"Stone Soup Saints"

John 11:32-44

This scripture is well known. It is the raising of Lazarus story. The story tells of of the brother of Mary and Martha who dies, even though the sisters have called for Jesus a few days earlier to please come and heal him. Jesus does not go right away, instead comes later.  But when he does arrive at the home of his dear friends, he cries over his death. Just like any of us would, or have, when a dear friend dies.
He also, among the tears, hears outrage and anger (also common emotions surrounding the death of a loved one). People wondering why Jesus didn't come sooner and try to heal Lazarus.

But then, Jesus being Jesus, he does in fact perform a miracle and raises Lazarus from the dead. He makes the point, as he did in last week's healing of blind Bartimaeus, that it is faith that heals us and makes us whole.

When we lose those we love, we do often have those moments of tears and outrage and anger when our emotions are too intense to have that deep faith and trust in God that times like these call for.  It takes a bit of space and distance from the reality of the loss. Eventually, though, we can see and feel the presence of God again in our lives, and perhaps even reflect back on the ways that God, indeed, held us during our outrage and anger.

Jesus, when he decides to resurrect Lazarus, suggests that Martha remove the stone from the tomb. Take the stone away, he says. She resists because of the stench of death, but he insists the stone be removed.

This week we take a look at stones that keep us away... the stones and stone-heartedness that tried to keep the miracle away in this story. But we also look at the stones that bring us together, as we learn about the story of stone soup, the great folk tale of two men who cooked stones over the fire and made a great soup because of what the neighborhood added to the broth.   We have both kinds of stones in our lives... those that become barriers to miracles and those that become miracles.

We must be willing to let die that which has died and embrace whatever new forms of new life come out of that death... that's what resurrection is.  It is as hard as pulling Lazarus back to life. It requires faith and courage. But it is also as easy as making a stone soup with the neighborhood village.

On All Saints Sunday, we remember the saints of our church and the lives that have gone before us. We remember fondly (like a stone rolled away) and with sadness (like a stone over a closed tomb), the person and what they contributed to our lives.  It is a sacred time, the time for honoring the saints of our past. And it is a time of coming together. The circle of life, the birth-life-death cycle is something that every single person in this place shares together.

As with the stone over the tomb, though, we mustn't hold too tightly to what came before.  And as with the simmer stones in the pot, we must savor with anticipation what lies ahead.  Grateful for the great cloud of witnesses and what they have meant to us, but eager to stir the soup of tomorrow's dreams.

As we come together to celebrate our Saints, to share our collective stone soup, and to celebrate the Holy Meal, what are you grateful for in the past, present and future of Niwot UMC?  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

"The Wizard of Oz: Blind Faith Leading to Sight"

Mark 10:46-52

Then Jesus said to him, “What do you want me to do for you?” The blind man said to him, “My teacher, let me see again.” Jesus said to him, “Go; your faith has made you well.” Immediately he regained his sight and followed him on the way.

In the movie The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy Gale from Kansas takes this fantastical journey to Oz and meets all sorts of characters who remind her a bit of people she already knew in her drab and dreary world she left so far behind in Kansas when she went soaring over the rainbow in a tornado.  This movie is so well known and so beloved that you know, as they say, the rest of the story.  At the end Dorothy realizes she left the best thing that ever happened to her and wants nothing more than to return 'home' to her beloved Oz.  As she's leaving, the Good Witch Glinda tells her she has the power to return on her own.

Dorothy: Oh, will you help me? Can you help me?
Glinda: You don't need to be helped any longer. You've always had the power to go back to Kansas.
Dorothy: I have?
Scarecrow: Then why didn't you tell her before?
Glinda: She wouldn't have believed me. She had to learn it for herself.

Same thing, in a sense, that happens to the blind man Bartimaeus in this week's scripture.  He asks Jesus if he can see again and Jesus simply says to him, "Your faith has made you well" and his eyesight it restored.  Amazing story. All Bartimaeus had to do was believe in Jesus and ask for healing. And he got it.

When Glinda tells Dorothy she has always had the power to go home but has to learn it for herself we see hints of this story. We catch a glimpse in a family film of what sort of faith and courage Jesus is referring to when he says to Bartimaeus, "Go! Your faith has made you well."  

What lessons can we learn from these stories?  That the answers lie within our own hearts? That Jesus is just waiting for us to ask for redemption and wholeness? That we need to recognize for ourselves what we can be and do in the world with faith?

I'd be interested in your thoughts. Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

"Shrek: Fiona Finds Her Call"

Hebrews 5:1-5

This week's message will focus on  the faith message we find in the family film Shrek, particularly the role of Fiona, the princess who is really a troll. Fiona has parents who are royalty, king and queen of the land and they have a daughter who is a troll, at least part of the time. She lives as a princess during the day but becomes a troll at night.  It is a spell that can only be broken by true love's kiss.  The story has many complicated twists and turns, but when the true love's kiss finally breaks the spell, Fiona's true nature surprises her... no longer is she permanently a princess, as she assumed she would be, but is forever an ogre.

Hebrews 5 begins, "Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf" and continues, "And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him,“You are my Son, today I have begotten you”

God calls us all, we are all God's children.  We are put in charge of things pertaining to God. We take it when we are called.  We wait and listen for God to say "You are my child. Today I have begotten you."  The key is to allow the Holy SPirit to work in our lives so that our discernment includes God and not just our own egos.  We must listen for God's call on our lives, rather than assuming we know what it is.

Fiona assumed her true self, her true role in life was to be a princess and that the ogre part of herself was the curse.  This was a false assumption. When Fiona truly accepts love, true love, into her life she discovers her calling was not what she thought. And that her calling is actually much more complicated than a princess waiting on a white knight to save her. That her calling may make her ugly and not worthy in the eyes of the world, but in the ways that matter... the ways of love, truth and friendship, she is worthy of much more than she ever dreamed.

When we consider the groups of people we have oppressed over the history of humankind, we find people who have been made to feel less than in the eyes of the world and their journey is often ugly and complicated and filled with struggle.  For example, we have ostracized and tried to strip away indigenous culture from the Native Americans while glorifying Columbus.  We have put blinders on to the ways racism continues to rear its ugly head in our world and pointed to the Civil Rights Bill and the Voter Rights Act as ways to show we are 'over it. We have used biblical scriptures to condemn people's sexual orientation and called it Christian principles.  What if we just let people alone to be who they really are, rather than seeing who they are as something less than, less appealing, less deserving.

Hebrews tells us we have some 'appointment' by God. Some 'calling' to fulfill. What might yours be? What might mine be?  It's more than just what we see ourselves doing day to day. It is what we choose to leave hiding deep within the confines of our hearts... oppressed by our own ego, that we need to bring to the forefront to truly see what God has in store for us.

"The Summons" song in The Faith We Sing hymnal has a lyric that goes, "Will you love the " you" you hide if I but call your name. Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?"

What is the "you" you hide?  How can you allow the spell of ego to be  broken so that you can break open what God really wants from you?  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

Thanks, everyone!

"Willy Wonka Faith"

Mark 10:17-31

“Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”  They were greatly astounded and said to one another, “Then who can be saved?” –Mark 10:24b-26

Do you remember the classic children’s movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? In that movie (based on the book by Roald Dahl, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory),  most of the children and their parents don’t have a clue what Willy Wonka is trying to get them to see in his tour of the chocolate factory. He is trying to reward children who truly understand what it means to have the heart of a child. The problem is, none of them do.  Greed and selfishness and self-promotion have already entered their lives through the example of their parents.

So, they all have a creepy and awful conclusion to their tour. Because they didn’t see the true meaning of love and communion with one another and fellowship and sharing.

The scripture above reminds us that it is hard to get to that place we call heaven as long as we are hoarding all of life’s riches for ourselves. It reminds us that we should not try to hoard up money or anything else for our own benefit, but should look out for the oppressed and downtrodden of the world and try to level the playing field by giving what we can.

John Wesley’s motto was “Earn all you can; save all you can; give all you can.” At some points in his life he gave as much as 90 % of his income away, keeping only what he needed to survive and live a modest life.

What do you think of this scripture? What do you think of Wesley's motto and practice? Many of us struggle with it.  If is often said that money doesn’t buy happiness. True, but it sure helps you get through life easier, I have to think. So what defines 'rich' in this passage? Does Jesus just mean 'someone who keeps all their money' instead of someone who shares willingly all they have?

Share your thoughts with me.  I’d love to be in dialogue with you on this.  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.