Acts 17.16-32
Sixth Sunday of Easter, Year A Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson I want to share some background with you about our story for today from the Book of Acts, chapter 17. The Acts of the Apostles tells of the movement and expansion of the good news of Jesus the Christ as well as the actions of the earliest followers of Jesus and their gatherings or churches after they receive the great anointing of the Holy Spirit during Jewish festival of Pentecost. Acts tells the story of the preaching and evangelism of the apostle, Peter, who knew Jesus so well and of the apostle, Paul, who never knew the man, Jesus. Paul received God’s good news of Jesus in a miraculous vision of the risen Christ as he was literally pursuing the persecution of Jesus’ Jewish followers after Pentecost. Our story today centers on Paul. Paul was born in Tarsus, now in modern day Turkey. He was a Jew from his mother’s heritage and a Roman citizen from his father’s. As such he was educated not only in the Torah but also in Greek/Roman rhetoric. All of these elements go into the complex character of Paul whom we can learn so much from in theological dialogue, sometimes in theological conflict, as we read his letters to the earliest churches. In Acts the stories of Paul are told through the lens of the gospel writer of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles and was very likely writing some 20 or more years after the death of Paul. Not necessarily concerned with writing fact-checked details of Paul’s life, this writer wants to picture Paul’s audacity and passion in sharing his new faith in the revelation of God in the risen Christ. At the beginning of chapter 17 in Acts, we find Paul traveling throughout Asia Minor from city to city with his companions, the older, Silas and the younger man, Timothy. They are fervently spreading the redeeming and powerful news of Jesus to Jews and any Gentiles who might listen as well throughout the region. We have to admire their tenacity as time and again they are thrown out of the synagogues by fellow Jews offended by their claims of Jesus as the Messiah. Their lives are threatened. They are beaten and jailed by the Romans for being subversive in preaching that the God of Jesus the Risen Christ is Lord rather than Caesar. Having been thrown out of the town of Thessalonica by the Jews, they are followed to the town of Beroea by these same irate men who are want to expel them from the whole region. Believers in Beroea find and shelter the three. They hide Silas and Timothy and secretly escort Paul to Athens in order to save their lives. Our story begins in the middle of chapter 17. Paul is waiting for his missionary companions to join him in Athens. It ends with his sermon to the intellectual elite of Athens at a place of council and debate known as the Aereopagus or “Ares’ Hill” for the Greek god of war. During the Roman Empire it became known as Mars Hill for the Roman god. This was a hill outside the city center with a stone amphitheater. For centuries, even before the democracy of Greece was formed, the educated went to this hill to debate philosophy and make legal decisions. These men were often advisors of the king. Though Athens was part of the Roman empire in Paul’s time, Mars Hill and its council still functioned as a seat of authority in the city. You will hear that Paul’s intent as he preaches to the intellectual elites is to open their minds to a new image of God, the ONE God revealed in Jesus the Christ. The information in his sermon may seem quite familiar to you. It is the salvation story of the Bible. To challenge what may be our overly familiar images of God, I have changed some of the pronouns that Paul uses for God from “he” to “she”. Hearing an unfamiliar pronoun takes our images out of their familiar God boxes that are culturally constructed to even speak of the God mystery. Now we know that the Holy cannot be contained in an intellectual box so perhaps, hearing new pronouns, the ears of our minds and hearts will open to bring us a new encounter with the Holy ONE. Perhaps we will hear the words of Paul with some shock and awe as the Athenians did so long ago and begin to seek God anew. Acts 17. 16-32 16While Paul waited for them in Athens, he was deeply distressed to find that the city was flooded with idols. 17He began to interact with the Jews and Gentile God-worshippers in the synagogue. He also addressed whoever happened to be in the marketplace each day. 18Certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers engaged him in discussion too. Some said, "What an amateur! What's he trying to say?" Others remarked, "He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods." (They said this because he was preaching the good news about Jesus and the resurrection.) 19They took him into custody and brought him to the council on Mars Hill [The intellectuals on Mars Hill said to Paul,] "What is this new teaching? Can we learn what you are talking about? 20You've told us some strange things and we want to know what they mean." (21They said this because all Athenians as well as the foreigners who live in Athens used to spend their time doing nothing but talking about or listening to the newest thing.) 22Paul stood up in the middle of the council on Mars Hill and said, "People of Athens, I see that you are very religious in every way. 23As I was walking through town and carefully observing your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: 'To an unknown God.' What you worship as unknown, I now proclaim to you. 24God, who made the world and everything in it, is Lord of heaven and earth. He doesn't live in temples made with human hands. 25Nor is God served by human hands, as though [She] needed something, since [She] is the one who gives life, breath, and everything else. 26From one person God created every human nation to live on the whole earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their lands. 27God made the nations so they would seek [God], perhaps perhaps even reach out to [God/Him] and find [God/Her.] In fact, God isn't far away from any of us. 28In God we live, move, and exist, [have our being.] As some of your own poets said, 'We are [God’s] offspring.' 29"Therefore, as God's offspring, we have no need to imagine that the divine being is like a gold, silver, or stone image made by human skill and thought. 30God overlooks ignorance of these things in times past, but now directs everyone everywhere to change their hearts and lives. 31This is because God has set a day when [God/She] intends to judge the world justly by a man [God/He] has appointed. God has given proof of this to everyone by raising [this man] from the dead." 32When they heard about the resurrection from the dead, some began to ridicule Paul. However, others said, "We'll hear from you about this again."33At that, Paul left the council. 34Some people joined him and came to believe, including Dionysius, a member of the council on Mars Hill, a woman named Damaris, and several others. [Bible, Common English. CEB Common English Bible with Apocrypha - eBook [ePub] (Kindle Location 42947). Common English Bible. Kindle Edition.] For the word of God in scripture, for the word of God among us, for the word of God within us…. Thanks be to God. “An unknown god”…. Mirabai Starr, world religions scholar, author, and translator of St. John of the Cross’ Dark Night of the Soul and Teresa of Avila’s The Interior Castle, writes of “an unknown god” in a 2014 Huffington Post Article: “I have always been drawn to a God who eluded me. A God who transcends gender — transcends everything, actually. A God who rebels against all forms, annihilates conceptual constructs, blows my mind. In other words, a God I can’t believe in. Because beliefs are dangerous — dangerous to God, anyway. The minute we define Ultimate Reality we destroy it. God chokes and dies inside the boxes we make.” Starr goes on in this article to write of the God she seeks to be in relationship with rather than intellectually construct. I think this was Paul’s intent as he introduces the unknown god to the Athenians as the God he knew as creator and redeemer of the world, the very Ground of Being. In Paul’s Jewish heritage, the God who names God’s self as “I AM” or “I Will Be Who I Will Be.” Paul begins with images of God from natural theology, as creator the cosmos and all of its beauty, then moves to an ever-present, seemingly beneficent God who is the parent of humankind. These would have been familiar images to the Athenians as he indicates. Finally, he brings in the shock and awe, announcing the God who has the unbelievable power to conquer death, to resurrect a man from the dead. No wonder some to the Athenians laughed at, ridiculed Paul, in one translation called him “babbler.” And yet others said, “We want to hear about this again!” And some believed and followed this God of Jesus the Christ on the way of faith. This God that Paul preached to the Athenians rebuking their notions that God can be kept and worshiped in human-made idols – who is this God for us today? Is this a God that will turn us from the idols of our times? What are the idols that flood the cities of our lives? They are probably as numerous as the idols of the Athenians, though we may not make them out of gold or silver or stone. We may make them out of achievement in work, or in wealth, or in athletic endeavor, or in intellectual pursuits, or in following the best health practices. We can even make an idol of following religious practices in order to earn God’s notice. Are our works of social justice ever in danger of becoming idols? Our political views and actions? Our need to be right? Whatever we set before seeking, reaching out to God can become an idol. Trying not to have idols could become an idol. Do you catch my drift here? God is the undefinable container in which all of the universe, all that we know, has its being. Each of us lives and moves and has our being in God, whether we acknowledge this or not. “Bidden or unbidden God is present with us.” This wisdom saying is usually attributed to Carl Jung, yet he found it in the ancient Latin writings of a Desiderius Erasmus who attributed it to an even older Spartan (Greek) proverb. Paul proclaims this unknown, yet ever-present God as not just a beneficent creator, but a fierce lover of humankind, so fierce that God defeated death itself in the risen Christ. Paul proclaims that this God, “I AM,” who raised the man, Jesus, from the dead, was Lord of all, not Caesar or the empire. This unknown God is not an inanimate idol made by human hands or human will, but a living presence. Who is the God that we proclaim? Who is the ONE that we seek before any of the idols in our lives? Is it the God of relationship, ever-present, fiercely loving, and always seeking us, revealed in Jesus the Christ? Our biblical and theological heritage speaks of this God as “he”. Yet we know that God is neither male nor female, God is ALL, God is ONE. God answers to Father, to Mother, to Beloved, to Holy Mystery, to Gracious Bearer of Light, to Challenger of Our Lives, to Comforter of Our Souls’. During our time, as we live and move and have our being in this God in the midst of pandemic, in the midst of intense political strife, in the midst of extreme economic uncertainty and divisive polarized rhetoric of our day, may we put aside the idols that tempt us when we are fearful, that distract us in our grief. May we turn our hearts, our ears, our minds, our full attention to the ONE who is ever-present, who grieves with us, who rejoices in our presence and in our joys. The ONE who has conquered the power of death and brings us gifts of grace, mercy, hope and forgiveness as we seek to be in relationship with one another and with God. May we take the time during these tumultuous times to still ourselves that we may know again and again the “unknown” living God in whom we live and move and have our being. Amen. ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2020 and beyond. May be reprinted with permission only. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
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Luke 24.13-34*
3rd Sunday after Easter Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson They were simply walking down the road, these disciples, and Jesus came and walked with them. They were in that numbing, aching stage of grief, where you say to yourself, ”This is really happening to me, to us? This can’t be happening. This IS really happening. To us.” In their grief Jesus came and walked with them. They were just going home to start life over again after their hopes for new life had been destroyed and Jesus came and walked with them. They were ordinary folk, not in the inner circle of disciples that we have hear named throughout all four of the canonical gospels, and Jesus came and walked with them. Though they did not recognize him, he walked with them, talked with them, listening to their grief and fear. In unrecognized, yet extraordinary, circumstances, Jesus came and walked and talked these two regular people all the way home. And then came in to stay with them. There are lines of poetry that have stuck with my soul since a Modern Poetry class my Senior year in college. “I wake to sleep and take my waking slow, I feel my fate in what I cannot fear, I learn by going where I have to go.” ["The Waking” by Theodore Roethke can be found at poetryfoundation.com.] From Theodore Roethke’s enigmatic poem. “The Waking,” I have heard the echoes of those words over and over in the experiences of my life. “I learn by going where I have to go.” I have made plans and carried many of them through, choosing schools and jobs and life partners. Yet the plans always take unexpected turns or dissolve in to new plans along the way. Life always seem to give us unexpected routes on the “planned” journey. Change happens. We learn by going where we have to go. It is an oft repeated metaphor that life is a journey. I would go further to say that life walking with Jesus is a pilgrimage. And the only way to walk it is to learn by going where you have go. We like to define pilgrimage as an intentional sacred journey toward the Holy. When Hal and I have led pilgrimages, we make very specific plans. Yet it is usually the unplanned moments that make meaning of the journey. You cannot plan the sacred, the inbreaking of the Holy. You can only make room, make space, for it. If we think of life with Jesus as a pilgrimage, why doesn’t it feel more sacred in that elevated, “stained glass window, unseen choir singing ‘Ahhhh!’” sense of the word? Life more often just feels messy because life is messy! My friends, in case you haven’t noticed, the messy is sacred, because the Holy One holds all of Life. Learning to live in relationships, as a child, as a teen, as an adult of any age, is messy and its sacred. Getting through school at any age feels messy and its sacred. Parenting is messy and its sacred. Choosing a job, advancing a career, as we wrestle with purpose and meaning in life is messy and its sacred. Loving those who love us and those who don’t is messy and its sacred, holy. Life as a pilgrimage is most like those sacred journeys when the pilgrim sets out simply to follow the Holy Spirit, wherever it might take her. There is not necessarily a specific sacred site for praying as the destination or some sacred mission to fulfill. And if there is, well, plans change and life gets messy. We learn by going where we have to go. This is the journey the disciples in our gospel story find themselves walking. Plans have changed in a big way. Nothing has turned out as they expected when they headed for Jerusalem to have Passover with Jesus a few days ago. Everything is turned upside down and now what? Their beloved rabbi is dead. This was not in the plans! He was going to be the one to redeem Israel….to make it whole again…to liberate them from the Romans. He was the Messiah! At least that’s what they had thought. Then he was betrayed by the very people who you would think would be following him. He was handed over to be executed as a criminal. Now he’s dead! Isn’t he? What about what those women said they saw? What else to do but head home? Life does not feel safe. As followers of this one who had been executed as a criminal, were they now suspect? Were their lives in danger? And what about their hopes and dreams? They are dashed. I feel the ache in their hearts, the tiredness in their bones, the confusion in their minds, the fear that seizes their gut. On top of it all they long for their leader, they miss their friend, Jesus. Will the community they had grown together on the pilgrim journey following Jesus through the countryside be completely gone now? How can they go back to their lives before? Nothing feels normal. Will it ever again? And in the midst of all these questions, in the midst of their suffering, on this pilgrim journey home, the Risen Jesus comes unbidden and walks with them. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We had lots of plans for this spring! Trips to take. Sports to play and sports teams to support. Classes to complete. Graduation ceremonies to celebrate and attend. Camps for summertime. New jobs perhaps. Then Covid 19 happened. Now people are dying. People are losing jobs. The economy is uncertain to say the least. School is radically changed as teachers and children scramble to connect on line. Here I am preaching and worshiping with you over Facebook! Our life is full of questions! Is there a destination we are headed towards or is it all just messy? Do we want “normal” back? What do we want in a new “normal?” Which leaders do we trust, do we follow into this new unknown world? Nothing feels very safe anymore. Now what? Is it all dead? The two disciples had heard rumors of women who had gone to Jesus’ tomb and seen angels and heard that he was not dead. He is alive! We have been through Holy Week and heard the stories of Easter. We know that death is the not the final answer for us as Easter people who follow Jesus the Christ. We know that with our heads…but our hearts are still scared and worried and uncertain. We are walking a road that is unknown. Our plans are all up in the air. It’s very messy! Like our disciples we have been plunged into pilgrimage whether we like it or not! We could sit down and wait till all was clear on the path. But we would never get home that way. Instead, we must learn by going where we have to go. My friends, the simple truth of this gospel story is that just like the disciples discovered, Jesus, the Risen Christ, is walking along with us on our pilgrim journey. Even when we think we are alone, we are not alone. Christ walks beside us. Will we recognize the presence of the Holy that is always with us in the mess of life’s journey? We wrestle with the frustrations, sorrows, fears of this pandemic journey. We debate the hows and whens of re-opening our communities. In the midst of it all, Jesus, walks along with us listening, teaching, simply being on the journey when we least expect it. Remember when God’s peace breaks finally through for the two disciples? It’s when their hearts are open as they sit down to share a meal, probably all they have in the house, as they have been gone several days. May we remember to open our hearts to invite the presence of the Risen Christ into the homes of our souls, as well as our literal homes. May we invite the Christ to sit down at the inner tables of our hearts and souls, as well as the our outer kitchen and dining tables to break bread, to share sustenance. As we relinquish control of our resources, share the source of what feeds us, into the hands of the Holy One, suddenly all is clear. We will see. We will know the Presence and find peace. We are walking down life’s road in this very messy crisis time in our world. The Risen Christ, the Spirit of Life Anew, is with us. God holds us even when we are not watching. Walks with us even when we cannot see or feel the holy Presence. Accompanies us on the pilgrim journey. As we turn inward in prayer, in contemplation, in simple Being with our selves, with our loved ones in the now of each moment, leaving behind the “what ifs,” the worry and fear of plans tentatively made….as we offer up all that we have in thanksgiving and to a be blessing, we will glimpse the Holy One and it will be enough! It will infuse our souls with the energy of sacred Joy so that we can continue as pilgrims traveling the unknown roads of our times. Jesus is walking and talking us home. Entering our hearts in new ways. We will learn by going where we have to go. Amen. ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2020 and beyond. All rights reserved.
*Luke 24.13-34
13 Now on that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem, 14 and talking with each other about all these things that had happened. 15 While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself came near and went with them, 16 but their eyes were kept from recognizing him. 17 And he said to them, "What are you discussing with each other while you walk along?" They stood still, looking sad. 18 Then one of them, whose name was Cleopas, answered him, "Are you the only stranger in Jerusalem who does not know the things that have taken place there in these days?" 19 He asked them, "What things?" They replied, "The things about Jesus of Nazareth, who was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20 and how our chief priests and leaders handed him over to be condemned to death and crucified him. 21 But we had hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel. Yes, and besides all this, it is now the third day since these things took place. 22 Moreover, some women of our group astounded us. They were at the tomb early this morning, 23 and when they did not find his body there, they came back and told us that they had indeed seen a vision of angels who said that he was alive. 24 Some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but they did not see him." 25 Then he said to them, "Oh, how foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared! 26 Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?" 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them the things about himself in all the scriptures. 28 As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. 29 But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31 Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight. 32 They said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning within us while he was talking to us on the road, while he was opening the scriptures to us?" 33 That same hour they got up and returned to Jerusalem; and they found the eleven and their companions gathered together. 34 They were saying, "The Lord has risen indeed, and he has appeared to Simon!" 35 Then they told what had happened on the road, and how he had been made known to them in the breaking of the bread. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
Ezekiel 37.1-14*
Fifth Sunday in Lent Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson If you have been following the Wilderness Lenten Devotional booklet we provided Plymouth members, you may have already read the poem/prayer for this week by Sarah Are. It begins: I used to think the wilderness would never end. I called my mom and asked – “Does time really heal all wounds? Do the pieces ever fall back into place? Does the wilderness go on forever? So she told me about the horizon. She said, “There is an edge, Where the earth meets the sky And when you’re there, You will see daisies in the sidewalk And the sun after the rain.” I asked her to draw me a map And she cried, Because she knew this road was mine to walk, But she promised to wait for me, Day in and day out, For as long as the wilderness raged.” When we set out on this Lenten wilderness journey on Ash Wednesday, we had no idea what this year’s journey had in store for us…for our community, our country, our world. The phrases, “social distancing, lock-down, shelter in place, livestreaming worship, Zoom Sunday School and no toilet paper available,” were not yet in our vocabulary! Now here we are two weeks before Easter and we are deep into a kind of wilderness not experienced in this country for over a hundred years. This wilderness rages on…and will continue even as we celebrate Easter and resurrection. We do not yet see the horizon the poet’s mother describes…we are still early in this new kind of wilderness journey. How do we get our bearings? How do we stay the course? In the 5th century BCE, the Hebrew prophet, Ezekiel, prophesied to his people who were in the wilderness of exile and oppression. They could not see, maybe even imagine, a horizon, a light at the end of the tunnel. The Hebrew people, the nation of Israel, had been divided and conquered. Jerusalem had fallen under the Babylonian empire. Many of its inhabitants, including Ezekiel, had been taken into exile in Babylonia. Many executed as criminal enemies of the oppressor. They were in a strange land under strange rules and fearful for their lives, their way of life as Hebrew people and the people of Yahweh, the Holy ONE, their God. Sound a bit familiar? The part about a strange land with strange rules and fearful for life? In the midst of it all, the prophet, Ezekiel is given the vision that Hal just read for us. In prayer or a dream, perhaps in a meditative trance, the hand and spirit of the Holy ONE transports Ezekiel to a dry and barren valley filled with dry bones. Have you ever seen pictures of ancient crypts where the bones of ancient ancestors have been sorted into piles – skulls over there, leg bones over this way, arm bones here – to make space for more burials. Like those pictures, this valley was a chilling sight...dry bones on dry land, perhaps, whitened by glaring sunlight. The Holy ONE asks the prophet, “Mortal, Human One, can these bones live?” Ezekiel has the presence of mind to stammer, “Only you know, Holy God” instead of what I might say, “How –in the –How in God’s name – would I know?” Ezekiel seems highly aware of the power differential present. The prophet is aware that he is human in the presence of the Holy ONE, Creator of the entire Universe. Now God could have just made the bones to live all by God’s Self. However, notice that God didn’t do that. God has a larger agenda in mind than just raising bones from the dead. The Holy ONE is also sharing the resurrection power with the human prophet through the power of prophesy and proclamation....”Prophesy to the bones, Human, that they may live! Tell the bones what I, Creator of All, will do for them! They will have flesh and breath and I will take them out of their graves, out of their oppression and bring them into their own land again, the Land of Promise I gave to them. And they shall be my people once again and will know that I am their God, the ONE, the Creator of the all humankind and all the earth.” The human prophet prophesies in the power of the Spirit of God to the bones and they come together, stand up right, sinew and flesh grow upon them. The prophet prophesies to, calls out to, the Breath, the ruach, the breath of the living Spirit of God that brooded over unformed creation in the first verses of the Genesis creation account. When this Breath of the living Spirit of God comes into the bodies that were once dry bones…there is new life! They breathe! God and God’s prophet work together in this resurrection vision. Scholars think that this ancient story could have been the originator of the resurrection of the body tradition held by the Pharisees of Jesus’ time. There is a midrash, which is an interpretive story told about a scripture story, from the Jewish Talmud that speaks specifically of the Jewish youth in exile who had been executed by the Babylonians. They are literally brought back to bodily life, resurrected, by Ezekiel’s vision. We can trust that this vision brought courage and imagination and hope to our ancient ancestors of faith. Can we hear the hope of Ezekiel’s vision with new ears in our own time of exile, lockdown, quarantine and sheltering in place? Our Northern Colorado hospital ICUs are not yet at capacity with those with Covid-19. But we hear new reports each day of where this is happening now or very soon. Collectively we feel the oppression of this viral threat that has come over our whole world. We glimpse the fear and grief of people enslaved by an oppressor with no end date for deliverance. We are in exile from one another, from family across the country, across the world. Our wilderness journey rages on…. Can this holy story bring us a new vision for our dry bones of fear and grief and loneliness....can our bones live again? What about the dry, tired bones of all our medical workers on the front lines of this pandemic, the tired bones of those who stock the grocery shelves, deliver the groceries and move supplies across the country? What about the tired bones of unemployed artists and musicians and actors and unemployed hospitality workers? The dry bones of all those furloughed or let go who are wondering how to pay the bills? Our poet tells us that in her wilderness she walked….”And it felt like forty days and it hurt like forty nights.” She could only wave to the people she passed in the wilderness. “We tipped out hats to one another, Silently, recognizing the weight we each carried.” Just as the prophet, Ezekiel, was called to work with the power of the Holy ONE in prophesying to his people, through his story we hear the call of prophesy as we walk through the wilderness of pandemic. With help from the Spirit of the living God’s our eyes and hearts can be opened to recognize and acknowledge the weight that each one of us carries. Though we are separated by distance we can share the weight through prayer, through phone calls and Zoom calls, through staying home, washing our hands and using our hand sanitizer, through sharing our toilet paper. Through making masks as for those on the medical front lines as many in our prayer shawl knitting group are doing. Through home-schooling our children, for carrying on with jobs at home, through finishing a high school or college semester. Through delivering groceries to one to our cherished elders or those with underlying conditions who should not be out and about. Through paying forward for some services, such as house cleaning or massage or haircuts to help those out of work. All these seemingly mundane things that have become our daily lives can be with holy intention like the prophet’s cry in the wilderness! “Dry bones you can live again! You will live again! Hear the word of God’s holy and saving power of love.” Each prayer we pray and each small act of kindness we do and each time we keep putting one foot in front of the other in a time of fear is like the prophet’s cry: “Listen to the voice of your Creator bringing you vision and hope and the breath of God’s life! Stand up and breathe in the Spirit of God!” My friends, we are called in this time to be prophets working with God’s power and light to bring hope to our family and friends, the checker in the grocery line, all those we may have occasion to tip our hats to in this wilderness. One day like the poet we will approach the horizon and realize – ”The earth always kisses the sky and the wilderness has turned into a garden.” And we “have made it out alive.” Those we love, like the poet’s mother, will be there waiting for us. We will hug again there at the earth’s edge and whisper in one another’s ears “God was the gardener. We have nothing to fear.” Be prophets, my friends! If someone asks you for a map in this wilderness – if you find yourself asking for that map – remember that God who dwells in the faith of each of us is our map. God, the holy gardener, is planting seeds, hoping to turn this wilderness into a garden. All of us are daily planting seeds through the power of God’s living Spirit. As long as the wilderness rages on, we are called as prophets to never stop looking for one another, to continue seeking the garden on the horizon, “where the earth kisses the sky.” Through our ancient prophet we hear the assurance of the Living God, “I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your home soil; then you shall know that I, have spoken and will act.” Share this good news! Be a prophet. Amen. ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2020 and beyond. May only be reprinted with permission.
*Ezekiel 37.1-14
1 The hand of the Holy ONE, came upon me, and brought me out by the spirit of the God and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. 2 The Holy ONE led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. 3 He said to me, "Mortal, can these bones live?" I answered, "O, Holy ONE, you know." 4 Then she said to me, "Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Holy ONE. 5 Thus says the Creator of Universe to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. 6 I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the God, the Holy ONE." 7 So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. 8 I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. 9 Then I heard, "Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Holy ONE: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live." 10 I prophesied as the Holy ONE commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude. 11 Then God said to me, "Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, 'Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.' 12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Holy ONE: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. 13 And you shall know that I am God, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. 14 I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, have spoken and will act, says the Holy ONE, Creator of the Universe." AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
Matthew 4.1-11
Lent 1 Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson
1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil. 2 He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. 3 The tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." 4 But he answered, "It is written, 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.'" 5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6 saying to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 'He will command his angels concerning you,' and 'On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.'" 7 Jesus said to him, "Again it is written, 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.'" 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; 9 and he said to him, "All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me." 10 Jesus said to him, "Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.'" 11 Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.
About a month ago your three pastors made the preaching schedule through May and chose scriptures for each Sunday. I came up with this Sunday and with this text. At first I resisted....it seemed too hard and too harsh to deal with...you know, vanquishing the devil and temptation, blah, blah, blah! And the world is hard and harsh enough right now. Then I remembered that I really like the wilderness....the physical one that is...I have hiked the deserts of New Mexico and Arizona, the bogs and meadows and hills of Scotland and Ireland where standing stone circles and the ruins of ancient worshiping communities can be found. I love to walk on a beach, particularly when I can find a stretch not inhabited by vacation homes. I have hiked in our Rocky Mountain foothills and occasionally in our mountains. I like being alone in the wilderness with time to contemplate and even pray.
I remembered my journal from a retreat center in Tucson that paraphrases Hosea 2:14 on its cover, “The desert will lead you to your heart...where I will speak.” Hosea was an 8th century BCE prophet whom Yahweh called to bring the straying Hebrew people back to their covenant with Yahweh. His name actually means “Yahweh helps.” In the book of Hosea, the prophet uses his own failing marriage to a woman named Gomer who has been unfaithful to him as the metaphor for the covenant relationship of Yahweh with the chosen people. The Holy One speaks through the prophet saying, “I will bring the unfaithful one to the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.” Or as paraphrased for a 21st century retreat participant, “The desert will lead you to your heart....where I, the Holy One, will speak - tenderly.” Jesus had been schooled in the law and the prophets when he came to John for baptism and was then led by the Spirit into deeper wilderness for solitude and prayer. Perhaps as the joy and responsibility of his baptism filled him while following the Spirit, he remembered Hosea and his words. Perhaps he went to the wilderness so the Holy One could speak to his heart, so that he can discover in prayer his identity as God’s beloved child. This is infinitely more interesting than going to the wilderness to be bludgeoned with provocative words so he can vanquish Satan. In the Judaism of Jesus’ time, the devil was an accuser or adversary, a questioner. The Hebrew word satan, could be used for any accuser. Ha-satan was the name of the accuser that comes to question Job and tempt Jesus. The devil is not the personification of evil or the great horned beast of the frozen ninth level of Dante’s Inferno who governs hell, punishes the wicked and chews on those who betray others. The satan or the devil tests and tempts with questions. Notice when tempter comes. Not during the 40 days and night of prayer, but after. Forty days and nights is a length of time that is not a literal time, but it’s meant to remind us of Noah in the wilderness of the flood, of Moses on the far mountain receiving the 10 commandments from Yahweh and of the Hebrew people wandering 40 years in the wilderness. 40 days and nights means “a substantially long time.” The tempter comes when Jesus is famished, physically weak, perhaps a little hangry, to test Jesus’ identity, the naming by the Spirit at his baptism as the beloved Son of God. The Hebrew translated in passage as “If” might be better translated “since to emphasize Jesus’ identity. The tempter says, since you are the Son of God” Son of God, the Divine and Human Son of the Holy One, what do you think of these three things? Number one, will you choose scarcity thinking over abundance... exploit your God-given gifts to make your own bread instead of waiting on the Spirit to provide sustenance at the right time? Number 2, will you pridefully exploit your divinity over your humanity by jumping from the temple and commanding angels to save you? Will you make a spectacle of yourself as the Son of God to gain notoriety? Number 3, will you exploit your God-given power to have power OVER others, to rule the world, to play by the rules of empire rather than authentic relationship and compassion? And Jesus answers with scripture each time, quoting the ways of God set forth for all the Hebrew people in the laws and the prophets. “Human beings live by the Spirit of God within them, not just by bread alone. Human beings do not test the Holy One who sustains us. And finally in a burst of passion, “Away with you, Satan. Leave me, you accuser. It is written that the people of God worship the Holy One alone.” And then we are told that angels – messengers of God – come and minister to Jesus, serve and take care of him. Are they tall, stately beings with large white wings? I think they are more likely, friends coming to find Jesus at the end of his retreat with bread and wine. Or maybe the voices of a people in a caravan that lead him to an oasis with water and fruit. And maybe the message is a sense of deep peace coming from within his heart. However the messengers and messages from God show up they tell him with help for his mind, body and soul, “You are beloved!” So what about us? For we too are God’s beloveds. We are made in God’s image and we are invited into the spiritual wilderness of the Lenten season. What will our wildernesses contain? That is the risk...the danger... isn’t it? The physical wildernesses I have been in are full of beauty, often full of prayer and a sense of the Spirit’s presence. Yet you have to watch your step when you are hiking in a wilderness. They have also been for me places of loneliness and sadness. As for Jesus, they are often full of tough questions. Besides physical wildernesses, I have experienced the wildernesses of deep grief, divorce, unemployment. I have to say I felt rather rudely thrust into those....not gently led by the Spirit. Yet I can tell you that the Spirit never left me, even in the darkness of despair and doubt, the Holy One was/is still with me. Our God is not an accusing God....our God is a companioning God. So, my friends, go forth into the wilderness of Lent today for there the Holy One, the Spirit of God will speak to your heart. Tenderly and with compassion. In tough love and with questions. You will be tempted at times to give up the spiritual practice you have chosen or to cheat on whatever life habit you are including to challenge you. You will be tempted to do things an easier way. You may be called by the Spirit to an action of love and justice that you never expected. You may go deeper into prayer in ways that surprise you. As Jesus was tempted, you may have to wrestle with an attitude of scarcity instead of claiming God’s abundance. You may come up against false pride and be confronted with God’s ways of humility in relationships. You may be given a vision of power – will you use your personal power over someone, some group, some situation? Or will you choose Jesus’ empowering, life-giving way of power with people? The power of compassion and cooperation in God’s love. The gospel writers do not elaborate on Jesus’ inner struggle during the 40 days of prayer, his wrestling in the wilderness. We do not see the times he might have felt failure and despair, only to be visited by the loving Spirit of God speaking to his heart. A presence that turned him around, brought him hope. Perhaps those angels are named Hope. In the wilderness of Lent we will stumble and fall. Because God is a companioning God, we will also begin again. “Begin again,” life whispered in my ear; For some days are beginning days. Some days are designed to be the day we try again, And on those days—the sun rises for you. On those days, the birds sing for you. On those days, God is cheering for you. That’s just the way God and beginnings work. For when your heart is broken and your life is in pieces, Or when the addiction or the depression have found their way back into your bones, Or when you lose sight of the person that you were called to be, The wilderness will sing to you, “Begin again.” “Begin again” with the person you want to be. “Begin again” with the person you want to love. “Begin again” with the knowledge of your faith. “Begin again.” The sun is rising for you. May it be so. Amen. © The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2020 and beyond. May be reprinted with permission only. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
Deuteronomy 30.15-20
6th Sunday of Epiphany Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson Introduction before Scripture reading: Today our text comes from the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book in the Torah. It originated in written form from a Book of Law found in the reign of King Josiah during the rebuilding of the temple in the 7th century BCE. It holds traditions, teaching and stories that are much older. Deuteronomy’s teaching are cast as the final words of Moses to the people of Israel entering the land promised by God to their ancestors, Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob, Rachel and Leah and their 12 sons. After 40 years of journeying in the wilderness the people stand on the brink of the Jordan River ready to cross over. And Moses delivers them a 26 chapter sermon of lessons, traditions, cautions they are to remember in this new land. At least according to whoever put Deuteronomy in written form it is 26 chapters. Our text is the very last paragraph of this sermon. So picture the people, very weary from the travails of more than a generation of traveling as immigrants, yet eager, excited – maybe with a bit, a lot of trepidations - to see what God has in store for them in this new homeland. 15 See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16 If you obey the commandments of the Holy One your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Holy One your God, walking in God’s ways, and observing God’s commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17 But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20 loving the Holy One your God, obeying God, and holding fast to God; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Holy One swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Choose! Choose, choose, choose, choose! Choose this day! I’m not sure my weary brain would be able to take all that choosing in! I hope my heart would be stirred to follow God’s ways....as we had been trying to follow – most of the time – since we left Egypt 40 years ago. Perhaps I was just a child then, barely remembering all the miracles; perhaps, I was a young mother then and now I am an old grandmother at the end of my life telling stories; perhaps, I had not even been born and only know the stories of the escape through the Red Sea, the manna in the wilderness, the miraculous water from the rock, the debacle with the golden calf and the giving of the Ten Commandments, only family stories. The people who heard these words from Moses on that transitional day were of many generations and experiences, yet held together by the covenant of God’s promise of new life to their very ancient ancestors, held together by journeying through dangers, through tedious travel, celebrating births and deaths along the way, trying to stay together as a community of God’s blessed people. Our physical circumstances are very different from these ancient people on the edge of the Jordan River...we are not desert dwellers in make-shift tents, footsore and hungry, worn thin from travel and desert storms. Yet our spiritual and emotional inner lives could be very similar. We are a community of many generations and experiences standing on the brink of this transitional election year. No matter what party or candidate we may support, we are heart-sore and weary, hungry for justice, perhaps angry, worn thin by the stormy tumult of our times. The people of Israel could look across the misty river and see the other side of the Jordan with real hope. There was the land that would finally be a their settled home. They had tangible reason to “Choose Life!”, to choose God’s ways for living. What can we look for with hope? What are our tangible visions? What inspires us to “Choose Life?” In America, here in the middle class culture of Plymouth – upper, middle and lower – we are a people of many choices....how to spend our time, our money, our educational and work opportunities, what to eat for lunch or breakfast or dinner? We get to choose so many things! We have also learned to be suspicious of choices...what is in the fine print? Where is the catch? Is it too good to be true? To simple? Moses says if you keep God’s ways, “then you shall live and become numerous, and your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. If you don’t keep God’s ways and you turn away to worship other gods, “you shall perish.” Pretty black and white, and on the surface it also feels retributive. Do what I say....get rewards....don’t do what I say....get punishment! Yikes! Does that make any of your little independent, think-for-your-self hearts and minds feel just a teeny bit rebellious? Or does it feel like being coerced by fear? Much too simplistic to trust? I know as 21st century intellectual people we may react this way to this ancient text. However, today I want to bring you hope, not fear! My friends, this choice was offered to the Israelites centuries ago and is offered to us today out of deep covenant relationship with the Holy One who demonstrates time and again in scripture and in our lives that God is Love and Compassion companioning us on the journey. Not retributive law and rigid rules that are hard to keep. The Holy One of Never-ending and Unconditional Love who offered this choice to the Israelites through Moses, offers us the same choice today through this ancient text. It is not a contract with late fees to pay if we slip up, it is a covenant of relationship built on mutual love. The Holy One is rooting for us to Choose Life! Still we know from experience that even when we have tried our best to follow God’s ways of life, perhaps for years, perhaps all the days of our lives, that prosperity and happy times are not guaranteed. Bad things happen in our lives, even to the best and most faithful of people. Does this mean that God has reneged on the covenant? Not kept the promise? So why choose life when what we feel all around us it death? Where is God in the death? Where is God and God’s love in the midst of all of life? Remember the Exodus story... how the people of Israel complained that they were starving; and they most likely were. God sent manna, bread made from the excretions of insects on the leaves of the plants, to feed the. They could have said, ”Gross! I’m not eating that!” But they trusted and it was good. When God made water pour from a rock because they were dying of thirst, they could have said,” Oh, No! I bet there is dirt in that water. We might get sick!” But they trusted and they were saved. When they turned from God to worship the golden calf, God and Moses were angry. Through Moses, exhortations they repented, chose life again, and God forgave them. God restored the tablets of the 10 Commandments to them – commandments that lead to covenant community and life. Moses says at the end of his long sermon, “Choose Life by loving God so that you and your descendants may live!” Life and Love are the ultimate words from God. They are always available. The Holy One is always on the side of choosing life, even when we turn away and choose the habits of death. Habits of scarcity thinking, fear, anger, arrogance, greed. When we find ourselves in the midst of death-dealing situations in our lives....how do we choose God’s life and love? Because we may not be feeling it at the moment and we may be really scared! Practical advice: first, take three breaths. Feel your feel on the floor, your hand on the table, the arms of a loved one who may be holding you. Think of the love of a community – such as this one – that has promised to reach out and be a safe place. Breathe again. Keep breathing. Then when the temptation comes to fall back on death-dealing habits or if you are bound by the terrible, traumatic pain that death-dealing situations can bring, say “Help!” Even with that one word of spoken or silent prayer, the Holy One who is Love and Life will honor your claim on the covenant relationship of love and life. In the day to day frustrations and anger of our times, say, “Help!” Then still your heart with breath. Listen with your heart and your mind as you go about your day, as you work for justice, as you do simple and humble kindnesses, walking in God’s ways. Holy help will come. Help always comes. Through someone, through an idea, through an unexpected event, through an unexpected experience of beauty. Keep putting one foot in front of the other on the journey with the God who loves us beyond all measure. The Israelites were not free from trouble after settling in the Promised Land. They were not free from failure to follow the ways of God. They messed up royally time after time even to the point of occupation and exile. Still God, the Holy One, was always there offering the choice...”Choose Life...in relationship with Me....choose love and compassion and forgiveness!” My friends, in these very tough times, breathe, feel your feet on the ground, remember you are not alone, God is in the midst of it all, say “Help!” and Choose Life! ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2020 and beyond. May be reprinted with permission only. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
Matthew 4.12-23
Annual Meeting Sunday Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson 12 Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13 He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14 so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15 "Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, 16 the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned." 17 From that time Jesus began to proclaim, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near." 18 As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea — for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, "Follow me, and I will make you fish for people." 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. Our scripture texts today begins with three prophets. Prophets are very important characters in Hebrew scriptures. They are the mouth-piece of the Divine, the Almighty. They do not foretell the future. They speak God’s call to repentance, reminding the people who they are as God’s people and how God’s ways guide and shape their lives in the world. Prophets are oft quoted authorities in the new testament gospels and in Paul’s letters. Quoting them is a bit like our Congress people invoking the founders of our country and the framers of our laws and governance to remind us why are who we are. For the communities that hear the earliest Christian writings, quoting a prophet adds certification of facts regarding God’s working in the world and verification of God’s holy intent for human beings and creation. So, our scripture story today begins with three prophets. One has been arrested for being subversive to the state. He preaches allegiance to God before allegiance to religious and political authority. John the Baptizer’s life is in danger. Soon he will quite literally lose his head. Another prophet, long dead but much revered, is quoted to give legitimacy to the prophetic ministry of the third prophet. Perhaps because he has recently been associated with John, he has moved from his hometown. Maybe to be less in the public eye of the religious and political authorities in Jerusalem. And according to our gospel writer, it is to fulfill what the ancient prophet, Isaiah, said about him as savior of God’s people. This One will come from the land near the Sea of Galilee. We know that eventually Jesus will also be arrested as a subversive, but that is three years down the line. His official ministry is just beginning. If he wants to stay out of trouble, why does Jesus begin his ministry with the same line that got John the Baptizer in trouble? “Repent! The kingdom of heaven is near!” Perhaps Jesus delivered it in a kinder, gentler manner than John’s seeming fire and brimstone, but still....its subversive! It is code for turn from the ways of the Roman empire, the oppressor, the Roman ways of splendor and military force that have been adopted even by some Jewish authorities. Turn toward the ways of God, the ways of justice, peace and joy in God’s Holy Spirit. The Holy One, Yahweh, is the ultimate authority, not Caesar in Rome, not Herod the Jewish ruler in Jerusalem. “Repent! God’s realm is near! God is near!” One might think that this prophetic proclamation would not be alarming or subversive to Jewish authorities. But it is. Familiar as it is, they seem to be putting the emphasis on “the kingdom.” (“The kingdom of God is near!”) They are looking for an earthly kingdom that would expel and defeat Romans, an earthly savior to replace Rome’ with a Jewish kingdom. Jesus, however, puts the emphasis on “of God,” God’s, justice and peace, that are larger and much more lasting than any earthly kingdom, larger than creation itself. (“The kingdom of God is near!”) God’s infinite and eternal realm of love, mercy, compassion and abundance that is not just out there, but also near, in fact right here, with us. In fact, within us. A realm where God’s will is done on earth as in heaven. [1] This is the light that Jesus brings to the people, Jews and Gentiles, who are sitting in the darkness of oppression, poverty, persecution and death. Those who do not know or have forgotten the deliverance of God. Who have forgotten that God’s realm is always near! God’s ways are here to save the people from the darkness of hopelessness and despair! The writer of Matthew tells us in chapter 2 when Jesus is born that he is prophesied as the one named Emmanuel, God-with-us. It is no surprise to hear from the same writer that Jesus begins his ministry with the proclamation, “Repent, God’s realm is near!” Reading between the gospel lines, we can hear “God is with us!” I’m guessing the fishermen, Simon Peter and Andrew, James and John with their father, Zebedee have heard this proclamation in the seaside towns around the Sea of Galilee. I’m guessing this is not their first encounter with the rabbi, Jesus. Or if it is, perhaps wonderfully intense conversation ensued on the beach before Jesus gave the call, “Follow me. I will make you fishers of people!” I imagine that the good news, God is with us, has already been working in some way on their hearts and minds and imaginations This is life-changing news! News that impels these rough fishermen to leave their nets to follow this man, to help spread this news of holy revolution so that others might be caught up in its nets of saving grace! My imagination also asks me....what about the women? As good Jewish men, no doubt these fishermen had wives, children. Where are they? They can’t be simply quietly, subserviently cleaning the fish? What do the women say or do when their husbands are called away from their source of livelihood and into ministry? Have the women heard this rabbi and been changed by God’s good news? I can only hope this is the case. We have no way of knowing. I can only hope that the Jesus who goes out of his way to see and hear, acknowledge and respect, heal and uplift women in all four gospels would not be insensitive to the women, to families, in this first gathering of beloved community. I hope the women heard the call in their own way. It's important to me that all are included as I echo the call to this beloved community – to you, men and women, youth and children. Whether your pronouns are she, her, hers or he, him, his or they, them theirs - Hear the call of the One proclaimed “God-with-us!” – “Repent, listen, turn back to God’s ways for the realm of God is near.” It begins with Jesus gathering community. He doesn’t go it alone as an outlaw prophet and healer. He gathers followers willing to learn with him, to work with him to spread God’s good news which is just as good today! And just as likely to be hidden by the those who emphasize “the kingdom” or “the realm” part of the proclamation over the “of God” part. Jesus’ proclamation, “Repent – God’s realm is near!” is still good news! And Jesus is still calling, “Follow me.” Are we listening? Will we make manifest God’s realm in the coming year as God’s beloved community here at Plymouth? Will we spread the news like nets of saving grace and love for a very troubled world? And how will we do this? By praying for enemies so that our hearts are transformed with compassion. By turning our anger into curiosity to learn more about those who disagree with us or oppose us. By inviting others into community, sharing with others the gift of Plymouth, as we endeavor to follow and share God’s love, peace and justice. By remembering and acting on the trust that we live in God’s abundance, not in the lie of the world’s scarcity. By lovingly and firmly speaking truth to power. By courageously acting with more trust in God’s saving power and guidance than we ever thought we had, moving forward together as God’s people, the beloved community of Plymouth. This is our call, our challenge, as we meet in our annual congregational meeting today to prayerfully do the business of the church, to be in community, to look toward the future together. May we answer by courageously following into deeper relationship with the Holy One, deeper relationship with the ways of the prophet and savior, Jesus the Christ, deeper relationship with one another as God’s beloved people. Will you, will we, follow? Amen. ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2020 and beyond. May not be reprinted without permission. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
Micah 5. 2-4; Isaiah 35.1-10
Zephaniah 3.14-18; Luke 1.26-38 (scroll to bottom for texts) Advent Service of Lessons and Carols Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson I listened to these ancient texts this week in tandem with hearing the news of the week: the continued debate of impeachment hearings in Congress, the naming of 16-year-old Greta Thunberg, climate change activist, as Time magazine’s Person of the Year and the bullying response of the President to that news, the memory of the Sandy Hook school shooting on its 7th anniversary yesterday, December 14th, and the knowledge that families are still separated at our southern border and children are kept in cages. This is heartbreaking, fear-producing stuff. After the synagogue shooting this past April in Poway, CA, New York Times columnist, David Brooks, titled his column, “An Era Defined by Fear; the emotional tone underneath the political conflicts.” Brooks writes that fear pervades our society. That is really no news to any of us. But he lays it out so succinctly that we recognize it, especially as it is in stark contrast to the celebration of this season. Brooks tells us that politicians use fear to rise to power setting one group or tribe of people against another. Fear comes from our own personal traumas and experiences in childhood and beyond. Fear is exploited by the media to grab headlines. Fear grips our minds, making us numb and unable to hear good news. Fear makes us angry and acting out of anger produces more fear. Fear paralyze sour ability to take practical action, to get stuff done for the good of ourselves, our families, our communities and our world. Fear paralyzes our ability to share abundance, to be generous. Did you hear the word of God proclaimed by our prophets today, Micah, Isaiah, Zephaniah and the gospel writer, Luke? Each of these powerful writers was addressing a community in their time that was beset by fear. Fear of oppression and persecution, fear of failure, fear of even surviving. We are not the first generation to live in the midst of great fear. Isaiah says to the people through all that revitalizing imagery of the barren wilderness coming alive, “Be strong, do not fear! God will come to save you.” Zephaniah tells the people, “you shall fear disaster no more! Rejoice and exult. Do not fear, do not let your hands grow weak...God is in your midst.” The angel says to Mary, “Do not be afraid for you have found favor with God.” Micah promises One who is coming as a shepherd to lead and protect the people. “They shall live secure; [for] this One is of peace. “ These words are also for us in our era of fear. They are not “pie-in-the-sky by and by” words. They hold Truth that grounds us. Truth we can know through our faith, through trusting in God’s presence even in the midst of extreme adversity when there seems to be no hope on the horizon, through putting our faith into action day after day. At the end of his column, Brooks writes, “Fear comes in the night. But eventually you have to wake up in the morning, get out of bed and get stuff done.” My friends, for us that “stuff” is reading and remembering the promises of we have heard in our texts today. That “stuff” is praying with these promises in our hearts and minds. That “stuff” is our daily acts of kindness to combat the pervasiveness of fear. That “stuff” is working for justice, caring for our families, coming to worship, celebrating this Advent season of Hope, Peace, Joy and Love that prepares us to receive at Christmas and beyond, to receive again and again and again the Holy One who came to show us how to be human by being God with us. Does it seem impossible some days to keep on keeping on in the face of the fear and anger in our age? Yes, it does. But remember, the angel says, “With God nothing will be impossible.” And that, my friends, is a promise of pure joy that sustains us through happiness and sadness. Fear not! God is in the midst of you! God is with us! With God nothing will be impossible....barren wildernesses bloom, miraculous births abound, people are united in love rather than hate. God comes in human form, the baby of a poor, migrant woman grows up to show us all how to live in the transforming ways of God! Be joyful and rejoice! Amen. ©The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, 2019. All rights reserved. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here. Texts
Isaiah 25: 6-10a All Saints Sunday, November 3, 2019 Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson Isaiah 25:6-9 25:6 On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines, of rich food filled with marrow, of well-aged wines strained clear. 25:7 And he will destroy on this mountain the shroud that is cast over all peoples, the sheet that is spread over all nations; he will swallow up death forever. 25:8 Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces, and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. 25:9 It will be said on that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us. This is the LORD for whom we have waited; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation. 25:10a For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. The poetic prophecy of Isaiah is set against the backdrop of the Hebrew peoples’ physical and spiritual devastation when a foreign empire conquers their country and destroys their city, Jerusalem. Families are pulled apart as captives are taken into slavery in exile. Their homes are torn down around them. There is death all around. It seemed as if God had abandoned them! Death had cast a shroud over the whole people. If images from recent news of refugee camps and the devastation of Middle Eastern cities are coming to your mind, then you are getting the situation of God’s people in this text. Death is an “active force of negativity that moves to counter and cancel and prevent well-being,” writes Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggemann.[i] Death, in its many forms, leaves us feeling diminished and separated from God. Grief after death is not a one time visitor....it’s thread runs through our lives in many ways. As a chaplain friend of mine says, “There are so many little deaths in life – dying is just one of them.” We most certainly experience the shroud of death Isaiah speaks of when our loved ones die. Some deaths are just way before their time and come with tragic circumstances. And even when the death of a loved one has been peaceful and comes naturally at the end of a vital, productive life we can still feel the devastation of loneliness and abandonment. We grieve many other losses in life..... job loss – relationship loss – loss of meaning in the midst of despair and depression – loss of community in moving across the country – the loss of a beloved pet. We grieve when we hear the news of violence against other human beings – gun violence, domestic violence, the violence of prejudice and injustices of all kinds, the violence of war. We grieve when we hear of and experience ecological violence against God’s creation. And we often feel helpless in the midst of grief, disgraced that we cannot lift ourselves up from the mire, that we cannot change the circumstances that caused us or others to grieve. We feel alone. In all these experiences our hearts, our souls, long for companions in community and in the presence of God. We need those who will walk beside us, following our lead as we move through the sorrow, the anger, the numbness, the loneliness. We need companions without judgment, without time frames, or fix-it solutions to cheer us up. We need companions who patiently walk with us toward the hope of transformation. The best gift we can give someone in grief is simply being a companion. The poet, Patricia McKernon Runkle beautifully expresses this kind of companioning in her poem “When You Meet Someone Deep in Grief.” Slip off your needs and set them by the door. Enter barefoot this darkened chapel hollowed by loss hallowed by sorrow its gray stone walls and floor. You, congregation of one are here to listen not to sing. Kneel in the back pew. Make no sound, let the candles speak. [ii] In other words, just be. You do not have to fix. Listen. Or simply sit in silence with the one in grief. Your presence is the balm, the greatest “fix” you can offer. The prophet Isaiah proclaims that our companioning God invites us to sit and be at God’s table of hope and abundance in the midst of grief and loss – in the midst of the many little dyings, as well as the big ones, in the midst of fear and devastation. At God’s table we are transformed by God’s companioning. God feeds us with love in a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wines – or here in Fort Collins, maybe we should say, well-brewed beer. The prophet declares that God will destroy the shroud, the sheet of deep grief that is spread over all nations; God will swallow up death forever and will wipe away the tears from all faces. I believe that in the death and resurrection of Jesus who is now the Christ, the redeeming presence of God with us, death was swallowed up forever in an ultimate and cosmic way that is both mystery and revelation. And we can trust this mystery because of the new life that it reveals. Friends, here in this community of God’s saints we endeavor to companion one another on the journey of life’s mystery that extends through and beyond physical death. God is our ever-present companion drawing us all together. As companioning community we are tangible evidence of the presence of God in all our lives. You have been and continue to be companions of your pastors as we continue to walk through the grief of my son’s death and through the grief of Hal’s cancer diagnosis and treatment. You are with us in tangible and intangible ways, in prayers, in the mountains of cards you have sent. You are with us in the prayer flags that you made for me after Colin’s death. They hung on our back fence for at least nine months until I noticed early this summer that they were disappearing. I finally realized those darn squirrels were taking them. Irritated I went out to salvage what was left, muttering to myself, “Those were MY prayer flags!” Then later that day Hal took me to our deck and pointed up. There in a very large, very tall, evergreen in our neighbor’s yard, way at the top of the tree, was a very colorful squirrel’s nest, made with prayer flags. They had been “transformed!” So they still companion me....and I hear Colin’s laughter each time I look at them. They assure me of God’s companioning presence that comes through you and through the beauty and surprise of nature. The words of Isaiah assure us that God’s hope is as abundant as a great feast. And that the shroud of death is not the ultimate future. God’s life is the ultimate future. God’s presence offers transformation because God is the ultimate companion in the many deaths of our lives. God comes into the darkened chapel of our souls and sits with us as a congregation of one, listening to our grief. God sends us to one another to listen as companions in grief. And through our companioning we are transformed in our individual grief as well as in our community. Transformed to companion those here in Fort Collins, in northern Colorado, in our country and around the world who suffer the death-dealing forces violence, prejudice and injustice. Even in the very real ache of grief we can say with the prophet and with conviction, God will swallow up death forever. God will wipe away all tears and take away the shroud of disgrace that covers the earth through human violence and greed. Don’t you want to participate with this companioning God in this miraculous transformation? The invitation is open as we companion one another through God’s love. © The Rev. Jane Anne Ferguson, 2019. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to reprint Patricia McKernon Runkle's poem from her website: griefscompass.com. [i] Walter Bruggemann, Isaiah 1 -39, (Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, KY: 1998, 199). [ii] Patricia McKernon Runkle, “When You Meet Someone Deep in Grief”. The is poem is reprinted here with the permission of the poet. You can discover more about Patricia McKernon Runkle at her website, www.griefscompass.com and on Good Reads. Her book on her own grief journey after her brother’s death is titled, Grief’s Compass; Walking the Wilderness with Emily Dickinson. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here.
Luke 15.1-10
Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC Fort Collins, CO The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson
1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
2 And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." 3 So he told them this parable: 4 "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.' 7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. 8 "Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.' 10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."
What was the last thing that you lost? Mine was my keys! This week. Replaced but the originals not yet found. I am still searching. Losing something. Getting lost .... really vulnerable feeling. We all hate to be lost! It's very uncomfortable. We don’t like to lose things. We really don’t like to lose our way, literally or metaphorically. Even with Google maps it still happens. How many of you really don’t like to ask for directions when you are lost? Come on, be honest! Its hard to be lost!
Lost .... a bad, gut wrenching, sometimes guilt producing, feeling. For human beings since time immemorial. Jesus knew that people hate to be, to feel lost. It’s a primal fear. Our text today gives us two of Jesus’ most familiar stories and you might know that they are the first two in a trilogy. The third being the story of the prodigal, or lost, son who returns home to a joyous father and a resentful elder brother. As our passage opens, Jesus is gaining notoriety for his stories, his teachings, his healing. And not with the popular people in town, but with the sinners and tax collectors. The tax collectors were those who made their living collecting taxes for the Roman empire and adding a bit (or more) of interest to the top for themselves. They made their living by raising taxes on the middle class and poor. And it was condoned by the government. And sinners? They could be any number of folks. Technically “a sinner” in the theological parlance of New Testament theology is one who is separated from God, one who “misses the mark” of relationship with God in someway. In view of the purity laws of the Pharisees, sinners were most likely those on the margins of society....from prostitutes to thieves to beggars or those who simply did not or more likely could not keep all the purity laws because of income or illness. They could be the poor, the lame, the lepers, the mentally and physically ill. Outcasts for whatever reason. Something made them ritually impure and so separated from God in the eyes of the religious establishment. Jesus was welcoming “sinners” and eating with them. They were seeking him out. Instead of scolding them for impure living he welcomed them! So the religious elite, the keepers of the purity laws grumbled. Complained. Pointed fingers. Folded arms and pursed lips. They were scandalized and they were jealous. Crowds did not come to hear them teach in the local synagogue the way they flocked to hear this rebellious rabbi, Jesus. They were mad because Jesus welcomed all the people, not just the people who kept the religious laws. I suspect Jesus even made an effort to welcome the scribes and Pharisees but they didn’t want to hear it. And when he heard his religious brethren grumbling and saw their sour faces, he tells them stories about being lost. Because Jesus knows that everyone knows what it is to be lost or to have lost something or someone dear to them. He knows that the desperation of being lost is universal. In his two parables the shepherd and the peasant woman lose something of great economic and maybe sentimental value. Something that affected their livelihood. A sheep and a coin that was probably a drachma, worth the price of a sheep or a fifth the price of an ox. And in each story the shepherd and the woman goes to great lengths to find what is lost. There is story hyperbole going on here that makes a point we could almost miss. Think about this....the shepherd leaves the 99 sheep in the wilderness to go and find the one. Doesn’t leave them in their nice safe fold all tucked in at home, but in the wilderness. This says to me that as soon as he notices the one is gone he goes in search. That’s how precious each sheep is. Not waiting to secure they others....boom...where is my lost sheep? Gotta find my sheep! And when the sheep is found he calls together his friends and neighbors to celebrate. You might think he would just want to crawl in bed exhausted but no he has a party! And the woman cleans her house in a way she never has to find where that coin has gone, to discover what crack it has fallen into. She lights the lamp with precious, expensive oil to find this precious coin. And when she finds it she, too, throws a party! Which may have cost a lot more than the coin was worth. Both of these people have extravagant celebrations to celebrate that the lost is found. And Jesus says “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." That would be one sinner, one person, who is no longer separated from the love of God....one person who now knows that God seeks and welcomes and loves them. And isn’t that what we all want to know ... that we are sought after, welcomed and loved. All the good works that we want to do as followers of Jesus, do not make us the seekers. God is the seeker. God is the shepherd in the wilderness seeking, the woman cleaning house with a lighted lamp and seeking. God pursues us for we are the precious things, like the sheep and the coin. And we do not have to do a long enough list of good things or live in certain ways so that God will find us. God seeks and finds us! And then we join God’s party! I speak with people all the time who are seeking faith, who worry they have lost their faith, who don’t know if they ever had a faith. And I confess that I have those times myself. I count myself humbly as one of the sinners who wonders away from God, is separated, loses the lifeline, feels completely lost and desperately in despair. Seeking love in materialism or the escape of entertainment. My friends, “what is it to “lose faith,” but to lose the conviction that one has been found, to begin to wonder if one is sought at all?” And to be completely in the dark about what to do....to not know how to seek. Yet with God our seeking is simply the willingness to be found. The openness of heart and mind. The willingness to throw up our hands and say, “I can’t find myself! Please find me!” The willingness to sit waiting in the dark. That’s the difference between two groups of folks listening to Jesus, the sinners and the Pharisees. Pharisees are not willing to be found. And they do not join the party where all are welcomed into relationship with God! So I wonder who are really the lost ones in Jesus’ parables. I’d rather be a sinner. I’d rather be willing to be found. I’d rather go to the party! So I found this crazy video on Facebook of all places and it spoke to me about the extremes God will go to just to find us. God will go this far, my friends. We are not really lost because we are sought. By the continually seeking God of love. The shepherd, the house cleaning woman. Let’s have a party! Amen. ©The Reverend Jane Anne Ferguson, 2019 and beyond. May be reprinted outside Plymouth Congregational Church, UCC, by permission only. AuthorAssociate Minister Jane Anne Ferguson is a writer, storyteller, and contributor to Feasting on the Word, a popular biblical commentary. Learn more about Jane Anne here. |
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