Breaking Out of Loss

Acts 9:36-43

This story displays the miraculous power of a disciple to raise someone from the dead.  Tabitha, also called a disciple, was someone evidently important enough in this motley crew of early followers of Jesus that Peter goes immediately when he hears news she is near death.

Peter put all of them outside, and then he knelt down and prayed. He turned to the body and said, "Tabitha, get up." Then she opened her eyes, and seeing Peter, she sat up. He gave her his hand and helped her up. Then calling the saints and widows, he showed her to be alive.  This became known throughout Joppa, and many believed in the Lord.

The book of acts speaks of signs and wonders that let the early Christians know that the risen Christ was among them. This is one of those signs.  A woman who had died being suddenly awakened by the words of another disciple who says to her, simply, "Get up."

Tabitha, also called Dorcas, was, the scripture says, devoted to good works and charity, and also a maker of cloth.  She was a needed member of the early Christian community because she was evidently a community organizer.  She made cloth and sold it for proceeds, she did good works, she helped those in need... she is one of those people in your church who does everything and keeps everything going.

No wonder they didn't want her to really be dead. No wonder Peter resurrects her.  Only that isn't what this is about. It isn't about someone's ability to make themselves so needed we can't do without them. It is about someone living fully into the Christian Jesus called her to be and others realizing the importance of her witness.  It is about taking the loss that was Jesus' physical presence and breaking away from that loss, transforming it into a new and resurrected way of seeing the world.

You see, Tabitha could have failed to see what was so important about Jesus once he was no longer with them. But, instead, she propelled his power forward into a new day.  She did works and devoted herself to charity. She gave her full self to the Way of Christ. She realized that resurrection involves action.

Tabitha had plenty of signs and wonders all her own. She made her life a life to be emulated. She created a presence so strong and vital that those around her needed it to continue.  We know people like that. Saints, we often call them.  Mother Theresa, Martin Luther King, Jr., and others who devote their full selves to the Way of Christ, the way of righteousness and justice and peace and love.  Maybe you have your own personal example of such a saint. I know I have a few.  Good for them.  But if we really want to honor those persons who have propelled us forward in faith, we don't look back at the good they did, rather, we propel ourselves forward into following the path they blazed before us.

We break out of the loss their physical presence leaves in our lives. We resurrect the Way for ourselves, creating all the good we can, whenever we can.

Who do you consider a saint?  Who do you wish you were more like? What would it take for you to become a TRUE follower of the Way of Christ?

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"Breaking Free of Paradigms"

Acts 1: 9-6, 7-20

When we read of the conversion of Saul, we often think it is one of those 'Jesus saved me" moments. That this conversion is only about Saul (Paul) encountering the LORD, being blinded, and then immediately realizing "Jesus saves."

What actually happens requires a commitment from the community to embrace one who has shunned and persecuted them. And it requires a commitment from Ananias to listen to God and heal one who has tried to harm his people. And it requires Saul to be at the mercy of those whom he has persecuted, to hope that they won't kill him, but instead will give him solace.

The God work here is amazing. Saul is brought into the center of the community he shunned. The interventions along the way on all sides are remarkable.  It isn't about one man being able to really "SEE," it is about a community coming together to really see one another and offer God's mercy and love in the midst of human weakness.

Evangelism is personal. Someone invites another into a relationship with God through the church.  But evangelism also always requires a community's embrace.  It is God's nudging us into opening up ourselves in a way that bears witness to the Reign of God here and now. And the Reign of God is defined by connection: how we live as a community that brings love, joy, peace and justice to the world and how we show God's love to set people free from that which prevents them from receiving love, joy, peace and justice.

How do we use the example of Saul's entrance into the Christian community to help us break free of the paradigms that we have set up for 'church' in our community?  Who are we leaving out? Who has turned their backs on us? How do we come together to bring about God's reign?


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Breaking Free of Conventional Wisdom

Acts 5:27-32

We must obey God rather than any human authority.


We reach the point as Christians sometimes when we do nothing but complain about each other. We decide that we are right and every other view is wrong and we know what God wants us to believe and who are you to challenge us?

One of the pastors of an area church this week said publicly he was against gay marriage because Jesus says marriage is between a man and a woman. People are furious because this church has put on the persona of being more inclusive.   My reading of the words of Jesus do not align with this pastor; I actually don't read that into what Jesus says at all, as he quotes from Genesis, but I refuse to be angry or lash out at this pastor for taking a stand. I do not have the sole authority to decide what Jesus means in any text. All of us are merely interpreters of scripture, based on our own traditions, reasoning, and life experiences.

We have got to quit 'lording our theological views' over one another. We have got to begin to see the world as Jesus saw it.  We have got to let go of the idea that there is one way to think about God and it is my way. Liberals and conservatives are equally at fault for creating an atmosphere of in-fighting, and I don't mean just politically.  Progressive thinking Christians often belittle or bemoan their conservative Christian brothers and sisters and vice versa.  It is one of the many reasons our denomination seems to struggle so much. We fail to listen to one another, or at the very least just let one another be.

In the end, it is God we obey. God that lives within each of our hearts, souls, and minds.  God that loves each of us, unconditionally. Until we are willing to obey what God is calling us to do, rather than what some 'human authority' might be calling us to do, we will never be able to fully claim the title Christian.

This month's sermon series is all about breaking free from things that keep us from being who God wants us to be.  Imagine ice frozen solid on a lake. Then it warms a bit, and begins to thaw.  But there are still ice particles stuck between the free flowing water and the ice bank.  We are in that place. Needing to be free from the bondage of the ice bank, but unable to fully let go or commit to a new way of seeing life.

God's way is the one we follow. That's what Jesus did. They nailed him to a tree for it, but that's what he did. God created resurrection out of a situation that was based on intolerance.  I challenge each of us to break free of the conventional wisdoms that hold us back and create resurrections in places we have barely tolerated before.

Who is it hard for you to love? What is hard for you to accept?  What do you need to break free from to live abundantly? You are not alone. Remember, we are all caught somewhere between the frozen ice bank and the free flowing water.

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"In Our End is Our Beginning"

John 20:1-18



Looking in the rear view mirror is a good idea, but not if that is the only place you're looking.  If you only look in the mirror, and not out the windshield, you are likely going to crash. And that's never pretty, is it?

The women at the tomb and the disciples were despondent. They were beside themselves. One who they truly believed to be their Messiah was killed. Dead. Entombed.  They truly did not know where to turn. So they retreated, hid within their own walls and within their own sadness, and began to only look in the rear view mirror.

And yet, Jesus appears to Mary outside the tomb.  And when she finally realizes it is, indeed, Jesus she cries "Rabbouni!" (teacher)

and he says to her

"Do not hold on to me, because I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to my brothers and say to them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
Mary Magdalene went and announced to the disciples, "I have seen the Lord"; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus implores her to do two things: 1) don't stay focused on the rear view mirror and 2)Go and tell the others that you are changing course... that a new direction on this road is clear to you now.  

That is what Easter brings to us.  New direction. Change of course.  Unexpected detour down an unfamiliar, even unbelievable road.  

So just when we think we have reached the end of the road.. we see that it isn't the end, it just curves into a new beginning.

What unexpected curves have you encountered on the highway of life? How did they become blessings?  What sense of resurrection do you feel in your life today?

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Are We There Yet?

Luke 19:28-40

The classic road trip words "Are we there yet?"  Remember saying those words? Remember your kids saying them?  I remember my cousin always following "Are we there yet?" with the classic, "Is it as long as it has been?"

This Lenten road trip feels that way right about now.  We see the palm branches waving ahead and the hosannas being lifted on high and we get a little excited "Are we there yet?" This feels like a party!

But of course, we haven't even done the hardest part of all yet. We have yet to die to self, we have yet to put our former selves in the tomb, we have yet to figure out how to achieve resurrected lives.  We are already wondering if we can head down the road of the cross after all. And I fear somewhere about Thursday or so of next week we will begin to cry "Is it as long as it has been?"

The hosanna shouts and the parade of palms sometimes lulls us into thinking our final destination is just off the next exit. But of course, it isn't.

We will start our journey on Sunday with On Fire playing for us "Here Comes the Sun." We will dance in the aisles and party our way forward with palms.  But we won't end there.  We will end our time on Sunday with the stark revelation that we most decidedly are NOT there yet, and we will read the scriptures that remind us of that.


What road trip memories do you have of thinking you would never get there? Why are road trips so hard?  Why does it take longer to get there than it does to get home, sometimes?

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Hello, Goodbye

John 12:1-8

This intimate moment between Jesus and Mary, sister of Lazarus, is surely a significant one in the witness of the disciples and the stories passed down about Jesus because it appears in all four gospels.  It is a moment that is almost too intimate to witness, even amongst the pages of a book, because it shows Mary pouring her whole heart out for Jesus, in front of everyone.

She takes a jar of perfumed oil and pours it on Jesus feet, tenderly wiping it with her hair. 

I am not sure if the disciples react so negatively because, as they say, she wasted an expensive perfume, or because they are so uncomfortable with the intimate scene in front of them. Perhaps they didn't like a woman so blatantly showing a deep affection in a public way.

Now, I don't know, and it doesn't really matter, whether this was an intimacy that involved a romantic link. But I do believe that this is the time and place that she first sees Jesus' journey clearly. She sees what he is headed for. She knows what awful death lies ahead. And so she anoints him with a perfume that would have been used for a burial rite. Publicly, in front of everyone, so that all may be aware.

But of course, they miss the point. It is just too hard to see. No one wants to face the cross in front of them, so they ridicule Mary and her extravagant actions and scold her for being wasteful.

And yet, here she is, trying not to waste any time, trying to show Jesus her devotion before it is too late. Trying to make sure that Jesus sees her understanding of his path.

She is saying hello, welcoming him into the evening meal in a common way, by washing the feet, but also goodbye, letting him know that she is aware of what is happening to him by anointing his feet with a burial oil.

When do we see the inevitable on the road in front of us but pretend we don't?  When do you take an exit and say hello to the wrong place?  How do we equip ourselves to head into the stream of hellos and goodbyes we face in our own lives in the years ahead?  

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U Turn

Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

The classic Prodigal Son story.  What a great story about redemption and forgiveness, jealousy and blessings. And also a great story about realization and stopping dead in your tracks and making a U-turn.

Have you ever noticed how many places U-turns are forbidden. It seems like almost everywhere I desire to make a U-turn when I get twisted around in my directions, it is forbidden. And I feel frustrated and aggravated and, sometimes, at a loss. Do you ever make that illegal U-turn anyway?  Sometimes we do, sometimes we want to, sometimes our car might be too big to make it work, but we still contemplate the idea of it!

In this parable, the wayward son partied away his inheritance and then his life fell apart. He had set no real goals for himself, no real plan of action.  And when things fell apart, he had no one to turn to and nothing to fall back on.

The road sometimes is full of obstacles, but we decide to drive on it all alone. We decide we'd rather stay out of the rush hour traffic and hit the open road with just me, myself, and I and no one to tell us what to do or how to drive or where to go.  We decide we need no one on our journey from A to Z.

And then, we realize that we do. We realize that the relationships we have let wither away are far away from us just when we need them the most.  

A few years ago, a dear friend of mine gave me a CD by Patti Griffin with a song on it called, "When It Don't Come Easy," which speaks to how important it is to have even that ONE person who you know you can go 'home' to no matter what.  One part of the song goes like this: 
You're out there walking down a highway
And all of the signs got blown away
Sometimes you wonder if you're walking in the wrong direction

But if you break down
I'll drive out and find you
If you forget my love
I'll try to remind you
And stay by you when it don't come easy

The Prodigal Son decides to risk going home to his father.  He decides that even though he hasn't kept in touch and has failed to be there when the family needed him, he will see if he can be some part of his father's life anyway.

And when he gets within view of his father, his father runs up to greet him and embraces him.  "If you break down, I'll drive out and find you. If you forget my love, I'll try to remind you." 

Even if you feel no one on earth could possibly fill that place for you, know this: God will always fill that place for you. Just imagine God saying to you those lyrics above.  And know that God is there, waiting for you to return.

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