Choose Today

Sermon Joshua 24:1, 13-28 June 21, 2020 Father’s Day

Choose Today

On this day across the country and the world, men are receiving hand written cards, coffee mugs, ties, t shirts, breakfast in bed and other treats to let them know how important they are to lives of the people who love them.

It is one way to affirm that in their life this man has made a difference to them.

Not all men are dads,

not all men are famous,

not all men are ‘the best ever’,

not all men are memorable.

But, we all remember a man in our life who was a change agent for our life.

Change Agent Men of the church!

Whether it was a teacher in elementary school,

or a coach in little league,

a scout leader,

a Sunday school teacher, a priest or a pastor;

a neighbor, or a waiter, a bank teller, or an accountant,

there is someone, some man, we have met who made an impact on our life.

With a few words, or a gesture,

or an action that man moved us

in way that moved our life to a new direction.

 “What counts in life is not the fact that we have lived. It is the difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” This quote is attributed to Nelson Mandela. There are men who have made proclamations that have moved us to follow and to make a vow also.

Perhaps, that’s why we have Joshua 24:15 hanging on plaques through our homes or on doilies and bookmarks. “As for me and my house we will serve the Lord.”

This is a proclamation made by Joshua to the people gathered at Shechem.

These are Joshua’s words and while powerful and important, the rest of the story (as Paul Harvey would say) is where we find our challenge, our opportunity.

Joshua gathered the people, the leaders at Shechem. Shechem itself is an important place in the story of Israel. It appears six times in the history of the people of Israel. Shechem is the covenant making center. It is the place of a stone monument a large tree and an oral history of covenants between God and God’s people.

Joshua is about to die.

He gathers the people before him just before they go on their own way to their new inherited lands.

Joshua stands before them with a challenge to unite them before God.

He will not be going with them and so he sets himself apart.

He proclaims to them who he is and who God is to him.

He sets the bar high.

He makes clear to the people that before they separate one from the other they need to speak their truth with one voice.

Ecumenical Choir on Christian Unity, France 2005

His leadership sets the tone.

He reminds the people of God’s acts in their life.

He retells their history, their ancestry.

He goes down the list of names that are part of who they are.

He tells them this so they will retell the same ancestry and history in their different lands to the generations that follow.

“Choose today who you will serve” he challenges.

The hymn Once to Every Man and Nation is a powerful hymn written in 1845 to a people in a nation in upheaval, ready to make the most difficult choices of their lives.

Choices that would put brother against brother.

The words are haunting and full of truth.

“Once to every man and nation comes a moment to decide, in the strife of truth with falsehood, for the good or evil side; some great cause, some new decision, offering the bloom or blight, and the choice goes by forever ‘twixt that darkness and that light…yet ‘tis truth alone is strong; though her portion be the scaffold, and upon the throne be wrong, yet that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown, standeth God within the shadow keeping watch above his own.”

Times of war and strife have placed men in choices of life and death.

In Strasbourg, France there is a statue in the central park of a mother.

It looks much like the pieta.

It is a mother holding the bodies of two sons draped across her arms.

Monument aux Morts

It is a statue of the sons of the country who were caught in the moment to decide and each chose a different side for which to fight.

And this beautiful city understood and understands

to this day the difficult challenges that lay before men.

And so they honor their dead who fought on either side of the war.

We never know the future struggles we will face.

The people who have been the influence in our life

are the ones who shape us and our decisions.

Who are the people who have guided our feet?

Were their shoes too big for us?

When we remember those change agents

in our life we realize

they are the people

who pushed us,

who challenged us,

who gave us hard tasks,

and set high expectations.

That’s what allowed us to respond with the strength we needed to make those difficult choices and to stand firm. They believed in us enough to know that we would answer the call to say yes to the tough tasks ahead of us.

Joshua’s proclamation to the people and challenge was,

“Choose today who you will serve.”

He knew that following God was more than just listening for a sweet loving voice from God.

The God we serve who called us out of a life of darkness into a life of light is more than a fuzzball of sweetness,

this God we serve is a jealous God,

a stubborn God,

a God who gets angry,

a God who seeks after his own like the hound of heaven.

This God lifts the people out of the snares of danger with giant claws of an eagle and soars through the skies with them dangling in the air.

That’s a scary kind of God.

This is our God.

This is our God who calls for obedience and fear/awe.

These are words we have watered down in the church because they sound too autocratic. Yet, our yes to God comes with serious responsibility.

It comes with consequences.

When we make a vow of any kind, we are expected to live by it.

God made a vow to us to always love us.

We have the opportunity to respond to the challenge,

“Choose today who you will serve?”

Our God is full of stubborn love, relentless, and never letting go kind of love, with high expectations of following the commandments laid before us.

Commandments of loving neighbors, and enemies, of keeping holy sabbath, of not stealing or cheating, not lying or envying.

Those are a high calling that we forget God called us to obey, to revere, and to follow.

Three times the people responded to Joshua’s challenge and yelled out,

“The Lord our God we will serve and we will obey.”

And with this third response Joshua drew up the covenant before God and the people and sent them to their lands.

He was the change agent to stir them up

and to draw them out so they would stand ready

and proclaim God as their own.

We need people in our lives to do that to us.

People who challenge us, who draw us out,

who put us to the test so we can discover

the power of God within us to go forward in life.

We are never able to take the risks to be better, live better, if we haven’t had the example of someone who sets the tone, who reaches beyond themselves and claims us through their voice.

Today, on this Father’s Day,

let us be thankful to the men who were change agents in our lives.

Mike change agent-sailing arrival in Greece

Let us also answer the call of God who gave us his only Son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in him with have life abundant in this life and the next.

Tell us your stories, tell each other the stories, proclaim today who you will serve.

Be the man who will be the change agent for others from this day forward.

Amen.

Resources: NIB Volume II Joshua. Word Biblical Commentary. 

Pretzel Love.

Sermon Matthew 28:16-20 June 7, 2020 Trinity Sunday

Pretzel Love.

We don’t need the teachings of the church to help us get through,

we tell ourselves and others during the many upside moments of life.

We just need to know love, we say.

It’s just that simple, we say.

Yet, it’s through the teachings of the church that the practice of the simplicity of love takes form.

I just want us to all get along.

I just want us to love people.

I just want us to act neighborly to all people.

We think if we say it, practicing it well is going to just pop out of the air and we’ll all be singing kumbaya together.

But, we have to learn how to do this. And we have to learn why we do this, and we have to learn where we do this.

It begins with the great commission from Jesus in the final chapter of Matthew, and it continues with the teachings of the church about the relationships we have with God and with each other.

Today is Trinity Sunday, it’s a great gift for us to celebrate.

Do we believe it, yes.

Do we believe its important, yes.

Do we think about it all the time, can we explain it well, no. 

But, it gives us what we need to understand who we are and who we are part of.

“Something we all need in order to feel the fullness of life: It’s not only a sense that we belong on our planet, but also that we belong in other people’s lives-that we are loved, lovable, and capable of loving.” Fred Rogers said.

I think this is what the Trinitarian relationship teaches.

It gives us this as our how, why, and where.

In the fourth century the controversy of the Trinity shifted to the relationship of the members of the Trinity to each other.

“The Father is of the Son, as the Son is of the Father, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of both the Father and the Son.” This operation of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in their relationship became essential to the church and the relationship among the saints. The basic baptismal formula that Jesus taught the disciples as he sent them out into the world, began in the first century and continues today. It is the baptismal formula utilized across all denominational lines.

God in relationship, divine, unified, mutual, is a relationship we can celebrate. Through Christ we learn we belong to God and through the power of the Holy Spirit we belong to each other, we become the church. We become brothers and sisters to one another sharing Christ’s love for ALL people.

We celebrate this gift of the Trinity today especially realizing how our ordinary routines of church, work, and school have been disrupted and we have a sense of disconnection.

In our alone time we can take our pretzel relationship of understanding about God and place our right arm on our left shoulder, our left arm on our right shoulder and give ourselves a hug realizing the power of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are within the pretzel shape hug we just gave and received.

We need the assurance of this love relationship for us to be able to reach out to others. “We love because God first loved us.”

Our relationships with others have been put to the test during this time.

Its’ not easy to have little ones under foot all day long. It’s not easy to have couples working from home and sharing desk space. Its not easy to feed everyone three full meals a day. It’s not easy to walk around the house and make room for each other when there are so many more hours we are sharing together under one roof.

Fred Rogers calls it a dance, “We are learning how relationships are like dances in which people try to find whatever happens to be the mutual rhythm in their lives.”

I think I’ve seen this dance in the morning routine in our kitchens. All trying to respect each other and yet trying to get our breakfast. I remember when our girls had different bus schedules and Mike a different work schedule but breakfast and our small square kitchen had to accommodate them all as they danced around each other getting the breakfast they wanted. It is a warm memory of a dance of life.

I like to look to the relationship of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in this beautiful heavenly dance together, each sharing a portion of the dance floor, giving way to one another as the need to presents itself.

In our human relationships the gift of mutuality is a dance, we dance together on the dance floor in partnership and in given moments of the dance we give way to one another as the steps of the dance show the need to lift up one or the other.

In our weakness we are lifted up by the strength of our brothers and sisters.

When we are on our feet we are able to lift up others.

It is our duty to be at work caring for those who have been robbed and lie in ditches in need of someone to care for them and put them on the road again.

Our lives are more intertwined by our behaviors toward one another than we could ever realize.

MLKjr said, “Our lives are tangled up with everyone else’s in ways beyond our knowing, “caught” in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied to a single garment of destiny.”

Our future as the church,

as humans,

is toward a single garment of destiny.

And that is the great commission,

that all people come together

and are reconciled to God and to one another.

Yet, the fact that going out into the world to make disciples on our own, is not only impossible, but these days it seems reckless.

We can’t hug,

touch,

or breathe in anyone’s space.

How in the world can we go out and make disciples?

We do so in the same manner as those first disciples; Scared to death to do anything on their own, they were completely relying on the mercy and strength of God. (Thom Long)

We are not powerless,

nor are we disconnected from God.

Each time we wrap ourselves with the pretzel hug we are reminded that God is with us in our prayers and in our actions.

The strength of the teachings seared in our hearts gird us in our assurance to be motivated to go forth.

We are completely relying on the mercy and strength of God.

The days are coming very soon when some of us will be able to venture further, yet realizing many will still be apart.

With the unity of the Holy Spirit, the Son and the Father we are reminded of our unity.

We will not abandon one another as Christ did not abandon us with the promise of his presence forever.

Love will hold us and keep us.

There are days we feel as if it will all fall apart,

that we have no clue how,

what or where we are going or doing.

And that’s when once again we trust the teachings of the power of God within us through the relationship of the Trinity.

The words of the anthem Grace say it best, “Your will cannot lead me where you grace will not keep me, your hand will protect me. I rest in your care. Your eyes will watch over me, your love will forgive me, and when I am faltering, I still will find you there.”  

A pretzel hug of love to you!

Amen.

Resources: Feasting on the Word Year A-Thom Long; Quotes from Fred Rogers; Working Preacher Podcast (recorded in April); Practicing Our Faith Chapter 1 Craig Dykstra; Book of Confession PCUSA study edition

When This Germ Goes Away

Sermon Jeremiah 29 & 1 Peter 3:13-22 May 17, 2020

When This Germ Goes Away

“When this germ goes away, will you come see me?” this was a question from a five year old living today in the reality of pandemic. 

From the mouths of babes we witness the truth of our lack of control of the world we live in. We hear the desires and the dream uttered from their lips. We hear from them what this life looks through their eyes.

On Wednesday, hearing this from my granddaughter threw me. 

It was finally a confrontation with the truth of the way we are living today. 

It was the truth that we are living in exile. We are not a people sent to the desert as Jesus was to confront for 40 days the identity of who we are. We are not a people who has left a land of slavery and are wandering in the desert for 40 years prior to entering a promised land. We a not a people of an ark for 40 days being lifted up out of chaos and dropped off into a brave new world. While we are the descendants of all of these people, our story today goes well with our Scriptures for today which are letters written to believers in unknown territories.

With this pandemic,

we are more like a people carried off

into a land that’s not our own.

A people in world out of our control.

A people in captivity.

A people caught in the whirlwind of life

of which we have no say.

We can’t travel.

We can’t work.

We can’t get the supplies we need.

We can’t seek the medical, social, religious, economic engagement we need.

We are a people without a future that we can see or plan.  

The truth today is just how hard life can be.

Just because we claim Christ as our Lord doesn’t guarantee us or anyone else this perfect window into a perfect world. But, what we do get, that makes it so hard to define or to describe, is a sense of peace in adversity and a sense of hope in times of trouble, a sense of truth to get us through.

What has been so difficult with this situation we have been living though is the not knowing. At first we thought we would be inconvenienced for a couple of weeks. Then we saw it was a little longer and we hunkered down to hold on until it was over. We thought we could hold on to our plans, hold our breath and then come up for air and go on as we did before.

The Israelites thought the same thing when they were carried off to Babylon. First it was a short stay, not too long and then they’ll get to go back home. But, there was no relief or peace in sight. Then they chose to live in their dwellings as temporary dwellings knowing this was not their home and they would wait until they were back in Jerusalem before they carried on with their life the way they used to.

But, Jeremiah hits them with the reality of living in the present. He tells them how they can live their best life now.

It’s not about giving up or giving in. but about putting action to hope.

If we can’t live our best life now with the cards we’ve been dealt then how will we live it when we have everything?

Jeremiah isn’t asking the exiles to give up and act like slaves or submit to the masters of their captivity.

He’s giving them the courage to take the lot they’ve been cast and look it in the eye and move to action.

Plant gardens.

Build homes.

Get married.

Have kids.

Live your best life.

Look your captors in the eye and show them that even though they have control you have ability to live the best life possible now, even in adversity.

This idea is not a pipe dream. Ask anyone who has been through disease or mental illness or chronic conditions. They will tell you the only way to move forward and out of the despair of something that took over their life was to say to the disease or the condition or the mental illness (anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder etc), you may have control of my body and mind, but I will live my best life either in spite of you or despite you. You may ravage my body but, I can make my life matter. Why? Because the power of God to act in our lives is just as strong in exile as it is in abundance.

Both the letter of Jeremiah and I Peter are pragmatic. They are pointing out the possibilities for life in Babylon and in Asia Minor, these places not their home but where God can act in their life. These letter writers were declaring a path forward by digging in, getting dirty, and creating space for joy. The best hope for the future is to live in the present. The hope for the future is to settle in for the long haul.

By doing this, hope takes action.

By doing this hope anticipates and moves towards an amazing future of possibility built in the present.

If we sit at home and can’t go out, how can our best life be lived in that circumstance? If we have to go to work in hazmat conditions, how can our best life be lived in that circumstance?

One reality is that like the early Christians of Asia Minor we are dispersed far from one another. We are beyond the community in which we find our comfort and collectiveness. Yet, as we discover, our community in this time has grown beyond these walls and beyond our familiar groups. We have a following of those who worship with us that were not able to before. We are not just dispersed throughout the ESVA but now we are a community in nine different states and sometimes three other countries. By the power of the resurrection of Jesus and his ascension, we have a unity unknown to us before. How can we live our best life (as Kate Bowler, podcaster, insists) when living this life with where we are and how we are is all we have?

God’s action is in our life now. It’s not waiting to act tomorrow when we will all get back together. God’s action is showing us and training us within this context for the way things can be rich and fulfilled right now. It’s our turn to pay attention to the good things, take note, and build on it. It’s our turn to look at where the needs are and assist in helping. We can’t do it all. We can’t fix it all. We can’t be like everyone else. But, we can impact one small space of our life, right where we are. We can hear God’s voice propelling us into an action that shows us we are alive and well. Let’s listen together and discover together and work together.

My life experiences and careers have always been within the power of touch.

As a nurse to sit cradling a child receiving dialysis treatments or as a pastor holding the hands of the dying, touch has been the crucial, sacred element of these moments to heal and comfort.

When that became no longer possible,

I lost my way.

I did not know how to act.

And yet…In my despair,

God is still fully present.

In my deepest sadness,

God is acting.

God is paving a path of knowledge

and ways of living never known before.

God is moving us into a future

not of frustration but of discovery.

How can the things we have counted on that no longer exist become the avenue for a new way to emerge?

I am comforted and renewed by the power of God through the resurrection of Jesus to sustain us and to stir us. We can do this! We will keep worshiping together this way. We will take the service to those who cannot watch. We will visit one another from a distance. We will have car parades. We will have Zoom fellowship. We will have doorstep tea times. We will resume our ordinary activities and God will show us his presence in them.

Who knows if the tales of the future from our children will be they remember these days as the best days of their life…we won’t know, but for now…

We are not alone.

We don’t know when this germ will go away.

We can’t plan for it.

But, we will choose to live our best life now.

Because we have the greatest promise of truth from God.

We have a hope in Jesus, a hope that is active, that pulls us and gets us up, and holds us when no one else can, and carries us, and heals us, and just loves us so much it pulls us forward to a marvelous future.

These are not dream words, these are truth words.

Amen.

Let us pray, Father we worship you today. We love you for our life in Jesus Christ who you raised up to glory. We offer ourselves to you again today to work within us by the power of your Holy Spirit to transform us. Move us forward in our resurrection life, fill us with your hope that doesn’t wait but moves in anticipation, and action. Renew our spirits to a right mind with you. Refresh our hearts with the fullness of love, now and forevermore. Amen.

Resources: NIB Jeremiah 29 & 1 Peter; Working Preacher-Preach This Week; Kate Bowler Podcast.

The Best of Times

Sermon Ruth 1:1-22 May 10, 2020 Mother’s Day

The Best of Times

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.

This opening paragraph from Charles Dickens A Tale of Two Cities is remarkable. As we listen to these words from the paragraph we wonder at what age of the world they were written. We wonder at what age of the world was it and is it still applicable.

When we enter into the story of Ruth and Naomi it becomes clear that it too is a tale by which we wonder if it is a season of light or darkness, a spring of hope, or winter of despair.

Now I know you’re looking at me and saying, “Look, it’s Mother’s Day, you’re supposed to say sappy, happy, things, so we can all feel good about the women in our lives and then go eat a yummy lunch.”

We’ll get to that part. But, for now, this is a remarkable tale of stubbornness, loss, suffering, courage, commitment, triumph, grace, and redemption.

Life in Bethlehem of Judah had become the worst of times, full of famine, suffering, loss, and death. Naomi and her husband chose to leave in the hopes of life being better somewhere else. As famine would have it, it also occurred in the new country. There was no escape from suffering and loss and it found its way into the life of Naomi. She witnessed her husband die and her two sons. She lost everything. She was at a loss. She had no idea what to do next except to go back home and beg for survival.

Perhaps, that’s the hard part,

witnessing the devastation

and then

being the one experiencing it as well.

 

When tragedy hits home somehow everything changes.

All the suffering surrounding the family has become their suffering as and they are overwhelmed.

Joy has no place in this moment.

Laughter was long gone.

Peace does not exist.

And in this moment Naomi feels completely abandoned.

How could a God of love allow this to happen in her life. Her faith seemed as though it wasn’t enough to keep her family alive.

She is mad.

She is sad.

She is bitter.

Worse, her misery has left her unrecognizable by her people.

 

It’s here where we come in with our judgment lens and say, “If she had faith she would be able to thank God for her situation.”

The truth of the tale is that Naomi did have faith. And so did Orpah and Ruth.

It is their strength of faith that guided them.

It is their strength of faith that gave them the courage to be truthful.

It is their strength of faith that moved them all forward on the path to redemption.

We have this idea that one of these women was faithful and the others weren’t.

But, faith shows itself in many ways and is acted upon in many ways, and when guided by the Spirit is manifested in many ways.

We’ve chastised Naomi in our commentaries for being a bitter woman. But, I appreciate her truth. Her name means sweet. And when she returns to her home she tells everyone to call her Mara which means bitter. She lets everyone around her know exactly how she feels. Wouldn’t that be great if we could be honest enough to share our real feelings?

God wants us to own up to our truths.

If we feel really bad about our situations then let’s share that. When we can be honest about how devastated we are in loss, or how miserable it feels to suffer then we can be surrounded by compassion.

If we pretend things are fine, we lose out on the chance to receive comfort.

If we hold back our tears or cries of pain, those around us aren’t able to learn how to express their pain and loss.

These three women are wonderful women of faith. They express the faith of truth, the faith of obedience, and the faith of stubbornness. All these expression are who God calls us to be in various times of our life.

Orpah is left out of the story near the beginning and we really have neglected the power of her presence in the scene. She was a faithful daughter in law willing to go anywhere with her mother in law including returning to a homeland that was not hers. Yet, at the insistence of Naomi to return to find comfort within her own family, she obeys. Orpah loves Naomi dearly. Orpah wants to be faithful to the requests of the one she loves. And the path she is sent on is the one back home. Sometimes that’s exactly what God wants us to do. Naomi offers both women an act of grace which is to go home and start again.

God knows us better than we know ourselves and we all have capabilities and capacities and we also all have limits. Orpah’s faithful obedience to return home has a story of grace that we are not privy to. She is to be honored.

Ruth on the other hand clings to Naomi and declares her faith.

It’s a stubborn faith.

It’s an unwillingness to be obedient.

It’s a hands on her hips, defiant, determined and audacious faith.

In the face of Naomi’s truth to want to be left alone to return to her country, Ruth recognizes a call of God to hold fast, to stay the course, to remain rooted in place with Naomi.

Its almost as if she says something like this, “Hey, I’ve been with you, your son, your God who is mine and now you want me to abandon it all…no way. You can’t make me go back. You’re stuck with me.”

Ruth has clearly been called by God to assert herself and her faith upon Naomi.

They have lived together and worshiped together for ten years and Ruth is not willing to give any of that up.

We do not know how unhappy or how pleased Naomi is with Ruth’s decision.

But, we do know she could not shake her and so they went together to Bethlehem of Judah.  

 

There are times in our life that God calls us to have the faith of Ruth.

It’s not always easy to live this faith.

When the one you love just wants you to go away

or to disappear or to stop bothering them,

it can be difficult to remain at their side.

Sometimes though its in these very moments that we need someone to refuse to listen to us because we need them more than we know.

When Jesus says I will never leave you or forsake you, it is a stubborn faith. Peter denied him and Jesus stayed by him. Jesus does not leave us. Even when we turn our backs his love pursues us. And stays the course with us.

Ruth saw Naomi’s needs and she was able to be practical.

She was able to guide Naomi through her grief to help her find her way again to restoration and renewal and reconciliation with God.

In the end the beauty is the birth of son named Obed became the ancestor of Jesus. and so they could say it was the best of times, a spring of hope, a season  of light.

Today reach out to the women in your life who have been the truth tellers,

the obedient ones,

the stubborn ones

and thank them.

 

Thank you for believing in us.

Thank them for being women of faith.

Thank them for showing you the way to live life fully.

Thank them for their beauty.

Thank them for their courage.

Thank them for their tirelessness to serve.

Thank them for just being who they are.

And with our thanks, we will rise up and call them blessed. Amen.

 Resources: NIB Book of Ruth

Jesus is the Gate

Sermon John 10:1-11 May 3, 2020 Good Shepherd Sunday Easter 4A

Jesus is the Gate

Good morning. As you saw me share with the children about support animals; we lean on God’s special creation of critters for comfort, company and courage. 

We pour our emotions into them. We hug them tighter than they can manage. 

We pull them into our covers to protect us at night. 

We depend on them to be our friend. 

Its no wonder that God created the world full of amazing creatures. As humans we are nothing without them.

We know Jesus is not a squishy critter for us to hug and adore, yet, sometimes, just sometimes, when we are deep down in a funk, in a miserable mess, it’s nice to know he’s there with us as we hide under the covers. Sometimes, we think of Jesus our shepherd like that.

 Jesus is our shepherd. He is our guard and guide. He is the one we run to when we’re in need. He is the very one we trust with our whole heart. And we do whisper our secrets to him so no one else can know. Today, on Good Shepherd Sunday we think about all the ways Jesus is for us.

Photo from HK Farms in Florida. A real gift they offer their community. Look them up.

Before Jesus tells us he is the Shepherd he starts out telling us that he is the Gate.

Which considering how all of us are feeling these days, that’s a really appropriate description. “Jesus, be the gate for us and let us out, keep us in”. Which really, really, makes me glad that I can count on Jesus to be the one standing there holding the Gate that he says is his, not mine, but his.

What is a gate? In order to have a gate it means it is attached to some kind of boundary. Fences, walls, hedges, personal space are boundaries. They surround, define, protect, keep out, and keep in. Our boundaries all possess the presence of a gate.

Can you think of any boundary that does not also have a way of entrance and exit? I can’t.

Even when Berlin was divided by a wall there was a gate to open one way or another. Even the most negative way we can look at things that create barriers have a way in or out. Countries have borders. Boundaries and Gates seem rather exclusionary.

Do we look to Jesus as this kind of gate; exclusionary?

I like to think of gates as gates of welcome. Garden gates reinforce that for me. A beautiful gate made of pickets covered in English ivy swinging on a barely fastened hinge. Barely touching it causes it swing wide open as one gazes on beds of flowers bursting in full bloom. I remember reading ‘The Secret Garden’ and being carried away by the scent of the flowers in the story.

Jesus is in control of the gate. Jesus is the one who manages grace. Jesus is the one who makes the invitation swinging wide open the gates of heaven. Jesus welcomes us all.

And that’s important to know as these words are shared after he has healed the blind man. The blind man was not welcome in the sanctuary while he was disabled. And then when he was healed and should have been allowed in the sanctuary of worship he was forced out by the leadership for speaking the truth.

Jesus wants us to know that he does not exclude and that his sanctuary gate is open to all. Jesus does not engage with us through religious rhetoric or political stigmas, or social justice, or moral, or educational ideals. Jesus turns us upside down and inside out with his grace. It is continuously paradoxical.

So here we are: Every country and state has had challenges with this pandemic. Every community. Every home. Every one. Not one of us is alone in this crisis, yet all of us are facing different challenges because of it.

How will we understand Jesus as the Gate in times like this?

I know there are those who are putting their lives in danger every day. 

How do we respond to them? 

Do we seek to protect them? Do we remain at home while they risk their lives? 

What do we do?

How do we wrestle with this dilemma and wonder what Jesus wants us to do?

It’s so hard. 

I wish we had hard solid answers as we live our lives of faith. 

I wish Jesus would come directly to each of us and tell us how to make decisions. 

Jesus tell me which team to be on. 

Jesus tell me which job to take. 

Jesus tell me who to trust. 

But, Jesus doesn’t it make it that easy for us. And, that’s the challenge of our faith…to discern, to pray, to hope, to trust and to act as God has called us to.

That’s it, we can all be followers of Jesus with varying opinions about the world in which we live. 

And Jesus welcomes us in. 

I just love that more than anything about Jesus. 

He lets my neighbor who I’ve disagreed with for years about how to trim the hedge in through the same gate as me.

We are all at home anxious to return to be together. 

Some of us more eager than others. 

Yet, all us are loving Jesus and each other more than we’ve ever known or realized.

We don’t need to let the gate of our life be so locked and fastened that we only see out through the peephole.

Let Jesus really be Lord of our conscience. 

Let go of our control of the gates of our life and listen to Jesus for a bit. 

Talk to him. 

Ask him to enter our thoughts. 

Ask him to enter our habits. 

Ask him to be with us as we do our chores. 

I guarantee you that you may not still have the answers your seeking. 

But, you will know he’s there. 

You’ll get a sense of comfort. 

You’ll get a stirring in your heart. 

You’ll get a conflicting feeling in your mind about your views. 

You’ll get that Holy Spirit turning you topsy turvy tugging at everything you’ve always believed and causing you to think hard again. 

Our hard heartedness to others and our digging in our heals to each other and the world; gets hammered by the love of Jesus-look out. 

It’s true this Gate-this Jesus Gate-is welcoming and challenging, it is full of grace and full of love and full of transformation. 

Be on the lookout to your heart ‘cause God’s gonna open it up and welcome you.

Jesus is our shepherd. 

He is our guard and guide. 

He is the one we run to when we’re in need. 

He is the very one we trust with our whole heart. 

It’s true friends, no storm can shake our inmost calm, 

We hear the music ringing, since Christ is lord of heaven and earth, how can we keep from singing?  Amen.

Reverend Monica Gould 

Resources: NIB John, NRSV Bible translation.