Sermon: The Epiphany of Baptism

             Here we are, in the season after Epiphany, the season of Revelation

—what once was quietly pondered by Mary, is now being unveiled
—broadcast to a wider and wider audience
—Salvation has come to us in Jesus Christ.

            God’s desire discovered today in a series of lessons about Baptism
—the water and word revealing what was previously hidden:
Hidden Righteousness—not Self-righteousness,
a Promise—Hidden inside physical things,
and a hidden Lord—a Judge who is also THE Scapegoat.
In Baptism the hidden is revealed.

Let us pray

 

            “No no Lord, you’re doing it wrong. You need to baptize me.”
We need to do it right.

            This line of logic John is starting down,
tumbles always to a place of self-righteousness OR condemnation.
Absolute correctness, perfection—or perdition,
follow the law exactly, or the law will exact an evil punishment up you.
I did it right, why can’t you?

            And yet, he responds, “Let is be so, it will fulfill all righteousness.”

            Righteousness
—Justice & justification, both common translations.

Biblical Scholar and Bishop, NT Wright, offers “Rightwise” from some form of old English.

Homiletics Professor Richard Jensen offers, “It Works” or “It is Alight”
as in Bob Marley’s “Don’t worry, ‘cause every little thing gonna be alright.”

            “It will make everything alright
—doing it this way’ll work
—it is justified
—the Baptism of Jesus will rightwise things.”

            Matthew’s Gospel loves talking about rightwising
—later Jesus is confronted by some self-righteous folk,
people who think they can make things work on their own
—they say, “Justify yourself, why do you spend time with traitorous tax collectors and sinners of all sorts!”

            To which Jesus responds, “I don’t come for the those for whom everything is working out, but for those who need everything to be alright!”

 

            And so Dearest Jesus is Baptized by John
—it fulfills all righteousness.

            Now—regarding our Baptism,
it must be said that if we regard it as just water, instead of Justifying water
—we go wrong.

-If it is a ritual that we choose,
one that we seek and find,
if it is only a sign of our commitment, our will and work,
screwing up our emotional fervor or biblical knowledge to attain..

-Then, we can just as easily lose it,
think or work our way out of it,
… lose that loving feeling,
it becomes just another self-justifying ritual
—a lying sign of self-justification…

A theology of choice is an awful, fearful thing
—for we are fallible, we will try and fail,
and in failing, forgiveness withers and God becomes an Omnipotent Bully, instead of a Loving Father.
As Luther writes about this theology, it creates “work-Devils” turning faith into the object of faith, “To have faith in faith is to destroy Christianity completely.”

Siblings, it isn’t about us, it’s about God’s grace… first last and always!

 

            God is not a bully
—while we call him Lord and Judge of all
—the one who will bring justice
—look at where he is most clearly revealed—Jesus
—he’s not here to catch you out,
not here to bring down the hammer,
or hurt you!

 

            Yes, the same internal/infernal voice that causes John to shrink back and say, “Let’s make sure we do it right” takes a back seat to the voice of God!
“I am please, you are my son, I love you!”

            What is revealed, is a grand surprise
—As I said, Matthew loves talking about rightwising
—Jesus’ final parable there culminates with folk being invited into the throne room of God and offered good things…
and they are confused and ask why,
and Jesus says, “you fed me and clothed me, you cared for me and visited me.” And they asked, “When did we do that?”
and Our Lord replies, “when you did it to the least of these, you did it to me.”

            Hidden righteousness instead of self-righteousness
—that’s our game,
that’s what Jesus promises to us
—holiness flows from being loved,
not from our will,
but from the Beloved.

 

            The Beloved, who offers us a promise in our baptism…
not water, but water with a promise inside
—not our doing or will, but the clarion call of God to Christ.
God creates through the word!
God makes something out of nothing!
The water! It calls us Children of God,
the wine belts out, “Beloved”
the bread, “I am so very pleased.”
We get to cling to these tactile, experienceable, promises of God
—promises of the sheer and utter love of God
in the face of so much of the opposite.

            “Baptism is neither something that we can destroy once we’re adults, nor a thing chosen by our wills, instead it is God’s promises. Everything depends upon the Word and Commandment of God.”

While human hands and everyday water do the baptism, ultimately, we are baptized by God
—Baptism is an Act of God…
think about that phrase
—insurance companies use it to say, “wild and overwhelming, unavoidable, uncontrollable,”
 that is the unconditional promise of God,
that meets you in your Baptism!

An unconditional promise revealed in the water!

 

A promise by our Lord.
What kind of Lord?
What kind of Judge?
Who brings justice to all the earth!?!

According to Peter in Acts, he is a Lord of Peace;
the one who will judge the living and the dead
is the same one who just sent a bunch of people out
preaching resurrection to the dead
and forgiveness to the living!

According to Isaiah, the one who will make sure
“every little thing gonna be alright,”
God’s chosen one, his son, the one who delights the soul
—the one who embodies the stuff of our Baptism
—he will be gentle and humble,
 he will bring justice without killing or maiming or power plays of any sort.
His is a peaceful Lordship
—his voice a merciful whisper,
his rightwising of the world
will not break even brittle reeds
or put blow out a dying candle
—justice, righteousness, everything working out for the good
—without violence or coercion…
these days that sounds like an impossible dream
—but In Baptism the hidden is revealed.
That’s the baptism we are baptized into!
That’s the God revealed in his Son Jesus Christ.
That is God’s righteous gift to us. Amen.

Just War: Venezuela

              Upon waking up to news about our attack on Venezuela, images played on repeat of massive explosions and burnt out Venezuelan military vehicles, and reports of their president and first lady, the Maduros, capture… with militias gathering up for reprisals and other South American countries activating their militaries, I went back and looked at previous pastoral letters I’ve written, one from when it looked like President Obama was about to invade Syria because they used chemical weapons, and another after the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani in the first Trump Administration.

              I started those letters with words that loom large in my heart today as well. Kyrie Eleison—Lord have mercy.

              Kyrie Eleison… This is how we start our opening prayer to God in worship—the start of the prayer, in which we pray for peace from above and for our salvation—peace for the whole world.

              And I would ask that you take a moment to pray this prayer from our Hymnal:     

“Gracious God, grant peace among nations. Cleanse from our own hearts the seeds of strife: greed and envy, harsh misunderstandings and ill will, fear and desire for revenge. Make us quick to welcome ventures in cooperation among the peoples of the world, so that there may be woven the fabric of a common good too strong to be torn by the evil hands of war. In the time of opportunity, make us be diligent; and in the time of peril, let not our courage fail; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

              Now, our present moment is a little different from the two previous times I responded with pastoral letters, as there is a quasi-policing veneer to last night’s attacks, the situation has been escalating for months, and there is a sense (incorrect I believe) that what happened last night ends things. Our killing of Soleimani didn’t stop attacks on US soldiers in the Middle East or our bombing of Iran a few years later. Likewise, our inaction in Syria festered for a decade until Assad was deposed by his own people. As someone who studied the history of war as an undergraduate, I would point to that truism that every soldier can quote by van Moltke, “No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.” Engaging in battle has a force to it, choosing to fight innately radicalizes the goals of those who go to war—if you give a general a cookie, he’ll keep the tanks moving. Additionally, war tends to reshape national identities in unexpected ways.

              And our faith has something to say about such things. For two thousand years we Christians have been struggling with being faithful in the world as it is, in situations of persecution, famine, feast, might, and war. And those struggles have given us a rich tradition of thought and action, something much deeper than the knee-jerk reactions of TV pundits and political intellectuals.

              In the early days of the Church, Christians were known for being pacifists. In fact, the Society of Friends (Quakers) and Mennonites still are pacifists, they see refusing to go to war as a witness to the world that the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, reigns. Other Christians, such as us Lutherans, follow a tradition that includes Just War Theory, “which requires certain conditions to be met before the use of military force is considered morally right. 

These principles are:

1.      A just war can only be waged as a last resort. All non-violent options must be exhausted before the use of force can be justified.

2.      A war is just only if it is waged by a legitimate authority. Even just causes cannot be served by actions taken by individuals or groups who do not constitute an authority sanctioned by whatever the society and outsiders to the society deem legitimate.

3.      A just war can only be fought to redress a wrong suffered. For example, self-defense against an armed attack is always considered to be a just cause (although the justice of the cause is not sufficient--see point #4). Further, a just war can only be fought with "right" intentions: the only permissible objective of a just war is to redress the injury.

4.      A war can only be just if it is fought with a reasonable chance of success. Deaths and injury incurred in a hopeless cause are not morally justifiable.

5.      The ultimate goal of a just war is to re-establish peace. More specifically, the peace established after the war must be preferable to the peace that would have prevailed if the war had not been fought.

6.      The violence used in the war must be proportional to the injury suffered. States are prohibited from using force not necessary to attain the limited objective of addressing the injury suffered.

7.      The weapons used in war must discriminate between combatants and non-combatants. Civilians are never permissible targets of war, and every effort must be taken to avoid killing civilians. The deaths of civilians are justified only if they are unavoidable victims of a deliberate attack on a military target.”

              Additionally, this Church, the ELCA, in 1995, created a document “For Peace in God’s World” which particularized our understanding of Just War Theory to the challenges of the 20^th and 21^st century. Here are a few stand out statements:

            “Wars, both between and within states, represent a horrendous failure of politics. The evil of war is especially evident in the number of children and other noncombatants who suffer and die.”

            “Helping the neighbor in need may require protecting innocent people from injustice and aggression. While we support the use of nonviolent measures, there may be no other way to offer protection in some circumstances than by restraining forcibly those harming the innocent. We do not, then--for the sake of the neighbor--rule out possible support for the use of military force. We must determine in particular circumstances whether or not military action is the lesser evil.”

            “From the posture of the just/unjust war tradition, the aim of all politics is peace. Any political activity that involves coercion should be held accountable to just/unjust war principles. They are important for evaluating movements, sanctions, embargoes, boycotts, trade policies to reward or punish, and other coercive but nonviolent measures.”

            And finally, and most solemn, "Any decision for war must be a mournful one."

            And so, I conclude this letter as I did the last two, Kyrie Eleison.

Sermon: Ephesians Christmas

 

            “How would things be different, if Jesus had never been born?” he asked us.

            Unfortunately, he asked Dayna, Micah, Billy, and me
—I don’t know if there were 4 kids in all of Wyoming more in their heads than us.
We proceeded to:
-imagine western civilization without a Christian influence,
-sketch out where rocketry and astronomy might have been at, without the Roman Catholic Church’s condemnation of Galileo,
-considered the forces of colonization of the Americas without the religious missionary zeal involved…
…and on and on…
that poor Sunday School Teacher…
he just wanted us to say without Christmas we wouldn’t be saved…

            Here in Ephesians,
in this packed 200-word sentence of Paul’s
(in English we break it down into 6 sentences… but it’s actually one big one)
—Paul gives an equally heady, but decidedly more faithful, sort of witness. He describes what it means to be In Christ.
He explains the why of Jesus Christ
—the Why of Christmas
—he came among us
—as John talks about today,
he was born among us,
that we might be born of God.
He is in us, that we might be found in him.

The why of Christmas,
the reason Jesus being born makes a difference
—is that because of Christmas we are in Christ.

Let us pray

 

            9 times in a single sentence, Paul describes what it is like to be In Christ. But, to get there I think it is worth considering each one’s opposite
—after all if Christmas is about being saved,
we obviously must be saved FROM something,
to be saved FOR something.

 

            When we are outside of Christ, it is like we’re cursed
—imagine that, a world cursed, a world where we don’t want the best for each other,
where even our best efforts, our most holy and righteous acts
—are awful, are failings and condemnation.

            Outside of Christ we are rejected…
like a dog shooed away from a taco truck,
or a fugitive
—chased for the whole of our life,
never able to relax,
always looking over our shoulder.

            Outside of Christ, we are orphaned,
like a character in a Dickens novel,
or the backstory of some superhero or another
—the tragedy that at our most vulnerable, the person who would be expected to care for us, is dead.

            Outside of Christ, we are impoverishment.
A fallen Victorian estate,
a scammer getting hold of the family bank account while away on vacation,
a major medical bill not covered by insurance
—losing everything.

            Outside of Christ, we are kidnapped
—held for ransom…
and the clock runs out,
no one comes for us.
We start to ask the frightening questions like:
“How long will our captors keep feeding us? What’ll they do if no one comes?”

            Outside of Christ is obscurity and ignorance.
We’re thrown into a situation without an explanation,
blindfolded, barefoot, spun around,
and then instead of being pointed toward a piñata or given a tail to pin on the donkey,
told to watch out for the broken glass, it’s everywhere.

            Outside of Christ we’re disinherited
—losing status, told implicitly or explicitly, “you are not my child. You aren’t part of my family.”
            Outside of Christ are broken promises
—being lied to,
buying a ticket for the 8:15am train, and 8:15 has come and gone, and come back round again.

            Outside of Christ it is a Caviat Empor world, buyer beware
—it is all on you,
you’re ripe for the picking,
every deal is a trick,
every sale is final.

Cursed, rejected, orphaned, impoverished, kidnapped, obscured, disinherited, lied to, untrustworthy…
I know—that all sounds a little dire,
especially in the season of Christmas,
but hopefully these long shadows, help us to see what it means to be In Christ,
it helps us to crack open the why of Christmas
—it’s meaning here in Ephesians.

            In Christ we are: blessed, chosen, adopted, gifted, redeemed, informed, entrusted, promised, and sealed.

            In Christ God’s good plan for all the earth is revealed.
God’s plan to right the whole world
—save his beloved Creation
—is most clearly seen in Christian Unity.
We witness to God’s work in the world the best, when we love each other!

            In Christ we find a sibling—a brother,
adopted into God’s family. That’s the baptismal promise after all, right?
—hey you, you’re a Child of God now, welcome to the family!

In Christ we are redeemed
—a relative sees us captured and comes along and frees us,
buying us out of captivity,
out of slavery,
rescued from the bonds that hold us,
by our kin who loves us.

In Christ there is blessing and life.
Kindness, goodness, mercy, is all poured out like an overabundance of oil,
given to us freely, unmerited grace
—we did nothing and receive everything! How can that be? Thanks be to God!

 

“How would things be different if Jesus had never been born?”

We would be outsiders, but we have been made insiders.
Christmas is a revelation.
Christmas is a homecoming.
Christmas is a rescue mission.
Christmas is mercy all the way through!

Amen.

3 Bipartisan Policies & more

In a recent post I offered 6 policies for Democrats to run on in 2026 that I think would be good for them electorally, but also good for the country. I followed it up with 6 policies for Republicans; some of them might fit into Trump’s bailiwick and others that could be directions for a post-Trump GOP. What follows is where those policies could overlap.

The Throw the Bums Out Bill:

Concerns around corruption, politicians aging, and there being little to no churn in government, are everywhere. This goes beyond party; I think everyone can agree that politicians shouldn’t be bribed, they should be cognizant of their behaviors and choices, and they should know when to quit. A solution for this would be to require federal politicians to put investments in blind trusts, a gifts regime similar to federal employees, and term limits. I like my 8, 10, 12, 14 scheme, but I’m sure there are other rational ratios out there.

Housing for America

I was interested to learn that Vivek Ramaswamy recently came out in favor of Ezra Klein's Abundance agenda. His only objection was that the description was too “democrat coded.” (Imagine that, the two parties actually agree on one of the biggest issues facing our country, they just don’t like each other’s language… where are our English Majors?) So that’s super interesting for the state of Ohio, where Ramaswamy intends to be the next governor. It is also interesting for establishing some sort of bipartisan consensus around housing policy.

What do you suppose each side getting half a loaf around housing policy might look like? Some serious public investment in building coupled with incentives to regulate “more like Texas than California” to lift up Klein’s overworn phrase. Maybe encourage some local buy in with county architecture prizes named after an Ayn Rand character? (What up and coming architect wouldn’t want to put “Hunterdon County HRAI Awarded Architect” on their resume?)

Artificial Intelligence Regulation, Compensation, and Treaties

              This is one of those things where there needs to be some consensus. As a country, what do we think AI ought to be for? Is it to eliminate all entry-level white-collar jobs? Is it for intellectual property theft by proxy? Is it a coding tool? Is it a union busting device? Is it an educational tool? Is it a digital parent or romantic partner? Is it a taxi driver? Is it a medical diagnostic tool? Is it an electronic day trader? Is it a replacement for human relationships writ large? Is it a digital slave? Is it a replacement for humans? Is it a replacement for CEOs? Is it a steroid for economic growth? Is it a dead man’s switch for nuclear weapons? Are we trying to create an electronic god? Is it clippy? What exactly are we planning to do with AI?

I understand Artificial Intelligence can be a digital Swiss Army Knife, but if someone stabbed someone else to death with such a knife, we’d still call it murder—even if they use the corkscrew. So, what are the no-gos for this tool/person/set of code? We can regulate how AI develops. In fact, we can push for the development of a global consensus about what this tool is for. We can also mitigate the damage it causes in the lives of those it displaces.

So, for example, if 20% of the people younger than me will be unable to have a job on account of AI… we should maybe have a plan for that.

If a good number of people who are directly involved with AI are sending up alarming warnings about AI developing interests that diverge from humanity, ways of communicating beyond human understanding, and means of “escaping” their current digital habitats… perhaps a bit of caution is in order.

If AI is sucking up water and power resources to such an extent that it is noticeable on everyone’s electric bills and there is talk of AI droughts… maybe we name no-go boundaries for resource use.

One of my favorite tools is a concrete framing of Aristotelian Ethics: Glasses, Hammer, and Map. Where are we? What tools do we have? Where are we going? As a society and as a planet we need to answer those types of questions about AI. There should be a bipartisan consensus to ask those questions broadly and act on our eventual answers. My assumption is that after a robust conversation about AI we would end up: regulating AI nationally, compensating and retraining folks who are especially adversely affected by AI, and push for global treaties around AI.

Other Points of Convergence

              Thinking aloud about the other potential places where partisanship could take a back-seat there seem to be three areas of convergence. It seems like it is in the best interest of the GOP to stabilize the Affordable Care Act—otherwise they’ll take the blame for the Big Beautiful Bill’s contribution to the problem. Who knows, once they start working on it they might come up with a long-term fix. There may still be a bipartisan consensus around arming Ukraine and preparing weapon systems for a direct confrontation with China. There may still be room for an immigration deal, it could be an off-ramp for the current horrific deportation regime.

Points of Divergence

              I imagine my Cap & Trade suggestion is not where the GOP is at, climate change denialism is still prevalent in the Republican Party. Strengthening public colleges, even in a federalized way, and empowering the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, also seem out of reach.

Conclusion

              With a little creativity the US Government could: reform our federal political system, address housing shortages, and shape the future of AI, instead of being shaped by it. If we were really brave and thoughtful, we could also make healthcare affordable, provide for the defense of our allies and deterrence of our competitors, and make our immigration system logical for immigration in the 2020s and beyond.

Christmas Eve Sermon: Ponder

 

“Mary Treasured all these words, and pondered them in her heart.”

“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

 

            With this devotional booklet,
I would like to invite you all into the 12 days of Christmas;
welcome to a season of pondering, as Mary once pondered.

            Pondering—a practice of both the head and the heart, love and contemplation wrapped together in imagination.

Considering the charged logic of the words that Mary received,
the combustible way they combine to make the Christmas story, our story.

Consider too, how precious these words are.
They are like the Velveteen Rabbit
—the stuffed rabbit is so cuddled and loved by its child,
that its eyes are worn smooth and fur is rubbed off,
and that sort of love makes it become a living bunny…
so too pondering these words can make the Gospel come alive!

            So yes, tonight I am setting you all up for 12 days of pondering all these words.

Prayer

 

Pondering all these words.

            Ponder both the fear and the joy of this proclamation.

“Be not afraid” the words of most every angel in scripture, the extraordinary among the ordinary
—heaven on earth
—is disruptive and frightening.

Think of the manger scene here,
and all those angels swirling about the tree
–to scale, that’s terrifying!
A host, an army of angels! Oh my!

            Fear placed next to joyous tidings,
Good News—Gospel…
Imagine if people were always so excited to meet a Christian because they knew the encounter with them would bring them good news!
Imagine, even, that, in a media environment saturated with bad news and sadness
—"It Bleeds it Leads”
we can share a story of joy!

            Joy and terror,
Awe and Gospel
—Isn’t that what Mary and Joseph are experiencing? Childbirth, bringing a new life into existence
—bringing a Holy Child here on earth…
Terror and Joy!

 

            Ponder the universal and the particular,
the old and the new.

            Luke’s Gospel insists upon its universality
—Jesus is for everyone.
In fact, in Luke,
if a man receives a miracle, then a woman will receive a similar miracle,
if an old person witnesses God at work, a young person will as well.
Luke understands this to be the fulfillment of prophecy from the book of Joel.
Sons and daughters,
youth and elders,
slaves and free
—“For all people.”

            At the same time, there is a particularly to the Gospel, “Born in the city of David.”
This good news for all people is grounded in the good soil of Hebrew Scripture
—God’s ongoing faithfulness to the Jewish people.
And what we read today is not an anomaly or a one off,
no, right before Mary Ponders, she sings
a song that is so similar to Hannah’s in the book of Samuel that Mary might have to pay copyright for it!
Right after today’s Gospel the Holy Family will do what all faithful Jews did at the time
—sacrifice in the temple.

            God doing something new flowing out of something old…
God’s goodness for everyone,
and yet found in a particular place and a particular time, upheld by a particular history.
The scandal of the universal
and the scandal of particularity.
God loves everyone…
to which we human so often ask, “even him?”
Or more often, “Even them?”
AND ALSO
God loves YOU,
uniquely and not theoretically.
You in your messy wholeness and unvarnished history.

 

            Ponder this one who is born—Savior, Messiah, Lord. What kind of Redeemer, Chosen One, and King is he?

            Not simply a High Priest
—insisting upon right ritual, micromanaged until we’re all pure.
Not a new David violently reclaiming a Kingdom.
Not Caesar, maintaining order at all costs,
even if the bodies pile up.

Not that kind of Savior
—even if his name, Jesus, does mean Save us.
And he will…
save us from our alienation and our tendency to get tangled up on our self.
He will make meaning and right the world through self-sacrifice and accompanying love.
His authority will be lowly
—like his first crib and first guests
—manger and shepherds.
Humble Lordship that will culminate in kneeling and washing his students’ feet.

           

            Ponder the sign of God—the Birth of a child.

God with us in common things
—bands of cloth, a trough,
so unremarkable that he is squeezed out of the guest room…
you noticed that language in the new translation, yes? Inns/Guest Rooms, either way—ordinary stuff of life,
that’s the sign of God among us.
God with us in the everyday, because the redemption of our every day is the work of God!

 

            Ponder, lastly, the glory in heaven and peace on earth.

            Glory is literally the heaviness of God
—that which is too much for mortals,
yet that frightening too-much-ness
—that swarm of angels and all it implies
—offers favor and brings peace. Peace, he brings to us,
and peace he leaves for us,
the one who bears heaven to earth, God with us.

 

            Yes friends. Ponder in the coming 12 days of Christmas all these words.

 

“Do not be afraid, for see, I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.”

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

Amen.

In the Valley, a Longest Night Homily

            It’s a Wonderful Life has an UNDESERVED reputation of being an old sappy black and white Christmas Movie…

but it isn’t saccharine. Instead, it’s a longest night kind of film…
The main character, George Baley,
runs into disaster atop disaster,
doubts assail him and he is driven to the point of suicide
on a bridge modeled after the one in Califon
—he wonders aloud if the world would be better off without him…
into this despair, Clarence, his guardian angel, swoops in,
not to save him—in a traditional sense anyway,
but to give him what he wants,
a vision of the world without George Baley.

            It’s a movie Lisa and I try to watch every year around Christmas.
A few weeks back, we saw a “Radio Play” version of it at the Shakespeare Theater.
And at some point in that dark theater
(because I’m a Theologian and can’t turn that part of my brain off),
I had an Aha!  George Baley entered a thin place!

 

            What do I mean by that? Well, within Celtic Christianity, there is a concept of “Thin Places”
places where the veil between heaven and earth are thinner.

Where God and humans are just a little closer together,
 the divine and ordinary, meet in extraordinary ways.
Places sparking with potential, demanding reverence, awe inspiring and awful!

 

            These are places of immense beauty,
or overwhelming intense emotion
—lush forests, monasteries, and pagan shrines even.

            Often times these thin places are also high places, mountains.
For example, Elijah encounters the still small voice on mount Horeb,
the book of Genesis is littered with Shrines erected on high places.

 

            My own experience of an obvious thin place was visiting Har Meggito (literally the Hill of Witness)
—from which we derive the word Armageddon.
It is now a UNESCO World Heritage site,
an archaeological dig that includes multi-layered ruins of religious structures
—a mosque atop a church atop a synagogue atop a pagan shrine.
(Clearly I wasn’t the only one who sensed the gossamer veil between heaven and earth there.)

 

            Yes, Thin Places are often found on the heights…
but there are also similar encounters in the night and in the depths…
Think of Abraham’s dark dream where he encounter’s God a flame in the mist of slaughter, and similarly Jacob wrestling on the Jabok river with A man/Angel/God…
or Moses chased and hunted down by God until he agrees to circumcision, or less obscure,
the people of God backed up against the Red Sea as Pharoah bears down on them…

           

            Yes, Thin places can kiss mountainous heights,
but they can also swoop down to the valley below.
Thin places, thin people, thin situations… in the valley.

 

Prayer

In the valley.

            Ezekiel is brought down into the valley, among dry bones
—bodies of slaughtered priests and the destroyed remnants of his nation
broken after the awful siege of Jerusalem.
Can these bones live?

            The Psalmist sings of the Valley of the Shadow of Death,
sheep, pilgrims, humans living life, traveling through the darkest valley
—the most dangerous leg of their pilgrimage journey.
Will they make it to green pastures and the house of the Lord?

            While Matthew insists that Jesus speaks from the heights
(Matthew needs us to know Jesus is a sort of New Moses giving a new law)
—he is speaking to those in the valley of affliction,
Down there in the depths,
Who have suffered sickness and ailments,
torments and possession,
gathered there to be healed.
Can they be blessed?

           

            These valleys too, are surely thin places:
-places near to possibility,
places of anticipation.

-situations of salvation and breath and reknitting and life and the Spirit’s return,
like at the moment of creation!
Isn’t that right Ezekiel?

-places we can sing Psalms about
—where there is a holy flow to life,
and rest at the end.

-people who are blessed,
finding comfort and mercy,
inheritance and the face of God
outlined in light, heaven meeting earth.

 

            These Longest Nights…
like George Baley’s night on that Califon Bridge… are Thin Places too!
These times allowing for mourning,
grieving changes of all sorts.

            These nights when we seem out of synch with the upbeat tempo of the season,
because we acknowledge the ragged discomforts of our own thinness…
“stretched like butter scraped over too much bread.”

These nights can be strained to the breaking point,
but somehow there is an opening in them too
—night’s dimness meets the clarity of day.
Tomorrow won’t be the longest night, only the second longest…

 

Think of Mary, heavily pregnant, traveling to Bethlehem…
pregnancy is surely a long night,
steeped in anticipation,
two worlds and possibilities a hairs breathe away…
Then the birth of the one who will be called God Among Us. A new day!

 

In this liminal time and space that we’re in together tonight,
we are pressed up against that curtain between heaven and earth.
Terrible awe, anticipation, potential—all swirl around us here.
I pray that
-our dry bones will receive Spirit,
-our shadowy journey will be led by a Shepherd,
-and our afflictions will be embraced by blessing.

Amen.

Most Read Posts of 2025

 

5. Useful Cuttings from My Time of Discernment—A sort of after-action report from my time of discernment around the office of the Bishop.

4. 35 Fiction Books for Men—As society worries about men not reading fiction, I offer them options.

3. A six-year vision for the Synod—A six year vision for the Synod.

2. The Kind of Bishop We Need—Some reflections I offered up to our Synod as we went into Synod Assembly and electing a new Bishop.

1. A Defense of Lutheran Social Ministries—My response to the bizarre attacks on Lutheran Social Ministries by members of the current administration.

              A few posts I thought were sort of important include my 4D Bible Study, my defense of the local library, an affirmation that life is fragile, and finally a Lutheran timeline.

Best Books of 2025

 

              While I read 60 books this year, it felt like a bit of a slump, I didn't have an "Oh! Wow!" read this year. Probably my favorite reading experience this year was re-reading the Gilead series. But, when it comes to new books, here are my five favorites for the year:

5. When Women were Dragons

4. The New Testament and the People of God

3. Sea of Tranquility

2. The Ministry of Time

1. Kindred

Runners up include: Abundance, The Frozen River, The Dallergut Dream Department Store, and Why Religion went Obsolete. 

A Republican Six-Pack

So my previous policy blogpost got some interesting responses.

On one hand, some folk felt I was a little hard on older politicians, and they hadn’t heard about some of the geriatric shenanigans going on in DC—Dianne Feinstein not understanding how to vote or where she was, Kay Grander going missing for 6 months and turning up in a nursing home, or both Senators McConnell and Kennedy having strange “glitching” episodes.

On the other hand, there are folks who want a 6 pack for the other side of the aisle; what should the Republicans be running on these days? What might post-Trump policy priorities look like for the GOP? It was sort of like when caricature artists on the board walk get a crowd and everyone starts saying, “Ohhh! Do me next!”

As a caveat, I’ve sort of lost the thread on Republican policymaking since they dismissed my concerns about the Iraq War, and those of millions of Americans, as “focus group problems” only to see those concerns play out upon the battered flesh of my generation… but I do have a vested interest in both political parties developing policies that help America instead of hurt it—after all I live here. So, I’ll give it a whirl.

I believe former president Obama was right, we don’t live in Red or Blue America, we live in the United States of America… and as such I figure many of the problems identified by Democrats are also problems for Republicans, so some of the policies I’ll offer with have overlap with those I offered to Democrats.

 

The Howard Roark Award for Affordable and Innovative Architecture:

              In order to alleviate the housing crisis, encourage innovations in affordable housing and create some buzz about new builds, create local public-private entities that will host affordable architecture contests in every county in the USA. Imagine it, 3,200 some new ideas for making housing affordable. Architects competing for bragging rights in their home towns, and bringing a national conversation to birth, not on twitter or from talking heads, but in person, considering on the ground realities and a bunch of regional and local contexts. Would that build the 2 million new houses that America is short? Would it lower prices on housing? It might set up a sustainable pipeline of affordable houses not dependent on the whims of Washington.

Comprehensive Immigration Reform:

              Since second grade, when we came back to the United States after my family served our stint as front line defenders against the Soviet Hordes, I’ve been hearing presidential candidates talking about comprehensive immigration reform. As I understand it, the idea is that the rules around immigration put in place in the 1960s are out of date, and laws about both bringing people in to the country and enforcing conditions for them staying out of the country should be updated to reflect current realities. The stickiness around passing this sort of thing is that it requires Republicans to allow for more immigration and probably will require some sort of amnesty or fast-tracking of people who have immigrated here illegally, and requires Democrats to state clearly the level and types of immigration that we are comfortable with, likely deport some people we don’t want to deport, and be the face of enforcement in a way that will dampen some immigrant families’ American Dreams. For that matter, this issue messes with political coalitions—big business and xenophobes don’t see eye to eye on immigration, and multiculturalists and organize labor could find themselves on different sides of the table.

Bubba nearly passed comprehensive immigration reform in the late 90s, Dubya in 2006, and Barack-star in 2013. What a coup, if Donald Trump and the Republicans were able to use this issue as their pivot toward the center. “Look, we made all this chaos to set the stage for order. I know it was hard, but I’ve created such a crisis that we have to do major reform—some people are saying it is the biggest reform! My predecessors failed, but I alone can make this happen. I encourage every representative and senator to vote their conscience, but Republicans need to know their conscience will be to vote for the final bill, or be primaried by my chosen MAGA candidate.” And there you have it, some updated version of the Gang of Eight/Gang of Six bill gets over the finish line.

The Arsenal of Democracy Bill:

              Traditionally the Republican Party is seen as the party of defense contractors and big business, and also the party of cutting government waste. So, this would be another pivot point. “Look, we sent Hegseth in, not because he knew what he was doing, but to shake everything up. Now that the armed services are properly shook, we can move forward for a defense plan for a multipolar world. China spent a decade creating weapons, logistics, and tactics with the sole focus of countering US strategy in the Pacific, and as a consequence our currently strategy and armaments wouldn’t defeat China if they tried to invade Taiwan. On top of that, currently we’re creating armaments for thousands of dollars, that cost hundreds when Ukraine makes ‘em. Let’s focus on those two things.”

So, we’re going to make a generational investment in two areas: 1. Weapons that take into account things learned about modern warfare in Ukraine. 2. Weapons that make China’s plan to invade Taiwan so costly that they are deterred, or if they go ahead with their plan, defeated.

Bring Back Cap and Trade

              Climate change is something the Republican Party is going to have to grappled with sooner or later—or go extinct as a party. The young folk won’t vote for a political party that has done nothing while their future and the fate of the planet is mortgaged for short term goals. For all of the bill’s flaws, the Democratic party can point to the Inflation Reduction Act as their signature attempt to save the future. Republicans should dust off George H. W. Bush’s solution to problems with sulfur dioxide back in the day and reintroduced by John McCain and Joe Lieberman to tackle CO2 emissions. Instead of pretending climate change isn’t happening, offer cap and trade as the free market, business friendly, solution.

Ban Washington Stock Trades & Impose Term Limits:

              In some ways the anti-corruption stuff I talked about in the previous post fits better in the Republican camp. After all, they were the folks who brought us the contract with America and GOP Representatives like Nancy Mace have been trying to pass bans on insider trading for public servants since they came to Washington.

              So, if the whole GOP ran on requiring anyone working in a branch of government, so Senators, Congresspeople, Presidents, Cabinet Secretaries, and Supreme Court Justices, to put all their stocks in a blind trust, like Mitt Romney did in 2012, they would find support.

              Back in ‘94 the GOP encouraged term limits. It leads to a churn in leadership and ideas, fresh blood and limits to “corrupt congress critters” as I’ve heard them called. So, let’s go there. Run on amending the constitution so that it limits House members to 4 terms, the Senate to 2 terms, and the Supreme Court to one 14 year term.

Spelling the whole thing out, the president maxes out at 8 years, Representatives at 10 years, Senators at 12, and Justices to 14 years. That seems like it offers more dynamic federal leadership, and would open up spaces for advancement more frequently.

A Cold War Style AI Summit:

              I have to admit I have a hard time thinking about how the GOP can tackle the serious dangers of AI. We just had an executive order nullifying all state laws about AI, so a grassroots/federalist development of these rules seems out of the picture. So, the other model would be Reagan in the Cold War. Trust, but verify. Come together with the other AI superpowers, namely China, and put together a GALT (Global AI Limitation Talks) treaty akin to SALT and SALT2. Agree on the point at which AI needs to be throttled, and have a mechanism for keeping tabs on all the signatory states.

 

              So, all in all, a kind of mixed bag from me; sorry GOP readers. The best conservative oriented policies I can come up with are: inspire innovative local architects, finally pass meaningful immigration reform, re-think defense investment, address climate change through cap and trade, tackle corruption in Washington, and create a GALT treaty to address the longer term dangers of AI. Those sorts of policies might be a healthy post-Trump turn for the Republican Party.

Advent 3: The Witness of Jesus

                I’ve told you about it before—the Jesus Seminar,

where a group of New Testament scholars went line by line through the Gospels,
voting with different colored marbles about how likely each line of scripture was to have actually been said or done by Jesus…
One of the few solid things that this group came up with was that, to quote Ben Worthington, one of my favorite Historical Jesus people:
“in the midst of the church's collection of Jesus' sayings were also included sayings of John!”
“Jesus was willing to parallel his own work and divine authority with John's.”

And

John is “the one figure in the Gospel tradition to whom Jesus seems to compare and contrast himself, both in his words and deeds.”

                So, with all that said, it is worth probing this relationship, between John and Jesus, and in today’s lesson
Jesus witnesses to John the Baptist,
and witnesses about John the Baptist.

Let us pray

 

Jesus witnesses to John the Baptist, he tells him good news.

                If you think about it, today’s lesson is somewhat shocking
—John wasn’t sure if Jesus, who he baptized and declared to be greater than himself
—was the one coming into the world to make all things right.
John, having pointed to Jesus as God’s beloved son,
is now imprisoned, and in that captivity, unsure.

Unsure, I imagine, because of what he expected.
Unsure as well because of his own model of ministry.

-His was an ongoing warning of judgement and renewal—repent! Turn around and be ready for God’s new thing!
Whereas Jesus proclaimed the inbreaking salvation of the Kingdom of God.

-His was a severe asceticism, a prophetic role all the way down…
diet—honey and locusts,
clothing—he wears camels hair and is girded with a leather belt,
and location—the Wilderness.
Compared with Jesus—joyful, supping with sinners, telling stories to straighten out the spirit…
If you google smiling Jesus pictures, there are tons…
pictures of John the Baptist smiling…
only that cheeky one by DaVinci.

-His was perhaps the common hope of a warrior king
or a High Priest putting things right.
a secular liberator
or a religious official with a auspicious genealogy going back to Moses’ brother Aaron
… and instead Jesus offers self-sacrifice and love.

                I can imagine John taking offense…
especially while jailed…
Look, if you were rotting in jail for pointing to a guy who you believe is doing God’s will,
you too might think, “is this the way God works?”

                So, Jesus tells John a little about himself
—lets him know how God is righting the world!
How God is working and continues to work.
Jesus describes his deeds (essentially a summary of Matthew chapters 8-9):
The dead are raised,
The disabled are able,
the diseased are at ease,
deprived are privy to the good news of God
God is on the move!

When people meet Jesus they are Gospelized by the living word of God!
They experience good news in an embodied sort of way!

 

Then Jesus goes on and witnesses about John the Baptist.

                He turns to a crowd gathered, people curious about how these two men relate to one another. He almost harangues
—perhaps Jesus finds his inner John the Baptist here,
or maybe he’s just doing an impression, asking:

“What did you go into the wilderness to gawk at when you went to see John?”
What were you looking for?
What did you expect?
What caught your attention!”

 

                Have you heard the term the Attention economy before?
It is a whole line of research in business, marketing and political circles
—what keeps people’s attention,
and what is that worth?
One such study suggested that social media companies make approximately a dollar for each hour we keep our eyeballs looking at a screen,
and so they do all sorts of things to make it harder for us to look away.
Impossible AI produced videos, polarized and siloed rage-bait, sex and violence with the dial set to 11, bigotry masquerading as conspiracy and conspiracies masquerading as entertainment…
all with little to no concern for what these tricks do to humans and our flourishing.

                On the other end of the spectrum
—have you thought about what science fiction pays attention to…
Sci-fi, at its best, pays attention to the future, in order to see our present.
Orwell wrote 1984 to clearly see totalitarian dangers in 1946,
HAL from Clark’s 2001: A Space Odessey helped people 1968 wrap their minds around IBM,
Bradbury wrote Fahrenheit 451 to draw attention to book burnings and acts of censorship in the 1950s.

Yes, Sci-fi pays attention to the future, in order to see our present…

 

                So, asking again for Jesus, what caught your attention?

                Did you expect Herod Antipas who holds John captive?
Were you drawn to the Herod? Did you look to the villain!

-Herod, his image on a coin flanked by reeds
—while John is flanked by prison guards.

-Herod in comfortable clothing,
John in camels hair.

-Look to the royal palace,
where the decision to behead John is already in process.

No! Look at John!
He is the hinge of history,
preparing the way
for the one who is the Way.
Preparing for the one in whom Good News is embodied,
who is among the vulnerable
and bring them into his very self,
who dies and rises
so the dead might rise and see God!

 

Maybe John is a sort of attention economist
—by wrestling with Jesus,
questioning him and making it all plain and out in the open,
he is pointing us, making us pay attention to, Jesus.

Jesus who is worth your time and attention!
Our attention to screens might be worth a dollar an hour,
but Jesus is priceless!

Or maybe John is something of a sci-fi author himself
—the one John washed in water and upon whom the Spirit descended
—is our future.
Pay attention to those hopes about him,
because then we see him in our present as well!

Jesus witnesses to John the Baptist,
and witnesses about John the Baptist.
Drawing our attention to the one place that we know God is on the move. Amen.