Getting Arrested for Faith

I want to warn everyone that I plan to get arrested in 2018.

Not for doing anything bad like robbing a gas station, but for hopefully bringing attention to something in our country that needs to be talked about more.

It is the gap that continues to grow between the rich and the poor.

I have cared about this issue for a while now.

I have talked about it from this pulpit on several occasions.

It really came to my attention when I was asked to join with a group of leaders here in Concord to talk about this issue in the last presidential campaign.

As part of that group we read Robert Putnam’s book, “Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis.”

Putnam’s book gives data on how this problem continues to grow in America, how this gap is eroding the American dream.

It is making almost impossible for poor kids to raise out of poverty.

My sermon this morning is not really about this issue, but I bring it up because our texts for today is about using your gifts for God’s kingdom.

It is about taking what God has given and not burying it in the dirt, but using those gifts to advance God’s mission.

I want you to know that getting arrested is not a comfortable idea for me.

Speaking out on issues that are controversial is not my favorite thing to do.

I would much rather come here every week and tell you over and over how much God loves and cares for you.

I would like for you every week to think to yourselves, “Wow pastor Jon really helped me overcome this or that problem I am facing.”

I am like all of you, I want people to think well of me.

I want to get along with people.

But more and more I am searching my own actions.

And I can’t but help think that I am not doing all I can with the gifts God has given me.

What I want to ask you this morning is are you?

That is essentially what the our Gospel this morning asks of us.

What are we doing with God’s gifts?

Which person are you in this parable?

Are you one of the people that takes what God has given and multiplies it.

Uses what you have, your money, your time, your talent, your life, to benefit others?

Or are you like the person that buries their gifts in the dirt?

Are you afraid?

Afraid of what will happen to your money?

Are you afraid of what people will say about you?

Are you afraid to lose your prestige in the world?

What is interesting to me about our Gospel this morning is that the person that hid the money did so because they were afraid of the master.

“Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; so I was afraid.”

Fear holds us back from doing so many things.

Fear that we will not be loved.

Fear that we will not have enough.

Fear that we will fail.

Fear that we are not good enough.

Our faith in God’s love and grace is supposed to free us from this fear.

It is supposed to let us go so that we can act for the good of our neighbor.

What does it look like to not have fear about our money?

I suppose that most of you are like me.

In our household we generally live paycheck to paycheck.

Don’t get me wrong.

We have plenty of money to live a good life.

We have money to pay all our bills and left over to have fun.

But if either my wife or I didn’t get paid for a week we would be in trouble.

But what if that wasn’t our main concern.

What if we lived as if we were truly free from the worry of it all?

Perhaps we would be more generous.

We would give more away.

But I would suggest I am like many of you.

I do worry.

I worry about paying for college.

I worry about retirement.

I worry about paying of my student loans.

I worry about my kids having a good life.

I worry about our congregation doing well.

I worry that we have enough to have a ministry.

I worry that we will fight with each other and damage this great ministry.

This is why I am going to get arrested.

Because I trust that God is not harsh and angry.

I trust that God has given me all these gift so that I can do something with them.

So I can use them to make this world a little nicer for someone else.

It will be my faith in action.

I am a big believer in acts of rebellion against the world we live in.

I know families that don’t buy Christmas presents so they can give away money to others.

I know people that don’t shop at certain stores, because they don’t like the way employees are treated.

I know people that don’t watch movies about war, because they don’t want to glorify violence.

Those are just a couple of examples.

All of those things are ways that we take our faith and put it into action.

We take what God has given us and use it for the benefit of someone else.

Because the truth is that slowly this world eats away at us.

It slowly, most of the time without us noticing, takes away our spiritual selves.

It replaces it with fear.

We end up giving up the gifts of God for some material comfort.

Today is stewardship Sunday.

And I want you to notice that we are not talking about you giving more money to the Church.

I gave up a couple of years ago on that sermon.

What we are talking about is more important to me.

We are talking about you using what God has given to live out your faith.

To not see God as harsh and angry, but a God who is generous, gracious, and loving to you so that you can be that for others.

Don’t be afraid.

Don’t bury your talents in the dirt.

Live boldly, live generously.

Give of what God has given to you.

Resist the world’s message that what matters most is your happiness, safety, and comfort.

Find ways to trust in God’s message of grace to you, and live it out.

That is what being a steward is all about.

It is about taking what God gives you and increasing its value, by giving it away to others.

Isn’t that what we all try to do with our kids?

Don’t we want them to have a better life than we did?

I am getting arrested in 2018 because I don’t just want that for my kids, I want it for everyone’s kids.

I want my kids to have a better life not materially, but spiritually.

I want them to trust that they can take risks for others.

I am not going to end by asking you to get arrested.

My path is not your path.

But I am asking today for you to use the gifts that God has given to resist the world, to live for others, to live generously, to live out the faith that God has given you.

Amen

What Happens When A Pastor Walks Into a Hospital?

This week one of our members was having surgery.

I went to the hospital to pray with her before her surgery.

I was told by the front desk to go to this certain waiting room.

I was there on official business so I was wearing my collar and a black suit.

When I walked into the waiting room a woman said to her daughter.

“Is that a priest? That freaks me out.”

She said it loud enough for me to hear it, so I said, “Don’t worry I am not here for you.”

We all laughed.

I wonder if this will be our reaction when Jesus comes again.

I know that all of you would have a much different reaction when I come to see you in the hospital.

People find it comforting.

They want me to come and see them, to pray with them.

In fact, if I didn’t come you might be upset.

But people that don’t know me or that don’t go to Church, or that don’t understand religion their reaction is one of horror.

Maybe she reacted that way because she only sees a priest when it is time to die.

I know that when I did my hospital chaplaincy in seminary I would sometimes get that reaction from people.

The chaplain is here that must mean that someone is dead.

People don’t call the chaplain for good things.

Our Gospel for this morning is about what we expect when Jesus comes again.

Will we be prepared?

Will we be scared?

Will we rejoice?

I think we should back up one space.

And just say the obvious thing; many of us don’t believe that Jesus is coming back.

Or at least we don’t live like that could really happen any time soon.

This is not part of the Christian doctrine that we take seriously.

Is that good?

I think it is in the sense that we simply don’t know when it is going to happen.

Jesus told us this many times, including in Matthew’s Gospel right before the one we have today.

Since we don’t know when, and since we don’t have any control over it, there is something to be said for going about our lives.

To live as Jesus calls us to live.

I heard a lecture by a woman who used to be a Pentecostalist.

She was talking about why pentacostalist don’t care about the environment.

She said that they don’t care because in their theology God is going to come and blow up the earth anyway and it is going to happen soon.

Why take care of something God is just going to destroy.

I understand this argument.

It is the same one I give for not making the bed.

Why make the bed I am going to get right back in it and mess it up in a couple of hours.

So maybe there is a danger in over emphasizing that Jesus is coming back.

On the other hand, what does it look like to live as if we expect Jesus to be here tomorrow?

What are the implications for our moral choices?

What are the implications for how we treat each other?

Distancing ourselves too far from this Christian doctrine may lead to laziness on our part, as if what we do doesn’t matter at all.

As if God doesn’t care about the world we live in, or the people that are in it.

Having a sense of God’s coming gives us urgency to our actions.

But most of us simply don’t think about this that often.

Because why should we care?

Here is why it is important, how we see the end of time says a lot about how we think of God right now.

If you think of God as really angry and out for revenge then that god is going to show up mad.

That God is going to destroy this sinful place we live, and all the sinful people in it.

But if your God is loving and caring, if your God is merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, then when God shows up it is a wonderful and glorious thing.

It is a renewing of the world that cries in labor pains.

It is a time of no more tears or hurt.

What does this Gospel say about God and what Jesus return looks like?

First thing is that the bridesmaids wait for a party.

The image of marriage feast is an image of joy.

The bridesmaids are waiting in an expectation of joy.

They are not anxious about it.

Because they sleep before the groom arrives.

Isn’t that what we wait for and hope for?

Are we not waiting now in expectant joy of the marriage feast that has no end?

Are we not waiting for God to come and right all the wrongs, end all the suffering and hurt?

What about the end of the parable?

It comes off as really mean for the Lord to shut out the foolish bridesmaids.

I think we can say that there is preparation that comes before the party.

The ending of this parable would have been a surprise to the people reading it.

Weddings were open occasions to everyone in a community.

To have a closed door would not have been common.

The community that Matthew wrote his Gospel to is growing weary of waiting for Jesus.

They have begun to slack off in their love of the Gospel.

Can’t we say the same about us?

Are we not like Matthew’s community?

As the Gospel ages its message sometimes looses the radical nature.

We lose our passion for what Jesus is calling us to do.

We forget to prepare ourselves for Jesus to come again.

We forget the oil to light our lamps.

And our light doesn’t shine.

We hide it under a basket, because we have forgotten the goodness of God.

We forget that God is gracious to us.

We become like the woman in the waiting room.

And in doing we become afraid of God instead of God’s companion and friend.

The question that I think is at the heart of our faith life is this.

Do I experience joy when I think about Jesus?

Do I experience a genuine good feeling about following Jesus?

Does my faith energies me to love and care for others?

When I think of Jesus I think of my salvation.

I think of all the times I have needed my faith in really dark times.

And I think of all the times Jesus has come through for me.

And I want to share it with others.

I want them to have that joy.

If we don’t know Jesus, if we become complacent about our faith, about the Good News of Jesus Christ, it is as if our lights go out.

It is as if the door is shut, and we can’t get back in.

So today let your light shine.

Care for the least of these.

Love those who you struggle to love.

Prepare your hearts for the joy of the Lord, because Jesus is coming again.

Will we be ready for that moment?

Will we be joyful that the bridegroom returns?

Live today as if Jesus is returning.

Amen

The Glimpse

About seventeen years ago my wife and I saw a PBS special by Rick Steves.

He was in a part of Italy called the Cinque Terre.

From the first time we saw that special we wanted to go there.

But we didn’t, because of life.

 Kids, jobs, and what not all got in the way.

But we would talk about it from time to time.

Other people who went there would tell us about it.

This past summer because of our generous congregation we got to go.

We added on to our trip to Germany a couple of day in the Cinque Terre.

To get there we took a train from La Spezia into the Cinque Terre.

We went through a tunnel, and when we came out we saw the clear blue water, the cliffs descending into the water.

I looked over at my wife and she had tears running down her face.

And then we went into another tunnel before getting off at our stop.

It was a moment, a glimpse of something we had dreamed of for a long time.

It didn’t disappoint.

In fact, it was better than we imagined in our minds.

This is what I think about heaven.

It is something we dream of and imagine to be wonderful and glorious.

And every now and then we get a glimpse of it here and now.

Every now and then we see love and kindness so spectacular that we weep with joy.

Our reading from Revelation shows us what it is like.

It shows us the wonder and beauty of heaven, the worshiping of God.

New song of praise we sing to God.

This is what the book of Revelation does; it pulls back the curtain to show us what is really behind everything.

It does this with beautiful, brilliant, and strong language.

Last Sunday I went to a really fancy dinner at a Castle.

It was my mother in laws birthday.

While we were waiting for dinner we were exploring the castle.

I spilled wine on a doily.

I tried to get it out with cold water.

It didn’t work.

So I turned myself in to the people who worked at the castle.

Turns out it was no big deal, but wine is hard to get out of a doily.

If wine is hard to get out of a white doily.

How hard is blood to get out of a white robe?

But we are told this morning that people who are worshiping God around the throne are wearing white robes that have been washed in the blood of the lamb.

I am not great at doing laundry, but again I know enough to know that blood is not easy to get out of white robes.

I know that you wash the whites separate from the brand new red towel you bought at target.

Why this saying?

Why is John telling us that blood is used to wash robes?

The problem with all saints Sunday is that we tend to make out the people we remember to be better than they were.

I know that when I think of my father or Grandmother I think of only all the good times, the good things.

But maybe that is not such a bad thing.

Maybe that is how we should remember loved ones, remembering that they showed us a glimpse of heaven.

Because remembering the other stuff is too painful, or not helpful.

Or maybe we just like to give each other the benefit of the doubt.

Or maybe we realize that none of us is so good, and we would want others to remember our good side instead of our bad.

We would not want to be remembered for the worse thing we have done, but the best.

And maybe that is what the experience of death does for us.

Maybe we are washed through the blood.

And we come out the other side clean.

But something more significant is going on in Revelation.

It is a letter to a real community that is really suffering through the oppression of the Roman Empire.

It is a community that sees how the empire uses force to say that there is peace.

In the Roman Empire people were crucified for not pledging allegiance to the Empire.

It was a political message that you better get on board, or else.

It was through blood that the Romans thought you made people good citizens.

Jesus turned that on its head.

It wasn’t blood that made us good citizens.

It is blood that makes us holy.

It is not violence, but non violence and love that make us into God’s people.

It is the sacrifice of Jesus that makes us righteous.

That makes us worthy.

For a long time we thought that being a good person makes you a holy person.

But it is really only one thing and that is Jesus blood.

I would say that every life is filled with difficulty in some way.

That we all struggle here on this earth to figure out what it means to live a blessed life.

Jesus told us that it was found in living.

It is found in the mourning, in thirsting, in hunger, in poverty of spirit.

In those things we pass through to the other side and find something more significant.

And that is why death is so shattering for us.

It often clarifies what is really important.

It helps us to see better the people in our lives.

We see that they were flawed, but through that they struggled to do good.

I often think how much I misunderstood my father.

I didn’t understand how much he struggled with his own father.

I didn’t understand how much he wanted to be loved.

And how much he wanted to be a good father, and let me know that he loved me.

It wasn’t always easy for us.

But the thing is that when I remember him it is only with the finest thoughts.

When I speak of him it is only in glowing terms.

Because I understand better what he went through.

I understand better why he reacted to things the way he did.

At his funeral I gave his eulogy, and I talked about how much he loved me and all the people in his life.

I didn’t talk about the struggle.

It was as if the stains of his life had been taken away.

I believe it was because of Jesus that I was able to see the best part of him.

I know it was because of Jesus that he struggled to love me and others.

That idea that Jesus died to show us a better way to live, a gentler way, gives us a better vision of what we can be.

At the heart of Revelation is this truth, that through all of the hard ships of life.

Through everything that we face there is a God at the heart of the universe that is bigger than those hardships.

There is a God bigger than our sins, or the sins of others.

At the center of all things is a glory better than we can imagine.

At the center of all things is a God who is constantly trying to put things back together.

God is trying to wipe away every tear, and have no more hunger.

That is the vision that we sometimes glimpse in the best parts of us.

The Good News is that you and I are invited to participate in that action.

We get to be the saints of God here and now.

We get to be there for each other.

We get to stand up for others.

We get to give others a glimpse of what it might look like.

The Blood of Jesus gets out stains.

The one who was slain is worthy, has shown us a better way.

Let us remember that we all struggle, but that Jesus works out the stains.

Jesus makes us righteous and holy.

Jesus gives us a better vision, a less violent vision, a gentler vision.

And when we put our lives in the blood we come out clean.

Amen