Ares’ Hill in the era of Pandemic

Ares’ Hill in the era of Pandemic

 

          The Areopogas, Ares’ Hill, was named for the famous first trial in Greek Mythology. Ares the god of war, murdered the son of Poseidon, the god of the sea, and was put on trial and acquitted… found innocent on Ares Hill.

          Ares’ Hill, was a place bursting with new ideas both high brow and low, filled with idols on every corner—Idols and idle chatter—people trying to figure out what it means to be human in that particular time and place…

          There, on Ares’ Hill, that’s where Paul found himself preaching!

          And so, today, I would like to preach on a subject I’ve preach on in the past, but this time with a new twist: “Preaching on Ares’ Hill, in the era of Pandemic…
Ares’ Hill in the era of Pandemic.

Prayer

          Preaching on Ares’ Hill, in the era of Pandemic.

          Paul… being Paul… has stirred up all kinds of trouble for himself in Northern Greece, and was whisked away to Athens to lay low for a while…

          But Paul… being Paul… didn’t lay low. He saw the Idols lining the streets of Athens and starts to argue with the various Greek Philosophers who commonly lined the streets of Athens.

          And just like that these Philosophers drag Paul up Ares’ Hill in order to, “Find out what all these words he is sewing mean.”

          And there, on Ares’ Hill, he begins his defense with a compliment (though perhaps a backhanded one):
“I see you are a very religious people.”

          He looks at those idols, the fast paced flinging of ideas, a people who gravitate and grab at anything new, and sees it for what it is, people yearning for, and reaching for, and sometimes even finding, their Creator.

          With this in mind, he attempts to make the Gospel relevant to them.

          He knows them, and knows their culture, or at least takes a stab at it. He alludes to E-Pikt-etus and Euripides, and quotes directly the stoic philosopher Aratus—he even compliments their pagan statues and altars!

 

          And these days, in the era of Pandemic, I can imagine he would try for a similar relevancy:

          “I see you are in worship now—even as you miss and yearn and grasp for the holy ground of normalcy.

          Please be grounded in the God breathed promise: “He lives not in temples hewn by human hands” but is Creator of all that is, seen and unseen.
Sacred is the moment you meet in person,
sacred when you see this service from a screen,
sacred too the green grass, and dining room table,
and family and fellowships both far and near.

          In this time of questioning—in this time when there is so much unknown,” he continues.
“Know that there is One who was, is, and will be
who seeks you always and
has known and always will know you!
In Him our many question marks
may become exclamation points!

          As that well worn phrase states: “I may not know what the future holds, but I know who holds the future.”

 

          You see, when Paul preaches on Ares’ Hill, he builds a bridge between his listener and his message, he makes sure they can cross over to hear what he’s saying.

          But not only that, he takes the idols of his age, and refashions them… Imagine that… he doesn’t smash ‘em, instead he shows them to be what they are… he redeems them!

          He says: “This value you have, you’ve made into a god… well it’s just part of God’s creation, and as such is good, just not The Good, not The Creator.

          So too, today, Paul takes those things we fear, love and trust into, those things we’ve enthroned and deified, and places them where they belong.

 

          Friends, I hear the cracking in your voice—social distancing has become social isolation…

          Please know you are not alone, never alone!
God is as close to you as your breath…
for that matter did you know
Christ, our Lord, on the cross,
cried with the same tempo and tenor as you:
“Why have you forgotten me?”
and yet, that psalm he quotes ends,
“They will proclaim God’s righteousness to those not yet born,
telling them what God has done.”

 

          I hear so many of you end your phone calls, not with goodbye, but “Keep safe.”
A watch word for many, as we Purell,
wash our hands for 20 seconds,
live behind masks
get used to plexi-glass shielding
in the grocery stores
all to the good, to be clear.

          But in this goodness, do not forget its origin.

          All these things that sustain us,
all that is necessary and nourishing for body, mind, and soul,
it is the daily bread that comes from our Father in Heaven.

          With all our precautions, may we still see it all as a precious gift from God.

 

          “Liberate!”
is the word to which some of you adhere.
Do not, friends, let liberty become license…
Do not mistake “Freedom From” with “Freedom For.”
We are, as Luther writes, “Slaves to none AND Servants to all.”

We’re freed FOR love of neighbor.
Jesus insists neighbor and mercy and wrapped up so tight you can’t tell them apart.
          If it is true that we are all one blood, then we have so many neighbors!
          Libertarian philosophers rightly state: “my neighbor’s liberty ends where my nose begins.”
          At this moment it just so happens, that nose needs six feet of distance and to be kept covered.

 

          Finally, there are many worried about the economy…
          You are not worried on account of percentages of GDP or Unemployment Rates, but instead for what they represent—these percentages point to people!

          People, who are made in the image of God and need to be treated as such… people who need dignity and routine and livelihood.

          Yes, people—
for surely the root of this word, Economy,
points to its true end—the Oikos…
          No Oikos isn’t just a brand of yogurt, no it means Household and family…
          Economy is about care of family, households of all types, or it is about nothing.

          And let me tell you, the Economy of the City of God includes you
—you dear friend are part of the family of God
—truly, you are a Child of God!
All of you!

 

          Yes, when Paul preaches on Ares’ Hill he changes the Idols of Athens into an affirmation that:
God is a whisker’s-length away,
that in God and God alone,
“We live and move and have our being.”

          Yes, there on Ares’ Hill he preaches, and there, on Ares’ Hill…
Having built a bridge to the yearnings of Athens,
Having relativized the Idols,
Having pointed to the God and Parent of us all…

          After all that, he points back to that other god, who haunts the hill.
He points to the trial of Ares;
Ares was found justified in the killing of Posieden’s son,
was judged innocent there.

          And then Paul preaches about another Judge,
the one who was innocent
and yet was killed.
          Another judgement,
Jesus found guilty
and among sinners,
yet holy and innocent,
dying and rising for sinners.
          The Judge who sees all our idols
—the Pantheon of false gods we worship
—and favors us anyway!
          His judgment acquits us of Sin and reconciles us to God and neighbor.
          Jesus Christ, or Lord and God, crucified and risen!

A+A

Where do I find God?

Where do I find God?

         

         As many of us reach a point where being cut of from people and removed from routines and separated from places of comfort, becomes truly heavy. As deaths & sickness from the Corona Virus continue to mount. 

         It is fair to ask of ourselves a simple question:
Where do I find God?

Prayer

Where do I find God?

         In the building itself? Here at Church?
         After all, in normal times don’t we gather in this space to connect with God?
Surely we do!
Sacred space is something you can feel—sacred space is the thin place between heaven and earth,
Where unique holy events have happened and it has become a place for pilgrims,

Or where ongoing ritual has dug, through repetition and time, a well that can be plumbed for generations…
A space where a holy community rubs their messy faith into the ground that then becomes Holy…

         Yet of course, we have heard the words of St. Stephen—God does not abide in buildings… His home isn’t hewn by human hands…

         The building itself, at best, points to God’s Holy doings.

Where do I find God?

         Perhaps it is the people! There is a blessedness to gathering together, the Spirit uses us to unexpected ends, where two or three are gathered, there is God.

         For that matter, look at the witness of this Congregation’s namesake, St. Stephen. He is arguably the first saint, the first Holy One—definitely the first Christian martyr.

         Stephen starts as a Deacon, sent by the Apostles to feed the widows and orphans
—and soon enough the Spirit takes him on to another task, and he starts preaching the Gospel like an Apostle…
This is the ongoing story of the Book of Acts, every time the Church settles on something, the Spirit unsettles us and prods us onward…
In this case this prodding leads Stephen to court, and he has to defend himself before the Temple Authorities.
There he preaches the longest sermon in Acts, telling the whole tale of God in order to point to what God is doing among the earliest Christians
—and more than his sermon, his death and last words, point to Jesus
—his death parallels his Lord’s.
“Receive my Spirit! Forgive them!”
Last words nearly identical to Jesus’ words from the cross…

         Surely God is among and within the Church and individual Christians, but the Church is pointing, as Stephen points, to Jesus. Pointing to Jesus even as God calls us, gathers us, and sends us. Pointing to Jesus.

Where do I find God?

         In Jesus?
Well yes…
         At the start of John’s Gospel it is stated, “No one has ever seen God…but God the only son who abides with the Father has made God known.” 
This statement finally comes to fruition in Jesus’ words to Philip, “How can you say ‘show us the father’ you’ve seen me, and thus you’ve seen him. If you’ve known me you’ve known the Father.”
Jesus is the invisible God made visible.

         Think of it—we’ve built up all kinds of hang-ups about God, everything from bad experiences with authority figures
to awful church experiences
to natural disasters being called, “acts of God”
to our own selfish ambitions and insensitive cultural traditions… 
All of those things imprint upon us images of God
—all of them shape what we seek when we seek the Lord,
shape how we treat other humans and other creatures on account of who and what we see when we say we see God…

         And all these other images melt away before the face of Jesus.

         You want to see the LORD… gaze upon God? …
-Look then at that one who’s only command is Love,
who washes his disciples feet,
who heals and feeds
and who was the life of the party at that wedding at Cana…
-Look at him arrested in the garden,
betrayed and denied,
mocked and crucified.
-Look too, at the one who calls Mary by name,
reveals himself to Thomas,
eats breakfast on the seashore
and links love of him to the feeding and care of the flock.

         Through him, we know the Father… for he has prepared a place for us…

         Or so it says in most translations
—but there is a danger that we take this heavenly promise, make it a building, and end back at the beginning, the start of the sermon… Is God found in a heavenly home, a blissful building?

         No, this Son of God, through whom we can see the Father
—he goes to make Abiding places…
to Abide
—to be as close to another as a heartbeat,
to lay upon the chest,
a baby upon the breast of her mother… 

that is the kind of intimacy with God that Jesus is talking about.

         The disciples are worried, they have just learned that their fellowship is crumbling
—Judas will betray,
Peter will deny,
Jesus’ words are a farewell address…

         This is very real distress! And Jesus responds: 

“I go to prepare a place for you—there is plenty of space for intimate kindness in my father’s household.”

         Or breaking it down a little more:
“There is plenty of room for relationship in God’s family.”

         You are a Child of God!

         This piece of Scripture is a favorite at funerals, and you can see why; what a promise! Christ abides with the Father and we abide with Christ.

Where do I find God?

         In the face of death, “Fear not, you abide with God.”

         In the face of this separation from other people we’re currently experiencing, “Abide.”

         In the face of dislocation from familiar places and routines, “Abide.” 

A+A

People die all the time

People die all the time

A few days back it was like
someone flipped a cruel yellow switch.

Everyone started saying, “People die all the time.”

I think it was right after we passed
the Vietnam War casualty mark.

Perhaps that was triggering?

The Pandemic needed to be
made into a Kulture Kampf

America can’t understand
or control
the Virus,
but a good ol’ fashioned 

Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Culture War;

America was made for one those!

And so the rallying cry:

People die all the time

It’s the flu, people die all the time

Only vulnerable people die all the time

We want haircuts… people die all the time

It is a Chinese conspiracy and people die all the time

It just kills the old and the weak; people die all the time

The doctors and nurses are faking it, people die all the time

“How do we know they didn’t die of underlying medical conditions? 

“After all, people die all the time.”

Here’s the thing, they’re dead right

A parishioner watched his elderly neighbor’s corpse removed by cops after a wellness check.
“People die all the time.”

South of us the funeral director did two and a half years worth of funerals in a month.
“People die all the time.”

They say 2 people a day die on average at the local hospital, 70 a day this April.
“People die all the time.”

Our crematorium is now two weeks behind schedule and

one county north of us, they’re backed up by five weeks.
“People die all the time.”

My wife has a compromised immune system

and I have a congenital heart condition…
people die all the time

And yet we want to live.

Reopening a Congregation Responsibly

              So big caveat, this is a thought experiment, if it helps you think about your congregation’s eventual reopening, good. All I’m doing is ruminating on the Governor’s plan, 3 Texas Synod’s recommendations, and the Wisconsin Council of Churches two resources. That said, there is a growing movement in my state of congregations saying, “Slow down!” For that matter, until there is a vaccine, the best we can hope for is to do church in a way that keeps our people healthy in mind, body, and soul.

              With all throat clearing, some initial thoughts.

RISK & NEED:

Firstly, I looked at my congregation’s mission statement:
“St. Stephen Lutheran: a worshiping community of the ELCA, where the faith is taught, connections are made, and people are cared for.”

              Here is a chart considering how essential and risky aspects of each of those parts are as currently practices (again, a little throat clearing, this is my assessment with some coffee and a little time… I might rate them differently tomorrow or even this evening)

MANAGING RISKS:

Worship (Services and Choir)
              Sunday services will need to be multiplied, modified, and remote.

Multiplied:
This is essential for Social Distancing, if families are going to stay 6 feet away from other families there need to be enough services that there is space in the building to do this safely. Also, in between worship services there will need to be heavy cleaning.

Modified:
-All mobile objects should be removed from the sanctuary so that there are less things that can be touched; extra surfaces spread the Virus.
-In person worship might need to be done outside for a time.
-Congregants have to be responsible that will mean: not attending worship if they are part of a vulnerable population, wearing masks in service for a good while, and entering and exiting in a sensible manner. IF THIS ISN’T POSSIBLE IT IS NOT YET TIME TO WORSHIP IN PERSON.
-Bulletins will have to be left on seats and not reused and the offering will have to be modified.
-For a time singing, the peace, and Holy Communion will have to be omitted from the service.

Remote:
-This is something the congregation has likely been doing. What will change is that we’ll need to create a hybrid in-person/on-line type of worship. Think of it as “Taped in front of a live studio audience.” The trick is that where there are people attending the taping there will be privacy concerns; how do you respect congregants privacy while also ensuring vulnerable congregants at home get to participate in worship?

Choir:
This is tough to say, but singing is one of the major ways the virus spreads. In fact, meeting as a choir can be deadly.

ELCA:  
              Continuing to tithe to the Synod is harder with irregular offerings, but not risky. Additionally, in our Synod the Bishop is going to provide worship this coming Sunday and our Synod Assembly has been moved to September. So, not too much risk.

Partners:          
              The ELCA prides ourselves on our Ecumenical and Interfaith bent, as well as our willingness to partner with a wide variety of secular organizations. On the other hand, the danger with partners is they have different values and ways of doing things. So, for example, one of my ecumenical partners let an infected person wander through our sanctuary. To them it was no big deal, to us it was.
              Creating boundaries in partnerships and clearly expressing values and operating procedures is always essential, but even more so when this is life and death stuff.

Taught:             
              We have seven different learning opportunities at St. Stephen. One of them are already running online via Zoom with another on the way that will be one part zoom and another part YouTube. Additionally, our outdoor Learning, Lawn chairs, and Lemonade Learning/Fellowship event fits social distancing fairly well, though perhaps it will need to be a Bring Your Own Lemonade (BYOL) event.
              But there are other Bible Studies that are less obvious how they’ll fit. For example, a bible study in the home of an at risk parishioner and another in a local pub. How does that work?

Connections:
              How do we do fellowship now? I think Coffee Hour is just out of the question for a good long time. For that matter, the majority of our fellowship groups are made up of people who are considered especially at risk of contracting the Virus… Perhaps it all has to go!

People:
              The Body of Christ in the world is made up of people, hubs of interconnected lives that are salt and light for the world, close contact and ongoing relationship, being gathered and sent, is innate to who we are… and that same interconnection transmits the virus; gathering and sending is sinister in this situation! We’re going to have to be so careful as we live out our call to care for people.

-This one tears me up, but I won’t be able to visit the homebound for a long time, and the hospitalized for even longer. These folk are incredibly susceptible to the Virus and I can not unintentionally infect someone, full stop. For that matter, our hospitals don’t have enough gowns and masks for the doctors and nurses, they sure as heck will not prioritize outsiders. All this means I gotta make phone calls, write letters, and encourage congregants to do the same.
-Our Pop-up Food Pantry has done a good job modifying how we are serving folk; we are bagging the food separately and depositing it in folk’s trunks. It isn’t ideal, but it is the best we can do; there are so many hungry folk in this time of quarantine.
-Then there is the council and committee end of things. I think we’ll continue to find out how many meetings could just be emails, and zooming when necessary, for a good long time.

A HYPOTHETICAL ROADMAP:

              Again, a little throat clearing, this is SO hypothetical, just playing out what people who are thinking through reopening for a living have said this might look like. Remember Clausewitz, “No plan survives first contact with the enemy.”

May 15^th (this is the date some people are talking about opening schools here) Phase 1 begins
In the World: 
              New Jersey has had two weeks of fewer new cases of the virus, two weeks of fewer people on ventilators, and two weeks of hospital beds opening up; in general we have more recoveries than new cases. The Governor “soft-opens” the state.

In the Church:
              In phase one everything is still done remotely, the only change is that the Director of Music, the Pastor, and a Videographer are present in the building to broadcast worship.

May 29^th A Relapse
In the World:  Everyone went out on Memorial Day, new cases of the virus spike.
In the Church: We go back to broadcasting at home.

June 15^th Phase 1 again

June 29^th Phase 2 Begins

In the World:  Phase one works this time. People are more cautious.

In the Church: We jump up to 3 worship services, one of which is broadcast remotely. Everyone who worships in person wears a mask. The service is projected on a screen, or typed on a simple one page throw away bulletin. Vulnerable populations are required to attend online. Offering is placed in a plate at the entrance to the sanctuary, we do not pass the peace, and we do not sing (though we do listen to an amazing prelude and postlude). Council experiments with a meeting where they socially distance in the sanctuary and wear masks. Everything else is still done remotely.

July 13^th Phase 3 Begins

In the World:  The initial scare after the first phase one must have really jolted people. Everyone is following protocols. Good times!

In the Church: At this point we collapse down to 2 in person services, one of which is broadcast remotely. The vulnerable are still required to attend online, not in person. The bulletin is a little more robust, peace now involves a reverent bow to your neighbor. A soloist sings. Everything else in worship is still like phase 2. Outdoor learning opportunities are offered along with ongoing online ones, the start of a hybrid system. Pastor begins to spend longer in the church office. Committees begin to meet in a socially distanced manner.

August 1^st Phase 4 Begins

In the World:  The Virus has fallen for 42 days straight! Things are getting back to “normal”.

In the Church: We go back down to one in person service and one remote service. Masks are removed, communion, though still modified for safety, is added back, limited singing returns. The choir begins to meet and practice. Bible study returns to “normal” though Pastor still offers YouTube summaries for the vulnerable. Pastor resumes office hours and begins to visit the homebound, and the hospitalized as appropriate.

October 1^st Corona Season begins

In the World:  We don’t yet have a vaccine. It turns out the Virus is like the Flu, and comes back seasonally.

In the Church: We know how to deal with this… we return to Shelter in place, or Phase one, depending on how severe everything is.

CONCLUSION:

              Look at your congregational values and the activities that flow from them. How essential are they? How Risky are they?

              Perhaps cease to do the less essential things, especially if they are risky. Find ways to minimize the risks of things that are essential. Move slowly, this isn’t flipping a switch, this is becoming something new, it takes time. Also, we’re the church, don’t move at the same pace as the world; it is in our DNA to care for people more than profit, that is not so for those making decisions about re-opening things.

              Be safe!

Emmaus, in four parts

1

              Look at them go, away from Jerusalem. They leave hope behind there, their heads hung in sorrow
—“Looking sad” such simple but expressive words

              Expressing their shock, “Can you believe it, the mystery of this Jesus was solved so unsatisfactory… solved in an unresolved, unsettling, unfortunate way. Who knew it would end like this—savior slain, disciples dispersed…
 Cleopas just walking away.

              But he doesn’t walk alone
—even as he leaves, they still walk like sent disciples
—two by two
—perhaps hoping, even as we hope
—that where two or three gather in his name he is there, even when we don’t see
—gathered around Christ even when we are dispersed and at a distance.

              That question, “Did you hear about what has happened?”
It echoes with us too
—how could he not have heard? It has broken our whole community, this disaster
—broken, it feels like, the whole world.

              Though they don’t see it, we don’t see it
—he is there among them,
here among us
—as we gather even when dispersed into a broken and hurting world.

2.

              The only one who hasn’t heard
—marvels Cleophas and his companion
—yet as they get into it, as they describe all those things that took place,
it becomes apparent he, this one who hasn’t heard,
has heard more listening to them, than they’d even spoke.
He recites it back to them in light of the enlightenment of scripture…

              Didn’t you know there would be suffering and glory—haven’t you read the sacred story,
filled with the very experience you are having right now,
mighty failures and
astonishing whispers from unexpected sources.

              Doesn’t scripture seem especially sacred on account of its speaking to our situation,
but with the added value of hindsight
—a retrospective to clarify our perspective?
Look back to Moses’ intercessions, Jeremiah’s pathos, Job’s struggles
—how did it all look in the moment, how does it look now,
now that we know God was there with them through it all…

              Friends, scripture is BOTH sung in the minor key of our present predicament,
AND also in glorious angelic songs of alleluia
—sung with us, so that we can sing right back.

              For you see,
there are multiple acts, multiple points to scripture, multiple entrances in,
many doors, so that we may find ourselves in it
—find a door into our present situation…

but also other doors that open up to the world God intends and has offered
and is being born from the very side of his son—in blood and water,
in lives lived as disciples and in the initial act of discipleship
—yes all that lived out because scripture has joined to us and we’re returning the favor.

              There it sits, hope denied,
so named, even as the Gospel events are retold to the one who IS Gospel and Word of God
—but it does not long sit, it sits up
—hope enfleshed before them, reciting the sacred words in such a way,
what was once cited as cold writ is now exciting, Enfleshed,
hope enfleshed,
their experience of hope denied, stabilized upon the Word of God.

              And know this, the word of God—Jesus Christ—is enfleshed for us as well!

3.

              Imagine their surprise when they realize who they’ve invited in.

              Only after
could they admit to each other what his words meant to them
before,
when he told them all that scripture had taught
—only at table,
could they admit to one another

"our hearts were on fire from his word!”

              On fire, beginning to trust what he said to be true…
their mystery that had ended in a horror show
—the death of their Lord,
the mystery made deeper still,
everything interpreted by an instant of revelation at table.

              Today though, this is the hard one…

              This table now,
so empty,
we are famished, are we not, family?
              But our hunger, perhaps,
perhaps it is a holy hunger, pointing to our present fear, yes
And also, pointing to the feast to come,
just as his sharing of the meal pointed them back to scripture,
to that experience of their hearts on fire!

4.

              And that fire, kindled by his words…
no…
first kindled by their meeting together and naming him who would be revealed
That fire
—it now blazes.

              The disciples join together again.

              Cleopas and Companion—their experience of Christ up close
in Emmaus
and the other disciples experience back
 in Jerusalem
—the two named and put together, fire meets fire,
reports reflect one another—a whole story and a whole community expand out!

              So, even as we now stay in peace
—let us prepare,
save our stories in the depths of ourselves, so that when we do meet again,
we may share with one another the fullness of what God has done as we were away
—that all the pieces of our communal puzzle
 might interlock and we shall see in full
what we only now see in part.

“Wait,” they say, and we will as well, “you too!?!”
Wait, you too?!?

Though Cleopas was “Leaving Cleopas” in the same way Thomas was “Doubting Thomas”
now he too, has returned!
Returned to say, as others had said, “Yeah, me too!”

              The stories pile up, as evidence from witnesses
—Mary,
Peter and the Beloved,
the other disciples,
Thomas,
Cleopas
—voices in dialogue, holy conversations getting a hold on this Easter thing
—voices in dialogue, but also in harmony with many Alleluias!

Christ is Risen, he is risen indeed, alleluia!

Preaching Resurrection in a Pandemic

Preaching Resurrection in a Pandemic

            How do we preach resurrection in a pandemic? How do you do Easter, when it is done alone, done remotely… how do you proclaim bodily resurrection via disembodied bandwidth and through screens?

            How do we preach Easter while millions are sick and tens of thousands are dead—whole countries crouched in their homes sheltering in place, anxiety all around—caught in a defining moment no one wanted to be in, carried away by a disease spreading without our consent or awareness?

            How do we preach resurrection in a pandemic?

            The same way we always have.

            Prayer

            Though it might seem more acute now—we’ve always been proclaiming life to a dying world. Pointing to Jesus Christ and the ongoing resurrection we have through him.
We’ve always been echoing the early morning words of Mary, “I have seen the Lord.”

            She, who had seen her savior, her lord, her friend, betrayed, denied, tortured, and publicly executed. Saw the hope of her life, die.
Yet she keeps coming back
—back to prepare the body,
back even when the other disciples go back home
—talks back to this man who seems to be the gardener.
First to receive the revelation—he is back!

She is first to hear the words of gospel,
first to be named by our resurrected teacher
—first to, in the face of death and despair, preach the good news, “I have seen the Lord!”

            Her words echoed by Peter—having denied his Lord, witnessed the stoning of Stephen and the scattering of the disciples,
preaches a new thing to Cornelius and his household
—promises a new resurrection life.
Preaches, “Peace by Jesus, who healed and did good, whom God raised from the dead on the third day.”

            Mary, echoed by John of Revelation fame, locked up on a small island, alone save his pen and his words, preached life in the face of death—that grand paradox, “The slain lamb is enthroned!”

            Another John—300 some years later—John Chrysostom, after losing a confrontation with religious and political forces of his day, he was sent into exile and eventually died there, and yet echoed Mary’s “I have seen the Lord” in his celebrated Pascal Homily, read Easter morning by many Eastern Christians to this very day, where he insisted, “Life reigns.”

            1000 years later, Mary’s words still echoed, echoed in the midst of a popular revolt and its violent suppression, echoed even in the heights of the bubonic plague, as Julian of Norwich preached, “All shall be well, all shall be well, and in all manner of things, all shall be well.”

            

            How do we preach resurrection in a pandemic? The same way we always have. Speaking life to death.

            And so too today, the ongoing echoes of Mary’s witness… “I have seen the Lord.”

            To the Pastors running around the sanctuary like Young Sheldon with red rubber gloves and unholstered Clorox spray bottles.
“All shall be well!”

            To the bread winners feeling the pinch, no the jabs, of jobs drying up and doing the best you can even when it isn’t enough, but has to be enough.

            To the essential workers, who just don’t want to be essential any more—bearing too much, stuck serving, sacrificing, for the sake of the whole, they hope.

“I have seen the Lord.”

            To the interns, short of breath, but unable to discover why because the country is short on tests.

            To the students and teachers jilted by online classes that just aren’t the same as what they signed up for.

            To the families stuck inside—scared and bored at the same time—the anxiety of invisible threats too much. 

“Peace by Jesus.”

            To those living alone in this time when social distancing easily becomes social isolation.

            To the couples married irregularly, their big day overshadowed, but not overcome, by the pandemic.

“I have seen the Lord.”

            To the sick patients cut off from those they love, for lack of a bedside telephone.

            To the children of elderly parents and family members lurching toward death’s door.

“The Slain Lamb is enthroned.”

            To the doctors, good doctors, quarantined and feeling guilty because they can only do their duty remotely.

            To those people who just can’t get social distancing down.

“I have seen the Lord.”

            To the infected and quarantined.

            To all who mourn, especially those whose dead are too far away to go see,

“Life reigns.”

            How do we preach resurrection in a pandemic?

            The same way we always have. 

we echo the testimony of Mary, “I have seen the Lord.”

            And that echo expands out into Alleluia! Christ is risen! Christ is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Sermon: Can These Bones Live?

Can these bones live?

         Here we are, the final Sunday of our Lenten sermon series where we’ve been, at least in a broad-brush stroke kind of way, re-telling the overarching story of the first Testament—Hebrew Scripture.

         Re-telling the first 11 chapters of Genesis, where the priests and poets away in Babylon, faced with strange stories of all sorts,
oppressing, violent, enslaving, arrogant, exclusive, stories…
told better stories, truer to the God who continued to be faithful to them, stories that allowed them to survive and to continue to trust in God.
Stories of liberation, kindness and courage, peace, humility, and inclusion.

         Retelling the tales of the Patriarchs and matriarchs,
the dysfunctional family who God makes a promise to,
who God blessed, to be a blessing to others.

         Retelling, re-membering, Moses,
 the Mediator between God and the people.

         Retelling the sordid-sacred history of the Kings of Israel and Judah
—how in the eyes of God everything looks different.

         Retelling, finally, today,
the prophets and their revelation of judgment, lament, and hope.

Prayer

         We left the story of Hebrew Scripture with the centralization of worship & leadership in Jerusalem,
the Kingdom splitting,
the North’s dispersion by Assyria,
and eventually the Southern Kingdom’s exile in Babylon.

         The exile, an event that looms so large that it permanently altered the imagination of God’s people.
The Babylonians destroyed the temple—God’s house!
What now?
For a WHOLE generation all those who could read and write were taken away to Babylon and those who remained in the land were colonized and sorely abused.

         Yet, from this time of terror and uncertainty, there came an era of ferment,
a great outpouring of Holy Writ
—the joining of the traditions of God’s people up to this point
—scripture itself
—Hebrew Bible itself.
After all, when everyone who can read and write is stuck in one place with nothing to do but long for that which is absent…
Folk singing songs to one another like the 137’s Psalm:
“By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion…
How can we sing the songs of the Lord while in a foreign land?
If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill.
May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you,
if I do not consider Jerusalem my highest joy.”
         When you get people of such passion and pathos gathered together,
surely God is going to do something! …………
(perhaps there is a lesson here for us, as we dwell in our little exiles?)

         And one such strain of imagination and interpretation of the exile, was that of the prophets. The prophets who preached Judgment, lament, and hope.

Judgment:

         “You all have broken the covenant with God
—that promise that even that trickster Jacob couldn’t break…
Your injustice and idolatry, your wanton and wayward ways… your abandonment of God has made God abandon you.”

Lament:

         “Look at the beautiful city, once so full of people—now she sits alone, she weeps bitterly at night, no lover to comfort her, all her friends… enemies.”

Hope:

         Have you read Jeremiah 30 or Isaiah 40?

         “Comfort O’ comfort my people… I hear the screams of panic, the day that is awful beyond words, but you shall be delivered! Your shackles shall be smashed, you prisoners shall be freed!”

         Yes, the prophets with their judgment, lament, and hope
—God’s gift to them in an impossible, incomprehensible, time…

         Perhaps, none were more effected by the horror of the Exile, than Ezekiel...

Poor Ezekiel—born in times of prosperity—only to see his people’s continual decline.

Poor Ezekiel—witness to the siege & slaughter of Jerusalem.

Poor Ezekiel—taken as a ransom, kidnapped, with the royal family and the priestly houses and brought to Babylon.

Poor Ezekiel—who witnessed his wife’s death, and used his method of grieving as an example to the people
—"stiff upper lip all!”

Ezekiel who warned the people with signs—Holy bug-out-bags and burnt facial hair.

Ezekiel who knew God as a spurned lover, as well as a mama lion caring for her cubs.

Ezekiel who castigated the people as price gougers and murderers, idolaters and adulterers.

         Ezekiel, who when he heard of the temple’s destruction, received a vision of God’s throne like none had seen before him,
the throne burst forth from the temple
—God’s glory following after the people as they were taken away into exile
—even there they were not abandoned!

         Ezekiel, faced with the people dispersed by death and by distance, was asked a challenging question:

         “Can these bones live?”

         Plucked up by the hand of God and placed at the scene of the slaughter
—those killed by the Babylonians, the wrecked remains of his nation
—mass graves.

         “Can these bones live?”

         Dusty remains of aunts and uncles
—his own wife even,
all picked clean by birds and by time,
the decades since they were first separated.

         “Can these bones live?”

         They were so dry!

         “Can these bones live?”

         He spoke to them,
spoke the horror he had held in, so silently, so long,
speaking those things he never got to say,
spoke of the loss and the void in his heart!

         “Can these bones live?”

         They rattled and gathered together
—united as one again,
bone to bone,
muscle to muscle,
tendon, flesh, skin, all together…

         “Can these bones live?”

         There they were, the very people of God before him
—standing their, inanimate, un-animated, without spirit!

         “Can these bones live?”

         There they all stood, exiles and the exhumed, one in the same
—the wholesome, holy, spark of life snuffed out by sorrow,
standing, yes, but cut off from the breath of God.
The survivors as well as the slaughtered, tired and lifeless.

         Then there was a breath! There was Spirit!

         “Can these bones live?”

         Yes.

         Yes!

         The whole people of God, called out of the grave, united again,
just as spirit and skin and tendons and muscles and bones united again
—they too, no longer cut off!
The people shall return!
The exile shall end!

         

         And, not them alone.

         Ezekiel saw again the throne of God, hovering in the sky
saw it again, this time returning, holiness had been torn from the people, the temple was abandoned… but the glory of God, God’s fullness, Ezekiel saw, flying back, returning!

Because these bones live!

Amen

Free Books!

Hey all, your friendly neighborhood author, Chris Halverson, here.

There is a plague our there… everyone is stuck inside with nothin' to do but read… so, starting tomorrow (the 23^rd) I’ve made all my books on kindle free to download for the next five days.

Richardless? Free!

Silicon Soul? Free!

The Chaplain’s Cat? Free! (Yes, I am Harry Stoneguard)

An Uncomfortable Bit of Rope? Free!

Christopher’s Contemporary Catechism? Free!

Nine Sermons from LTSP class of 2011? Free!

Enjoy!