Love & Loyalty

Sermon Ruth 1:1-19 June 25, 2017 Ordinary Time

Love & Loyalty

Love, commitment, joy, sweetness, are all the wonders we hear when people get married. June & July are the months that seem to be alive with weddings and anniversary celebrations. In our own two congregations, we have each had the pleasure of celebrating a nuptial in our sanctuaries.

I think we are still fascinated with weddings.

We witness all the froo froo and just enjoy watching two people make a commitment to each other and then seal it with their vows.

I often ask couples who have been together for years,

why they even want to get married when they’ve proven their commitment through the way have lived their lives together.

Their response is most often the desire to make their commitment public-to ‘seal the deal’, so to speak. Living together through commitment is one things but, making vows to each other are clearly another thing altogether.

Whether people believe in God or not,

God is present wherever vows are made.

Marriage vows, whether in a church, a courthouse,

a field somewhere, are made before God.

Vows are binding.

Vows are not to be made lightly.

They are for a lifetime-unless one partner breaks the vow-and that’s a whole other story-they are what seals us, and sticks us like a magnet to the other.

In this story, Ruth makes a vow to Naomi-it is one we’ve often heard at weddings. The story behind those words is worth your time learning about. And that is what we will do beginning today.

The story of Ruth is really the story about Naomi.

 It is a story about turning.

It is a story about God’s impact and influence in the lives of others.

It is about grace and mercy. It is about a woman who suffers so much, without the possibility of rising above the miserable circumstances which have befallen her.

Naomi had nothing to do with the tragedy that came upon her.

We are often so quick to judge and this story puts calamity in perspective.

Sometimes horrible things happen to ordinary, regular people. ‘It is what it is.’

Naomi, with her husband, moved from her homeland to a foreign country to find food. During difficult times, people seek to find the way to turn their circumstances around. Sometimes it’s through a move, a change of jobs, or a change of environment. To turn in a new direction and to leave behind everything is a challenge in itself. Naomi and her husband Elimelech did just that.

They lived as foreigners in the land of Moab. While there her sons married. They were there for more than ten years. Then within a short period of time all the men died.

Tangent: While Ruth is part of the lineage to King David and therefore also the lineage to Jesus, the story seems to also be a significant parable. Because in the telling of the story the names of the characters signify their fate-Mahlon means sickness, and Chillion means failure. However, Elimelech means, God is my King.

Naomi was left a widow and a childless mother.

Her daughter in laws were also childless. So, here in this foreign place to which Naomi had turned and moved to with the intent to build a new life, has now left her utterly alone with no future. So, she struggles with what to do. In a culture that is not your own, it is really difficult to navigate problems and solutions. Naomi has heard that things had improved in her homeland and so she turns and faces the place from which she came. She decides to go back to Bethlehem and the customs she understand for widows. She still has a relative left alive so she chooses to go to his house and rely on the Jewish custom of caring for the family.

All of us here have moved at one time or another.

We know what it’s like to pick up and all of our belongings and plunk down in a new place.

It’s hard.

Even if the move was to something exciting and wonderful, it is still hard.

Even if the move was just down the street from the old house, it is still like starting over because the neighbors are different and new relationships have to be built.

Naomi’s decision to move in the first place was for survival because of famine.

Now her decision to move is again based on survival.

This time because of culture.

As a woman, she could not be independent and was required to be under the protection of a male.

As she is thrown into another survival situation her heart turns bitter.

She is bitter to her circumstances,

she is bitter to her surroundings,

she is bitter toward her God.

She cannot see any good in her life.

And this is where the grace of God enters into the life of Naomi through the words of a woman who worships other gods.

Here in this beautiful story is the beginning of how one woman’s emptiness is turned to hope, and then to fullness.

As you go home today and read this short Old Testament story you discover the power of God at work in the people that surround Naomi. Four short chapters.

God is in the business of constantly surprising us through the grace and mercy offered in unimaginable ways.

Naomi had her way set and turned toward Bethlehem.

In her bitterness, she cuts off the very people who love her. Her daughter in laws adore her and only want to stay with her. But, she sends them away hoping for them they can begin a new life with another husband. Orpah obeys her and leaves. But, Ruth, as stubborn as she is, disobeys.

In our lives we do the same, we get so caught up in our grief, or our bitterness, or our hurt, that we cut off and cut out the very people who love us most.

I’ve heard it asked by some special folks over the years,

‘Why do people stop coming to church when they experience hardship?

Isn’t church the very place where people love and support you through the hard times?’

In our emotional turmoil of things, we tend to behave in some crazy ways.

It’s in times like those that we need a Ruth in our life.

We need a Ruth to ignore our ever so rational and logical statements and tell us like it is.

We need a Ruth to hold on tighter to us when we try to shake her off and get her out of our life.

We need a Ruth to grab us around the waist and hold on to us saying she will never let us go.

We need a Ruth to say she loves us forever, she loves us no matter what we say to her, she loves us even if we try to leave her.

We need a Ruth in our lives who makes a vow to bind herself to us.

Friends, I hope more than anything, that we the church, can be the Ruth for those who need a Ruth in their lives.

We have a job to do.

Let us be faithful for those who struggle to be faithful.

Let us be faithful to those whose lives need a binding.

Let us be faithful even when we are pushed aside.

Let us be the lineage that holds firm to a future we don’t even know.

Let us learn how to be Ruth for the world. Amen. 

At the Crossroads-John

Sermon Matthew 26:36-46 April 2, 2017 5^th Sunday in Lent

At the Crossroads-John

We are at our final week of conversations with people we have met at the crossroads of their life. It has been an interesting journey learning about the different stages people have entered into their decisions to follow Jesus.

Today, we heard the Scripture read from the gospel of Matthew. In these final hours of the life of Jesus he goes once again to pray to his Father in heaven.

It is a most powerful scene.

The tension and the drama of Jesus caught in the struggle of obedience to continue movement toward the cross and his desire to remain on earth demonstrate the real struggle of the power of love.

Jesus shows the depth of his relationship with his disciples as he begs them

           to stay with him,

                     to watch with him,

                                 to remain with him.

Jesus hangs on to his love for them and their love for him.

The scene points to the essential need for relationship especially in dire times.

The Garden of Gethsemane is a place of choice.

It is a place where will and desire are put to the ultimate test.

The Garden is a place where what must be battles with what wants to be.

In the Garden of Eden in Genesis, human will for the ‘want to be’ was great

and it won over

       the will

           to remain with God,

                        to be with God,

                                to watch with God.

The Garden in Eden was the place where relationship and the fullness of life with God was lost.

We recognize sin

             as the willful disobedience of humanity.

Adam and Eve were fully aware and fully in control of their decision to disobey,

            no matter who they tried to blame.

In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Father brings around the restoration of God’s relationship to the people through the willful obedience of Jesus.

Jesus was fully in control of his decision as he reached the end of his prayers.

Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him as he moves further in the garden to pray. He keeps his closest companions with him. They fall asleep and Jesus wakes them begging them to support him in his efforts to reconcile himself with his fate.

Yet, the hour is late and they still fall asleep.

The human anxiety that Jesus faces because he is fully aware of what is about to happen, contrasts with the sleep of the disciples because they are not yet fully aware of what awaits Jesus. This points again to imperative of relationships of one with another.

It’s really hard to be supportive and present when we still can’t grasp the gravity of a situation.

I know as followers on this side of Easter we judge those disciples for not understanding Jesus and his predictions of his death.

But, I know when I want to deny the truth that is right before me because it brings me too much pain, I am like the disciples and I lack understanding even if the truth is staring me in the face.

We have all had those times.

We do not want to believe a diagnosis;

                                     or a termination notice;

                                                         or a break up, or…

We would rather crawl under the covers,

                                       fall asleep,

                                           turn the other way,

                                                   than witness the struggle before us.

John and his brother James were known as the sons of thunder. They were close to Jesus. These two and Peter are always at Jesus’ side. John is credited with the authorship of the gospel of John, Revelation and the letters that bear his name. John is also praised by the apostle Paul as one of the pillars of the Jerusalem church.

The fourth gospel is written in a way that it draws the reader into the stories as a participant. The prologue identifies the theology of the author. Jesus is more than his death on the cross. For the writer of the fourth gospel the power of God’s love for the world begins with the incarnation.

God’s love and desire for the restoration of creation begins with the birth of Jesus.

The importance of joy and light and life are prominent in this gospel.

In the life of Jesus, the first miracle that takes place is at the wedding of Cana. The abundance of wine demonstrates the abundance of all that God has for God’s people.

In the fourth gospel Jesus proclaims he is sent by the Father more than 100 times. It is essential for John to make clear that Jesus is the one who has completed what is needed for the salvation of the world.

Jesus is the great I AM.

He is the bread of life.

He is the living bread.

He is the light of the world.

He is good shepherd.

He is the resurrection and the life.

He is the way, the truth and the life.

In this fourth gospel, John has sought to clarify that the decisive measure of one’s relationship with God is one’s faith in Jesus. The coming of Jesus into the world is what has given the world access to the light and love of God.

In the fourth gospel, Jesus talks to his disciples about the power of God’s presence with them. He prepares them for the time when he will no longer be with them. He talks to them about the Holy Spirit.

He seeks to prepare them for the comfort of his presence through the presence of the Spirit to come. It is this Spirit that dwells with us at our crossroads of life. Jesus said. “Abide in me, as I abide in you.”

It is his invitation to us to allow the fullness of his presence always.

The Garden of Gethsemane was the place where we witnessed the restoration of God’s relationship with God’s people through the willful obedience of Jesus. Jesus went to the cross, he rose again, he fulfilled the promise of God.

Let us recognize the transforming power of God’s love in us. Let us say yes, to following Jesus. Amen.

Easter, Holy Week, Preschoolers & Dogs-how do we tell them?

Easter, Holy Week, Preschoolers & Dogs-how do we tell them?

She asked, “Is she going to come alive again too?” Her four year old face looked up at me with those large wondering eyes as if I could provide the answer she was seeking. Her hopeful question struck me and I was staring at her dumb and fumbling for an answer.

We, standing together on the back deck, watched as daddy buried our faithful dog in our pet cemetery yards away. It was Holy Week and of course she had heard about Jesus’ death and resurrection. She wanted to know if the dog we loved so much was going to come back to us in the same way Jesus who loved us so much came back to us. And I stood there not knowing what to say.

How do we share the news of the death and resurrection of Jesus to our little ones?

My mistake was assuming that since she had been raised on a farm she was familiar with the natural cycle of life and death. What I didn’t realize was that when the family pet died it was different from the animals that provided food for the table. The family pet was part of us. The family dog had been the one who snuggled close to our little girl. Our precious dog Sasha had allowed our daughter to dump sand on her, to put hats on her and had allowed her to tumble and roll all over her. It became clear that we had lost a member of our family. Sasha’s death hurt deeply. And to a four year old she wanted to make sense out of this loss. Don’t we all?

I think we all want to make sense out the loss of our loved ones. And in our hope to understand we turn to the story of Jesus. We look to his death and resurrection in the hope that this will bring us comfort. We assure ourselves that our loved ones are resting in the arms of our resurrected Lord.

So, here we are in Holy Week and as adults we too struggle to understand the death of our Lord Jesus. How do we share the news of the death and resurrection of Jesus to our little ones?

Probably the best way is the way in which we share all kinds of information with our children, a little bit at a time. Or as the experts call it-in age appropriate chunks.

For tiny toddlers, they know about happy and sad. They can hear that it was a sad day when Jesus died. They can hear that some people are very mean and do hurtful things. They can hear that Jesus died on a cross (which we do not need to show any gory pictures at this age) because people didn’t understand about love.

Carolyn C. Brown has written an entire book for educators on how to teach children about Lent and Easter. Her work is excellent and it holds many details of different tangible activities that can be done to help children put a grasp on this idea of death and resurrection. One suggestion she has for tiny toddlers is to play with plastic Easter eggs by opening and closing them and being surprised at the empty egg. This surprise is a happy event. Connecting the empty egg with joy and saying, ‘Happy Easter, Jesus is alive!’ is one small way to begin the journey of the Easter story with the little ones.

I think back to my four year old and the sadness she felt. I think about the reality in her mind of the power of God to raise up Jesus. She understood the power of God to bring life. She grasped that concept. So, if God could do that for Jesus wouldn’t God also do that for Sasha, the dog? It was the strongest statement of faith! The trust in God’s strength and love and power proclaimed by a little one!

When a parent hears these words they need not be afraid. They need not think, ‘how cute.’ But, they need to acknowledge the faith that comes from the child in these moments. If a parent fails to witness these questions as declarations of faith then we do harm to the furthering of their faith in the future.

A response to a child who asks this question would be, “Yes, God’s love for us is so strong that God can raise up and bring new life to all of God’s creatures. Isn’t that a blessing? Our Sasha isn’t with us anymore but I trust that God loves all of the creatures God has made. I trust that she is truly in God’s care now and forever.”

The importance of telling preschoolers about the death of Jesus is to connect his death directly to God’s love and power to overcome death. In other words they need to hear that God wins. God has power that is greater than all the bad and all the meanness in the world. They can understand at this age that flowers die in the winter and come alive again in the spring. They love to hear the same story over and over again. Choose to tell them about joy of Easter and the wonder of God’s love. We are all on a journey of faith.

Don’t be surprised at the questions your little ones ask, because in them you will discover a mighty depth of faith. Praise God for this Holy Week and the power of God to give us strength to parent, to tell the story and to be surprised on Easter as we say, Christ is Alive! Alleluia, Amen!