The Hope of Daniel

The Hope of Daniel

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God who is Creator, Christ, and Comforter.  Amen

Today we begin our Advent journey as we focus on Daniel.  Most people who have some knowledge of the Old Testament stories, know the story of Daniel in the Lion's Den.  And...that's about the extent of what we know about this prophet.  So, to be better Bible scholars, we're going to brush up a bit on Daniel.

First of all, Daniel was a man of faith and of higher education in Judah.  He and several other really smart people (like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - or Rack, Shack and Benny if you're a Veggie Tale watcher) were carried off to Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar in about 605 BC (or BCE if you're of the younger set).  They lived there for almost 70 years - most of their life.  

Let's spend a moment talking about Babylonian conquest tactics.  It was brilliant!  When the Babylonians conquered an area, they executed these three brilliant military moves.  #1 - They took the top 1/3 of the population: the most educated, most elite people to their capital city.  There they would be available to advise the king on strategic maneuvers and issues of spirituality and of state.  #2 - They took the merchant class (again about 1/3 of the population) and moved them to another conquered country to set up their trade.  It is brilliant strategically - because thy would gain the benefit of the merchant class, who were at a total disadvantage while they learned another language and set of customs and began to ply their trade!  #3 - the poorest, most uneducated 1/3 of the population they would leave in the homeland and put guards there to make sure they stayed in compliance with Babylonian law.  It is much easier to control a group of people who already feel downtrodden!  So, Babylon didn't have to spend much money on personnel guarding them!  Didn't I tell you it was brilliant!!!

This said, Daniel is sent off to Babylon - obviously he is among the elite.  He shows the kings his devotion to God, but also his willingness to help each king he served.  However, he would not disobey the rules that God had put into place for Jews to follow - no matter what.  And, this is what landed Daniel in the lion's den.  Daniel was probably old when he was thrown into the lion's den, for it was not Nebuchadnezzar, but Darius, King of Persia (who conquered the Babylonians) who made the order - and Darius was king when he sent the Israelites home. 

What can we learn that is helpful for us today from this story, since I'm pretty sure none of us will be tossed into a den of lions soon?  Here are some things that I have learned in my study this week:

Daniel never lost his faith!  And, it's pretty hard to have faith when you're in a den of lions!  He went through being conquered as a nation, being carted off to a foreign country and having his name changed!  He had to prove time and again why it was advantageous for him to keep practicing his faith in the midst of foreign ways, and even when we was a stranger in a strange land - and NOT by choice - he kept his faith in teh God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.  

Daniel never stopped learning.  He was educated and he grew up in Babylon!  He had access to libraries and scholars and took advantage of this opportunity even while in exile.  He studied and became a trusted advisor to the kings of Babylon and Persia, trusting that somehow, someday God would send them home.

Daniel had a gift and he used it.  Daniel practices what Michael Corleone of The Godfather gets credit for saying, "Hold your friends close and your enemies closer."  His gift was seeing and interpreting dreams.  he used this gift to aid the king and maybe this gift was one of the reasons he could keep hope alive even in captivity - he could see the end of his captivity and the fact that God's people would return home to Jerusalem.

It is in that confident hope that we see as Daniel waited the night through in the lion's den.  He prayed and God answered in a real and powerful way.  He was safe; the lions never touched him that whole night long!

I see that same confident hope in Jesus from our Gospel lesson, as he stood before Pilate who had the power to kill him with a word.  Everyone is yelling, accusing, insistent that Jesus should die.  Jesus stand there and answers with a confidence that the plan is going as scheduled.  Soon it will be over and Jesus will die, and be buried, and be resurrected!

Hope.  This Sunday's theme is all about hope.  Daniel's hope, Jesus' hope, our hope...is not found in presidents (or presidents elect), or satraps, or prefects, or counselors, or governors, or Pilate!  Our hope is found in God!  It is God and God's love for us that keeps us going even when life seems unlivable -  and when we find ourselves in the midst of overwhelming events and people who make us feel like we are in a den of lions.  Our hope is in God who can take such horrible events - like exile, or the den of lions, or even death on a cross, and turn them into moments of salvation and hope and new meaning and purpose in life!

The next-to-last page of your bulletin this morning has a picture for kids to color that reminds us that our God is a God of hope.  So much hope that God would indeed send God's only son to be born in a world that in this day seems hopeless.  Conquered (again) and being ruled by governors that are paranoid and power hungry...would not seem like the optimal time in most people's books for the Messiah to be born.  God is not a God of most peoples' books!  God is the God of THE BOOK - and it tells us that God's lvoe is for everyone!

And, Jesus being born just then was indeed perfect! 

Hope.

Hope. It's just what we need these days.

Natalie Grant sings a song entitled Our Hope Endures.  I'd like to share the lyrics with you.

You would think only so much can go wrong Calamity only strikes once

And you assume this one has suffered her share Life will be kinder from here

Oh, but sometimes the sun stays hidden for years Sometimes the sky rains night after nigh

When will it clear?

How do we comprehend peace within pain? Or joy at a good man's wake?

Walk a mile with the woman whose body is torn With illness but she marches on.

Oh, 'cause sometimes the sun stays hidden for years Sometimes the sky rains night after nigh

When will it clear?

Our hope endures the worst of conditions It's more than optimism 

Let the earth quake Our Hope is unchanged.

Emmanuel, God is with us El Shaddai, all sufficient

We never walk alone And this is our hope.

Our hope endures the worst of conditions It's more than optimism

Let the earth quake Our hope is unchanged

It is in that Hope that we all pray, and live, and move, and have our being.  Amen

The Bread of Heaven

The Bread of Heaven

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God who is Creator, Christ and Comforter.  Amen

Thanksgiving was my second favorite holiday when I was a kid…second only to Christmas!    Thanksgiving meant spending the day with family: cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents. But most importantly, Thanksgiving meant food!  I can still remember the smell of my grandmother’s house – filled with the aroma turkey and ham, and all the fixings!  What I remember most, however, are my grandmother’s Parker House rolls.

My grandmother’s says that when she and grandpa got married back when they were kids, she didn’t know how to cook at all!  My great-grandma taught her everything she knew about cooking and baking – and my grandma was an excellent student – she took to it with a passion!  She was no gourmet cook – she was an everyday cook, and a great one, in my opinion!  Her Parker House rolls were simple and delicious…yeasty, buttery, soft and scrumptiously perfect for soaking up gravy!

Grandma always made her roll dough first thing on Thanksgiving morning.  I remember getting to her house and watching her roll out and cut those rounds of doughy goodness with precision and ease. The smell of the rolls would fill the house, even overpowering the smell of the bacon and onions in the green beans on the stove.

When I think of Thanksgiving, I remember those rolls.  My Grandma died several years ago and my feeble attempts at re-creating those rolls have been just that – feeble attempts – and I’m a pretty good cook myself!  I think the ingredient that’s missing is my grandma’s love – something that is irreplaceable! 

The gospel appointed for tonight is an interesting one.  Just when our minds are most focused on food, the pies and goodies awaiting us after this service, let alone what we might be cooking tomorrow, or which dish we most look forward to, John’s words strike us: “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.  For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal… Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.’”

It’s obvious to most of us who live in the United States that our civic and religious Thanksgiving holiday is not really all about food.  Even the non-religious among us admit that Thanksgiving is at the very least a day in which we acknowledge what we have and what is important in our lives. We all live in here, we’ve been educated here (formally and informally), and we’ve all heard the story of how that first Thanksgiving holiday came to be –  with Native Peoples and Pilgrims coming together to give thanks to the Creator.  It all sounds so good, doesn’t it?  The truth of the successive years of our country’s history, the common practice of thanksgiving, tell another story.  Thankfulness gave way to greed, usurpment and exploitation.  And sadly, it still continues…dare I say Standing Rock on Thanksgiving Eve?

For those of us who are Christians, Thanksgiving Day is about giving thanks to God, the Creator of everything there is. I am pretty certain that when we begin a list of the things we are most thankful for, our car, our home, for food, for clothing, for our job, and for money to pay our bills…it sounds a lot like the “food that perishes,” as Jesus put it in John’s gospel.  Please hear me say that there is nothing wrong with giving thanks for the perishables in our lives, but that’s not the question Jesus is prompting us to take a look at in this text.

Jesus is asking where we place our faith.  

Thankfulness for turkey and Parker House rolls won’t feed the hungry. Thankfulness for a closet full of clothing won’t clothe the naked. Thankfulness for a good home and a good job won’t house the homeless or right the economic injustice in our society. Only our faith in Jesus and our participation in God’s mission will do that.

There is great tension in our country, and around the world, due to the outcome of our recent election.  We are a country divided, and I can’t help but think about the story from Matthew’s gospel about Jesus curing the man who was blind and mute and how the crowds around him accused him of being in cohorts with the Devil (because of course, in those days, anyone who had a disability, was possessed by the Devil) and Jesus’ reply was simple and straightforward: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand…” (Matthew 12:25)

We are of three congregations here this evening with differing worship practices, yet all of our practices, and all of our worship points to the same Jesus who loves us!   In a few moments, we will be invited to, once again, receive the “bread of life” as we share together Holy Communion.  Jesus offers himself to us, Jesus gives us himself, and we are reminded that it’s a forever gift – a gift that doesn’t know political party, or gender identity, or status, or race, or ethnicity – because ALL human beings are God’s children.  ALL human beings are offered the forgiveness, life and salvation that Jesus brought as he lived and loved and healed and taught and died and rose again.   We, who are Christians, have the privilege of sharing Jesus with others!  

Tomorrow, as we gather around our various tables to give thanks to God, what if we would take a moment to be thankful for the non-perishables in our lives?   It doesn’t have to be out loud.  Be thankful for God’s mission of inclusivity and love and God’s kingdom of ALL nations and peoples!  As we break bread this Thanksgiving around our tables, may we who follow in the way of Jesus be moved beyond thankfulness for turkey and gravy; may we be moved beyond thankfulness for family traditions; may we be moved to receive with gratitude and then to share with joy the bread of heaven, which gives life to the world! 

What would happen if, after our dinners, we moved from acknowledgment and faith…to action and participation in making this world a better place for everyone? 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Now, That's a King!

Now that’s a King!

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God who is Creator, Christ and Comforter.  Amen

As we look at the lesson this morning from Jeremiah, we see such a contrast!  There sits King Jehoiakim, whose name means: "he whom Yahweh has set up;" son of Josiah in his warm room as Jehudi reads the scroll given to ALL of Judah from Yahweh.   Jehoiakim ruled in very troubling times in Judah.  He was seated on the throne by Necho II, who was king of Egypt in place of his brother. He paid heavy tribute to Egypt to keep Judah from being conquered and their best people from being carried off to places unknown.  Then, the Babylonians defeated the Egyptians and Jehoiakim had to switch allegiances to keep Judah safe from Nebuchadnezzar. 

It is said Jehoiakim was a tyrant – and he willfully disobeyed the Laws of Yahweh, the Lord of Lords.     

What does this tyrant do as Jehudi reads the scroll?  As 4 or 5 columns in the scroll are read, he cuts them off and tosses them into the fire!  Now, that’s a real exercise in using imperial authority, if there ever was one!  Did he think that he was greater than God by burning the scroll?  Or, did he feel abandoned by God thinking that it couldn’t get any worse than it was right then?  Or, did he think he could keep the people from obeying God’s words by burning them?  The problem is…they had already heard them from the scribe, Baruch, on the day they came to the Temple.  People were probably already talking about (or maybe laughing about?) the upcoming disasters “if they don’t turn from their evil ways!”  Who was God to talk against the mighty nation of Israel?!?! 

Aren’t we as guilty sometimes?  It’s probably not a scroll we burn to try to prove that we are greater than God…but I know I’ve tried to keep God from acting in my own little world!  I may choose an action, or inaction;  I may choose denial…just when I should be confessing!  My greatest way to defy God?  Stubbornness!  I want to do things my way – when I want to do them – thank you very much, O Holy One! 

We are reminded in our lesson today of the powerful promise God made to Jeremiah just a few chapters earlier as we hear the words…the days are surely coming, says the LORD…when I will put the law within their hearts and ALL will know me and I will remember their sin no more!  Wow! 

I wonder…has it ever happened?  Or, are we still waiting?

I hope you caught onto the incredible love that is in this text coming from God.  The people of Israel keep messing up – over and over and over again – and God keeps sending prophets to speak God’s loving truth to those people over and over and over again!  God keeps longing for a restoration of relationship…and God is persistent at this!  God longs to bless rather than punish!  God keeps speaking through the prophets…and the people keep on ignoring God’s spokesmen!

Sounds all too familiar, doesn’t it?

So…God tries another tack…years later.  God sends not a prophet, but God’s only son.  Jesus was born and lived among us to speak in fleshly form those words of love, and longing for restoration of relationship!  Jesus goes throughout Palestine healing and teaching and feeding and reminding people of God’s persistent, prevalent love for them. 

We catch a glimpse of this love each week as we gather here and take communion.  We see this image in our mind’s eye, as we stand alongside those disciples in that upper room so many years ago.  “Do this in remembrance of me,” Jesus tells those disciples at that first Holy Communion.

And, we do.  Each week we celebrate Holy Communion and we remember.  But, do we, really…/…remember?  It was a horrific price for God’s only son to pay…giving us his very self…so that we can sit here comfortably in our pews this morning and call Jesus King of Kings and Lord of Lords! 

We have a cross hanging front and center in our space.  It’s there to remind us of the price Jesus paid so long ago to claim that title.  And I wonder how often we look at this beautiful cross and remember the agonizing death Jesus suffered there!  It was such a cruel instrument of torture that even cold, cruel Rome stopped using it eventually realizing it was too inhumane even for them! 

Jesus died willingly.  He foretold this to those disciples in that upper room as he said to them, “This is my body, given for you.  This is my blood, shed for you.”  Wow!  What a sacrifice, King Jesus!

In confirmation last week, Pastor Mike talked about martyrdom and the fact that many Christians – even today – suffer and die for their faith…a faith that I feel we often take for granted…just like this cross hanging in our sanctuary.

This week we pause and say “Thank you,” as we gather with friends and family around the Thanksgiving table.  You may even have as a tradition going around the table and saying what you are thankful for.  I hope, that even if it doesn’t pass your lips,…I hope that you will be thankful for our faith in your heart. 

We serve a God who is persistent and whose love is pervasive and personal.  God keeps coming to us, seeking relationship with us, and through Jesus, God shows us how to live in communion with God and in community with each other. 

Jesus gives us himself, in love, forever!  Now, that’s a King! 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen 

NOT the God we Expect!

I'm a little slow in posting sermons.  Here's the one I preached on October 30.

NOT the God we Expect!

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God who is Creator Christ and Comforter.  Amen

Today is a hallmark day at CLC!  It’s the culmination of our Stewardship drive, Reformation Sunday AND we started worship 15 minutes later!  In working with the texts for today, ALL of the texts for today, I found myself drawn to the story of Zacchaeus – which is the appointed text for this Sunday in the regular lectionary.  I am going to exercise a bit of the evangelical freedom from John’s gospel – plus my hero, Barbara Lundblad challenged us to do this from my time at Theoasis last week. 

I think Zacchaeus’ encounter with Jesus has been told too often as a story of repentance…which goes kinda like this: Jesus seeks out Zacchaeus, a notorious chief tax collector; and Zacchaeus, who is overwhelmed by the presence of Jesus, immediately repents of his sin and promises that he will make amends; acknowledging Zacchaeus’ repentance, Jesus declares that salvation has come to this house.  Sound right to you? 

There’s one small problem with this interpretation.  Neither Jesus nor Zacchaeus say anything about sin or repentance for that matter.  When Jesus decides to go to Zacchaeus’ house, those looking on grumble, upset by Jesus’ choice of companion (not a new theme in Luke!), and THEY call Zacchaeus a sinner.  This is what prompts Zacchaeus protest!  Zacchaeus doesn’t actually make a promise to give half his possessions to the poor or repay anyone he has defrauded in the future.  He says he is already doing that, a claim he probably makes in light of the crowd accusing him of being a sinner.  The verb tense in Greek is present, you see, not future.  So it’s not “I will give” and “I will pay back” but rather “I give half my money to the poor” and “I repay.”  Zacchaeus is saying that this IS his current practice.
The key to this story is not sin and forgiveness but about sight.  Zacchaeus wanted to see Jesus.  And, because he was short and couldn’t see him, he climbed a tree.  When Jesus comes his way, Jesus looks up and sees him and invites himself to Zacchaeus’ house.  Why?  Because he has seen Zacchaeus.  Really seen him, when so many in the crowd despise and ignore him – even cross over to the other side of the street NOT to see him.
Of all the gospel writers, Luke is the one most sensitive to issues of money but he rarely offers us neat theological categories.  In the first century (as well as our own – sorta) it was fairly common to assume that wealth was inherently good and a sign of God’s blessing.  Jesus undermined that notion when he said that it’s very difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God (Lk 18:25).  In our time, it’s easy – especially for church leaders to act and say that wealth is bad (except, of course, when you give it to the Church!).  Yet…in this story Jesus declares that Zacchaeus, this wealthy chief tax collector despised by his neighbors, is a child of Abraham, beloved of God, and a recipient of God’s salvation.  In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus doesn’t care so much about how much wealth we have - as about what we do with our wealth… and Zacchaeus does good things!  Just like you do good things with your wealth on this Commitment Sunday. 
Jesus cares about those who are on the edge, even more than wealth.  Jesus encounters those who society has declared unfit and outcast…we ignore.  Jesus always sees them, recognizes them, seeks them out, spends time with them and in all these ways honors and blesses them.
And this is not what those around Jesus expect him to do.  It is not what any self-respecting messiah should do.  God, after all, has standards, and if God isn’t going to stick to those standards and punish sinners and reward the righteous, then what can we count on?  I mean, how can God just forgive sin?  If God is holy and just, then shouldn’t sin be punished?  Or at least repented?
Isn’t it wonderful that God we encounter in Jesus doesn’t care about our sense of justice or fairness or the ways we seek to order our world?  The only thing God cares about is seeing – and seeking out – is the lost and bringing them home again. God’s love in Jesus trumps earthly justice and God’s compassion overrides our sense of fairness…
Which can be unsettling and upsetting!  –  Whether to the crowds of Zacchaeus’ day or to us.  Until we are the ones who are down and out, until we are the ones made to feel invisible  (whether it be our actions or those of others, or because of illness or loss, or because of our gender or race or age or sexuality or whatever).  Whenever we feel on the outside, abandoned, invisible…that’s when we need a God who sees us, seeks after us, and brings us home.  And that’s the God we have in Jesus – who looks for us – even when we are in the most unlikely of places! 
At the heart of the Reformation movement was the recognition that Martin Luther, that German Augustinian Monk,  had been worshiping the wrong God!  Luther was taught to see and fear a God of holiness and justice, a God who expected righteousness, and who punished those who could not meet that standard.  Jesus, from this point of view, was little more than a whipping boy who stood in our place and took the beating we deserved.  Luther, agonizing over God’s righteousness, finally realized that righteousness isn’t the standard God sets for us, but is the gift God gave to us.  Righteousness isn’t a requirement but a promise.  The God Luther expected was all about justice; the God he met in Jesus was all about love.  Jesus, it turns out, didn’t die to make God forgiving but died to show us how forgiving God already is.  
Little wonder that Luther would later describe meeting this unexpected God by saying it was like having the gates of heaven opened to him.
A pastor recently shared that when one member of her youth group asked her friends what they imagined Jesus thought about them, the overwhelming answer was disappointment.  That is, they assumed Jesus , God and the Holy Spirit, were disappointed with them.  Why?  Because somehow, even as agents of God’s amazing grace, we still define God in terms of righteousness, sin, punishment and the like.
Surprise! 
Zacchaeus and Luther remind us that it’s not about that!  It’s all about God’s unexpected salvation and grace found in Jesus.  
Surprise!  
God sees us, God accepts us, God loves us, and God brings us home.
No one is left out – not even you!