Jezebel and Her Fighting Spirit

1 Kings 21:1-16

Ok, I admit it.  Some of these people did some pretty bad stuff.  In fact, three of the four people we are discussing this month in the sermon series I'm calling "Complicated Persons of the Bible" are basically hated biblical characters.  They are people who are vilified and, especially for a couple of them, with good reason.

But once I heard Sister Helen Prejean, a Catholic nun who ministers to people of death row, say "A person is worth more than the worst act they ever committed" and that phrase often comes to my mind when  I hear about, or read bout, some villain in current culture or in ancient stories.  A person is worth more than the worst act they ever committed.  I bet that's true for even Jezebel, one of the most hated and vilified of all our biblical characters.

This story I chose for the scripture this week is one that shows you just how conniving Jezebel was.  It shows you that she isn't one to care if someone lives or dies as long as she gets her way.   Well, in this case, her husband King Ahab.... she wants HIM to get HIS way.  Jezebel is a very complex character, though, and she's worth a few more looks, a little more thought.

I am reading a book called Jezebel, the Untold Story of the Bible's Harlot Queen by Lesley Hazleton. In it, she shares with us a far more complex view of Jezebel than our biblical traditions have offered. She show us the complex dynamic between the Prophet Elijah who insisted very adamantly on the ONE TRUE GOD as the only God who could and would be worshiped and the foreign queen, who brings with her the only Gods she has ever known, the Baal gods and goddesses.  It is a showdown of religious pluralism and dogmatic orthodoxy. A story that continues in large part even today when people of other faiths attempt to assimilate into another dominant culture.

There is also a great article by Janet Howe Gaines who teaches the Bible as literature at the University of New Mexico. It is available online at the website for the Biblical Archaeology Society. The article,  "How Bad Was Jezebel?" gives some more varied insights into this royal queen who became so vilified throughout history.  The article suggests that she is partly vilifeid because she wasn't submissive and represented a view of womanhood that is far different than expected of women in the Old Testament who were married to foreign men, often for political alliances. It was expected that a woman would offer a submission to the culture of their husbands, rather than keeping their own culture distinct.  Because Jezebel chose to stay true to her own religious beliefs, her popularity wanes quickly.

There is so much more we could say about Jezebel, but let's just see where the thoughts of loyalty to one's own culture and loyalty to one's married family take us.  Jezebel may have been desperate to keep her own religious beliefs (to her detriment), but she was very loyal to her husband and her son and supported them without fail.  This scripture reading above in 1 Kings shows how far she was willing to go to make sure her husband had what he thought he deserved.

What is it about a strong woman that threatens people so much?  What is it about a queen who refuses to submit to someone else's religion that is so threatening?  What SHOULD Jezebel have done?  Why does she choose to endorse such violent acts to get her family's needs met? Is it better to convert to a spouse's religion rather than keep your own? What are the levels of loyalty you are willing to lose your life for?

These are just a few of the questions I will ponder this week as we consider Jezebel and her fighting spirit.

Do you have questions or comments? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below. 

Other upcoming sermons in this July series, “Complicated Persons of the Bible”

July 12:  Judas and Betrayl: He’s Not Alone

 Mark 14:10-21; 32-50

July 19:  Rahab and the Battle of Jericho

 Joshua 2:1-24

July 26: Goliath and His Unseen Weakness  

1 Samuel 17: 1-16, 32-50

"You Have An Hour Wait From This Point"

Psalm 130  (The Message)

My life’s on the line before God, my Lord,
    waiting and watching till morning,
    waiting and watching till morning.

 O Israel, wait and watch for God—
    with God’s arrival comes love,
    with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.

What a powerful Psalm!  Saying your life is on the line before God.  Waiting for God is your primary space of being. Waiting day and night. Watching day and night for God's arrival... because you know, YOU KNOW that with God's arrival comes love... and not only love, but redemption.  Israel's captivity to sin will be no more.

And in the light of the recent events in the world, sometimes it seems like we are tired of waiting and watching for God.  Tired of waiting and watching for God's arrival.  And yet, I have to wonder how much waiting and watching some of us actually do.  At what point, or in what ways, are we comparing waiting and watching to standing around and complaining?

It's like standing in line at the theme park, waiting to ride the blockbuster, most popular ride.  You are in line to ride Space Mountain or Jungle Cruise and you see a sign that says "You have an hour wait from this point."  Oh. my. god. you think. How on earth can we stand to wait another hour? This is insanity. Why are we here?

And yet, we chose, purposefully, to be in the line. Wait for the ride. Be at the theme park in the middle of summer.  So the wait is ours.  Chosen by us.  Complaining should not be part of this equation, but despite this reality, we do complain.

What other "waits" are we purposefully choosing? What else are we standing in line for?  Are we waiting for God to show up and save us from ourselves?  Are we waiting on the world to change?  

I wonder if we can take the "you have an hour wait from this point" sense of frustration and channel it instead into opportunity.  Can we use our waiting for God to show up as a time to become the hands and feet of Christ in the world?  At times when we just want to 'get on with it,' can we use the time of waiting for change to actually work on changing our own hearts, changing our own ways of reaching out and making a difference?

This is what my thoughts are on waiting for God today.  What are yours?

Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

"Crazy Log Flume Adventure"

Mark 4:35-41The Message (MSG)

This is one of the most famous of the Jesus stories.  Jesus is on a boat with his disciples when a major storm develops.   The waves were pouring into the boat on all sides, so much so that the boat is in danger of sinking.  You have seen enough movies to imagine the scene. And just maybe a couple of you have actually been in such treacherous circumstances.  And, incredulously, Jesus is sleeping. Sleeping through the storm.  What is up with him? Is he crazy?  Or just an insanely heavy sleeper?

The disciples scream at him to awaken him and yell at him angrily about his passive stance on the whole storm business.  To which, in true Jesus fashion, he just simply tells the winds and the sea to calm down. And miraculously it does.  Jesus then scolds the disciples for having no faith.  I'm not sure how I feel about that part.   It's one thing to have faith, but when your boat is sinking.... well, someone to help bail out the water is awfully nice, too.

Have you ever wondered why log flume rides are so popular?  Or raging river rides?  Amusement parks are not usually worth their salt if they don't have at least one splashy, soaking wet ride.  There is something about the thrill of going fast and getting water dumped on us that we hate and love at the same time.  Some people avoid these rides, some people go on them but wear protective ponchos, but many of us just get on them praying we won't get soaked (and secretly hoping we will.

Our faith journeys, or walks to live in the way of Christ, are a bit like that, don't you think? We pray we will have an easy path to follow, that we won't have to get too immersed in the faith, that Jesus won't ask too much of us.  But, deep down, in our core, we are wishing to be soaked.., immersed so much in the love and peace of Christ that all we have to do will pale in comparison to being true to God's call in our life.  

What kind of Christian are you? The one who doesn't get on the ride at all, afraid of being even a little immersed?  The one who gets on but prays you don't get too immersed? The one who gets on, but keeps a safe distance by wearing protective gear?  The one who wants nothing more than to fall so into the love of Christ that you don't care how immersed you get?  

For me, I admit, it depends on the day, the week, the season.  I always sort of want the kind of faith these saints have I have admired and loved through the years. These beautiful souls who have taught me the way of Christ.  But I admit, I too often put on the poncho and just let the baptismal waters hit me a little bit here and there, hiding behind a protective barrier that prevents me from really getting soaked.

There's also something here about trust in Christ, isn't there?  We are always trying to find a drama or a crisis and when we find ourselves in one, we blame Jesus if we don't think he cares enough.  But all we need to do, according to this scripture, is ask.

Themes here about faith, commitment, trust, fear.  What are your thoughts?  Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

“The Park Map and the Person Who Insists You Have a Plan”

Mark 4:26-34 (The Message)

We have all been there. There is the visit to the amusement park. And the person in your party who insists that you get the map and follow a specific plan to navigate the park. And there are even super gung-ho people who read up on the best strategy to navigate the park and insist that you follow the 'unofficial guide' plan of action. There is a whole series of "Unofficial Guides" to famous amusement parks especially written for these super uber planners.  I might even be guilty of having more than one of these guides in my own library.

The Park Map is valuable. The plan is valuable.  It might prevent you from spending a lot of unwelcome time waiting in lines in the heat of the day.  You can ride five rides with a guide and a plan in the time it takes someone else without a guide and a plan to ride one and stop for pictures.

THis week's scripture focuses on the planner and the one surprised by what happens. In The Message version we read:

Then Jesus said, “God’s kingdom is like seed thrown on a field by a man who then goes to bed and forgets about it. The seed sprouts and grows—he has no idea how it happens. The earth does it all without his help: first a green stem of grass, then a bud, then the ripened grain. When the grain is fully formed, he reaps—harvest time!

The man throws his seeds down and forgets about them and suddenly they grow.., but not without help. It is the earth who shows up and helps the seed grow into a grain to be harvested. 

A clear indication that nothing happens without someone playing a role in what happens.  Perhaps following God's plan for you might mean not mapping anything out, just letting life unfold... and that does have its own value, but some plan is still happening, whether or not you are aware. Someone is standing in your corner guiding you... prompting you... encouraging you... loving you.

The disciples thought that Jesus was a miracle worker. And in many ways he was. But the reason he told parables like the parable of the mustard seed (or as it's called in The Message, 'the pine nut'), is to  show how one life works in conjunction with another, and the 'miracle' is in the ways various lives grow together.  THe seed is so small and yet it grows into a giant pine tree that an eagle can rest in.  But not without sunshine and rain. And the seasons. And later, the community of other trees and the homes that are developed within their branches.

Nothing happens without touching something else. Nothing happens in a vacuum. We are all connected. We might be roaming around the map wasting valuable park time looking at the sidewalk, but we are headed somewhere.  Sometimes we want to waste time.  Sometimes we don't.  It is our job as people of faith to figure out when it is right to be following the UBER GUIDE of getting a ton of stuff done and feeling accomplished and when it is right to slow down a little and worry less about what gets done.   But it is important to always notice, whether we are moving slow or fast, that we all affect one another.  We are here to be with and support one another. We are branches for someone's nest. Someone is the rain for our plant. Jesus tells us that God's kingdom is happening in just that sort of connection. Jesus wants us to see that nobody is going it alone.  

What are your thoughts on touring amusement parks with or without a map?  What are your thoughts on connectivity leading to growth?

Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

"Is a Roller Coaster in the Dark a Good Idea?" #SpaceMountain

2 Corinthians 4:13 through 2 Corinthians 5:1

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.  2 Corinthians 4:17-18

A few weeks ago, the children led our Sunday morning worship service.  They did a Disneyland rides theme.  During  a part of the service, they asked the adults in the congregation if they had any special memories of Disneyland or Disney World.  People mentioned Space Mountain a couple of times, and then later during our fellowship time a conversation got started about whether Space Mountain is scarier because it is in the dark.

It seems there are two camps of people, generally, on this issue.  The people who think Space Mountain is a scary roller coaster because it's in the dark and the people who think it is LESS scary for that same reason.  Which got me to thinking about this as a sermon topic.

Are we less scared or more scared of what we cannot see? And are we predisposed to be that way? And what role does God and our own faith play in trusting in what we cannot see?

I have been ruminating on this for a few weeks now.  In Second Corinthians, Paul tells the people to fix their eyes on what is unseen... that what is seen is temporary....  

Fix our eyes on God. On our faith journey.  Don't sweat the small stuff? Is that what this is telling us?  Don't worry so much about the temporary physical trappings of life, but focus instead on your faith, on God?  I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on this scripture (see above) and on your views on whether seeing and knowing what's ahead is scarier than not knowing....

Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.

Let Go, Let God, Live Life

Acts 2:1-21

Also, Chapter 40 of We Make the Road By Walking by Brian McLaren

 “This is the crisis we’re in: God-light streamed into the world, but men and women everywhere ran for the darkness. They went for the darkness because they were not really interested in pleasing God. Everyone who makes a practice of doing evil, addicted to denial and illusion, hates God-light and won’t come near it, fearing a painful exposure. But anyone working and living in truth and reality welcomes God-light so the work can be seen for the God-work it is.”  John 3:19-21

In the days after the Resurrection, Jesus tells the disciples he is going away again, but that their work in building the peaceable kingdom should continue.  He says it's better if he goes away so the Spirit can come.  If he is actually here with us, then. our focus would be on him... right there... but because he isn't, we have to focus on the Spirit of Christ within ourselves.

It reminds me of a long distance relationship.  When you are in love and living apart, your relationship is not about the time spent together. It's not about holding hands or kissing one another or gazing into each other's eyes. Because, it can't be. You are apart from the one you love.  And yet, it is sometimes those long distance relationships that are able to grow and develop into strong and lasting loves. Not because of the time spent together, but because of the love shared across the miles.  You share things in a different way when you aren't side by side, day after day.  Your loved one walks with you through life, living in your heart and soul, even though you aren't physically together.

This is what is described in the Pentecost story. Jesus is now with the disciples in spirit. And that Spirit enters into their lives in the rush of a violent wind, like a fiery tongue of flame burning over their heads.  But the Spirit didn't arrive just now, in this moment.  The Spirit has always been. From the beginning.

 The Spirit is described in many ways throughout the Bible, even before we get to these images of wind and fire. In the creation story the Spirit is breath.  In the Exodus, a cloud.  In the Baptism of Jesus by John, a dove.  And now fire and wind.  We are always one with the Spirit, but this story of the Pentecost reminds us we have to recognize it. And experience it as a faith community. 

Brian McLaren tells us in Chapter 40 of We Make the Road by Walking that becoming a people who are willing to be alive in the Spirt means that we are willing to share in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. 

In this three part process, we are first able to let go. We are able to allow our old selves to die with Christ.  We let go of what has been.  Both individually and as a community we make that decision when we decide to be a people filled with the Spirit of Christ.

Second, we are able to let be. This is a hard one because it requires so much faith and so little 'activity' in the physical sense.   We like to be busy, but letting be means we must surrender to silence, stillness, powerlessness, emptiness, and rest.  

In this quiet stillness of this space, the spirit enters, leading to our sharing of the resurrection of Christ. Step 3.  Let come.  Who knows what the Spirit will want us to do, but if we say allowed, "Let it be. Spirit come to us" we might just be amazed by what happens next.  I admit I am a control freak and this is soooo hard for me.   But we must get to that space together as a faith community, the space of letting come.

My favorite part of the Pentecost story is the inclusiveness of the Spirit. The Spirit's arrival in the room behind closed doors that day isn't a Spirit that has sights on a particular race, class, or gender. This Spirit isn't elite.  This Spirit comes to all. All at once.  Everyone gathered there shares the Spirit, and yet understands it in their own way. Pentecost, then,  is unity and diversity in harmony.

Somewhere in the struggle to let go, let be, let come... we realize that this is all about letting God guide our lives. It isn't our struggle to bear alone. It is a journey that God shares with us.  

It all sounds so easy when you say it in a blogpost or pronounce it in a sermon, but of course we all know the day-to-day practice of letting Christ live in our hearts is much more difficult. The daily practice of letting go, letting be, letting come... Often, that's too much loss of personal control.  So we decide to keep forging on the way we always have.  With an awareness of the Spirit, but being sure she stays an arm's reach away from us. Not too close.

Someone said they wondered if I was getting more conservative in my religious thinking.  That's not the right word, conservative.  Because I do think that there are many wide and varied ways to seek the Divine in your life, which make my theology quite liberal, I think. But perhaps traditional, maybe I'm becoming more traditional in my religious practice. Yes, I would say that's right.  I am finding it more helpful to look at those religious traditions that have carried us through thousands of years to get us to this point and seeing how they still point us forward into tomorrow.   Images of Fire.  And Wind. And a Dove.  Temples where people gather to praise God. Books that people open together and sing and read the word of God.  How do they connect us to the ancient people who first shared in that Pentecost and then spread the word throughout the world?  What power and strength do they still hold today to make a difference in people's lives?

What does the Spirit of Pentecost mean for us today in 2015 in this place?  How can we choose to be Alive in the Spirit (Capital A, Capital S).  What do we do to let go, let be, let come and LIVE?

Thoughts? Email me or comment below.  peverhart@niwotumc.org

"You Is Smart"

1 Tim 6:3-19  (The Message)

A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God. Since we entered the world penniless and will leave it penniless, if we have bread on the table and shoes on our feet, that’s enough. 1 Tim 6:6-8

How do we best offer instruction to the next generation?  Is it by telling them to read their BIble for an hour every day? Is it by telling them to take a bunch of Advanced Placement classes in school so they can hopefully earn an academic scholarship and get into a 'good' school?  Is it by encouraging them to study a field where they can make a lot of money and be successful?  Is it by living the life we want them to see us living?

The instruction offered in 1 Timothy suggests that money is not the way to get rich in the eyes of God, but living a devout life is.  And notice in this version from Eugene Peterson's The Message (above), he suggests that devoutness isn't so much about trying to be holy as it is about being yourself before God. Being who God made you to be. That might be the best instruction possible to the next generation.

In The Help  by Kathryn Stockett, the young college-educated Skeeter decides to write a book about the lives of the African-American maids employed by all the white families she knows, including her own.  She tackles the project perhaps a little naively at first, but quickly understands the danger in crossing the racial lines of Jackson, MS and the black women who gather to tell her their stories give her a quick education in what 'real life' is like for them, rather than the secluded bubble of 'life' that Skeeter grew up with in her white world.  She sees first hand what discrimination is and, though she can't ever know exactly how they feel, she gets a sense of the ways their reality creates a finite sense of limitation, in ways that hers doesn't, even in a very gender-biased 60's world.

This letter, attributed to Paul but likely written by another person using him as a pseudonym, is written to offer instruction to the faith community still in development.  Much of Timothy is written to instruct on how to avoid false teachings.  Setting down some game rules, so to speak, to keep the next generation of Christians on the right path.   I think an important piece in the study of the letters to Timothy is in understanding the very complicated concept of 'false teaching.'  Is what is false teaching to one person automatically false teaching to another?

In the upper crust world that raised Skeeter, she was taught to see black people as persons to be pitied who were destined to a life of servitude.  We can easily see that as a false teaching today, but we would not necessarily have seen or felt that way in early 1960s Mississippi.  

We are only as knowledgable as we allow ourselves to be in any given moment. The maids grew in knowledge of the white world through Skeeter, learning that it wasn't all filled with people who couldn't see past the color of someone's skin.  Skeeter learned that she could have a college degree and still no nothing about the world she was raised in without talking to people about their own stories.  

In the end, the maids of course stay in Jackson and confront the continued racial bias, now with their stories made public, though supposedly anonymous.  Skeeter takes a job in publishing in New York and moves away. This makes her feel somewhat guilty, leaving them there in the midst of the drama she helped to create., but she is encourage to go and set her wings to flight.

 Tell those rich in this world’s wealth to quit being so full of themselves and so obsessed with money, which is here today and gone tomorrow. Tell them to go after God, who piles on all the riches we could ever manage—to do good, to be rich in helping others, to be extravagantly generous. If they do that, they’ll build a treasury that will last, gaining life that is truly life. 1 Tim 6:17-19

 What makes us smart as we journey to unknown tomorrows?  Being kind and treating everyone we meet as important.  I'm reading a book The Happiness Project  and the author lists as one of her mantras "There is only love."  Great words.  If we look at the world, no matter how unknown it is, ahead of us and see only love, and act only with kindness then we are doing the smartest possible thing we can do.  And you don't have to have a college degree to know that love and kindness will carry your farther at the end of the day than any amount of money.

You is kind. You is smart. You is important.  Remember those words in all you do in the name of Christ.  See your role as a disciple as the most important thing you do.  See your role  of 'being yourself before God' as the most important task you have.  

This week we honor those graduating from high school.  Please join us as we explore more in what it means to follow God into the unknown days ahead.  And join us as we circle around our graduates and bless their beautiful journeys ahead.

Thoughts? Questions? Email me at peverhart@niwotumc.org or comment below.