I saw through our connectional ministries.
Our Global Health Unit has a strong focus on maternal and child health and many health systems are being strengthened because of the funds that we have raised through Imagine No Malaria and other initiatives.
In Mozambique, midwives and community health workers are focusing on not only pre-natal, but ante-natal visits to help monitor health and provide education about diseases that threaten pregnant women and children. The efforts are paying off with a dramatic increase in healthy births.
Among all of the data that is collected through these visits there was one in particular that caught my attention. Last year, nearly 187 of these individuals were treated for malaria at these ante-natal visits. This year, because of our efforts to reduce transmission – only 13 individuals had to be treated. That is a 93% reduction! And a cause for great hope for children who might grow up and thrive.

We also heard a report from National Justice For Our Neighbors on our work along the border in these past months. This organization is a United Methodist ministry that provides legal help for immigrants and refugees. Their work has focused on the border with providing accompaniment for those who are seeking asylum.
In one such instance, a mother and her child from Guatemala presented themselves at the border and were separated and placed in detention until their Credible Fear Interview to verify their need for asylum. After 38 days, her interview finally came, and a JFON attorney named Virginia, helped the mother, Delia, present her case to the officer and was granted asylum. Having been found to have credible fear, Delia then had to post a $1,500 bond – which was raised by JFON.
But then, they had to raise funds to travel to where her child was being held two hours away.
One of the conditions of asylum is that individuals must be able to stay with family and so funds also had to be raised in order to get this mother and child to their relatives in another part of the United States. In the weeks for it took to complete this process, the JFON lawyer actually opened up their home for this family to stay with her.

Both of those programs and ministries are possible because we as United Methodists have said that YES we are able to care for the most vulnerable around us. We have combined our apportionment resources and special giving to be the hands and feet of Jesus all across this world.

But we also see the impact of these struggles right here in Des Moines. The neighborhood all around us is changing and part of the reason is that immigrant and refugee families are making a home in our midst. They have found here a safe place to start over, raise their children, and build a new life for themselves.
It’s the reason why Hoover High School is the most diverse school in our state.
But we also see this represented in the lives of children who attend the schools closest to our church.
We wanted to take some time today to hear about the needs right here in our local community, from one our elementary schools – Monroe.

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You and I… this community of faith… has the opportunity to bring hope and excitement to the children right here in our midst.
We can show up and volunteer.
We can support the work of these families as they care for one another.
We can pray for teachers and provide encouragement in their work.
We are going to be listening, paying attention, and seeking further ways to be in partnership with not only Monroe elementary, but our other neighborhood schools as well.

We’ve responded by collecting socks and underwear.
We’ve brought together supplies for school kits.
We’ve purchased books.
And now God is asking us to respond in a bigger way – to build relationships.
One of those opportunities is present right here in our building as we continue to get to know the Myanmar congregation and their children and together our children are growing in faith and love.
Reach out and get to know them on Wednesday nights and Sunday mornings.
Sit with them at dinner.
Ask them how their day is going.
Volunteer with our children’s ministry.

And… if you are interested in stepping up in a bigger way, Billie is going to be coordinating some efforts in the future to build partnerships with our schools. She’d love to hear from you.

God has given us amazing gifts, resources, a beautiful facility, and the hands and feet to help.
Are you willing… are you able… to see the children around us and bring hope into their lives?

Your Greater Purpose

Posted on July 23, 2018Leave a comment

Text: Isaiah 1:10-20

This morning’s scripture… wow.
These are the words God speaks to the prophet Isaiah as he is called into service. This is the message that Isaiah is called to shared with the kings and rulers of Israel, the children of God.
God, who created them…
God, who rescued them from slavery in Egypt…
God, who formed them into a people…
God, who loves them now is filled with anger and frustration and heartache.
The children God raised have rebelled.
They have abandoned God’s ways and have turned against one another.
And yet in their worship, they pretend as if everything is okay.

Isaiah is sent to these rulers to point out that there is a disconnect between their practices and their praises of God.
They claim to be faithful.
They go through all of the motions.
But their actions inside the sanctuary have no impact on what they do when they leave the temple. The poor, the needy, the strangers in their midst are suffering… sometimes in the name of God.
All of that worship… and there is nothing different in their daily lives, or in the lives of their neighbors, because they have spent that time with God.

Des Moines University reports that nearly 30% of Polk County households were food insecure at some time during 2017. 30% of households couldn’t put enough food on the table.
The median income for African American households in Polk County is $26,725. That number is less than half of the median income for all households in the county.
86% of households earning less than $15,000 annually live in housing they cannot afford. That number of $15,000/year is a full-time job at minimum wage. The Polk County Housing Trust Fund estimates that 8,350 affordable units are needed in central Iowa to meet current needs. Based on fair-market rent for a two bedroom apartment, Des Moines/West Des Moines employees must make at least $16.83 an hour.
The impacts of these numbers:
Homeless children are 2x more likely to have a learning disability, repeat a grade, or be suspended from school.
Low-income students are 4x more likely to be chronically absent, often for reasons beyond their control due to unstable housing, unreliable transportation, or lack of health care.
Of third-grade students who qualify for free and reduced lunches, less than 60% read proficiently.

These are realities of our community.
These numbers reflect choices we have made as participants within it.
They reflect who we as employers hire and how much we choose to pay them.
They reflect the investments we’ve made in public education – how we support teachers, taxes, our giving of volunteer hours.
They reflect decisions about zoning, real estate investment, infrastructure, health care and who we have elected to make decisions about those policies.
They reflect the vast need for organizations like Hawthorn Hill and Bidwell Riverside.

And so God speaks:
I hate your worship.
Your prayers make me nauseous.
Organ or electric guitar… who cares? – I loathe your music.
You focus on the color of the carpet and what you sit on and I’ve had enough.
Your sermons offend me.
Who asked for the offering plate to be passed around?
That sweet smell of King’s Hawaiian bread at communion stinks.
Do you know why?
Because even though you hear my words and sing my praises, you live your lives as if none of it matters.
Stop.
Listen again to my words.
Pay attention to what I have called you to do.
Work for justice.
Help the down-and out.
Stand up for the homeless.
Go to bat for the defenseless.

God is inviting us to not simply worship, but to go out and be in ministry with the most vulnerable people in our midst. As our call to worship reminded us – we are not here to tell God how awesome we are… we are here to remember how our awesome God hears the cries of the needy, hears OUR cries, and then responds through the hands and feet of every day people like you and me.

There is so much in this world that can distract us from that core purpose.
We find ourselves in competition with other churches to offer the best programs and attract the most people.
We get sucked in by the temptation we discussed in this week’s chapter of “Defying Gravity” to cling to the gifts and abundance in our lives, rather than holding them loosely and sharing them with others.
I personally find myself overwhelmed with the desire to keep the peace, to hear all of your various points of view and find the happy medium in decisions we make… that sometimes I forget to go back to the basics and ask what God wants us to do.
And so, we all need to hear these words from Isaiah.
We need to shake loose the cobwebs of our memory.
We need to allow these words jolt us back into alignment with God’s greater purpose for our work and worship together.

The good news is that we are already responding to this call in so many ways.
Our gifts to the DMARC Food Pantry Network put healthy food on the shelves at Bidwell-Riverside.
Our contributions in various special offerings have provided couches for the common space at Hawthorn Hill and playground equipment for their kids.
On a weekly basis, volunteers from Immanuel take milk and juice to the shelter for families to use over the weekend.
Through time, through prayers, through money, we are making an impact on those statistics I named earlier.

A young woman named Amie arrived at the New Directions Shelter, one of the ministries of Hawthorn Hill in October of 2014. She was a brand new mother and walked in off of the street with her newborn after Child Protective Services deemed their home environment was unsuitable. Amie and her daughter were able to stay at New Directions for about a month while she worked to make the adjustments and fill requirements from CPS. She was soon able to find an apartment and a job that would help her get back on her feet.
In her exit survey, Amie wrote:
“I just want to say thank you to everyone for helping me achieve my goals during my stay. I’m so blessed I found you all! I feel that New Directions has helped me become a better mother to my daughter!! There isn’t enough room on this paper to describe how grateful I am to you all! I would so love to give back one day and become a volunteer. Thank you so much!”
Since then, Amie has moved to a new job with Bidwell Riverside and was promoted to a Shift Supervisor. She is using her gifts and her compassion to help families experiencing food insecurity. She’s going back to school at DMAAC to work on an Associates in Human Services. And, she has gone back to New Directions to do volunteer work – helping to organize an Easter Egg for families who are there over the holidays.

This is what happens when we allow God’s greater purpose to lead us.
This is what happens when we create opportunities for vulnerable neighbors to be transformed… when we work with them, listen to them, and empower them to thrive.

When we don’t just sing about getting to heaven, but actively work to help our neighbors experience heaven right here.
When our worship and our witness stand up for the defenseless…
When our offerings are used not to build up our egos, but to build the Kingdom…
When we allow God’s word to shape and form not only this hour, but every hour of every day…
When we leave this sanctuary and head out into the world, still crying out – Here I am, Lord, send me…

Then we will have been transformed into the people we were meant to be by God.
Rich or poor, young or old, sinner or saint… we are all God’s children.
And God has a purpose for us.

Like a Child: Say You’re Sorry

Posted on June 3, 2018Leave a comment

Text: Matthew 18:21-35

Last week, Pastor Todd helped us to launch our series, “Like a Child,” by reminding us of how Jesus welcomed little children in not one, not two, but three of our gospels.
In each place, Jesus reminds the disciples, and us, that unless we humble ourselves or have the faith of a child, we will not enter the Kingdom of God.

So as we start summer here at Immanuel, we thought that we might explore deeper what it means to have faith like a child.
What does it mean to shed the bad habits and baggage that we have learned to carry as adults.
What can we learn from the little ones in our midst about what it means to love God and love our neighbor?

I am the proud aunt of eight nieces and nephews.
And I’m the type of aunt that is often found on the floor, playing with the cars, painting nails, and reading books, than watching from afar.
So, I’m often in the middle of it all when a younger sibling takes a toy that someone else is playing with or throws a fit when they lose a game.

I try not to do too much policing myself, as an aunt. Mom and Dad usually have a better understanding of when to intervene and what type of correction they would prefer to be using in the moment.

But as I thought about all of the times that either their parents or myself have intervened to calm a situation, I realized that the words that always come out of our mouth are:
“Say you’re sorry.”
It doesn’t matter who was in the wrong.
Both kids usually have to say sorry.
Typically, both are also redirected away from the source of the conflict and towards something they can either all use together or that will keep them a part.

Do you know what I realized?
I don’t think we ever have to teach children to say: “I forgive you.”

The dictionary defines forgiveness as when we stop feeling angry or resentful towards someone for an offense, a flaw, or a mistake.
In our gospel reading this morning, the word translated to forgiveness comes from the Greek aphiemi (a-fee-a-me), which means to send away or to give something up; to let it be or let them have it.
Forgiveness is about release.
Forgiveness is about restoration of relationship.
And forgiveness is almost always about the person wronged.

You see, as adults, when someone offends us or hurts us or takes away one of our toys, animosity builds in our heart towards that person.
We not only remember and take note of the wrong… we allow it to come between us.
Forgiveness is when we let go of that anger or frustration or resentment and enter back into relationship with that person.

But you see, kids don’t have to learn how to forgive.
One afternoon, my nephews were fighting over a Transformer and whose turn it was to play with it.
Both had their sticky little fingers on it, and to be honest, none of us adults could remember who had it first or how long they had it. All we knew was that tears were about to flow and the pitch of their voices kept rising.
What we feared is that either they would break this toy they both coveted or one of them would end up hurt from the struggle.
So, my brother called a time out, the Transformer got put on a shelf until another time, and their dad declared it was time to sit and read books for a while.
“Say you’re sorry”
“Sorry.”
“Sorry.”
Both kids crawled up onto my lap and we started reading my favorite about the monster at the end of the book.
No more anger.
No resentment.
Right after the book was finished, they went off to play, together, with their cars.
Children don’t need to learn how to forgive, because children don’t allow mistakes, offenses, or wrongs to come between them.
You simply say you are sorry and you move on.

Adults need to practice forgiveness because we have lost that child-like faith in one another.
Somewhere along the way, as we grow we learn how to hold on to their hurts.
We remember wrongs done to us and nurse that pain until it grows.
One afternoon, my brothers were playing with action figures and one of them decided that to keep his sibling from playing with their favorite one, a batman figurine, he was going to bury it somewhere the other couldn’t find it.
There were two problems with this scenario.
First – Tony forgot where he buried the Batman and it was forever lost to both of them.
Second – Darren never forgot that Tony forever lost his favorite toy.
To this day… as we find ourselves sitting around as family, the lost Batman story comes up.
I think that Darren finally forgave Tony a few years ago, when he received a three foot tall Batman figurine from him for Christmas.
Of course, this small thing was not something that really came between them or damaged their relationship. But there was a moment when that child-like ability to instantly move on faded for them and for all of us who are grown. The offense stuck with them enough that it kept coming up in conversation even 25 years later.

How do we recapture that child-like faith?
How do we go back and rediscover that spirit of mercy and patience and love that allows us to say we are sorry and move on?

First, children don’t carry grudges because they don’t live in the past.
They are focused on what is right in front of them… the activity, the people, the relationships.
Yesterday’s hurt has no place in today’s relationship. Forgiveness requires that we stay in the present moment.
So taking a deep breath and focusing on the person rather than the past will allow us to let go of the anger and the pain as we forgive.
Peter tries to address this by asking a question of Jesus in our gospel reading this morning.
“Lord, how many times do I have to forgive someone who has wronged me?”
Peter is starting to get what it means to follow Jesus.
He knows that the gospel is about grace and mercy and love.
So he knows that people deserve more than even a second chance.
“Should I forgive them seven times?” he asks.
Seven times.
Seven chances.
Seven times you have been hurt or offended or wronged by someone.
Seven moments where you let the pain that you feel, the anger and the hurt go so that you can enter back into relationship with them.
Seven times!

To be honest, that sounds like a lot.
I know people today who have unfriended someone on facebook because of a single comment or have left a church because of a single instance of hurt or pain.
Our response these days to hurt rarely involves giving someone a second chance.
We take our toys and we leave and we allow the anger to become a gulf between us.
Peter is going far above and beyond what the standard is for forgiveness in society today.
But Peter isn’t going far enough.

Scholars debate the translation of Jesus’ response here. Seventy-seven? Seventy times seven?
However you read the text, Jesus is telling Peter to stop counting. Stop looking to the past. Stop keeping a record of wrongs.
Simply forgive.
Always forgive.
Never stop forgiving.

The second thing we need to remember is that children don’t calculate the costs of revenge.
Instinctually, they might lash out and hit back if they are hit, but more likely they will turn to tears or go running to the nearest adult to solve their problem.
Their sense of self recognizes that to get over this situation, they need more than their own resources.
What I find fascinating about the response of Jesus to Peter is that he is inviting us to open our scriptures and remember the Torah. In Genesis, chapter 4, Lamech proclaims that where his ancestor Cain was protected with a seven-fold vengenace, if anything happened to him, God would avenge Lamech’s death seventy times seven over.
This connection with ancient scripture reminds us that vengeance is the Lord’s.
Cain had murdered his own brother and yet it was not the job of humanity to take his life. God sent him away, but God also protected him from the wrath of others.
You and I are not called to exact revenge or carry resentment or seek to end someone’s life or livelihood as a result of pain.
Our job is always to forgive.
And forgiveness means letting go of vengeance because it belongs only to God.

Finally, children don’t have learn how to forgive because they know that their life depends on relationship.
Their home, food, clothing… everything they have depends on the people around them.
To allow hurt and pain to come between you and another person might result in the loss of something that you need to survive.
In that sense, children are also extremely vulnerable and cannot fight back or run away from serious harm inflicted by those who are supposed to care for them the most.
As adults, we believe that we are independent.
We believe that we can live without others.
And so rather than forgive and enter back into relationship, we cut ourselves off from on another.
A child-like faith is reclaiming that we are all part of the same body of Christ.
We need one another.
I need you.
You need me.
And that means that we have to forgive, to let the hurt slip into the past, so that we can move forward in relationship and ministry together.
As Jesus continues to respond to Peter, he shares a parable about the forgiveness of debts.
No matter how large or small the offense.
No matter how many times we have been wronged.
Our job is to forgive. To let go. To let be.
So that we can enter back into relationship with one another.

And, so that we can enter back into relationship with God.
For you see, when we allow something to come between us and our siblings, we have also allowed something to come between us and our Lord.
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who have trespassed against us.
When you send away the anger that has come between you and another person, you will discover that you have also torn down the wall that was separating your heart from God’s never-failing love.
And friends, we need that love.
We need that relationship with God.
Our very life is sustained by the One, who in the words of Psalm 103, forgives all our sins and heals all our diseases and redeems our life from the pit.
the Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in love.
God does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
As far as the east is from the west, so far as God removed our transgressions from us.
God sent them away. Let them go.
God has forgiven you.
So, our job is to forgive others.
Oh… and don’t forget to say you’re sorry.

Ashes and Prayers

Posted on February 14, 2018Leave a comment

A colleague, Elizabeth Dilley, shared the story of imposing ashes on the foreheads of children. As she made the sign of the cross on one little boy’s forehead, “From dust you came and to dust you shall return,” his mom bent over and whispered in his ear, “But not for a really long time, okay buddy?”

We have a hard time accepting our mortality. We run from it. We do everything we can to prevent it. We seek to guard and protect our children and ourselves from every danger.

We want to whisper into every ear of every child, “not for a really long time, okay buddy?”

And yet, this world is full of sin and grief and we have allowed anger and violence to be common place.

At a school this afternoon in Florida, seventeen people died when a young man opened fire upon students.

I was overcome with grief at the image of a mother, weeping, the sign of the cross on her forehead, clutching in her arms her teenage daughter.

“Not for a really long time, okay buddy?”

We are nothing but dust.

We are human.

We are sinful.

We cannot solve these problems on our own.

And yet the hope, the promise, the reason we gather on a night like this is to remember that out of the dust of the earth, God made beautiful things.

Where our human limitations and sin threaten to destroy us, God promises to be present and redeem and restore.

When we simply cannot find the way out of the muck and the mire of life, God shines a light.

When the dust of death and the grave loom so large over us, God shows the way through even the valley of the shadow of death to the hope of eternal life.

And God begs us to repent, to believe the gospel, and to allow the power of God to fill our hearts so that we can confront the impossible evils of this world.

We cannot do it alone.

But with God’s help, swords can be beaten into plowshares.

With God’s help, thoughts and prayers can be transformed into deeds and actions.

May it be so.

Changing A Child’s Story

Posted on June 2, 2016Leave a comment

One book at a time, we can change the narrative, change, the statistics, change some lives…

My church heard the call issued by our conference Poverty Taskforce to make an impact on generational poverty through literacy. All year, some of us have volunteered as reading buddies at Hillis Elementary and we have worked since Christmas to try to purchase FIVE BRAND NEW BOOKS for every student there.

Why books?

It has been shown that having less than 25 printed items in a home is an indicator of poverty.

Prisons are built based on literacy at the third grade level.

And because a love of reading sparks imagination, creativity, and helps students succeed.

Last Thursday, our church delivered all 2,346 books to the school and the students got to pick out their own in a free book fair. It was one of the most amazing things I have experienced in my life.

It is hard to imagine the impact that one day and those five books will have, but I know and trust and believe that each one is a seed planted that will change a life.

Thankyou, Immanuel UMC for your generosity. Thank you, Hillis and especially Erin McGargill for helping us and being open.

Thanks be to God for moments like this 🙂

Posted on February 22, 2016Leave a comment

I spend a good chunk of time every week preparing to preach the word of God through liturgy choices, attention to hymns, exegetical work, praying, listening, dreaming, and writing.

And I forget sometimes that I need to hear the good news preached, too.

I am, after all, just as human as the rest of the world.

When you are the one responsible for bringing the word each week, you aren’t always sure where to look and you don’t always have time to seek it out.

Sometimes, the gospel shows up on your desk.

In a little bundle of notes, all folded into one another, with instructions: Open one at a time until you reach the end.

Notes about prayer, and faithfulness, and trouble and hurts, God’s love and grace, the cross and the thorns.

All ending with the simple reminder: