Glorify

Today is the fifth Sunday in Lent. Next week is Palm Sunday and then we go into Holy Week. So we are nearing the end of a journey. Lent is often an intentional time of struggle, some the dark night of the soul, preparing ourselves for the resurrection that comes in the morning. 

For many, Lent is a time of examining our scriptures and commandments to consider how well we live up to God’s words. Lent is a time of reconciliation and repentance to God’s Law. That is what makes today’s scripture challenging for us. We want laws to be clear and unambiguous. God’s Law above all others should be explicit and apparent. 

This type of legalism leads some to reach into places in scripture, where legalism becomes idolatry, where isolated texts from Leviticus or Deuteronomy, picked out of specific codes by which to live and hold others accountable. I say pick out because very few of us, even the most legalistic, do or even can live by every single literal word of either Leviticus or Deuteronomy. We may like the condemnation about not eating shellfish. We can give that up that during Lent. But what’s this about wearing mixed fibers? Do I really have to stop wearing my rad polyester blends? Cotton and wool make me itchy, that part of the old Law can’t be so literal. Even for those who try, living by every single word of the Law is near impossible and if carried out in today’s world would put you into trouble with other laws: the United States isn’t wild about stoning people in the streets or selling children into slavery. But beyond the United States legal system, it seems that God wasn’t crazy about our tendency toward Biblical legalism either. This is why, through the Prophets, God came in and revealed a deeper truth in God’s Law, revolutionizing the way the Jewish community and we today interpret those Laws. That’s what we hear in the words of Jeremiah when scripture record’s God voice, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” 

In moments like this, God isn’t changing what God is or the nature of God’s Law but correcting how we know and relate to that Law. God has seen in Leviticus and Deuteronomy, a people called to live by example become closed-off, exclusive, and sometimes more in the love with the words of the book than in the Spirit of God. God knows that when humans write things down, we have the tendency to suck the ambiguity and Spirit out of things. Have you ever read a text message and gotten very upset about what it sounded like it was saying only to have the sender get equally upset and surprised because you apparently misunderstood the tone and spirit of the text? Throughout the books of the Prophets, God is time and again tapping us on the shoulder and saying, “hey did you get my texts? Because you seem to have misinterpreted who I AM and what you should and should not be doing.” For this reason, God says today, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.” God writes in our hearts because we too often misunderstand God when we try to write God’s Law on paper. Writing on our hearts is God’s way of taking our precious writings, texts, and legalism away from us and handing us back a Spirit. God is deemphasizing “thou shall” and “thou shall not,” which create exclusiveness and judgement and re-emphasizing a Spirit of love which reaches out to be more inclusive, open, and affirming; leaving judgements, if they come at all, to God, the God to whom alone goes all the Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory. So God takes away our exclusive law and gives us a Spirit. God also takes away our ego and pride then gives us humility and relationship instead. “I will be their God,” scripture continues, “and they shall be my people.” Let’s make this clear, God does not choose us because we are so great, awesome, and perfectly follow “Laws.” We do not earn God’s Love. God has chosen us. God calls out to all of us to come into relationship with God, to be God’s people. God also opens the door to everyone to be people of God but also for God to be all our God. This sounds like a simple inversion of the previous statement but is actually very profound. God isn’t just my God. God isn’t just Pastor Ron’s God. We don’t exclusively own God because we have been ordained. God isn’t just this church’s God. God isn’t just the UCC’s God. We don’t exclusively own God because we follow certain rules and dogma. God is everyone’s God. Everyone has access to God. People outside this Church community, they already have access to God. People outside this denomination, they already have access to God. People we don’t like and can’t possibly imagine ever agreeing with or liking, they already have access to God. God has already claimed them as God’s special people and already written God’s Law in their hearts. This means not only that we should avoid legalistic literalism and the tendency to close ourselves off or close our doors to others - this means not simply that we should open our doors and affirm the stranger because that makes us God’s people - but that we need to see that we NEED the gifts, wisdom, and guidance that God has written in the hearts of those who aren’t get here, aren’t yet included. God has written something special in their hearts, messages we desperately need to read and understand. We need all of God’s people at the table because then and only then can we begin to see a fuller Image of God written in our hearts, only then can we begin to read the fuller Law of God written in our hearts. God has taken our exclusivity and legalism and marked our hearts, giving us a desire to reach out and include the strangers we may have formerly shunned.

I had the awesome opportunity to attend the True Colors Conference this weekend. For anyone who doesn’t know what True Colors is, True Colors is a non-profit organization that works with other social service agencies, schools, organizations, and within communities to ensure that the needs of sexual and gender minority youth are both recognized and competently met. True Colors offers the largest and most comprehensive conference in the country focused on LGBTQ youth issues. Now in it’s 25th year, the conference hosted at the University of Connecticut more than 3,500 participants from the Northeast and Nationally. With more than 220 workshops to choose from. What an incredible experience to attend this conference as an adult, I can only imagine that as a young person this was a space of authenticity and liberation, of freeing themselves fully and making bonds with a new chosen family, family that doesn’t reject them, but welcomes them just as they are.

We here at the First Congregational Church of Southington know how long the journey is and how great the reward of being Open and Affirming, with all the dimensions and colors. Last Lent we held a series of workshops on race, disability, mental health, gender and sexuality, in order to consider the many facets of our Open and Affirming statement and mission as a Church. After that series, hearing from a wide range of voices on the specific needs to be accessible across divides of racism, sexism, ableism, classism, homophobia and transphobia, I was struck by how there is no one Law or set of Laws that can possibly make certain that we will always get it right. 

Being Open and Affirming is not just written as our Church Mission in legalistic terms but is written on our hearts. The mission was not merely put there by vote but rather we collectively looked into our hearts and saw that the command to LOVE is already written there from the start of all things. God did not come to just give us a list of Do’s and Don’ts, to take away, shellfish, pork or prescribe fashion statements. God came to call us into relationship. God has written LOVE on our hearts. 

And yet, as we look to the world and wonder? When will we embody LOVE without question or hesitation? When will humanity reach the point where hope and life will shine brilliantly through all people, not just a few? Jesus changed the world to show us that another way is possible. As Lent draws to its end, how will you glorify Jesus so that folks know God’s LOVE as it is written on your heart?

True Colors: Much Needed TLC

True Colors Conference

I had the awesome opportunity to attend the True Colors Conference this weekend. For anyone who doesn’t know what True Colors is, True Colors is a non-profit organization that works with other social service agencies, schools, organizations, and within communities to ensure that the needs of sexual and gender minority youth are both recognized and competently met. True Colors is the first LGBT organization to offer the largest and most comprehensive conference in the country focused on LGBTQ youth issues. Now in it’s 25th year, the conference hosted at the University of Connecticut more than 3,500 participants from the Northeast and Nationally. With more than 220 workshops to choose from. What an incredible experience to attend this conference as an adult, I can only imagine that as a young person this was a space of authenticity and liberation, of freeing themselves fully and making bonds with a new chosen family, family that doesn’t reject them, but welcomes them just as they are.

I had the opportunity to serve as a True Colors Conference Volunteer as well, called a TLC, we were asked to walk through the halls of the Student Union and other buildings, looking for youth who were in need of some TLC, maybe they were off by themselves, looking unconnected, maybe they need help with directions, whatever the moment presented we helped folks. We were dressed in purple aprons, and I with my clergy collar underneath.

I approached two young people as they waited in the Student Union for a balloon animal. We chatted about their creation, it looked like a giraffe, not quite fully formed, the body was still being created. “You’re a pastor?” I nodded. "My pastor kicked me out of church because I’m transgender. Right in the middle of worship, he told me that I couldn’t be there. God didn’t approve of my lifestyle.” I looked at this young man, with compassion, and said, “That’s not ok. I’m so sorry that happened.” He asked, “Where’s your church?” “Southington, and we are Open And Affirming, which means you are welcome just as you are.” This blew their mind. Because they knew how being truly open and affirming can be. They knew that not just saying you are open and affirming but living out that mission means constantly examining and re-examining who is not yet at the table, how is our church still exclusive or not fully accessible? 

In the past 25 years, the True Colors conference has grown to include not just lesbian and gay youth but intersex and transgender youth, not just gender and sexuality but race and disability issues, not just those with money and privilege but the poor and disadvantaged, not just those of one political party not all political parties, not just those who can can walk, see, hear, or think in a normate way but those with all sorts of bodies, ways of moving, ways of sensing, and ways of thinking. They have made great strides to make True Colors about all of our True Colors, all the different parts that make us who we are. They try and try hard but each session ended with a little piece of paper for attendees to review and critique the conference. They knew that in the work of being Open and Affirming, there is so much more to do to reach out, be accessible to more people who deserve a seat at the Table.

Razzle Dazzel'em

What gets folks attention? Sparkling brightness, thats what...and that’s what we find in our scripture today. This is about as close as the Bible gets to the lights of Broadway or the Vegas Strip.

Jesus has been teaching his disciples for a whole week about the suffering that would come at following the cross, and then he decides to go on a fieldtrip, a cub scouts hiking and camping trip to the top of a mountain.

I wonder what Peter, James, and John were all thinking as they followed Jesus up this mountain? Jesus had fed the 4,000, and opened the eyes of a blind man….and now they were headed up a mountain?! Seriously?!

Some argue the Transfiguration is “the” epiphanal moment of the entire season of Epiphany.  On the mountain top a dazzling, sparkly Jesus, or as I like to refer to him Razzle Dazzel’em Jesus shows up with cosmic force. And even Moses and Elijah appear and begin talking with sparkly Jesus. Jesus his teacher, and these two revered fathers of the faith. Can you imagine what was going through Peter’s mind? OMG! OMG! OMG! <squeals, pinches self> Peter terrified and also completely overwhelmed by what he was witnessing suggests building tabernacles for Sparkly Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, tabernacles were tent like dwelling places, built by the ancient nomadic cultures of woven layers of curtains, as a way of marking the space as holy, and inhabited by God.

Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" If this was the Vegas Strip there would be a “HUGE” flashing sign, saying “He’s the Real Deal” Sometimes God knows we need some razzle dazzle to make us pay attention.

But just like Jesus breaks down Peter’s suggestion to keep Jesus in a tabernacle on the mountain, like a special shrine you can go and see in the same way every time, once Jesus shows him his glory he knows nothing will be the same. This is why people call it a secret. Sure sounds like Jesus doesn’t want the world to know how awesome he is. That is one way of reading this story: Jesus hiding his razzle dazzle on a mountain. But I see it differently. I see it differently because I’ve walked up mountains in my own life and I know how they can change you and show you things in ways that you just can’t describe to people who haven’t been on that journey yet.

The day had been rainy. Not just a light sprinkle. A downpour. This is not what we had expected when our family planned a trip to Lake George in New York for the weekend. We had wanted to go out hiking up a mountain that day. But once we saw the torrential waters and mud, we opted to stay inside and play board games; all except Gabby. Although she regularly claims that it is the Bahr part of the family which is particularly stubborn, my partner Gabby can be extremely persistent when she sets her mind to something. All I knew was that even with the rain, she was determined to go up the mountain. She was gone for about two hours. When the door to the cabin opened to reveal thoroughly drenched Gabby covered up to her knees in mud. “Well? Was it worth it?” “Yes!” Taking off her sticky boots. “You have to see what’s up there.” We asked what it was that was so worth it. “You just have to see what’s up there.”

Well the next day was drier, no rain, and a little less muddy so this time the four of us were geared up and ready to hike. Almost immediately, once we hit the mountain itself, the climb seemed daunting. I mean, as straight up as you can be without having to crawl with your hands. The kids right away wanted to bail. “But you have to see what’s up there,” she said, “let’s go.” And once we put foot in front of foot, we started to fall into a rhythm which made things feel doable if unpleasant for a while. Most of us did. Our youngest Nora was not having it. She found a spot, parked her feet, and refused to go. With parental prodding, I got her moving but slowly and with deliberate defiance. “Carry me,” she would say. You can walk, we would tell her. “What’s so special up there anyway?” she would argue. Eventually we traded off and Gabby took her turn. By this point there was no more arguing with this child. “You will see,” is all she would get. She was forced by collective will to take the lead of the group. With constant and consistent prodding she made it up the steepest part of the climb.

Around the middle of the hike, she found that rhythm we had promised and the way became easier,and the complaining stopped for a minute.

Then the road got really steep again and this time very winding. Hitting this rough patch made her want to walk all the way back down. Or to just sit where she was. Smothering her in encouragement and challenge, yeah, you know... “You’ve gone this far, do you really want to surrender all that work for nothing?” “Yes,” she said defiantly. “You will miss what’s up there,” we repeated. “What’s so special about it?” She asked again. “You just have to see!” Well, she eventually heard us and let go, accepting the new challenges, --the logs, the streams, the jutting rocks -- all seemed kind of exciting. She began jumping and leaning and climbing up faster than all of us.

Then suddenly the way bent out of sight and the way got suddenly a lot easier. Turning around this bend of trees, we finally saw it. It was as if the mountain, the land and the sky broke open. On this outcropping of rock was a sheer cliff and in all directions we saw what felt like the whole world but the whole world as we hadn’t seen it before. We felt like we were momentarily in a kind of heaven space. A holy place. Everything we saw, we had seen before, but not like this. Our point of view had changed. We had been moved. We followed a way on faith. And on the road we had been changed. Now looking back, everything looked new. The world was more beautiful, more good, somehow even more true because we got to see this view into and across it. Even now, putting it into words is difficult.

I imagine each one of us has one of these moments, your own mountain-top experience. And a part of me understands another reason why Jesus told the others not to tell others what they saw on the mountain. But another way of thinking of the mystery is that Jesus showed them a truth that they could only ever understand after heeding the call to “follow me” and walking up all that way, by pushing themselves up the path of cynicism, through the trials of habit, and beyond the challenges of exhaustion and despair.

Caroline Lewis argues that the transfiguration isn’t only about the changed and glorified, Sparkly Jesus. This story is about our own transfiguration.

“Jesus gets this. What will it be that gets you to move, to come out of your tent, or maybe even not to want pitch one in the first place? Rather than blame Peter for his myopia, maybe we admit our own. I am guessing that not much about human nature has changed in the two thousand years since Jesus’ earthly ministry. Transfiguration means exposure. I mean, look at Jesus. You can’t miss him. Vulnerability is less than comfortable but it seems absolutely essential for life and thus for a life of faith. At least Jesus seems to think so. When we exchange vulnerability for certainty all we do is live the lie that authenticity does not matter. That the truth of who we are can be absconded by our denominational structures, doctrinal commitments, and dogmatic insistences, that is, our tents that we secure, pounding stake by stake into the ground. Tents are not just about shelter. They repel the forces of nature. They keep out that which might harm. They keep as much in as they keep out. And Transfiguration will rip our tents into shreds. Transfiguration means change.”

Only then can one turn around, look back at the world from which you came with special knowledge. Because the razzle dazzle of the holy truth, the special mystery, the beautiful truth is not just a thing you can point to and say “see, there.” The Way and Truth of Christ is a not just something to be seen but a way of seeing. And that way of seeing truth requires us sometimes to hike up our own mountains of faith. It may feel like we are leaving our comfortable dry world behind but if we give up all those things, we will eventually be given back those things like a world made new again. We will not just see the razzle of the mountain but the mountain will frees us to follow Jesus to let go, and be changed.

On this last Sunday of Epiphany, as we prepare to begin our Lenten journey, we are reminded to listen, we are invited into transformation. That’s what Lent is about. It’s an invitation to listen for God’s voice, to journey into the darkness and be transfigured by shining the light in our lives.

“Give them the old razzle dazzle, razzle dazzle’em…”

#MaryToo?

I remember the first time a complete stranger reached out and touched my pregnant belly. I was at Target and a loud voice rang out, “Oh you must be pregnant with twins!” I remember the way I dug down really deep resisting the urge to shove their hand away. I must have forgotten to wear my sign that day, you know,  the one that says, “Please don’t touch me without my permission,” but some would argue these are social norms.

There’s a momentum growing in our time, the calling out of Harvey Weinstein has spurred many women to come forward to declare #MeToo. You may have heard about the many other women in the entertainment industry who have come forward, and subsequently the many powerful men ousted from their positions in   the industry, on account of their patterns of abuse. 

This hasn’t only happened in the entertainment industry, this has prompted women to take their voices to various social media platforms and declare #MeToo sharing their stories of violation and abuse. 

The outpouring of these stories have caused some to respond defensively. Am I not to flirt with women anymore? Such reactivity sadly misses the point, about the difference between propositioning someone and engaging in harassment and non-consensual abuse. 

What one should keep in mind when one considers such situations, is the role of power in determining the degree to which one can consent or not. Our scripture today offers us the most extreme example of a power differential among sexual propositions, among all the possible propositions, God Almighty and a teenager. And our scripture offers an ideal model of how consent works, within this extreme circumstance. 

“In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,  to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.”And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for  you have found favor with God.” 

When we first meet Mary in Luke, she is addressed by the angel as “the favored one,” not because of what   she will do, but because of what she already is. “You have found favor with God,” says the Angel Gabriel. 

God recognizes something special in Mary. God knows that Mary embodies faithfulness, and hope, and audacious bravery.

My partner who is a member of FCC, though also a lifelong Catholic reminds me on a regular basis how wonderful Mary is. I sometimes find it embarrassing that Protestants do not revere Mary with greater respect. Though, I must say, I do take issue with the image in the Catholic hymn of Mary as “meek and       mild.” She was anything but meek and mild.

I’m reminded of the sermon my dear colleague the Rev. Heidi Heath preached a year ago on this Sunday, at my installation right here at FCC Southington, describing this very scripture. She reminded us that Mary was no shrinking violet. Mary was the loudest, sassiest girl singing at the top of her lungs in the children’s choir… and just a week into our Christmas Pageant Rehearsals, all of us are imaging the Mary’s in our own congregation!

The Angel Gabriel continues: “And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give   to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” How many of us would be ok with our teenage daughters consenting to these terms? 

Whoa! Slow it down here, what now?! 

As overwhelming as the Angel’s message is, we see how God practices “informed consent,” sharing with   Mary not just a part of what her decision entails, but the enormity of the consequences, not just for herself   but for all of God’s creation, the entire world will be changed. 

One way of thinking about this, is when we go to the doctor, a good doctor doesn’t just tell us to take a new prescription, they would first thoroughly describe the benefits and the side effects of the medicine before prescribing the medicine. Before being able to give her consent, Mary has some questions she needs answered. Mary has a very inquisitive spirit and is puzzled as to how she will become pregnant. 

“How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called  Son of God.  And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren.  For nothing will be impossible with God.”  Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

Now, the scripture affirms Mary’s consent to God’s call. Though, it’s important to note Mary’s yes comes with tremendous risk. Informed consent means Mary is aware of the social fallout that she could face, and    she says yes to God’s call in spite of these potential consequences. She is willing to risk her body, and her social status, getting pregnant outside of marriage, and the potential loss of relationship with Joseph, all to   be the one who bears God’s Son. 

From beginning to end this scripture is a model of how to engage with one another especially when it comes to our bodies, in ways that avoid abuse or harassment. God asks Mary first, aware of the power differentials, and waits to hear Mary’s informed consensual answer yes.

Though, as hard as it is to imagine otherwise, Mary could have said no. Imagine how many other Mary’s before her could have said no. And her human decision affected the rest of us…however, Mary was willing to do the    unpopular thing, the dangerous thing. Like many of the women speaking out in the #MeToo movement. 

Mary does the work of a prophet. 

Most people think prophets are like fortune tellers, though biblical prophets were most often people that God called to be speakers of truth, saying the necessary, though unpopular thing to God’s people who had    gotten off track.

Scholars have long noted that the Angel’s arrival and conversation with Mary closely resembles the call narratives of the Hebrew Prophets. Which means that Mary, at least for the community of Luke, was regarded as a prophet. And what was it that she was called to proclaim? That God was entering into the      world to restore justice and righteousness, and that Mary’s very body would bear the evidence.

Mary’s Song, the Magnificat, is this prophetic call to a world that will be utterly turned upside down with the birth of God’s Son.  

“My soul magnifies the Lord,

and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.

 Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed;”

Mary’s social standing as pregnant, unwed mother, in Nazareth wasn’t likely to be very high. She was among the working poor of rural Judea. However, God didn’t choose a rich, royal, or typically powerful family to select Mary from, and yet the scripture calls her “blessed.”

“His mercy is for those who fear him from generation to generation.”

Here Mary acknowledges an understanding of the Hebrew scriptures, and God’s mercy being extended to those who teach the new generations reverence of God.

“He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts.”

This part of the prophecy is about folks who believe they are above reproach, who are unwilling to see their own flaws, and their abuses of others. Here we are reminded that the proud too will be humbled.

“He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.”These prophetic words are biting. These stories make us feel uncomfortable and yet, that’s what is so hard about listening to prophecies- prophets hold up a mirror to God’s people. 

Mary’s Song makes us feel uncomfortable, and yet we know that God’s vision for the world, of justice and peace is what is intended. And we’ve grown far to used to abuse and violence as the norm. 

Twice a month I attend Southington High School’s Multicultural Student Union Meetings as a community leader who is interested in helping to address issues of racism in our community and schools. This week students were invited to watch a video that helped address the the dynamics of interpersonal racism. And after the video in the midst of dialogue, one student spoke up “I believe the only way that people will change is if we all challenge ourselves to being uncomfortable.”

We have a great opportunity to listen deeply to the prophetic voices in our midsts, of those declaring #MeToo. And we can choose to sit with our discomfort, though perhaps you like Mary will hear a call and deep from your heart and out of your lips will arise a song too powerful to contain.

Perhaps like this poetic song about Mary’s consensual choice to say yes to God...

Annunciation

We know the scene: the room, variously furnished, 

almost always a lectern, a book; always the tall lily.

    Arrived on solemn grandeur of great wings,

the angelic ambassador, standing or hovering,

whom she acknowledges, a guest.

But we are told of meek obedience. No one mentions courage.

       The engendering Spirit did not enter her without consent.

      God waited.

She was free to accept or to refuse, choice integral to humanness.

            ____________________

Aren’t there annunciations

of one sort or another

in most lives?

      Some unwillingly

undertake great destinies,

enact them in sullen pride,

uncomprehending.

More often

those moments

   when roads of light and storm

   open from darkness in a man or woman,

are turned away from

in dread, in a wave of weakness, in despair

and with relief.

Ordinary lives continue.

                           God does not smite them.

But the gates close, the pathway vanishes.

            ____________________

She had been a child who played, ate, slept

like any other child–but unlike others,

wept only for pity, laughed

in joy not triumph.

Compassion and intelligence

fused in her, indivisible.

Called to a destiny more momentous

than any in all of Time,

she did not quail,

  only asked

a simple, ‘How can this be?’

and gravely, courteously,

took to heart the angel’s reply,

the astounding ministry she was offered:

to bear in her womb

Infinite weight and lightness; to carry

in hidden, finite inwardness,

nine months of Eternity; to contain

in slender vase of being,

the sum of power–

in narrow flesh,

the sum of light.

Then bring to birth,

push out into air, a Man-child

needing, like any other,

milk and love–

but who was God. 

This was the moment no one speaks of,

when she could still refuse.

A breath unbreathed,

                          Spirit,

                                       suspended,

                                                      waiting.

            ____________________

She did not cry, ‘I cannot. I am not worthy,’

Nor, ‘I have not the strength.’

She did not submit with gritted teeth,

                                                 raging, coerced.

Bravest of all humans,

                            consent illumined her.

The room filled with its light,

the lily glowed in it,

                         and the iridescent wings.

Consent,

           courage unparalleled,

opened her utterly.

Reformed & Always Reforming

We are finally here! Celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Reformation. Well technically, it’s Tuesday, but we are celebrating it today! So what exactly does this anniversary mean to us? Well the United Church of Christ as a denomination has this to say:

“The Protestant Reformation began 500 years ago. None of us lived before it. Some of the life-threatening, flabbergasting ideas that exploded out of those years are now a part of the air we breathe. 500 years ago people died for them. But time turns the revolutionary into the everyday. We take key Reformation claims for granted. We can’t even see them, they’re just a part of who are… but the United Church of Christ’s Reformation [lifts] up some of the Reformation’s central claims. There is beauty here. And ugliness too. Inasmuch as ideas can thrill, these ideas are thrilling. Brace yourself…

The Reformation was a powerful movement of church reform and renewal — and a whole lot more. It was both cause and effect of sweeping changes in European culture and society. These changes shaped modern Europe and America and influenced the entire world. The Reformation marked the end of the medieval and feudal world and the emergence of a new world of a rising middle class, greater individual rights and freedoms, the emergence of nation-states, and a worldwide growth of commerce and trade. As with other historical movements, changes in technology were a key part of a cultural shift. In the late 15th century Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press. For the first time something approximating mass production of books, including the Bible, was possible. The Reformation leader, Martin Luther, seized on the potential of the printing press by pioneering the translation of Scripture, previously in Latin, into the vernacular language of his time and place. Ordinary people and church laity, increasingly becoming literate as part of their transition from feudal economies to urban middle classes, could for the first time read and interpret the texts of Scripture for themselves. As a result, the priesthood and church power and authority centered in Rome began to lose some of its control. The Reformation was a forerunner of democratic movements, including the creation of the United States.”

On the 500th anniversary of the Reformation, we remember a time when it was radical to say that God is still speaking, that God does new things, and that the Holy Spirit may be moving among us to transform our world and our church. Today, 500 years later, this is still radical. In the eyes of God, 500 years is like a blink of an eye. God is still speaking. God is still doing new things. God is still with us, telling us through the spirit and the scripture, as we hear today, about all that God has in store for us, our church, and the world.

In today’s passage from Isaiah, the prophet is addressing the issue of fear, specifically the fear of abandonment, specifically, abandonment by God.  Israel, was in exile in Babylon. And she was afraid. Afraid that God had forgotten her. Afraid that he'd abandoned her as a people. God promises to rescue Israel. They are longing for home, and the way things were back in Israel. The good old days when they were not living as refugees in a strange land, when they were not separated from their families, where they could worship God and go to Temple. And God responds with these beautiful promises...

You are mine. I will be with you. I will give everything in exchange for you.  And in verse 4 we hear these beautiful words, “Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life.” I am your God, and you are mine. I claim you.

Then we hear God say “Do not long for the ways of old, I am about to do something new…”now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.”

This is a statement for Reformation if I ever heard one. A close reading of our scriptures from Genesis until Revelations, especially highlighted in Isaiah, we see how God is constantly breaking into our world to remind us that we are free. We build these rules, walls, and chains around ourselves which confine us. These relics become old so those who made them are no longer around. Our children think these confinements have always existed. They teach their children, this is the way things have always been and always will be. Over time, we forget that it was not God who put us in bondage, but ourselves. And so God breaks in, time and again, to liberate us. God breaks down our walls and dysfunctional rules, reminding us that we are free, we can change, we can grow. God has to teach us again and again to be creative and to try new things. God is the original creator. God is creative. God is not afraid of new things. God is a creator, a redeemer, and a reformer. In God’s holy spirit, in the mind of God, the body of Christ, we too learn and remember how to be brave, to be creative, to try new things, and to reform what is broken.

Let’s do a quick review:

Martin Luther’s own call for change in his 95 Theses wasn’t exactly seen as a blessing by those he was critiquing. Though Martin didn’t get his idea to write the 95 Theses from hours and hours of pouring over social media. It turns out that writing Theses and hammering them on the doors was very common in the university setting. However, there was something that happened that caused Martin to write his list...There was a priest who was well known for the selling of indulgences- and what are indulgences? Ok, well-known priest the next town over starts an indulgence selling campaign saying “I could even assault the Virgin Mary, and get pardoned by the Pope and go to Heaven.” And this priest even had a robust road show, and was very good at selling indulgences in new towns with this message. And of course where was the money going? To Rome, to the Pope.

Clearly, a priest joking about the sexual assault of Jesus’ mother was a hard line for Martin Luther. Priests committing sexual assault, and selling God’s grace in forgiveness...Mmmm, I don’t think so! ML started drafting his 95 Theses-He felt the Pope and priests were so corrupt, that things needed to change.

So on October 31, the eve of All Saints Day, 1517 he posted his 95 theses on the church door of Wittenburg Church, and the theses focused on three main points,

Point 1- An objection to spending money on indulgences

Theses 46) Christians are to be taught “Unless they have more money than they need for their own family, they are by no means to squander it on indulgences”

Point 2) A denial that the Pope has authority over purgatory

Theses 26) It is good that the Pope intercedes for souls in purgatory, but he has no authority over purgatory just because he is the pope

Point 3) A consideration for the welfare of sinners

Theses 36) Every truly repentant Christian has a right to full remission of penalty and guilt even without indulgences.

Many of his ideas came in direct reaction to what ML considered issues of justice. The poor were less likely to be able to afford bailing out their dead relatives for their sins, or if they did they were left destitute and unable to care for their families. What if you couldn’t afford indulgences?

Well, purgatory for eternity!

ML gets to writing. He wrote not only to reform the church but to teach us to write and reform the church in our own time and place. The five hundredth anniversary of the reformation invites us to pause for a moment and wonder together how God is calling us to live into greater faithfulness? What are the issues of justice we need to see in and from the Church? What is one thing that God is calling us to be faithful in this next era of the church? Break-out into groups of 3-4 and share your idea….[Break-outs/Share-backs]

I know I titled my sermon Reformed and Always Reforming, but I definitely have a better title now, “Nailed it!” Maybe it can be a sub-title, because Reformed and Always Reforming is the point of what we are doing together as people who are striving for greater faithfulness to the gospel. Historians have searched for the origin and give different views both of its origin and original intent. Most of them agree that the first use was in the 1670s by Jodocus van Lodenstein, a Reformed preacher in the Netherlands, although even he did not speak of it as an aphorism, or use the precise words we are familiar with. Various forms of the phrase were used by other Reformed men, until the full expression, most agree, came to be ecclesia reformata et semper reformanda secundus verbum Dei.That is, the church, having been reformed, must continue to be reformed according to God’s Word.  

In the spirit of the anniversary of the Reformation, may we pledge to make the next 500 years embracing these tenants, ready to transform and be transformed!