My Final Sermon at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church

Madeleine L'Engle "Rather than feeling lost and unimportant and meaningless, set against galaxies which go beyond the reach of the furthest telescopes, I feel that my life has meaning. Perhaps I should feel insignificant, but instead I feel a soaring in my heart that the God who could create all this — and out of nothing — can still count the hairs of my head."

Today’s Gospel:  At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, "Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you." He said to them, "Go and tell that fox for me, 'Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.' Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, 'Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.'"

Pope John XXIII welcomed a delegation of Jewish visitors early in his pontificate, by walking over to them with open arms and saying: 'I am Joseph, your brother'   

This week in New Zealand a man in a mosque called out, “Hello brother” and then was shot to death by the man he had just greeted.

Today’s gospel reading, as well other New Testament passages have been used to inspire hatred towards our brothers and sisters of other faiths. There are far too many Christians who celebrated what happened to the Muslims in New Zealand.  These Christians will also tell us that the holocaust never happened or it was a good thing.

When I tell someone I am a Christian, do they wonder if I hate the other? Do they ponder how I can be such a thing?  How can Wayne associate with such a religion? When I was a teenager, I decided that I couldn’t and I walked away from the church. Ronald Reagan and the moral majority’s lack of compassion for the hungry, the homeless, and the environment; just confirmed in my head that I had made the right decision. I’d rather spend time with birds on a Sunday morning.

If you described yourself as a bird, what would you choose? A robin, Bald Eagle, Northern Cardinal, Blue Jay, Great Blue Heron, Canadian Goose, Red-bellied Woodpecker, or possibly a sparrow? How about a chicken?

The day before I wrote these words I told a student holding a water bottle to make his one spray of water a good one. Then I got wet. You see, we were dampening the seeds we had just planted when a student dared me to spray his friend, who was the student with the spray bottle. I did, and then explained to the shocked student that I had no other option. I said, “I was dared and if I hadn’t done it; then the class would have left and told everyone I was a chicken. Isn’t that what being a real man is all about.”  Then I let him spray me with water.

We don’t want to be called chicken. The flavor of chicken is described with a lack of enthusiasm and their meat are not respected in fine restaurants. We probably would not want our God to be a chicken, but in today’s Gospel, Jesus compared himself to a chicken.

Not a  powerful male fighting rooster, but a female hen, who will not fight the fox. The passage that has inspired people to feel righteous in the killing of the other faith, is transformed into an image of a God that is feminine. It is a favorite of theologians tired of male pronouns for God. Tired of the paintings of God as a man. Tired of God the father. Why not she sent her son? Why not mother, son, and Holy Spirit?

And I’m left to ponder why so few paintings display God as a domesticated bird?

DOMESTICATE: to tame, especially by generations of breeding, to live in close association with human beings as a pet or work animal and usually creating a dependency so that the animal loses its ability to live in the wild.

Did we domesticate animals or did they domesticate themselves? Did we take the fiercest wolf and convert it into a poodle? Or was it the wolves that tolerated humans who domesticated themselves by entering our communities, and then became our pets.

We have created chickens that have no choice but to quickly become obese and die. Other chickens live in tiny cages laying eggs in their own filth. Some now celebrate eggs coming from chickens who have a chance to roam free, a bit less domesticated.

The idea of a God who became domesticated into the incarnation continues to be hard thing for people to believe, but an incarnation who was covered with the filth of lepers, prostitutes, and tax collectors was blasphemous. Why would God do that?

One painting in 1940 has been reproduced half a billion times showing us how so many Christians truly wanted to clean up and domesticate Jesus, from a leper touching Arab to a cleaned up white man.


If Jesus was truly God, then can you imagine God not as an old dude sitting on a throne, but as an unclean servant or as a mother hen protecting her brood. “Here,” God as a mother says, “I will die if I have to in order to save my children.”  “The fox is approaching. All I can do is hope that if have my body broken for you, if I shed my blood to feed the fox; then you will escape. Let me gather you together.”

Christians gather together in congregations with the hope that God will be with us. To father us. To mother us. To send us out into the world filled with foxes with the hope that we can once again gather together to feel safe. To speak of gathering at this time is no easy task for us at Holy Trinity. I read this week that on average nine churches close every single day here in the US. On Easter Sunday we become one of those.

And my mind goes back to the first Sunday of Advent in 1997, when I had walked back into a church on my own accord for the first time in nearly two decades.   At one point in the service the UCC minister welcomed visitors and suggested that since we had chosen the first Sunday of Advent to visit, that maybe we could return for all the Sundays of Advent. As Christmas approached I was being drawn into the community, but my anger towards certain Christians remained. On Christmas Day I went for communion. The minister explained that he was asking us to try something. He explained how extreme unction was a Catholic sacrament given to those near death. He spoke of how we carry with us things that need to die.  Then he broke the bread and offered us a chance to release something that hindered our spirit.

I am still saddened by those who would rather worship an Eagle God calling us to destroy those of other faiths, versus a mother hen that gathers up the rich and the poor, the healthy and the sick, the joyful and the sorrowful, but by releasing some anger on that Christmas morning I was able to enter into a new life.  

Making the choice to close our doors is facing financial reality. Walking out of these doors on Easter will be brutal. I was challenged by the UCC minister to enter into a journey with God. I was not promised a good life, but hopefully a more meaningful one. I invite all of you gathered here today to walk with me to Easter. And when we break bread between now and then may we come forth to release any anger we hold in our hearts over our need to  leave this building.

 So release the anger you may be holding for past ministers or our current minister. Release your bitterness towards past and present vestries. I do believe this vestry could have done it better, but no one gave us the perfect guide to close a church. And release the frustration of friends who left 22 years ago, or 22 months ago, or 22 days ago. I believe most of those who have worshiped here will grieve with us when they hear the news. Remember all who have been guided to a more peaceful and generous life because of the spiritual seeds we have planted at Holy Trinity.

Take the bread. Drink the wine. Release the feelings that create darkness and celebrate the beauty of Holy Trinity.

So much of what I have written is contained within a short quote by Corrie ten Boom, a Dutch watchmaker and writer who worked with her father to help many Jews escape the Nazis by hiding them in her home until she was arrested and sent to a concentration camp. She wrote, "Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God."

 Maybe it was God the father that whispered some wisdom in my ear during a vestry meeting, “Enough already, close the doors on Easter.”  But it is God the Mother who will guide us to gather. We will likely scatter like a bunch of scared young chicks. But wherever you gather next, please speak of your present spiritual home, which we have shared together, with love. This place and community deserves it.

Shalom.

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A Mesage of Hope: Jeremiah chapter 31

My first ever backsplash featured TBone, puppy dog

Sermon thoughts.... 3/18/2018

Jeremiah 31:31-34 The Message (MSG) Eugene Peterson 31-32 “That’s right. The time is coming when I will make a brand-new covenant with Israel and Judah. It won’t be a repeat of the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took their hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant even though I did my part as their Master.” God’s Decree.
33-34 “This is the brand-new covenant that I will make with Israel when the time comes. I will put my law within them—write it on their hearts!—and be their God. And they will be my people. They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned!” God’s Decree.

What does it mean for God to place his laws upon your heart. Does it help to see moments to apologize. When was the last time you said you were sorry?
At work I have ample opportunities to inform students that they are messing up. There are ways that work and ways that make the situation worse. When it goes the wrong way, trouble can take place.
Recently a student said, “Don’t talk to me that way. I’m not a child.”  The moment of silence between us was beneficial because I chose not to exert my power, I just said, “OK.”  I think that stunned the student and the class moved on. There are other moments when I wonder why I became a teacher.


God chose Jeremiah and Jeremiah hesitantly chose God and then often wondered why he kept being in the vocation of prophet. The people did not want to hear about how their behaviors would determine their future. The people in exile did not want to hear that God wanted them to settle down and live lives. They wanted a God to smite their enemy and let them go back home. Those still in Jerusalem desired to smite the Babylonians with the help of Egypt; not to to be told to focus on living a daily life that matched their worship experience on the Sabbath.


The people for the most part were ignoring Jeremiah, and choosing to listen to the false prophets. Most people shunned Jeremiah. Most stood by when he was arrested and thrown into a cistern where a slow death awaited him.


Daunting is defined as “seeming difficult to deal with in anticipation; intimidating.”  It steals gumption and delays progress. Jeremiah would receive God message and think, “really, again. They are sick of the message. Can I just watch the basketball tournament and drink an Irish ale.”
At one point God responds to Jeremiah


Jeremiah 12:5 The Message (MSG) Eugene Peterson “So, Jeremiah, if you’re worn out in this footrace with men, what makes you think you can race against horses."

Jeremiah kept sharing the message.  Jeremiah did not have to run with horses by himself.  While most did not listen and respond accordingly to the message he conveyed, he did have friends. When commanded by God to the challenge of putting the prophesy on paper, a friend wrote as Jeremiah spoke. Then the same friend wrote it a second time when the first copy was destroyed. Another friend saved his life by pulling him out of the muck. And a potter reminded him of how God takes ruined vessels and reshapes them into beautiful and functional art. Jeremiah tells us to keep our mind open to messages.

Messages surround us and can surprise us from where they emerge. While watching the Marvel series Jessica Jones the other night, a character states that he was not kicked out of college. He was placed on academic probation; thus he chose to leave. He left and eventually regained his life. So, maybe I can say the same about my first college experience.  I did not fail, I chose to leave that college so that I could regain some clarity on how to live my life. It’s worth a try to see things in new light.

Friends support us when we need help. Sometimes they help to guide us into daunting situations. Is it irrational for Margaret and me to take on commissions that stretch us from what is comfortable just because the client trusts our creative abilities? Place a descending dove into a pendant. Create a large backsplash and send it to CA. Create a rainbow background around a word.

Jeremiah reminds us to live in hope during daunting times. The Babylonians are on the door step. Jerusalem is under under siege. Jeremiah is out of the muck and back in prison. He has a cousin who likely  believes Jeremiah is irrational.  So he asks Jeremiah if he wants to buy some farmland outside the city. A place that is inaccessible due both to imprisonment and to the enemy’s army. Jeremiah says sure. It matches the new message of hope. Look people, we have a future with God. A God who decrees a new covenant. I’m buying farm land because I have hope in God giving us a future beyond these daunting times.

Jeremiah provides the Lord’s decree “Love and forgiveness are yours. All of you; the rich and poor. Your sins are erased. I walk with you on the streets of your towns. Don’t listen to those who say you must study me to know me. I will know each and everyone of you firsthand.  I have touched your heart.”

How intimate is the God you live with. A distant and judgmental master. Or a somewhat local God who resides on Holy Ground and is hopefully a forgiving God.  Or a God walking by your side but is a mystery you cannot hear.  Or this God speaking through Jeremiah who touches us at our core, on our heart, and creates a seed of hope within us, unless we chose to not search within our heart.

"If you keep your heart open through everything, your pain can become your greatest ally in your life's search for love and wisdom." Rumi

The message of Jeremiah is to have hope in daunting times. Times when all we can do is act out of hope. When we lose a loved one. When a friend is suffering. A disaster strikes your town. When a country is dividing. When you lack the faith in your own talents.


A friend asks for my help at the school, a place where I have had no desire for upward mobility for 21 years. I laugh, but dammit a seed is watered within my core. So I seek out sound advice from anyone who will tell me it is a bad idea. So I turn to my wife, and Margaret does not think I’m nuts for considering the co-lead teacher position. Chatting before a concert, a friend tells me to go for it. The next morning at a diner, a breakfast conversation with a second friend leads to more nonsense that includes praise for my abilities. I begin to wonder if anyone really knows me.


On Sunday I find the story of Jeremiah buying his cousin’s field in the next chapter in Eugene Peterson’s book. Pastor G’s message is not on board with my hope to be guided away from applying by God. Clearly applying for the job is irrational. Why is it so hard for anyone else to see the truth.
 So I apply for the job and by the end of the interview I am seeing this as an act of hope.  Accepting the job may seem as irrational to friends at the school, who were surprised, but I need to tell them it is sign of the hope emerging from working with our new principal. I want to support her. To build hope.


In subsaharan Africa there lives a bird with black feathers, but its name refers to what happens when the light of creation shines upon their iridescent feathers. These birds, Green Woodhoopoes, live in family groups centered around a tree. This tree has one nesting cavity in which one female will lay eggs. The rest of the community raises the young as their own. Life is daunting for these birds, which are surrounded by predators. One out of three will die each year. But the beautiful, the brightest, and the most foolish stick together. The hope of survival depends upon a community.


Our lives are filled with daunting moments often when trying to help and support those who we care for, and in these challenging moments, mistakes will happen. We can say we are sorry and hope for forgiveness. Lord knows we all need to practice accepting forgiveness.


God’s covenant clearly tells us to seek love and forgiveness that is given to us; and that covenant only got stronger and freer as Jesus walked toward the cross.

Sermon 1.21.2018 Avoiding Whales, Leaping to Follow

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Leap, a special commission created by Wayne Stratz

Mark 1:14-20 Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Simon, Andrew, James, and John made a decision that leads to sainthood.

Imagine this. You are at work or you are with family on a walk. A man walks by and says “The time is fulfilled!”  What do you think?  How do you react?

The stranger says, “The Kingdom of God has come near!”  And you look at him. Do you say anything? Do you walk closer? Do you back away?

He says, “Repent and believe in the good news!” Do you turn away from your current life; or do you turn your back to the stranger? 

What would you want your children to do? Your spouse? Your best friend?

Now imagine a loved one turning toward this stranger and away from you.

What would you say about their decision? Do you see them becoming saints?

Did these four men have great learning and insight to help them discern this spiritual path? If you read through the Gospel of Mark, you won’t find much evidence. You will find apostles who continually miss the point and Jesus trying his best to explain things to them.

How could they leave their jobs? Their families? How did they trust in this stranger, Jesus? How did they decide so quickly? Did they even think about it? What would I have done? Could I leave everything behind?

***

Barbara Brown Taylor, Episcopal priest and author, suggests that we're missing the point if we linger on such questions; and that this is a story about God, not the disciples or us.  She suggests that we focus not on what the disciples gave up or whether we could do the same.

She calls this passage from Mark a "miracle story," and sees it as an example of "the power of God--to walk right up to a quartet of fishermen and work a miracle, creating faith where there was no faith, creating disciples where there were none just a moment before."

She continues: “What we have lost . . . is a full sense of the power of God—to recruit people who have made terrible choices; to invade the most hopeless lives and fill them with light; to sneak up on people who are thinking about lunch, not God, and smack them upside the head with glory.”

At a time when a Rabbi would wait for followers and then deem them worthy or not to be taught, Jesus shows us the kingdom of God. God did not care how learned they were. And God does not wait, God seeks all of us with a love that seems to throw discernment out the door. The four fishermen, two poor with their nets, two rich with their boat and hired hands; do not stop to think. They leap without discerning.

We want to make the right decisions. Then we ask God to judge us on how we have chosen the right jobs, the proper church, the nice neighborhood, and the decent friends.

But Jesus may simply just want us to leap into the Kingdom of God.

***

For some reason I chose not too doodle at a staff meeting a few days ago where on our laptops we were examining student test results from recently completed reading and math exams. Their scores fell into the red zone of needing improvement, the blue zone of being better than average and a thin green zone that separated the red from the blue. A friend, who had invited me to sit next to her, was looking up the reading results for our best readers. She seemed disheartened that one after another were in the thin green zone. I said, “That means they are okey dokey.”

Would Jesus place your career choice in the green okey dokey zone?

One of my favorite quotes is “Vocation is the place where our deep gladness meets the world's deep need.” Frederick Buechner

Do you find joy at work? Do you help someone through your work? If yes, then its okey dokey. 

Is your job creating hatred for strangers, or making people hungry, or creating homelessness, or imprisoning the innocent? If no, then it is okey dokey.   You do not have to leave everything behind to work with the poorest of poor.

If you are unhappy and don’t feel right about your job, consider those stirrings to be the presence of the holy spirit. It may not lead to the perfect job for you, but to one that feeds your spirit more than the present not quite okey dokey job.

Following Jesus may not be anything more than moving by leaps and stumbles towards the Kingdom of God. Do I have to discern whether or not to feed the hungry? Is Jesus going to be upset about how I then choose to help. I can send a check to Manna, or buy a ten pack of tuna at the grocery, or volunteer on site.

We miss opportunities to help. We ignore some that we see. We act upon others. We are okey dokey.

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Jonah 3:1-5, 10
The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying, "Get up, go to Nineveh, that great city, and proclaim to it the message that I tell you." So Jonah set out and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly large city, a three days' walk across. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's walk. And he cried out, "Forty days more, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!"
And the people of Nineveh believed God; they proclaimed a fast, and everyone, great and small, put on sackcloth. When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil ways, God changed his mind about the calamity that he had said he would bring upon them; and he did not do it.

When I read through the Bible twenty years ago, the story of Jonah caught my eye. It wasn’t just that Jonah spent time in a whale or that the people of Nineveh listened to the prophet. Though both of those are amazing. It was that Jonah did not want to be successful; in fact he was in the whale because he tried to flee his calling (think about that the next time you try to ignore a calling from God). Once the whale took him to Ninevah, then he wanted to fail so that he could watch God destroy his enemies. Clearly Jonah’s deep gladness was not in sync with God’s hope of expanding the Kingdom.

It is just so human of Jonah. Do we want our enemies to fail or succeed? From football teams to businesses, from politicians to foreign nations; are we that much different from Jonah? Do we feel joy when bad things happen to these teams, corporations, people? Are we hoping that those who we do not favor are ruined and humiliated; or are we be praying that we all repent and turn toward God?

***

Anne Lamott writes: "I think joy and sweetness and affection are a spiritual path. We're here to know God, to love and serve God, and to be blown away by the beauty and miracle of nature...”

To survive winters without hibernating, shrews in Europe can shrink their skeleton, including their skull. Their brain loses a fourth of its mass, but they survive when food is scarce and their heart keeps beating 700 times a minute. Dwarf Lemurs on Madagascar store enough fat in their tales to hibernate through a seven month dry season.

There is science behind these abilities but they are also miraculous. I tell my students these things with the hope that they will be blown away by the life on this planet.

Anne Lamott continues: "… You just have to get rid of so much baggage to be light enough to dance, to sing, to play. You don't have time to carry grudges; you don't have time to cling to the need to be right."

Jonah was so heavy with hatred and grudges that he could not dance. Those four fisherman were more than ready to dance when a stranger invited them into the Kingdom God. The apostles didn’t stop and think about whether or not it was the right path. They would be baffled by the one they chose to follow, but they kept following Jesus. So go forth and meet the needy with joy, be blown away by the miracles of nature, and don’t let worries and grudges stop you from dancing.

Thoughts on creation and wisdom

Dogwood in front of Holy Trinity Episcopal Church; Lansdale, PA

I have been asked to reflect upon it at my church this Sunday (10-16-16). So I better get some thoughts flowing.

I have always struggled with the "created in God's image" bit from the first Chapter of Genesis:

God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

 Why us and not the Northern Shafted Flicker, or a virus that fractures a tulip in a dazzling array of colors, or a Dogwood Tree? Does God not resemble trees, diseased plants, and Woodpeckers?

Thirty years ago I gave a talk on Nuclear Winter in front of fellow biology students and biology professors. I was asked one question: Are you depressed now?

I remember my answer: No, because even at our most destructive self, we humans apparently cannot eliminate life on this planet.

And 30 years later, might I add: if you leave God a critter or two, God will be use the laws of science to recreate the image of God, which we see as a mirror.

And that is one of the things that has caught my eye about Sophia in the seventh chapter in the Book of Wisdom:

26 For she(Lady Wisdom, Sophia) is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness. 

27 Though she is but one, she can do all things, and while remaining in herself, she renews all things...

Creation is a mirror and God's light shines off of it in the most amazing reflection. We see creation when a photon of light enters the lens of our eye and sends an electrical impulse into our brain. All of it. The good, the bad, and the ugly is all creation. We are meant to open our eyes and be moved by what is seen.

Don't ignore the good or the bad. Beauty fades. Ugly transforms. Creation is not static.
 
Creation unfolds with time and space. The master of understanding this relationship was Albert Einstein who said:

The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious. It is the source of all true art and all science. To whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer pause to wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead: their eyes are closed.

which sounds like a fine transition to my most recent post.

Then to make an ending in which I motivate all to be like God, be creative.

Sermon 9.27.15 Esther Leaps In

a nearly completed Leap by Wayne Stratz

“When I dare to be powerful, to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.” Audrey Lorde

In such a time as this we are called to respond, but how do we know what matters to God? When I asked the youth on Wednesday night, the first response was filled with the uncertainty we may all have at times when we ponder what God wants us to do.

I mean, does God really want me to guide a flock of young students who have leapt into the high school? Originally all seven had entered an elementary program for students in need of emotional support? Now I am their homeroom teacher. Do I have a net to catch them if they fall? Who has the net if I fall?

The Jews were in exile. A story was written starring Esther, who was beautiful. Does a message from God exist in the only book of the Bible that does not mention God or even prayer? Exiled away from their homeland, fading away from their rituals, and forgetting about the God who loved them. Can we blame them?

Are we more concerned with retirement funds or feeding the hungry? Sports results or visiting the sick and lonely? Shopping and vacations or quiet moments talking with God? It is not hard to forget about God. No indeed it can be quite easy by a steady stream of patriotic observances, 24 hour news streams, sporting events, music festivals, entertaining websites, economic forecasts, and never ending sales events.

Are we Christians in a media exile?

Esther is criticized by some for not talking about God and for being a member of the king’s harem. She is a Queen of Persia, who hides her Jewish heritage. She has a close relative who appears in this story, his name was Mordecai. Mordecai had adopted his cousin when she was orphaned as a young girl.

As the story unfolds, things are not going well. The king has not called on Esther for over a month. A man with political power named Haman is building a large structure. A structure, which when finished, is where Mordecai and other Jews will be put to death. Mordecai’s failure to bow down to Haman had landed him with the death penalty.

Our country has a long history of attacking those who did not bow down adequately. Change the names and our history can sound like Naman’s hatred of the Jews in Persia. Native Americans who believed in homeland security, African Americans who dared to want freedom and rights in a land where they had been exiled, Pennsylvanian Germans during WWI who wanted their children to speak their language in schools. Immigrants every where face both the love of a welcoming hand and the anger flowing from the fear of our land becoming their land.

It is as true now as it was 2000 plus years ago, and as it may always be. Each wave of immigrants or exiles meets a rocky shore not sure of who they can trust.

Mordecai faced with his life coming to an end, does not call out to God, but instead Mordecai goes to the palace, what can he lose. Personally not much, but he risks placing Esther in the spotlight when he sends her a note.

Esther 4:14

^“For if you keep silence at such a time as this, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another quarter, but you and your father’s family will perish. Who knows? Perhaps you have come to royal dignity for just such a time as this.”

Who have you turned to in your darkest moments? Would you turn to a family member or a friend with political power or turn to God? Hopefully both. Hopefully none of us will face a death penalty. Imagine the fear. But what of the family member we turn to? Would you risk your well being to help? What if a whistle blower came to one of us? Would we take up the cry for justice, or remain quiet to not take a risk in causing waves?

Esther has little time to save her cousin Mordecai and Esther has lost the King’s favor. Who knows when she will see the king? She decides to visit the king without an invitation. Her words upon this decision, “If I perish, I perish.” Imagine having this courage, if you were the one asked for help. Lose your job. Lose your life. Perish in the waves caused by your hope to create justice.

And what does a beautiful Jewish woman do when she illegally enters into the presence of the king; she invites him to dinner. He accepts and is falling in love again. Esther is beautiful and brilliant. She is a woman using the attributes she has to save human lives. For this her character has been attacked. She is bold and invites him to a second dinner while letting him know she has a favor to ask.

Haman is there, when the King, now fully smitten with Esther, asks her to please reveal her request. Esther rises up in defense of Mordecai and  and her people. Yes, she risks her life to save others when she calls out the evil in Haman’s heart. If I perish, I perish.

Haman is the one to perish. Mordecai is lifted up. Esther is revered by her people.

Where is God in this land of ours? What matters to God? The story of Esther is told during the Jewish festival of Purim. Food and Gifts are shared with one another and while sharing food matters to God, the last four lines of today’s passage is maybe the strongest message I see from God. Presents are to be given to the poor.

God is in this story. It is part of the continuous story of a God that provides and protects; and then expects those who have a surplus to respond in kind to those in need. Esther reminds us that praying and then waiting for a blazing bright miracle from God is not the only route. If I perish, I perish. We must act with a profound hope that it matters to God before we know if it matters to God.

For the past week I have been spelling out leap in glass. A large panel that appears to be complete, but the message is longer. Leap with the hope that a net will appear. Are you like me and want to see the net and know how strong it is before we leaps. I want to take safe leaps, but God hopes we will take chances. There is anxiety whether we leap or not. The anxiety does not decrease if we act, but the results can be so much better. In my Media filled exile, can I live the life I am called to live?

Pope Francis on teachers: These are educators “that encourage us to take the first steps in a new activity without having fear of the obstacles and the challenges to be faced; that spur us to surmount difficult moments; that exhort us to have confidence in ourselves and in our companions; that are at our side be it in moments of disappointment and loss, be it in those of joy and success.”

There are seven youth who will open my classroom door tomorrow morning. They start their day and end their day with me; and I question as to why they have been placed into my care.

How do I respond? Do I say, “I am too old for such a challenge? Why me? I can’t do this” Or do I say, “maybe the last 28 years were preparing me for such a time as this?” To be honest my brain is saying both.

In such a time as this, God will not be mentioned in my classroom. I do not pray with my students. We do not fast together during Lent. Is God there if the story about to unfold does not mention God? Where is my safety net?

Maybe I need to post this quote in my classroom:

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You must do the thing you cannot do?

My sermon: plans and acknowledgement 2 samuel 7: 1-14

Moss as it caught my eye. Jesuit Center, Wernersville PA. 2015. Wayne Stratz

as it was on paper when I entered Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Lansdale:


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Plans, we make them all the time. I don’t necessarily like planning. I make lesson plans for my supervisor. I don’t go into great detail because I doubt I will be teaching what my plans say I will be teaching 7 days in the future.

As John Lennon said…“Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans.”

I am better at seeing the values in plans; and my wife, who likes planning, has helped. You know, why eat an OK meal while on the road when you could plan it out and find a good restaurant in advance. Plans can give our journey the bit of guidance it needs.

And then there is the concept of God’s plan for us. David did not plan to become king. David would have not been taken seriously if he had left his flock of sheep and announced he was making plans to be king, the youngest does not get the power. Why make plans when the future is beyond our control?

A few weeks ago, I arrived at the Jesuit Center for a silent retreat and even though I knew the suggested verse, “Be still and know that I am God,” I looked it up in my Bible. In silence, it is key to seek stillness. Quiet your whole self, not just your mouth. I expected a night focused on becoming still. It was my plan, but my Bible did not say what I expected, instead of “know that I am God,” it translated the Hebrew, “acknowledge that I am God.” My retreat would be altered as I thought to myself, acknowledge is not the same as know.

Much had happened since a prophet told David that he was the anointed one and now David had a plan for God. God will get a new home. A God, who brought the people of Israel into a permanent homeland and into a time of endless peace, deserved something better than a tent. So David told the local prophet to tell God what he planned to do. Have you ever told God what was what? Were you willing to listen to what God said back to you? As the UCC church loves to tell us, God is still speaking.

God first makes it clear he digs his tent which is free to move. He is a God who roamed above the waters of the Earth creating new days and new creatures. She is a God, who is not searching for a permanent home. God tells David, “I will let you know when I am ready to have a new home.”

We often focus more on our plan for God than God’s plan for us. How will we worship God? How will we pray? What music will be used to praise God? What color scheme meets the season? What Bible is the best translation?

I woke up in the silence of birds greeting a new summer day. Dawn had emerged. After breakfast, I had a plan to photograph an amazing gate. Funny thing was that when I walked to the bottom of the hill, I discovered the gate was gone. I hadn't noticed this huge gate was missing when I had driven into the Jesuit Center the previous day. But flowers, moss, lichens, trees, rust, and birds caught my eye on the journey to the gate. I spent the rest of the retreat fascinated by moss and I have to admit I began to imagine a new plan for my future; to become a professional moss photographer, clearly a profession with a need for more members.

David was thrown into the job of warrior king. And in that role he did well. One could easily see or assume that God was with him. When God turns down the offer of a nice house, God spins the story and says, “No, No, David, let me build you a house. A Dynasty of leaders that begins with your son.” The reading ends with God saying, “I shall be a father to him and he a son to me”

But God continues speaking:  if he does wrong, I shall punish him with a rod such as men use, with blows such as mankind gives.

15. But my faithful love will never be withdrawn from him as I withdrew it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

16. Your dynasty and your sovereignty will ever stand firm before me and your throne be forever secure."

17. Nathan related all these words and this whole revelation to David.

In other words, God may get annoyed, but all will be forgiven and the Dynasty will endure.

On Sundays here at Holy Trinity I walk back to my chair after sharing in the Eucharist; and pray seven desires: To fill my house with love, my studio with awe, my garden with beauty, my church with jazz, my classroom with joy, my friendships with grace, and in everything hope.

“Be still and acknowledge I am God.”

In the stillness of the retreat, I slow this prayer and I acknowledge I am asking for God’s blessing. God is with me in my hopes and desires. I acknowledge God and give thanks.

David acknowledges God, but soon he will sin testing God’s promise of never ending love. It begins when David sees a beautiful woman and filled with lust David arranges for her husband’s death. When I first read this, David became unlikeable. For me, all other David stories are tainted by this act.

“Be still and acknowledge I am God.” 

In silence I enter a parlor to talk. I share with my spiritual director what is easy and what is difficult for me to acknowledge. Jesus heals. OK. Jesus teaches. OK. Jesus gives me eternal life. Hmmm. I acknowledge my doubts and my realization that it is time I have a conversation with Jesus. It has been a journey to get my science-educated brain to create room for the mystical.

A friend says something negative about another friend. Seeds of doubt about the second friend grow. David was not perfect. I am not perfect. My friends are not perfect. We are called to love. Dawn used to have great meaning before electricity lit up darkness. Dawn was defined as the moment when light allowed you to recognize a person as your friend. Jesus asks us to acknowledge him as our savior, to stand at dawn in the emerging light with our neighbor, to see them in a new light, and to love even the Davids who have done something awful.

Can we make plans that take us deeper into our faith? As I said, I don’t like planning, but I found a quote that might just be my style of planning.

Gloria Steinem said, “Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”

I have not given up my day job, but I do not think I will pass up any commissions to photograph moss. Planning to get somewhere because we feel called to take a journey does not mean ignoring the possibilities and beauty we pass along the way. By the time we get to where we felt called to journey, the gate might be missing or a bit less pearly than described. But the journey will fuel us and we will stand in the midst of an imperfect world and leap with our imagination.

“Without leaps of imagination, or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all, is a form of planning.”

Amen.

The text:

2 Samuel, 7

1. Once the king had settled into his palace and Yahweh had granted him rest from all the enemies surrounding him,

2. the king said to the prophet Nathan, 'Look, I am living in a cedar-wood palace, while the ark of God is under awnings.'

3. Nathan said to the king, 'Go and do whatever you have in mind, for Yahweh is with you.'

4. But that very night, the word of Yahweh came to Nathan:

5. 'Go and tell my servant David, "Yahweh says this: Are you to build me a temple for me to live in?

6. I have never lived in a house from the day when I brought the Israelites out of Egypt until today, but have kept travelling with a tent for shelter.

7. In all my travels with all the Israelites, did I say to any of the judges of Israel, whom I had commanded to shepherd my people Israel: Why do you not build me a cedar-wood temple?"

8. This is what you must say to my servant David, "Yahweh Sabaoth says this: I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, to be leader of my people Israel;

9. I have been with you wherever you went; I have got rid of all your enemies for you. I am going to make your fame as great as the fame of the greatest on earth.

10. I am going to provide a place for my people Israel; I shall plant them there, and there they will live and never be disturbed again; nor will they be oppressed by the wicked any more, as they were in former times

11. ever since the time when I instituted judges to govern my people Israel; and I shall grant you rest from all your enemies. Yahweh furthermore tells you that he will make you a dynasty.

12. And when your days are over and you fall asleep with your ancestors, I shall appoint your heir, your own son to succeed you (and I shall make his sovereignty secure.

13. He will build a temple for my name) and I shall make his royal throne secure for ever.

14. I shall be a father to him and he a son to me;

My Reflection on Luke 24: 36b-48 featuring thoughts on strudel and crows

 

Making cabbage strudel

This sermon was inspired by reading sermon notes by Kathryn Matthews (Huey), who posted them for this very day; and a recorded sermon by Richard Rohr.

Alice Walker, 21st century "Wake up and smell the possibility."

I wonder if the disciples would have been less shocked if the spirit of Jesus would have returned in the bodily form of a bird. Soar on the wings of a vulture or mingled with the masses as a pigeon.

Nearly twenty years ago I was birdwatching before heading to a middle school in Urbana Illinois. It was a haven of migrating birds who traveling over corn and soybean fields found a place of respite, a place to refuel.

My hope that spring was to identify 100 species by the school year’s end. Migration would be over. Mosquitoes would be furious. The weather steamy. I would rather not outside. I remember seeing the 100th bird. I remember getting into the school filled with joy to have seen so much beauty, and then I found a note in my mailbox to call Margaret, who tells me my grandmother had died.

I took a flight home with a book in hand. I turned the page to a new chapter and there was a poem by Emily Dickinson. It was short. It was about the souls of the dead returning to us in the bodies of birds. I thought about the 100th bird. My already strong connection to birds grew.

Today we read two passages written by Luke. Rich Rohr highlights : “And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers.” from the books of Acts. What Rohr makes these points: The forgiveness echoes Christ from the cross; the spiritual truth that when we do evil, it is done in ignorance, and that if we were fully conscious we would never do wrong. How often do we wish some wisdom from God had flowed into our brain faster than words flowed out of our mouths? Richard Rohr talks about a spirit that could lead to such forgiveness and connects it to what Luke wrote in today’s Gospel.

Jesus is at least in two places at once. He is walking on a road. He has appeared in a locked room, we get to hear the locked room story. The disciples know a spirit that is everywhere and just pops up to say “Hi.” Rohr’s translation of “peace be with you.” A spirit that will dine with us and will reflect on scripture with us.

But what Rohr and many other focus on is the physical aspect of the resurrection. As Stephen Cooper puts it, "To insist on the reality of the resurrected body is to demand that we accept our present reality as the place where transformations of ultimate significance take place." Christ is not a spirit only, but is flesh that we may not recognize. God is not just the one who creates, but is also the one that resides in creation. Jesus asks the disciples to touch his hands. Hands that fed the hungry, cured the ill, and chased evil spirits.

I think of hands. Barbara Taylor Brown does as well, ”Not our pretty faces and not our sincere eyes but our hands and feet – what we have done with them and where we have gone with them.” Hands make us human and when we are conscious they do amazingly lovely acts. Imagine for a moment hands that have loved you.

I make strudel. Often with help. For decades my grandmother made strudel, with no help. When I moved back to Pennsylvania, I felt a desire to learn how to make strudel. I have a photos of that day. My Mom Mom’s hands were old and would never touch strudel dough again. Not long after teaching me the art of strudel, a stroke would prevent that from happening and also prevent me from ever making strudel for her. My parents have one request of me before they move to NC. My dad wants strudel. Can I do anything more loving than to use my hands to stretch a ball of dough to be paper thin?

And then there are crows. Do you love them? Hate them? Fear them? Consider them wise? They are like us in many ways. John Marzluff’s work at the University of Washington has proven that crows can recognize human faces, remember the face of one who has annoyed them, and then teach other crows including their young to fear that human. (video where I discovered his work and much more about crows) The author Lyanda Lynn Haupt knows this and experienced angry crows when she took an injured fledgling into her home to splint a broken leg. A day later she returned the crow to its parents. Then something happened. The crows have gone out of their way to both provide long term care for their grown child and to daily come with their child to visit her. The crows know she cared. How? She has named her Charlotte.

She writes, “I cannot help thinking that some communication has taken place, that is somehow clear to the crows that my grievous offense was accomplished in good faith. We all experience such times—— don't we? —— when our guarded separateness breaks down.”

God returns to be part of creation and the disciples respond with fear, their guarded separateness needs to be broken. Then they feed Jesus. Ms Haupt believes that no other wild animal has so much contact with humans as the crow. Can we see Jesus in the hands of others? Can we see Jesus in the flight of a crow. Is it an unconscionable act to attack a crow? Is the crow announcing to all creation that we are against it?  A young girl has taken to feeding the crows of her neighborhood. The crows have taken to bringing her beautiful objects. Are we cursed to have been followed by crows? Have we been blessed? Has God sent us a wild creature to help us to remember we live on a planet filled with the creation?

Was it all coincidence 20 years ago or did my grandmother visit me in a small patch of woods in the midst of a university town surrounded by farms? We need a community to share our moments “when our guarded separateness breaks down.” Maybe it is our doubts of what we experience more than the faith in what we believe, which brings us here on Sunday mornings.

"When author Madeleine L'Engle was asked, 'Do you believe in God without any doubts?' she replied, 'I believe in God with all my doubts.’"

Mystical Mondays ~ Hope sermon: The Alpha and Omega

an amazing commission
by Wayne Stratz

I started...

THE HOPE OF LOVING

by: Meister Eckhart 
Transl. Daniel Ladinksky

What keeps us alive, what allows us to endure?

I think it is the hope of loving,
 or being loved.

I am inside our booth and I tell a stranger that Hope is my favorite word.  He asks why.  My answer was because it is the opposite of despair, maybe my true answer is… I know despair.

Meister Eckhart 
continues

I heard a fable once about the sun going on a journey 
to find its source, and how the moon wept
 without her lover’s 
warm gaze.

We weep when light does not reach our hearts. We wither 
like fields if someone close
 does not rain their 
kindness 
upon 
us.

I ended...

I don’t know how I unfolded into a man of hope, but it sure did help to stop believing in a God who keeps lists of sins and waits to throw it into my face.  Seeking out positive people sure does help.  Reading Frederick Buechner may have been key.  I will end with his words, from his sermon about hope: 

"I think it is hope that lies at our hearts and hope that finally brings us all here [into the church].  Hope that in spite of all the devastating evidence to the contrary, the ground we stand on is holy ground because Christ walked here and walks here still.  Hope that we are known, each one of us, by name, and that out of the burning moments of our lives he will call us by our names to the lives he would have us live and the selves he would have us become.  Hope that into the secret grief and pain and bewilderment of each of us and of our world he will come at last to heal and to save." (81)

Post hope sermon thoughts ~ playing into prayer

Hope in the Dessert
by
Margaret Almon and Wayne Stratz

I am grateful to my friend Michelle for getting me to think about prayerful play.  I often have heard people say they are not artistic or creative when they are looking at my work.  I tell them to play with colors whether the colors are deep inside paint, glass, pencils, water colors, fabric, yarn, beads... It doesn't matter.  Hope is the force that leads us into new creations.  Hope can create something beautiful.  Hope can lead to the right color.  Hope helps to make it turn out better this time.  Sooner or later you find the right play objects and it becomes joyful.  No need for patience since as Michelle put it, we "are caught up in the joy of the work at hand, be it messy or even risky."  

But what about prayer, how does creativity come into place.  Hanging out with Jesuits and those trained in Ignatian spirituality has helped.  Imagine yourself into the Bible passage.  Rewrite a passage to imagine how God would be speaking to you instead of Jacob or Mary.  Take the basic principles of the Examen and play with it.  Let it evolve into a prayer that is messy and risky.  

What activity in your life takes you into the land of joy experienced by a child playing with his imagination at full tilt?  Can you imagine being that focussed during prayer because you are being playful?  I hope that we can.  

Preparing a sermon of hope

Once again, well for the second time, I have been asked to give a sermon at my church. And while I am not opposed to Jesus being the bread of life... I have become quite in need of the weekly Eucharist provided in my Episcopalian church... Psalm 130's message of hope clearly caught my eye.

and reading my favorite Quantum Theologist's post on psalms has me working out thoughts about hope, prayer, play.

Where did my hope come from, how did I emerge from despair, was there a moment in time that transformed me, what does unfolding with creation have to do with this

I don't expect to have answers by Sunday