God brings a new creation: 23rd after Pentecost C

Today, I preached at Trinity las Americas United Methodist Church (TLA).  My sermon was rooted in my queerying the text this week.

This Sunday is the Sunday before the 20th annual Trans Day of Remembrance, so that was a big part of my sermon.  Below is the manuscript.  Because TLA is multicultural and worships bilingually, the sermon also is bilingual. 

I'm doing my best to include the manuscript more or less as it was preached.  The italicized is English and bold is Spanish.

Isaiah 65:17-25
17 For I am about to create new heavens
    and a new earth;
the former things shall not be remembered
    or come to mind.
18 But be glad and rejoice forever
    in what I am creating;
for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,
    and its people as a delight.
19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,
    and delight in my people;
no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,
    or the cry of distress.
20 No more shall there be in it
    an infant that lives but a few days,
    or an old person who does not live out a lifetime;
for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth,
    and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed.
21 They shall build houses and inhabit them;
    they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.
22 They shall not build and another inhabit;
    they shall not plant and another eat;
for like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be,
    and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands.
23 They shall not labor in vain,
    or bear children for calamity;[a]
for they shall be offspring blessed by the Lord—
    and their descendants as well.
24 Before they call I will answer,
    while they are yet speaking I will hear.
25 The wolf and the lamb shall feed together,
    the lion shall eat straw like the ox;
    but the serpent—its food shall be dust!
They shall not hurt or destroy
    on all my holy mountain,
says the Lord.

-----

Isaías 65:17-25
17 »Miren, yo voy a crear
un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva.
Lo pasado quedará olvidado,
nadie se volverá a acordar de ello.
18 Llénense de gozo y alegría para siempre
por lo que voy a crear,
porque voy a crear una Jerusalén feliz
y un pueblo contento que viva en ella.
19 Yo mismo me alegraré por Jerusalén
y sentiré gozo por mi pueblo.
En ella no se volverá a oír llanto
ni gritos de angustia.
20 Allí no habrá niños que mueran a los pocos días,
ni ancianos que no completen su vida.
Morir a los cien años será morir joven,
y no llegar a los cien años será una maldición.
21 La gente construirá casas y vivirá en ellas,
sembrará viñedos y comerá sus uvas.
22 No sucederá que uno construya y otro viva allí,
o que uno siembre y otro se aproveche.
Mi pueblo tendrá una vida larga, como la de un árbol;
mis elegidos disfrutarán del trabajo de sus manos.
23 No trabajarán en vano
ni tendrán hijos que mueran antes de tiempo,
porque ellos son descendientes
de los que el Señor ha bendecido,
y lo mismo serán sus descendientes.
24 Antes que ellos me llamen,
yo les responderé;
antes que terminen de hablar,
yo los escucharé.
25 El lobo y el cordero comerán juntos,
el león comerá pasto, como el buey,
y la serpiente se alimentará de tierra.
En todo mi monte santo
no habrá quien haga ningún daño.»
El Señor lo ha dicho.

-----

This Wednesday is Trans Day of Remembrance, or TDOR. Every year on November 20, we gather and read all the names that we know of the transgender people who have died in the last year. Although the list can often include some of those who died by suicide, the majority of trans people who died were intentionally killed. This year we know of 369 trans people who died. 36 of them have been killed or died here in the United States. One trans woman died in prison on Riker's Island, New York, and another was in ICE custody. The vast majority of those killed in the united states are Black trans women. 


El miércoles que viene es el día internacional de la memoria trans.  Cada año el 20 de noviembre, nos reunimos y leemos todos los nombres que conocemos de las personas transgénero que se murió en el año pasado.  Aunque muchas veces incluye algunas de las personas que se murieron por medio del suicidio, la mayoría de personas trans que se murieron es matada.  Este año sabemos de 369 personas trans que se murieron. 36 de estas personas han sido asesinadas o se han muerto aquí en los estados unidos.  Una mujer trans se murió en la cárcel en Riker’s Island, Nueva York, y otra fue en la custodia de la migra.  La mayoría en los ee uu es mujeres descendientes de Africa.

Cada noviembre leemos cientos de nombres y sentimos como si fuera inevitable hacerlo cada año.  Es como pensaron el pueblo de Israel en la lectura de hoy.  La gente está regresando del exilio y no sabe como encontrará la vida nueva.  Piensa en el exilio como si fuera inevitable otra vez.


Every November we read hundreds of names and it feels like the next Trans Day of Remembrance is inevitable, much as the people of Israel thought in today's reading.  They are a people returning from exile with no idea how they will find a new life—or if there even is life after exile.



It was easy for them to resign themselves to an exiled life forever, and it is easy for us now to think that violence against trans people will always exist — that racism, sexism, and transphobia will never end, but our God says otherwise. God says, “For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.” And God continues with this new vision, saying, “No more shall there be in it an infant that lives but a few days, or an old person who does not live out a lifetime; for one who dies at a hundred years will be considered a youth, and one who falls short of a hundred will be considered accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.” 


Era fácil para la gente regresando del exilio y es fácil para nosotrxs pensar que la violencia contra personas trans siempre estará—que el racismo, el sexismo, y la transfobia siempre existirán, pero nuestro Dios dice que no.  Dios dice, “Miren, yo voy a crear un cielo nuevo y una tierra nueva. Lo pasado quedará olvidado, nadie se volverá a acordar de ello.”  Y sigue con una vista de vida, diciendo, “Allí no habrá niños que mueran a los pocos días, ni ancianos que no completen su vida. Morir a los cien años será morir joven, y no llegar a los cien años será una maldición. La gente construirá casas y vivirá en ellas, sembrará viñedos y comerá sus uvas.” 

Dios tiene otro plan para nosotrxs y para el mundo entero.


God has another plan for us and for the whole world.



It is not an easy plan to achieve — it never is. It requires major changes in how we function as human beings and in our cultures. God’s vision that “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, the lion shall eat straw like the ox;” requires changes on the part of the wolf and the lion.  It’s not possible for the wolf and the lamb to eat together if the wolf is eating the lamb.


No es fácil alcanzarlo—nunca es fácil seguir a Dios.  Requiere grandes cambios en como funcionamos como seres humanos y como culturas.  El plan de Dios, que “El lobo y el cordero comerán juntos, el león comerá pasto, como el buey” requiere un cambio fundamental por parte del lobo y del león.  No es posible que el lobo y el cordero coman juntos si el lobo esta comiendo el cordero. 

Para crear un mundo donde toda la gente puede vivir sin miedo, la gente con poder—la gente que han abusado su poder, que han hecho más difícil la vida para la gente marginalizada—los lobos, no pueden tener tanta poder—no pueden comer a los corderos.  El poder que tienen sobre otras personas es poder sin amor y poder injusto.  Hay que enfrentarse con las consecuencias de sus acciones.  La cultura necesita cambiar para que los lobos no puedan hacer daño a otras personas.


To create a world where all people can live without fear, people with power — people who have abused their power, who have made life harder instead of easier for marginalized people — the wolves and lions, cannot have all that power. The power they have over other people is power without love—it is unjust power. The wolves must face the consequences of their actions. Culture needs to change so that they cannot harm other people.



And we, here, can be part of the change that God makes. We have power. We especially have power together as this community of faith. But also, every person here — some more than others, but each person — has power.  We can honor each person, protect the most vulnerable people, share power, and limit the damage done.


Y nosotrxs aquí somos parte del cambio que hace Dios. Tenemos poder.  Especialmente tenemos poder juntos como comunidad de fe.  Pero también cada persona aquí—algunas más que otras, pero cada persona—tiene poder.  Somos capaces de honrar a cada persona, de dar protección a la gente más vulnerable, a compartir el poder y limitar el daño hecho. 

Tenemos el poder de corregir unos a otros cuando decimos los pronombres incorrectos, cuando alguien habla de “esas personas.”  Nuestras acciones solo son una parte, pero son una parte importante, especialmente ahora que el gobierno no funciona bien.  Lo que podemos hacer, tiene que ver con nuestres amigues, nuestras comunidades.


We have the power to correct each other when we say the wrong pronouns, when someone talks about “those people.” Our actions are only one part, but they are an important part, especially when the government feels so hopeless. What we can do has to do with our friends and our communities.

Pastor Alejandro has asked about great, great, grandmothers.  I will ask about friends and friends of friends.  Can we talk to our friends about racism, sexism, and transphobia?  Can we speak up about these things when we´re in a group and don´t know everyone in the group?  When trans people aren’t present?  When it is just white folks?  How can we influence our neighbors for the good?


Pastor Alejandro preguntó de las tatarabuelas.  Yo pregunto de les amigues de les amigues.  ¿Podemos hablar con nuestres amigues sobre el racismo, el sexismo, y la transfobia?  ¿Podemos decir algo, cuando estamos en un grupo y no conocemos a cada persona en el grupo?  ¿Cuando personas trans no estén presentes? ¿Cómo podemos influir a nuestras projimas?

Dios está creando un mundo nuevo, está llamándonos, ¿seguimos a Dios? ¿Creemos en la posibilidad de otro tipo de mundo?  Podemos hacerlo juntxs.


God is creating a new world, God is calling us.  Do we follow God?  Do we put our faith in the possibility of a different kind of world?  We can do it together.

Amén.

God calls us to come out: 7th after pentecost

The first reading is Isaiah 44:6-8.

The holy gospel according to Matthew (13:24-30, 36-43).

²⁴Jesus put before the crowds another parable:

       “The dominion of heaven may be compared to a man

              who sowed good seed in his field;

                     ²⁵but while everybody was asleep,

                            an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat,

                                   and then went away.

                     ²⁶So when the plants came up and bore grain,

                            then the weeds appeared as well.

                     ²⁷And the slaves of the householder came and said to him,

                            ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field?

                            Where, then, did these weeds come from?’

                     ²⁸He answered,

                            ‘An enemy has done this.’

                     The slaves said to him,

                            ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’

                     ²⁹But he replied,

                            ‘No; for in gathering the weeds

                                   you would uproot the wheat along with them.

                            ³⁰Let both of them grow together until the harvest;

                                   and at harvest time I will tell the reapers,

                                          Collect the weeds first
                                          and bind them in bundles to be burned,

                                                 but gather the wheat into my barn.’”

³⁶Then Jesus left the crowds and went into the house.

       And his disciples approached him, saying,

              “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.”

³⁷Jesus answered,

       “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Humanity;

       ³⁸the field is the world,

       and the good seed are the children of God’s dominion;

       the weeds are the children of the evil one,

       ³⁹and the enemy who sowed them is the devil;

       the harvest is the end of the age,

       and the reapers are angels.

              ⁴⁰Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire,

                     so will it be at the end of the age.

⁴¹The Son of Humanity will send his angels,

       and they will collect out of his dominion all causes of sin and all evildoers,

       ⁴²and they will throw them into the furnace of fire,

              where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

                     ⁴³Then the righteous will shine like the sun

                            in the dominion of their Father.

                                   Let anyone with ears listen!

The gospel of the Lord.

-----

This week, as many of you know, I was at the Proclaim Gathering for continuing education and renewal.  The theme this year was Healing the Violence, which was particularly poignant in light of our texts for today.  Isaiah with God speaking to a people in exile, the psalmist’s prayer for help while surrounded by a band of violent people, the labor pains of all of Creation in Romans, and a pretty violent parable with burning bundles and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” in Matthew.

As in the texts for today, so too in our lives, violence is all around us.  Physical violence is perhaps the clearest, but even so, domestic and sexual violence can hide behind closed doors, long sleeve shirts, and makeup, going unnoticed by many of us.  The economic violence of a system in which unemployment and underemployment are required, tax loopholes for some, inadequate pay, and lost jobs are all closer forms of violence to many of us.  The violence of language is so easy to slip in and out of that we may not even notice the harm language can do in ignorance, abuse, and harassment.

Violence in its many forms is no stranger to us or to God.  In fact, we hear in Isaiah as God proclaims a different identity, a different way.  As the Israelites prepare to leave their exile and return home, God calls them to come out, to boldly proclaim their faith—their trust—in one God, an anomaly among the dominant, polytheistic culture surrounding them in their exile.  As they prepare to go home, God recognizes the importance of claiming their identity as worshipers and children of our one God in the face of oppressors who worship many gods, reminding them of why they are going home.

It reminds me of Harvey Milk, a gay city-county supervisor in San Francisco in 1978, as he called LGBTQIA folks to come out to their friends and family, to challenge the homophobic Proposition 6 that was going through California’s State Senate.  Milk called on folks to come out because knowing people who are LGBTQIA is how sentiment changes and homophobia is challenged.  That is God’s call through Isaiah and through Matthew to this church today as well: to come out about the God in whom we trust.

When Jesus introduces parables, he frames them in two main ways: he either says what the dominion of heaven is like or he says what it may be compared to.  We don’t always pay attention to this difference and so parables like the one for today can be alarming when compared to Jesus’ other teachings.  Words matter and Jesus isn’t telling us what the dominion of heaven is like, instead, Jesus is comparing the dominion of heaven with the parable he tells.

The dominion of heaven may be compared to this parable of black and white theology from a judgmental “Master” God.  In the parable, especially as many have historically interpreted it, Jesus is the Master of slaves, sowing the seeds to grow the wheat.  But when has Jesus ever identified as this kind of Master?  After washing the disciples’ feet in John 13:13-14, Jesus says, “You call me Teacher and Master—and you are right, for that is what I am.  So if I, your Master and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.”  And later on in Matthew, Jesus says “So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

So the dominion of heaven may be compared to a theology and worldview in which God exists to exert power over all else.  This other theology separates people into good and evil.  There is no “a little bad” or “kind of good” or “messed up a few times.”  Instead there are “children of God’s dominion” or “children of the evil one,” and never the twain shall meet.

As the parable continues, we wrestle with who gets categorized as which.  Who is pure evil and who is pure good?  And then what happens at the harvest?  In the parable, at the harvest the weeds are collected and bound into bundles to be burned.  And the wheat?  It is also collected, first into the barn, and then to be put into the fire—after all, this was how they cooked in the first century, without any of our microwaves and electric ovens. 

So in the world of black and white theology, in the end, all is subject to fire and all is consumed.  But the dominion of heaven is such that the Master, the Son of Humanity, enters the world as a baby, God-with-us, servant of all.  The Son of Humanity doesn’t send messengers to do the dirty work of picking and choosing who counts as evildoers.  The Son of Humanity enters into the field, growing with us, bridging the gap we create between wheat, which we decide we want, and weed, which we decide we don’t want.  And Jesus’ own self will be cast out for the love of humanity.

And this is the dominion of heaven—a God who joins with us.  The Son of Humanity who casts his lot with humanity.  That is the church we belong to, the dominion of heaven in which we find our resting place, and the community of faith about which God calls us to come out.

In Isaiah, our God, our Sovereign, Redeemer, and Rock is the one who comes to us with grace and a love that claims us as God’s own.  And if this is true, if this is the loving God in whom we trust, then why would we keep quiet?  With a gift as great as God’s love, how can we not proclaim it? 

How can we not come out to our friends and neighbors about the love and care we experience here and which God has for them; the radical welcome and hospitality that say people with immigration papers and without are welcome here; people who are unemployed, underemployed, employed full- or part-time, retired, in school, and homemakers are welcome here; people who have known and survived violence are welcome here.

This is too good not to share.  How could we keep the joy, love, and community of this fellowship from others?  How can we not share it with them?  How can you not come out and proclaim God’s love for all of the hurting world—including yourself and including your neighbor?  Will you come out?

Jesus gives you rest, a guided meditation: 5th after pentecost

This week's sermon was a guided meditation based off of the second part of Matthew.  I had some help and guidance in this from some colleagues as this is the first one I've tried to lead.

The holy gospel according to Matthew (11:16-19, 25-30)

Jesus spoke to the crowd saying:

¹⁶“But to what will I compare this generation?

       It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to one another,

              ¹⁷‘We played the flute for you,

                     and you did not dance;

              we wailed,

                     and you did not mourn.’

              ¹⁸For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say,

                     ‘He has a demon’;

              ¹⁹the Son of Humanity came eating and drinking, and they say,

                     ‘Look, a glutton and a drunkard,

                            a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’

              Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

²⁵At that time Jesus said,

       “I thank you, Father, Sovereign of heaven and earth,

              because you have hidden these things from the wise and the intelligent

                     and have revealed them to infants;

                            ²⁶yes, Father, for such was your gracious will.

       ²⁷All things have been handed over to me by my Father;

              and no one knows the Son except the Father,

                     and no one knows the Father except the Son

                            and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal the Father.

       ²⁸“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens,

              and I will give you rest.

              ²⁹Take my yoke upon you,

                     and learn from me;

                            for I am gentle and humble in heart,

                            and you will find rest for your souls.

                                   ³⁰For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

The gospel of the Lord.

----

Today we’re going to do something different called guided meditation.  Guided meditation has been a meaningful spiritual practice for me and I hope it will be meaningful for you as well.  If you are feeling fidgety or need something to fidget with, there’s stuff in the pews for you to hold quietly to help you focus.

As we begin, feel free to get your wiggles out and make sure you are sitting comfortably, perhaps with your feet on the floor, leaning back—whatever feels comfortable to you.

You can close your eyes or leave them open.

Take a few slow breaths to begin.

As you sit, notice your connection to the pew you’re sitting in,

       the solid feel of the wood

       and its connection, with your feet, to the floor.

Notice the connection go deeper through the floor and walls

       to the foundation of this building

              and the earth below it,

                     grounding you in all of creation.

And feel the connection spread widely,

       across your pew and around this room,

       connecting you to each person who is here

              and in these connections, connecting you also to God.

Then come back to focus on yourself and your body. 

       Turn your focus to your hands,

              holding them with the palms up. 

                     If you want, you can rest them on your knees.

As you breathe,

       notice the breath in your body. 

       Notice the air coming in and out,

              the rise and fall of your shoulders,

                     the lightness of each breath.

Reflect also on the weight,

       everything that is weighing you down. 

              The worries,

              The fears,

              The anxieties,

              The pain,

                     Everything that makes you weary. 

              The burdens you carry each day, each week, right now.

Imagine those burdens and that weight in your hands. 

       Feel the weight of them—

              how heavy they are in your hands.

Now turn your hands over,

       and picture all those burdens—all that weight—falling out of your hands

              and into the earth—

                     into God’s hands. 

       As God is strong and loving enough to hold the whole world,

              cradled in a warm embrace,

                     God is also strong and loving enough to carry all your burdens—

                            to give you rest.

As you let go of those weights, those burdens,

       feel how much lighter you are—

              your shoulders, your neck, your back, your arms, your whole body. 

                     Feel the weight fall off into God’s hands, ready to hold your burdens.

Feel again your connections—

       to the earth, to the other people in this room, and to God. 

Feel the warmth and strength of God’s embrace

       and the rest that is there for you. 

Take some deep breaths and remain in that embrace until you are ready to come back and open your eyes.

God creates us as worthy: 3rd after pentecost

The holy gospel according to Matthew (10:24-39).

Jesus said:

“A disciple is not above the teacher,

      nor a slave above the master;

            ²⁵it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher,

            and the slave like the master.

      If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul,

            how much more will they malign those of the master’s household!

²⁶“So have no fear of them;

      for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered,

      and nothing secret that will not become known.

      ²⁷What I say to you in the dark,

            tell in the light;

      and what you hear whispered,

            proclaim from the housetops.

                  ²⁸Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;

                        rather fear the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

      ²⁹Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

            Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father.

                  ³⁰And even the hairs of your head are all counted.

                        ³¹So do not be afraid;

                              you are of more value than many sparrows.

³²“Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others,

      I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven;

      ³³but whoever denies me before others,

            I also will deny before my Father in heaven.

³⁴“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth;

      I have not come to bring peace,

            but a sword.

      ³⁵For I have come to set a son against his father,

            and a daughter against her mother,

            and in-laws against one another;

            ³⁶and one’s foes will be members of one’s own household.

            ³⁷Whoever loves a parent more than me is not worthy of me;

                  and whoever loves a child more than me is not worthy of me;

                        ³⁸and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me

                              is not worthy of me.

                              ³⁹Those who find their life will lose it,

                                    and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.

The gospel of the lord.

-----

Jesus’ words in today’s gospel may seem harsh, but they are also familiar to many of us.  As a community of faith, you all decided to become a Reconciling in Christ congregation, which means that we specifically welcome lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and questioning people as full participants in ministry.  We make this clear in our statement of welcome on our website as well as on our Reconciling in Christ Sunday each year. 

Part of welcoming people, especially if they belong to groups that have been and continue to be marginalized by the church is to continually learn about their experiences of the world—to seek to more fully understand their perspectives.

Today’s scripture gives us some insight into what many LGBTQ+ people experience in their lifetimes.

It’s hard to hear of children being set against their parents or in-laws being set against each other and not call to mind the 40% of homeless youth who are LGBTQ+, many of whom identify as transgender and most of whom have been kicked out of their homes by biological, foster, or adoptive parents.  What is even more striking is that this passage has been used harmfully by families to justify their own hatred towards their LGBTQ+ children.

Jesus’ presence does tend to stir things up.  Jesus’ life and gospel disrupts the systems—even our own families—that cause harm and create hierarchies that separate us from each other.  Jesus and his followers are a great example of a family of choice, created in place of the hierarchical structures dictated for them by their culture. 

Instead of reinforcing the hierarchy of the times, where women were property and children were nothing more than extra hands to work, Jesus creates a community where people of all genders have access to economic means and financially support the work so that whoever Jesus calls to follow him can become his disciple without constantly worrying about how they will make ends meet. 

Jesus chose disciples to be his family.  When his biological mother and siblings come to speak to him in Matthew 12, Jesus even goes so far as to say, “‘Who is my mother, and who are my siblings? … Here are my mother and mysiblings! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my sibling andmother.”  Like many of us in the LGBTQ+ community, Jesus and the disciples chose their family and lived in community together as equals. 

For many LGBTQ+ folks, we choose people to be family with us.  Sometimes it is because our own families have disowned or distanced themselves from us.  Sometimes it is because our understandings of what it means to love one another as family are broader and deeper than simply those connected to us by blood.  Countless gay men in the 1980s embodied what it means to be family by choice as they sat with friends, partners, and loved ones the country seemed to have disowned, caring for them while they died of AIDS.  Still today, we in the LGBTQ+ community create new and more expansive families all the time.

And we as the church also follow Jesus’ lead in creating new and more expansive families today.  We welcome the newly baptized into the “family of God.”  We share with each other our moments of great joy and of great sorrow.  We choose each other to lead and serve as there is both need and ability.  We live out our faith as LGBTQ+ people have been living out our lives, creating community and family through both necessity and love, finding people who love us exactly for who we are not in spite of or apart from our identities.

And yet, the culture around us, which still dictates worth in terms of earning potential, declares those who don’t fall in line with hierarchical norms as worth         less, and maybe even altogether worthless.  Declarations of worthlessness from the culture and the church keep some LGBTQ+ people in the closet for their whole lives and others for far too long, causing mental, emotional, and spiritual harm. 

Even those of us who do come out to ourselves and others and have family and communities that support us usually wrestle with our identity and especially our faith, because we have heard so many times that we are not worthy of God’s love, of rights and acceptance in our country, even, as many transgender women of color know all too well, of life itself. 

Jesus’ words are harsh, but maybe that’s the point.  None of us are worthy of Jesus on our own.  But we’re not alone.  We’ve never been alone.  God has always been our Creator, knitting us together in utero, counting every hair on our head.  There is no being worthy on our own and there is no alone.  God is always with us, even deep back in the closet by the lost socks, in the midst of anxiety, and in the fear of what others might think.  Jesus is with us.

Each thing we do matters to God.  Not because God is going to deduct points or dole out punishment for every screw up, however big or small, but because we each matter to God.  Because God cares about us and loves us.  God loves our queerness.  God loves our languages.  God loves our courage, our hair, our compassion, our knees that get stiff when it rains—God loves every single bit of us.  Even when family or friends might distance themselves or put up a wall against us, Jesus assures us that we “are of more value than many sparrows.”

In a world that marks worth in dollar signs, the dominion of heaven marks your worth as inherent.  You exist because you are worthy.  God creates each unique person out of love, claiming us again in baptism, whispering “I love you” in the sighs of new parents or friends late at night, in the chirp of birds, rustle of leaves, and drops of rain; and proclaiming it from the housetops in the cry of a newborn, the roar of a lion, the clap of thunder.

God’s family is a family of choice—even under dire circumstances, against the world’s values, God chooses you.  God will always choose you.  Every you that there ever is. 

Thanks be to God.

The Holy Spirit Stirs us up: pentecost a

The first reading is Acts 2:1-21.

The second reading is 1 Corinthians 12:3b-13.

The holy gospel according to John (20:19-23)

¹⁹When it was evening on that day,

      the first day of the week,

            and the doors of the house where the disciples had met

                  were locked for fear of the religious authorities,

      Jesus came and stood among them and said,

            “Pokoj vám!”

            “La paz sea con ustedes.”

            “Frieden sei mit euch.”        

            “Peace be with you.” 

            [“Peace be with you.” in ASL]

         ²⁰After Jesus said this,

            he showed them his hands and his side.

                  Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.

      ²¹Jesus said to them again,

            “Pokoj vám!”

            “La paz sea con ustedes.”

            “Frieden sei mit euch.”         

            “Peace be with you.”

            [“Peace be with you.” in ASL]

                  As the Father has sent me,

                        so I send you.”

      ²²When he had said this,

            Jesus breathed on them and said to them,

                  “Receive the Holy Spirit.

                        ²³If you forgive the sins of any,

                              they are forgiven them;

                        if you retain the sins of any,

                              they are retained.”

The gospel of the Lord.

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I love birthdays!  They are the one day of the year that a person—unless they’re a twin—gets to be the focus.  For that one day, everybody celebrates this person’s life, the ways they’re meaningful to them, and hopes for their life to come.

I also love the ways that different cultures celebrate birthdays.  Some cultures have unique parts of every birthday celebration.  Growing up, we always sang happy birthday—holding the last note purposefully off-key for as long as we could—the birthday person made a wish, and then attempted to blow out all of the candles on the cake in one breath.

While I was in Slovakia with the ELCA’s Young Adults in Global Mission program, I learned of a tradition that had been lost in my family since my dad’s ancestors came over from Central Europe.  It is a tradition that I have carried with me since my time in Slovakia to varying degrees.  In Slovakia and other Central European countries, it is customary to bless the birthday person.

While I usually leave the shot of palinka or slivovica out of my blessings, with close friends and family, I make a point of blessing them and the new year of life that they are beginning.  I try to be realistic and hopeful in my blessings, so that someone who gave birth or is pregnant might be blessed with new experiences, and also sleep, or that someone who has been at the forefront in work towards a moral and just state budget is blessed with and in the struggle and also with triumph.  Each blessing becomes its own unique celebration.

In some cultures, certain birthdays are particularly important.  In Mexico, quinceañeras, or 15^th birthdays, are a particularly big deal.  As I was reflecting on and reading about Pentecost, which we typically consider the birthday of the church, I was reminded of Korean traditions around first birthdays.  In Korean culture, the first birthday is a big deal.  I’m sure D told many of you about her granddaughter’s first birthday, so I will just mention the thing that most stuck with me, especially as Rev. Theresa Cho wrote about her family’s celebrations in an article in the Christian Century.[i]

One main part of the first birthday dol or doljanchi, “a ceremony in which the child is blessed with a prosperous future,” is a table set out with a variety of different objects.  The objects represent types of prosperity.  The child is then placed before the objects and whichever object the child chooses represents the destiny that child claims.

What captivated me in Rev. Cho’s explanations of the objects was the openness to interpretation: the golf ball her first child chose could be a symbol for athleticism or for being a quick thinker.  When her other child chose grapes instead of any of the items laid out, it could signify a healthy appetite or the self-assuredness to determine their own destiny—to take the less obvious path.

As we celebrate the birthday of the universal church and particularly this year’s momentous 500^th Reformation anniversary and the accidental birth of Protestantism, we too have destinies laid out for us.  And these destinies are the ones that have been laid out for millennia.

In Acts, Peter points back to the prophet Joel, saying, “In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your children shall prophesy, and your youth shall see visions, and your elders shall dream dreams. ¹⁸Even upon my slaves of all genders, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.”  This destiny is laid out for us and though we may not know what it will look like or what Joel and Peter mean, it is a destiny of new hope, change, and new life.

In 1 Corinthians, Paul sets before us some of the gifts of the Spirit: the utterance of wisdom, utterance of knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles, prophecy, discernment of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of tongues.

None of us possess all of these.  Many of us possess at least one of these, and some of us possess other gifts that aren’t listed here.  But as we sit with them spread out before us, not knowing quite what they will mean or how the Holy Spirit will use us or our destinies, one thing is certain: the Holy Spirit is at work.  She has come as tongues of fire and rushing wind, she has come in languages we do and do not understand, she has come in water, wine and bread, and she brings with her upheaval of the systems that harm us and all of creation and she brings new life to everyone.

Sometimes the work of the Holy Spirit makes us uncomfortable, sometimes defensive, and sometimes confused.  But these are good things!  They are blessings, because it is in struggling and being uncomfortable that we learn from each other and about ourselves.  The Holy Spirit rarely calls people to what is comfortable, but she does bless us with what is meaningful, which is ultimately life-giving.

The gifts and blessings of the Holy Spirit on this birthday of the church and each day are gifts of diversity and difference—new ways of being and connecting.  The Holy Spirit changes us and gives us new ways to proclaim with Jesus, “Pokoj vám.” “La paz sea con ustedes.” “Frieden sei mit euch.” “Peace be with you.” [Peace be with you in ASL].

Amen.

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[i] https://www.christiancentury.org/article/2015-04/may-24-day-pentecost