Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 17B

14th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 17B August 29, 2021 When I worked at Stewpot, an inner city non-profit, between college and seminary, I came across many unusual characters on a daily basis. One of these was a man named Mr. Long. Mr. Long probably had the mental capacity of a young child, and he would leave his personal care home to wander the streets of Jackson until he found his way to Stewpot and joined the morning enrichment program I was running to give folks like a him a safe and entertaining place to be every day. Mr. Long, never really called many of us by name, but instead, he liked to greet everyone by saying, “You so choot!” (translated “you are so cute!”) Well, my 25 year old self was mortified by this salutation, and so I set out to teach Mr. Long my name. My project spread out over weeks, and every day, it went something like this. Mr. Long: “You so choot!” Me: “What’s my name, Mr. Long?” Him: “I don’t know.” Me: “Melanie.” Him: “Merlin” Me: “Close enough.” Day after day, I taught my lesson until one day, it happened. I entered the dining area where Mr. Long sat, and he greeted me saying, “Hey, Merlin! You so choot!” Mr. Long also had another regular saying that he would share as the Spirit moved him. He would often say, “You can’t fool God.” You can’t fool God. This is at the heart of what Jesus is teaching in our gospel reading for today. The Pharisees have come to Jesus and asked why his disciples aren’t following the law around washing things. Jesus aligns himself with the prophetic tradition by quoting Isaiah and saying that the Pharisees are so worried about the law that they have lost sight of the spirit of what God has intended for each of us. In the part left out for today, Jesus talks about a loophole that some religious leaders of the day have discovered that allows them to give money to the temple and not have to use their money to care for their elderly family members as the law also instructs. And then Jesus goes on to teach the crowds that we should be more worried about what evil intentions are coming out of us into the world as opposed to what evil we might be taking in from the world around us. The Pray as You Go podcast for today says it this way: “Jesus takes the Pharisees’ notion of ‘defilement’ and turns it inside out. Instead of it being a word you might use self-righteously to mean being ‘sullied’ by unholy people and unholy things around me, it becomes a check on myself, a warning not to defile yourself by allowing evil to enter the world through you. How do you react to that warning?”i In this polarized world that we live in, it is so easy to try to fool myself and fool God by thinking that my cause (and here you can name any number of current event items of the day) is the one that is righteous and the other is bringing evil into the world. This week, I’ve been pondering what it would mean to examine more frequently the things that come out of me that add evil to this world and how to hold that alongside not judging others who believe differently than me. And let me tell you, it is hard for me to even imagine what that might look like. But then I read and opinion piece from an E.R. nurse in Kansas City that she wrote for the local paper. It is titled: “I work in a Kansas City emergency room. I know who’s to blame for COVID frustration.” Here is what she writes, “COVID-19 is something we are still learning about. We health care workers are trying to perfect how we respond to it and make people as safe as possible. I’m not angry at those who aren’t yet vaccinated, and I’m not angry at those who have put so much faith into the vaccine. Who and what bothers me … Is the person in the hospital lobby coughing, trying to refuse wearing a mask because “I don’t have COVID. I was tested thre months ago.” (And new test results come back in 30 minutes revealing that the patient is, indeed, positive.) And the person who says, “If they aren’t vaccinated, they might as well just die. They’re stupid.” There is so much attitude of superiority on both extremist sides. I’m not innocent. I’ve caught myself being quite judgmental as well on certain days when traffic in the emergency room is heavy. Then, I sometimes find myself speaking more negativity into the environment than is even close to being helpful. The enemy isn’t those who are pro-vaccine. The enemy isn’t those who haven’t yet gotten it. The enemy is COVID-19, and those who don’t care or just don’t understand are to be pitied. Not hated or despised. I understand the frustration of those who are anti-vaccine and those who are pro-vaccine. Both sides’ anger and exasperation come from fear and exhaustion. And maybe even from PTSD. The important thing is to keep an open mind, to continue to do research and maintain a humble attitude that acknowledges there are things we are still learning about COVID-19, and, I hope, will continue to learn. Maintain a hunger for more understanding, for new information. Maintain compassion for the fact that so many people are utterly terrified and have suffered loss. Maintain sympathy for those who are around COVID 24/7 and may be a wee bit grumpy at times. Maintain humility that says, “I’m not sure I have all the answers, but I will try not to spread the virus personally. And I will do my best to help in this season.” I do feel blessed to still be alive, breathing without effort and walking around outside in the sunshine. My disorganized self left my apartment so spick-and-span for the whole first part of the pandemic, just in case I died and my family had to come get my stuff. (I can’t say the same for its current state. I’m not that dedicated long- term, although I should be.) I’m not saying I couldn’t still suffer a tragedy because of COVID-19 — anything is possible. And I realize that, and appreciate every day every moment that I do have. Every day is a gift, a gift that isn’t really even deserved, to be honest. I’m not a “hero” for working with COVID patients. I’m lucky to have a job, grateful to have enough masks to wear a new one daily, and thankful to be close to equipment that could possibly help me should I ever become sick and need it. I’m going to work on checking my attitude more often. Because, as I said, I am very guilty of being crotchety about all of this. I’m pointing the finger at myself, first. That is all.”ii Your invitation this week is to join me in examining the thoughts that come out of my heart for evil, self-righteousness, or hardness of heart and to ask God to help me from letting more evil escape from me into the world. Because, like Mr. Long says, “You can’t fool God.” i. https://pray-as-you-go.org/player/prayer/2021-08-29 ii. By Tasha Miller. Originally printed in the Kansas City Star. https://news.yahoo.com/kansas-city-emergency-room-know-100000488.html

13th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 16B

13th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 16B August 22, 2021 This past week, I read a post on social media from a friend from high school. This woman, who is now a wife, a mother, and a judge, was sharing with her Facebook friends that her mother was in the ICU with non-Covid pneumonia. This family has had some tragic occurrences in the past decade, including the death by suicide of my friend’s father. I was intrigued by my friend’s post, so I’ll just read it to you: “I was taught a long time ago that all of us have a direct line to Jesus. None of us have more access than another. We can all go straight to the source. However, as I've gotten older, I've recognized that there are certain people who walk among us who seem to have a sensitivity to the spiritual world that is extraordinary. Maybe they listen better and are willing to hear more, so they know more, feel more, and are just more in tune. A friend of an aunt of mine is one of those people. When our family has a big prayer request, we send that request to her friend that I will just call "S." I've never met her, but I feel like I know her. I sure know her heart. I think her spirit must be one of the most beautiful on Earth…. I know many of you know my mama has pneumonia (non-Covid) and is in the hospital. She's been there for a week today. None of us have put it on Facebook, but most [everybody in our small town] knows she's there and it isn't a secret. She is a private woman, and I respect her privacy, but I also believe that when you are given a message by a woman who listens to and hears Jesus via the Holy Spirit---you don't just keep that to yourself. So, I'm not. S told us to pray, ‘Lord, turn it around.’ I've been praying it over and over and over today. I've prayed it for my mama, and I'd sure appreciate it if you would pray it for my mama, too. But S may hear more than she even knows she hears. Covid. "Lord, turn it around." Afghanistan and national security. "Lord, turn it around." The grief everywhere you look. "Lord, turn it around." The division that only gets deeper and wider. "Lord, turn it around." I believe S is a woman who is willing to listen and hear more than the average person. I know I don't need her to give me a prayer to pray for my mama for it to be some kind of magic. I also know that those who listen and hear get specific messages the rest of us may miss. So I'm humbly asking, if you are a pray-er, you consider praying the four simple words: "Lord, turn it around." And when you watch something in your world turn, will you post it? Your turn may be little to us but big to you. It may be big to every last one of us. It may make a huge difference to many, all over, no matter his or her belief or faith. It may give someone out there hope. And we ALL need a big, fat dose of hope. Lord, turn it around. Please.” Our Old Testament reading for today takes place just as Joshua is about to lead the Israelites into the promised land. Joshua recounts all the ways that Yahweh has saved the Israelites, and he urges them to renew the covenant that Yahweh made with them in the wilderness. As a part of that renewal, they will be pledging to turn solely toward Yahweh and to turn away from and renounce any of the gods of the land they are entering. “Choose this day whom you will serve…as for me and my house we will serve the Lord,” Joshua urges them. It has been interesting for me to think about how when we choose or turn toward something, we are inevitably turning away from something else. In this instance the people are choosing Yahweh and turning away from all other gods. But if we think about it, there are so many times in our lives that mean that when we choose one path, we are turning away from something else. I think of all the times I have chosen work and turned away from family. Times I have chosen my self and turned away from the other; chosen easy answers over mystery and uncertainty when it comes to my relationship with God. Times when I have chosen any and everything else and turned away from God and the way Jesus taught me how to be in this life. So as tempting as it is for me to pray my friend’s prayer, “Lord, turn it around” (and I certainly have been praying that for her mother Judy), I realize that the choices we each make and that we have all made together are what determine where we find ourselves now. So I can pray, “Lord, turn it around.” But I also need to pray, “Lord, turn us around. Lord, turn me around.” Because the nature of this human life and the nature of what we refer to as sin, is that most of us have never been able to consistently choose God, to consistently turn to God and away from the forces that destroy us. We see it in this story from Ancient Israel. We see it in the disciples who leave Jesus when his questions become too difficult. We see it everywhere in the world around us today. So this week, I invite you to pray for my friend’s mom who’s name is Judy. Pray that God will turn her pneumonia around. And I also invite you to join me in praying: “Lord, turn it around. Lord, turn us around. Lord, turn me around.” Covid. "Lord, turn it around. Turn us around. Lord, turn me around.” Afghanistan and national security. "Lord, turn it around. Turn us around. Turn me around.” Haiti "Lord, turn it around. Turn us around. Turn me around.” The grief everywhere you look. "Lord, turn it around. Turn us around. Turn me around.” The division that only gets deeper and wider. “Lord, turn it around. Lord, turn us around. Lord, turn me around. And lead us back to you.” Amen.

11th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 13B

11th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 14B August 8, 2021 I’m going to fill you in on a well-kept secret of all preachers: there’s a fine line between a deep dive on a good sermon illustration and procrastination. Often it is only after the fact that one can tell the difference. This past week, as I was preparing to preach (and possibly procrastinating preparing to preach) about this story about Elijah, I ran across a quote that a seminary classmate had posted on her social media account. This quote got right to what is going on in our Old Testament reading for today, so I saved it to continue to ponder. The quote is “Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up? Don’t you want to see what happens? And that’s what I keep saying to myself and that’s what I say to everyone watching tonight. Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up?”i The quote is attributed to someone named Nightbirde, who I’ve never heard of, so I did what every good preacher does. I went to Google and typed “who is Nightbirde?” But before I tell you more about Nightbirde, let me tell you about what’s going on here with Elijah. This part of Elijah’s story has always fascinated me. Last year, especially, this story rose to prominence as there was a meme that circulated among clergy types that referenced this portion of scripture: “This is your gentle reminder that one time in the Bible, Elijah was like ‘God, I’m so mad! I want to die!’ So God said ‘Here’s some food. Why don’t you have a nap?’ So Elijah slept, ate, and decided things weren’t so bad. Never underestimate the spiritual power of a nap and a snack.” Elijah has just come off a major victory over the prophets of the false god Baal, Yahweh’s biggest rival. Elijah has called down fire from heaven to convince the people that Yahweh is the true God and that they should follow him. The people are looking for a show of strength from God, or any god, as they have struggled through 3 years of drought that has plagued the land. As a result of Elijah’s fire-show, he convinces his audience to follow Yahweh, and Elijah himself kills all the prophets of Baal who have been present at the contest (there were 450), and then it begins to rain showing that the drought is truly ended. But when Queen Jezebel, the patron of the prophets of Baal, hears what Elijah has done, she threatens to find him and kill him, so Elijah flees to the wilderness where our passage for today picks up. But, we also need to be mindful of what happens next, after this passage, and this is where Nightbirde’s quote comes in. It’s almost as if we can here God in this story saying, “Elijah, you really are going to want to see what happens next. Don’t give up now!” Because when Elijah rests and eats, he continues his journey to a cave on the top of Mount Horeb, which is known as the mount of God. There Elijah meets God, face to face, and God tells Elijah exactly what to do next, how to survive this next season. So, what did Google have to say about this person named Nightbirde? Nighbirde, whose real name is Jane Marczewski, is a 30 year-old singer on the show America’s Got Talent. In her audition for AGT, Nightbirde, who has a waifish look about her, is being interviewed by the panel of judges. She shares that Nighbirde is her professional name, and she reveals, in a way that is both casual and optimistic, that she has been fighting cancer for years, and that for her audition, she is singing an original song that is about the last year of her life titled “It’s ok.” So, I listened to her song (deep dive, remember?). The first two times I listened to it, y’all, I just wept. Since we don’t have music today, I’ll play the song for you later in the service, but for now, the chorus goes: “It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay/ if you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright/ It’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay, it’s okay/ if you’re lost, we’re all a little lost and it’s alright.” ii This week has been hard. In some ways I feel a lot like Elijah. I want to sit down somewhere alone in the middle of nowhere and tell God: “‘It’s enough now, O Lord!’ We’ve tried to be faithful for so long. We’ve stayed away and apart; we’ve gotten vaccinated; we’ve even put our masks back on. And still Covid cases are rising quickly here in Chatham County; the hospitals are dangerously full. We are so tired, and we don’t really know what to do. We had all these wonderful plans for the fall for new life together that would feel even more “normal,” so many fun things that we were working on, and, for at least right now, the most faithful thing seems to be to just stay our current course and to be prepared to pull back if absolutely needed. “It’s ok/ if you’re lost. We’re all a little lost, and it’s alright.” Just this week, Nightbirde announced that she was leaving America’s Got Talent because her health has taken a turn for the worse, and she needs to put all her energy and attention into her fight against cancer. She concludes her announcement with these words: “Thank you for all your support, it means the world to me. Stay with me, I’ll be better soon. I’m planning my future, not my legacy. Pretty beat up, but I’ve still got dreams.” Both Nightbirde and the story about Elijah have been a much-needed reminder for me that agents of God and agents of Hope are all around us, even in the most desolate parts of the wilderness, and sometimes, the most important thing we can do, the most faithful thing we can do is to just keep going. “Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up? Don’t you want to see what happens? And that’s what I keep saying to myself and that’s what I say to everyone watching tonight. Don’t you want to see what happens if you don’t give up?” i. Nightbirde to Chris Cuomo in an interview sometime earlier this week. ii. To hear NIghtbirde’s audition for America’s Got Talent and to read more about her, check this out: https://variety.com/2021/music/news/nightbirde-americas-got-talent-cancer-drops-out-1235032856/

10th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 13B

10th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 13B August 1, 2021 In light of our readings this week, I’ve been thinking about trust and insatiability and about how these two attitudes are opposites in our relationships with God and with each other. In our reading from Exodus this week, we see the Children of Israel, who are only about a month into their journey with God and Moses in the wilderness. So, this is actually a pretty new relationship between God and God’s people. Scripture tells us that after Joseph, the people forgot about God, and so God is starting over with them. The people start complaining about how they are hungry and how they wish God had just left them to die in Egypt, where at least they had food. So, God devises a plan, and God’s plan is a two-fold plan. 1. God will provide food for God’s people and 2. In the way that God provides food for God’s people, God will teach the Israelites how to trust God. God provides manna, but God gives them specific instructions on how to collect manna and how much manna to collect—only enough for each day. So, while the manna feeds the people, it also serves to teach them how to trust God, how to be in relationship with God. Embedded in God’s very gift is that which will help strengthen the people’s relationship with God. But while the story for today ends ok, we know what is coming. The people will eventually complain about the manna, that it doesn’t really fill them up, that they grow weary of it, day after day after day, that it isn’t enough. We see some of this insatiability echoed in our gospel reading for today. Jesus has just fed the 5,000 in a miraculous sign, and then he has escaped the mob. But the people find him, and when they do, he accuses them of misunderstanding, and suggests that they are insatiable for signs, that upon which they can base their trust in him and in God. “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life,” he tells them. My husband has a good friend here in town who is Jewish. They often have conversations about the Old Testament or Hebrew Scriptures, and David asked his friend this week about manna. David’s friend sent back an excerpt from his rabbi’s morning meditation one day earlier this week. The friend’s rabbi writes, “When Jewish people conclude a satisfying meal that includes bread, they say four blessings. Why? Because the Torah says, ‘When you eat and you’re satisfied, you should bless G‑d for the land He has given you.’ The last three blessings were composed in the Promised Land. But the first blessing was composed by Moses when manna appeared from heaven. Now isn’t it strange that we say a blessing for bread from heaven after eating bread that comes from the earth? Really, the blessing is not on the food itself. It’s on our satiation from the food. That makes things yet more puzzling. Manna was a food that never left you satisfied—for two reasons: Because you could not see what you were eating, and because you couldn’t save any of it for the next day. Why do we say a blessing composed for a food that left people unsatisfied to thank G‑d for a satisfying meal? Because, as the rabbis say, “A full jar cannot hold anything. But an empty jar can hold everything.” Those who see their income as a tangible asset, acquired and preserved by natural means, their possessions fill their lives so that they cannot see G‑d’s blessing. But those who know that everything is always in G‑d’s hands, like manna from heaven, they are empty and ready to receive. Whatever they have, they see it as a gift, a blessing, and they celebrate.” So this would suggest that we can hold our insatiability within a particular framework or attitude, a sort of mindfulness of our reliance upon God, and that in turn will help cultivate gratitude. In thinking about the trust aspect of this, I started thinking about how I work with engaged couples in pre-marital counseling in building trust. In a short video about how to build trust, relationship expert Dr. John Gottman says, “How do you build trust? You can turn to research because research will tell you what it specifically is that increases this trust metric and what it is that helps us understand the dynamics of betrayal. It turns out that trust is built in very small moments…because in any interaction there is a possibility of connection with our partner or turning away from our partner.” Gottman goes on to give an example from his own relationship, telling about a time in his marriage when he really wanted to finish his mystery book he was reading—he was pretty sure he knew who the killer was. He set the book down and went into the bathroom where his wife was brushing her hair. And Gottman noticed that his wife looked sad. In that moment, he had a choice. He could slip out of the bathroom and go back to his novel, or he could check-in with his wife. He ended up asking her what was wrong, and he said, “In that moment, I was building trust. I was there for her. I was connecting with her rather than choosing to think about only what I wanted. These are the moments that we’ve discovered that build trust. And one such moment is not that important, but if you are always choosing to turn away the trust erodes in the relationship very gradually, very slowly.” He continues, “The atom of betrayal is not just turning away, not just turning away from my wife’s sadness in that moment, but doing what Carol Rusbault called a ‘cl-alt’….and what that means is I not only turn away from her sadness but I think to myself, ‘I can do better. Who needs this crap? I’m always dealing with her negativity. I can do better!’….Cl-alt stands for Comparison level for alternatives, and once you start thinking that you can do better, then you begin a cascade of not committing to the relationship.”i These ideas about trust are true for our relationship with God as well. Trust in God is built in and through many small moments. In each moment, we have the choice to move toward God or to turn away from God. And when we turn away from God over and over again over time, then we begin to live into the cl-alt: “I can do better.” And in these moments, we let our insatiability rule our relationship with God as opposed to allowing it to deepen our gratitude. You invitation this week is to think about a time in a significant relationship from this past week when you turned toward the person and a time when you didn’t. And also to think about a time when you turned toward God and a time when you didn’t. Think also about that for which you long that only God can give, and offer a prayer to God of thanksgiving for your need, your longing. i. John Gottman on How to Build Trust. (from the Science of a Meaningful Live) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgWnadSi91s&t=263s