Sermon: The Kingdom of Heaven Calls

          I started that phone call, “Mom, please don’t hang up, this isn’t a joke.”

          I’d flown from Oregon to San Fransciso to  Milwaukee to JKF to Heathrow International Airport in London—I presented my documentation to the Immigration agent—only to be told that since I left the UK 3 months previous they had changed their policy on issuing student visas in country

—it could only be done at a consulate or embassy in the United States.

          So, they took my luggage from me, marched me down to this basement facility, through a cage door, made me empty my pockets, led me through a re-enforced steel door, and into a waiting room with a bunch of Iraqi refugees and a businessman from New York. There was this TV on the wall playing re-runs of Kevin Sorbo’s Hercules on loop.

I’d already been up for well over 24 hours, but I tried to stay wake, it was a strange and scary place, I mean what self-respecting West Coaster wants to be locked up with a New York Businessman, right?...

But eventually I passed out in the chair.

          Some time later a guard shook me awake and took me back out to an office with a telephone—I got one phone call—and called my parents back in the US, “Mom, please don’t hang up, this isn’t a joke.”

          It was the middle of the night for them, but they jumped to, figuring out which flight I was being deported on (they sent me to Chicago), cancelling all their plans and driving cross country to be there when I drug myself off that airplane back onto US soil.

          They were my parents, they couldn’t help but respond when I called.

          So too, we can’t help but respond when the Kingdom of Heaven calls.

Prayer

          We can’t help but respond when the Kingdom of Heaven calls.

And that can be messy, and costly.

When it called John, he was called to a hard and thankless task,

calling people to repentance, including, ultimately, his own ruler, Herod Antipas, who had him jailed and later executed.

          Throughout Christian history confrontation with the powers that be, and the consequences that follow, is a common occurrence

—from Justin Martyr’s explanation of the faith to the emperor of Rome to the early Lutheran church presenting the Augsburg Confession to the Holy Roman Emperor,

--from Dr. King’s famed letter from a Birmingham Jail confronting segregation and white apathy to Christian resistance to repression by the Stasi in communist East Germany.

          Yes, we can’t help but respond when the Kingdom of Heaven calls.

          Now, in today’s Gospel Geography is important, Jesus moves to Capernaum—and in so doing calls it to the future promised in Isaiah

—Isaiah write of Galilee as occupied and in need of a rescue only God could bring

--and that Rescue comes, as God’s rescue always does, and as Paul writes, foolishly and hidden behind the cross.

          This region occupied by Assyria 700 years before Jesus’ birth, and constantly a place pointing to national humiliation, is where the Messiah takes up residence, and he redeems it, not with conquest, or plunder, or religious war,

but through a steady call of,

repentance,

by calling people to be his disciples,

through teaching,

preaching,

and healing

—this is how the Kingdom Comes.

That’s the foolish saving message of the Kingdom—that’s the power of God!

Whenever you get discouraged sisters and brothers

—when the work seems small

—feeding a few hungry people at the Y,

grieving together and getting through,

sending letters of welcome to your new neighbors,

going to a park with the kids to talk about God’s love

—this is how the Kingdom comes!

We can’t help but respond when the Kingdom of Heaven calls.

Look no further than Peter, Andrew, James, and John

—they leave nets and boat and father

—they follow Jesus

—follow him into this kingdom work

—this work that for three years never leaves that tiny and tumultuous sea of Galilee.

Back on their boats, again among their family

—they still do Kingdom work, and it builds even to this very day!

We can’t help but respond when the Kingdom of Heaven calls.

If I was creating the lectionary I would make sure we read verses 23-24 too, because, as I said before, geography is important. They read thus: “Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. His fame spread throughout Syria… and great crowds followed him from Galilee, the 10 Gentile cities, Jerusalem, Judea and the land of the Nabataeans.”

Jesus lives in Capernaum, his back yard is the sea of Galilee

—he has access to Syria,

the 10 pagan cities, Samaria,

and parts south.

Different peoples and nationalities in each place.

(It’s kind of like what we have right here—North Plainfield, South Plainfield, and Plainfield, each in a different county. The Plainfields, Edison, and Metuchen—all so close together, yet each a distinct identity, and too often separate.)

The rule of God calls ALL people
—the Kingdom of Heaven divides our divisions—

no longer, is the great problem, the great division, between those who can trace their heritage to before the age of Isaiah, and those who are interlopers.

No, the call of the Kingdom of Heaven

—the presence of Jesus

—requires a response, and that response is the important thing,

where we sit in relationship to the reign of God

—that’s the important thing.

It’s kinda like what Paul is talking about

—those divisions,

who baptized you,

if you are Apollo’s gal or Cephas’, whether you come from Jerusalem or Syria

—it doesn’t matter

--you are one in Christ

… the Kingdom has called you!

You needed a cure and Christ came,

you were sick and Jesus healed you,

you needed good news, and there it was

You wanted to know about the Kingdom and it called.

We can’t help but respond when the Kingdom of Heaven calls

—it’s call is more urgent than a transatlantic phone call that starts, “Mom, please don’t hang up, this isn’t a joke.”

It will call us to hard and unpopular things—the right thing even when it appears wrong to everyone else.

Call us to tasks that seem far from heroic or extra-ordinary—yet they are signs of the Kingdom.

Call us to leave everything behind and pick it all back up again with new purpose.

Call us to Unity in Christ.

A+A

Sermon: Testimony!

         Have you ever thought about the question mark before?

It’s this little hook,

almost a shepherd’s crook.

The question mark is a powerful tool, as are the questions that precede it.

They can shepherd fuzzy thoughts into concrete ideas and actions,

they can pull away the curtain on someone’s bluff

or deepen understanding between people—which is one of the keys to a good relationship.

It can even, make our witness to the faith more focused.

And, I think it is worth taking out those trusty companions to the question mark—the journalistic questions—Who, What, Where, When, and Why, as we consider today’s Gospel.

Let us pray

Who:                  In John’s Gospel, John the Baptist could rightly be re-named John the Testifier, or even John the Pointer, though that might be impolite, since as our moms taught us pointing leave multiple fingers pointing back at us,

… or for that matter, “John the Pointer” might confuse the issue and we’d send him to the American Kennel Club as a new breed of Gun Dog.

         Either way, what I’m saying here, is that John points to Jesus

—the Gospel is not about him,

it’s about Jesus.

The Who of today’s Gospel, and of the Gospel writ large, is Jesus!

         John points to Jesus and declares multiple times that he is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! And yet, John points out, he did not know him.

         Jesus—who on Passover, when the lambs are slain, is slain on the cross at the exact same time as they are slaughtered

—Jesus is the Lamb of God, the one who God has sent to bring a great Passover for all peoples, coming to you and to me, as he came to John and to the whole world, though we did not know him, he knew us

and makes himself known, giving to us the power to become Children of God

—born not of something as fickle and meaningless as flesh or blood, or will—but instead born of Grace and Truth.

         And so too Andrew

—dear Andrew,

whenever we see him he’s bringing someone to Jesus

… Now, Pastor Torrance, don’t you love those Andrews in our midst?

At St. Stephen we’ve recently had new folk attending, and they’re still not so acclimated, Thank God, to the culture of St. Stephen, as to feel weird about inviting people

—almost every new face I’ve seen since our 60^th anniversary has been invited by one of these Andrews! People deeply glad to point to Jesus, the Lamb of God, who has entered into their life and they wish to share him with others, they wish to point to Jesus.

What:        I love what Jesus does with this question today:

“What are you looking for?”

         Sit with that a second, “What, are, you, looking, for?”

         Imagine being asked that question without any ulterior motive

—no one trying to sell you something when they ask that kind of question…

just, wanting to know.

         What’s your goal?

         What values are propelling your forward?

         What’s the end of your race looking like?

         What’s the trajectory of the rocket you’ve launched?

         How does your story end?

         Is the play of your life a tragedy or comedy, or something else entirely?

         “What are you looking for?”

         And this isn’t just a question for individuals…

It’s a question being asked by our church,

by our nation,

in our political life and our personal life…

I think there are a whole lot of people aching for an honest assessment of that question…

and I don’t want to get into the weeds here, but I’m just so glad that it is Jesus who asks it of us.

Only from his lips can such an existential and heavy question leave me with anything but anxiety.

Where:      These disciples of John answer this beautiful and challenging question of Jesus with their own question:

“Where are you staying?”

Not the best translation, try, “Where do you dwell?” or even better,

“Where do you abide?”

         “What am I looking for, Jesus?”

         Believe me I’ve looked, my eyeballs binging every which way.

I’ve wandered and I’ve waited. I’ve perused all things worth pursuing, as well as many things not,

I’ve even at times persuaded myself that I’ve gotten to where I am going,

but then I met you, with your piercing question mark that doesn’t allow for such self-deception,

and now,

Now, I want nothing to do with what came before.

You are God’s Lamb,

our Passover,

the Pre-Existent One upon whom the Spirit Rests,

the Son of God and our Teacher.

I’ve rushed about looking for rest,

for a place to lay my head,

to find that which satisfies and sanctifies,

and I was restless, until this very moment, for now I have found you, and rest in you, and wish to abide with you wherever you may go.

         Come and see you say? Then open my eyes and lead me on, Precious Lord!

When:       4pm Israeli Central Time. That’s when Andrew met Jesus.

         At first it might seem like a very specific throw away detail, but its not. This was the moment for Andrew

—when it all came together,

a moment he’ll never forget.

         Think of where you were on 9/11,

or when Challenger blew up,

or when King and Kennedy were assassinated,

or when Pearl Harbor was bombed.

         Or, on a more positive note

—remember that exact moment when you fell in love,

or figured out what you were going to do for the rest of your life,

or broke through a barrier you never thought possible!

         Meeting Jesus was a moment Andrew would never forget.

Why:                  By the time we get to why, I think this question mark of ours, has transformed into something else.

What was once hunched over, has straightened its back up, and become an exclamation point!

What was once mere question, has become testimony

—even the question mark points to Jesus! Testifies about Jesus!

         Why do I point to Jesus?

Because he is the Lamb of God who takes away the Sin of the World.

Why am I left speechless when asked, “What are you looking for?”

Because the compass of life is listless,

life’s ambiguity is too great,

without the north star of Christ the story of life so easily become just one thing happening after another.

         Why do I ask where my Lord abides? Put simply, I am restless until I rest in him!

         Why 4pm?

Because I want to tell you about that dear and particular moment in which I found out Jesus found me!

-I encountered Jesus at the Font of Baptism.

-He was there at the communion table where I trusted again, yet strangely for the first time, that priceless promise, Jesus For You!

-I fed my neighbor in need, and in so doing, was fed with the Bread of Life!

-As I went and crossed boundaries, I found Jesus on the other side.

-In fellowship with fellow believers, I found what it meant to love my neighbor.

Yes, these questions focus our witness to the truth and grace of God,

they call out of us the exclamation of testimony!

A+A

My letter to Rep. Pallone

Dear Rep. Pallone

            I am a 33 year old man with Pulmonary Atresia with Ventricular Septal Defect. I am one of the first people to survive this condition passed age 3 or so. In fact, I’ve been told it is the audio of my heart that medical students listen to in order to know what we sound like.

            I am writing this to you as a letter of encouragement, please continue to stand for the 57 million Americans with pre-existing conditions and all those who need good laws in order to have good healthcare.

            I’ve been blessed, I was covered under good insurance as a kid, because my mom worked for the Department of Defense, the VA, and NATO and they made sure my pre-existing condition was covered. Now days, I am a Lutheran Pastor and I have insurance through the Church, I’m happy with it, and because it is a national plan connected with a national Church, it will follow me from congregation to congregation. But, I know not everyone with a pre-existing condition can be a Lutheran Pastor.

            On top of that, there was a period of time during seminary, before the ACA was passed, when I was covered by inferior insurance. I’d been told, when purchasing the insurance, that my heart condition was covered (they wanted to sell me the policy, right?), but when I went for my every-other-year heart check-up I received a $10,000 bill, nothing covered because everything to do with my heart was “pre-existing.” $10,000 was 80% of my income that year (I was a Vicar at an inner-city church in Baltimore). I had to plead poverty once I found out my insurance company would not cover it.

            It is a painful and embarrassing thing to skip out of paying what you owe. Everyone in the hospital was gracious once it was clear what had happened and that I wasn’t trying to pull one over on anyone, so it sort of worked out that time.

            But, these days, I only pay 10% of my income for health insurance as Pastor of St. Stephen here in New Jersey, because I have good insurance. I am happy to pay my fair share, and so glad that no one discriminates against me based on this condition I was born with.

            I have to admit, I am deeply afraid for my fellow pre-existing condition folk, that this protection will be taken away if the ACA is repealed. I hear Trump’s point person plans to replace the ACA with a non-taxable savings account and the ability to transfer insurance across state lines. Neither of these will do anything for the 57 million of us with pre-existing conditions. Maybe it is just my Lutheran sense of Sin with a capital S, but I am damn sure if companies are given back the right to discriminate, they will.

            Please understand me, I want to pay my fair share. I want to do right by my doctors who keep me alive. The ACA gives folk the possibility to do that—the alternative doesn’t.

            Again, thank you so much for fighting for me and the 57 million.

Peace,

Chris Halverson

Sermon: The Church is the Multi-colored Wisdom of God

         Friday was Epiphany, the end of the Christmas season, the time when we celebrate the coming of the Magi to Jesus bearing gifts of Gold, Frankincense, and Myrr.

         This act itself, is interesting, some countries celebrate it in a Halloween type fashion, sending out kids to neighbors dressed up in beards and robes to receive pieces of fruit.

         But, this story isn’t really the point—some chaps, probably Persians, following a star and finding the baby Christ—that’s not the point, the story has to be cracked open for us to understand

         In today’s readings, it is Paul who gets us there

—Epiphany is about the Revelation of the great mystery of God. What was once hidden to many, God’s faithful presence for the whole world, is revealed to the world.

In other words, Grace for all people!

God’s bounty is without boundary. Whoever you are, through Christ, you have access to God, be confident in that! Be bold in that even!

And it is the Church’s calling to receive, and to be, this multi-colored Wisdom of God, this variegated, diverse, multifaceted, face of God for us, Jesus Christ our Lord.

PRAYER

         It’s one of those things, this revelation, this Epiphany. In retrospect it is obvious

—it’s like looking in your rearview mirror

—it appears closer and clearer, than it is.

In hindsight, God’s grace for all people was always floating just below the biblical surface

—you could even say God’s love of all peoples is the worst kept secret in the bible.

         It’s like that famous velvet painting of dogs playing poker…

we all know dogs would be horrible at poker

—they have a tell, their tail

—when that thing starts wagging the whole table knows that its time to fold.

         God too, has a tell.

         God too, is pretty obvious about the cards he’s going to play—his grace for all hand of cards is laid out for us.

         Think of it—In the beginning, that famous poem in Genesis tells, God created one ancestor for all of us.

         Abraham was a pagan, pushed into a relationship with God through no act of his own.

         Moses, the man who brought in laws to separate God’s people from foreigners, had a foreign wife.

         Every time particular people are excluded we have a Rehab, Ruth, or Bathsheba who break this mold.

         For that matter the Prophet Ezekiel has a vision of God on a throne with wheels, because God doesn’t concern Godself only with things happening in one place.

The story of Jonah shows mercy upon the Ninnevites, foreigners who had shown no mercy to the Israelites.

Isaiah goes even further and scandalizes us not only with today’s reading about foreigners bringing people and goods to Jerusalem, but puts in God’s lips words about Egypt and Babylon being God’s people before God ever dealt with Judah.

The book of Proverbs is filled with sayings from foreign kings, and the book of Job is about a faithful foreigner.

So, by the time God lays all His cards out on Epiphany—it shouldn’t be a revelation—of course it is, strangers from the East acknowledging the Christ Child, signifying that all have access to God through him.

This truth triumphs in Paul’s ministry—his whole mission is creating communities in which Gentiles, non-Jews, foreign people often excluded from relationship with God, are welcomed and given equal authority and affirmed as having equal access to God.

By the last book of the Bible, Revelation, John is given a glimpse of the court, the political cabinet if you will, of the Lamb, Jesus Christ ruling as King of Creation, and finds countless peoples from all places present!

All that to say, Epiphany reveals something that, once revealed, is apparent everywhere; it’s like getting a new car, once you do, you notice that model everywhere,

so to, once we realize God’s great mystery is Grace for All peoples, we see it everywhere in scripture, and hopefully in our lives together.

And that’s where the rubber hits the road, the church must always be aware that we not only receive this great revelation—grace for all people—but we also embody it.

We, as church, must always be aware of who is being left out,

who has not heard,

who we, in our sinfulness, exclude and even try to separate from the Grace of God.

We can not say:

“Hey, you have substance abuse problems, or you are depressed,

I don’t like your politics or cultural dress,

your skin tone scares me or your life is a mess,

Or your too young or too old,

you just don’t fit the mold.”

No, we live out the reality that first found us—Grace for all people.

In Paul’s day. joint Jew and Gentile Churches were mind blowing and transgressive

—he had to defend non-Jews as:

Part of the Family of God,

Part of the Body of Christ,

Part of the Promise of God.

Co-inheritors, Co-members, Co-Promisees.

He then goes on to say something stupendous and very strange,

“through the church, the wisdom of God in its rich variety (God’s multi-colored wisdom) might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”

As a rule I don’t preach on the goings on in heaven, because speculation atop speculation is often specious, but hear clearly what Paul is saying,

“When the Church holds onto, and lives out, the Epiphany Revelation—Grace for All—that shakes heaven, even angels quake!”

Some read this to mean all those evil forces that defy God, those powers we renounce in Baptism, are put on notice that they can’t separate people any more, because God is on the move.

Others read it more gently, that every nation, every people, have their particular guardian angel and these angels now know they can retire, because Christ cares for all people.

Or, and this is my take—and what I’m leaving you with, Paul is simply being motivational here,

“Live out the great Epiphany Revelation, Grace for All People, within your Christian Community, in all the wonderful diversity God has offered to us, with such vigor that even angels in heaven stop what they’re doing and take note!” A+A

My Review of "On Bulls***"

On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

On Bulls*** is an enjoyable and quick read.
Frankfurt attempts to ascertain what Bulls*** is and why it is so prevalent these days. He compares Bulls*** to several similar concepts, such as Humbug and Hot Air. He also notes Bulls*** is different than lying, in that lying focuses on a false impression concerning a thing instead of concerning the mind of the speaker and Bulls*** makes no distinction between falsehood or truth—it is bluffing through come what may.
Here are two few of my favorite lines:
“It is impossible for someone to lie unless he thinks he knows the truth. Producing Bulls*** requires no such conviction.”
“Bulls*** is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about.”


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My review of "Our Revolution: A Future to Believe in"

Our Revolution: A Future to Believe in by Bernie Sanders
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I really liked this book.
Bernie Sanders shines a light on issues, and on people, often left in the dark by our society. In this book we can see that he has a grasp on details that the media often claimed he did not. He has a thorough holistic program, ideas cohering and interlinking, it’s all very solid.
There are a few faults to this book.
One of them, was something he couldn’t really do anything about, but at a certain point talking about a billion dollars here, 80 billion dollars there, becomes almost meaningless, really important, but unless you are writing down figures and following everything through it becomes overwhelming. In fact, if I followed the math it appears he’s using the same taxes on trading in 2 different ways, but I’m not entirely sure.
Additionally, he does take a lot of material previously used (previous speeches, stuff from other media sources) and sticks them into the book, sometimes in ways that disrupts the overall narrative. Because of this, and the holistic nature of his program (which is a good thing, to be clear) there are places where his ideas and themes overlap in a way that can be repetitive.
Reading this book also helps me understand how Trump grasped some of the same issues as Bernie and made them his own, the main difference being there is no overall cohering/interlinking/holistic program behind his use of the issues, in the way there is for Bernie.


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A Proclamation of God’s Incarnation

A Proclamation of God’s Incarnation

Come here all you wounded, all you struck by your mortality, edged toward the grave.

Have you heard? There is a baby wound tight in cloth.

Have you heard? There too is a God, wound tight in human flesh.

As a baby, this cloth keeps him close, holds him like a mother, held tight.

As a God, this flesh of ours unbinds him from the heavens,

Throws him into the uncertainty of all this.

Unwound from the divine weal,

Cast into our needs

--our welfare, a bottomless pit, only filled by an overflowing God.

Day by day,

We tie him tight to this common ken.

Day by day,

This baby grows and gets unbound,

Becoming a man.

Soon enough the godly bursts he shows us are rougher than we’d like to admit,

Yes, all that Advent stuff!

Swords are plowshares

Destruction and hurt banished

Healing and Holy Highways

God with us.

Yes, all that, but not as we expected

Unbinding, the crippled

Preaching, to the possessed

Forgiving, sinners

Joyfully sharing bread, with the hungry.

This is certainly not appreciated by everyone

He has to tie down their verbal traps,

Traps wielded by those who can not see the Kingdom of Heaven

In his kindness

…the weight of mortal flesh and enemies of flesh and of spirit

Take a toll

Tied again soon enough

Bound to be betrayed,

Bound to be denied.

His life unwound before our very eyes

Death on a cross

Bound then, a cloth wound there

There around his wounded body

His corpse

Three days, and unwound again!

Left there.

He unwound the cloth

In this unwinding we,

We wound in his being with us

We wound as well in his wounded side

We wound, bound in Spirit!

Wound in Divinity as he was wound in humanity!

Rewrapped in flesh, bought by our brother!

… Held together again!

Together

Encountering him when we encounter each other!

Don’t get me wrong, it still unwinds from time to time

Still uncertain

Still need, still deep and always present need

Still sinners, the dispossessed, the crippled, the hungry

Still souls too small for the Kingdom’s wrappings

Still hearts broken and needing tighter binding

Still hands holding tight when fists will never do.

Still, still here

Yet, here!

Here where the savior stays

Here, in flesh rewrapped and story already told

Here shot full of consecrated oxytocin, like a new mother

Here at the Father’s side,

He, so in love, that he takes paternity leave from being Creator of the Universe.

Here in this cloth that smells of the baby

Here in the cloth that smells of his overcoming the grave

Here held tight by the Christ Child

Here, wrapped with God.