god keeps working on us: 3rd sunday of lent

the holy gospel according to luke, the 13^th chapter.  glory to you, o lord.

13At that very time

there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans

whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

²He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way

they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?

³No, I tell you;

but unless you repent,            

you will all perish as they did.

⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?

⁵No, I tell you;

but unless you repent,            

you will all perish just as they did.”

⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.

⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘See here!

For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree,

and still I find none.

Cut it down!

Why should it be wasting the soil?’

⁸He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

⁹If it bears fruit next year,

well and good;

but if not,

you can cut it down.’”

the gospel of the lord.  praise to you, o christ.

-----

 

some people in the crowd come to jesus with an age-old struggle about evil and sin in the world.

the jews are living under occupation.  pilate continues to rule violently over them, working hard to quash even the smallest sign of rebellion.  violence and oppression are daily realities. 

the cross and crucifixion are political instruments of torture and punishment and won’t be made into religious symbols until well after their political purpose has ended. 

life is uncertain. so it makes sense that the jews want to find a way

to make meaning out of,

to place blame for,

and to be excused from

the violence and the oppression around them.

and the issues they raise are important.

how responsible are individuals for the bad stuff that happens to them?  does god punish us?  why are these bad things happening?

were the galileans killed because they were such bad sinners?  were those killed by the tower of siloam really worse offenders? 

are the victims of violence in neighborhoods east of troost worse sinners?  are the people of haiti or joplin greater offenders? 

was she asking for it?  did he deserve it? 

i have to admit, i like to find out who is responsible for bad things, for mistakes, for hurt, so that i know where to place blame… so that i don’t have to worry about being blamed or being hurt.  it’s pretty easy to look at the violence in the world around us and blame the victim.  if it’s the victim’s fault, it means i’m safe.  if he deserved it or she was asking for it, then it couldn’t possibly happen to me, because i wouldn’t ask for it, i’m not that bad.                          i’m nice!  i’m a good person.                       

it makes us feel safer because: we’re not like them.  we’re not so sinful.

but when asked if “they”—those other people—were worse sinners, twice jesus says,

“no,             i tell you;                        

but unless you repent, you will all perish.” 

just like today, sin was not simply an individual thing—an issue of personal piety.  systems were set up to reinforce inequalities.

today racism and sexism are two forms of sin that have become institutionalized.  that is, they’ve been knitted into the fabric of our society in such a way that many people, especially those who seem to benefit from them, don’t even notice.            

it’s how it’s always been.

perhaps the jews had become so accustomed to the occupation, that they forgot that it was a reason for killing and death, like some who think the children of god east of troost are to blame for the violence they suffer.  they forgot.  and we forget that the pain and violence experienced so often by women and people of color are part of a larger system that we might not notice, but that affects us all.

institutionalized sins, like racism and sexism are all around us.  they infect our economic and social systems, our entertainment and our politics.  they are an epidemic that continues to spread as it goes unnoticed or, unacknowledged. 

they have become embedded in our culture in such a way that many of us who are oppressed can feel it, even if we can’t articulate what it is we’re feeling or struggling with, and many of us who are oppressors don’t even notice it.  and so often many of us can find ourselves in the role of both oppressed and oppressor with conflicting feelings and emotions as ever-present struggles inside of us.

yet jesus knows what we need.

repent.

he says. 

“unless you repent, you will all perish.”

it is not their fault, but we as a culture must repent for the role we all play in continuing and upholding institutionalized sin.  we are connected.  each of us, one to another.  sexism and racism don’t just harm women and people of color, they harm us all.  it is not good for our souls to be put, for arbitrary reasons, above or below another person; to be put on a pedestal and pressured to maintain that position at all costs keeps us from being in relationship with others.

as does being constantly knocked down from any pedestal. 

these systems of oppression can prevent us from recognizing everyone as children of god, worthy—always—of god’s love and grace.

repentance is key.

repent, turning around—re-turning—to the goodness of god’s way.  to the recognition of each other as beloved children of god.  in calling the crowd and, by extension, us to repentance, jesus brings us back also to the cry we heard by the river jordan.  as john was baptizing and proclaiming a baptism of repentance, he told the crowd gathered then, “bear fruits worthy of repentance.”

jesus knows the difficulty we face.  he knows what it takes to “bear fruits worthy of repentance.”  that’s why he tells the parable.

because the thing about that fig tree is that on its own in the vineyard, with no second chances—no grace—that fig tree would be chopped down.  and if we are that fig tree.  we cannot, by our own power, put an end to systems of oppression.

but we have a god who never gives up. 

a god who is bigger than sexism and racism and all the powers of evil.

every time we repent, we recall our baptisms:

we get to again renounce racism, sexism, and all the forces that defy god. 

we get to renounce these systems of oppression—the powers of this world—that rebel against god. 

and we get to renounce the ways of sin that draw us from god. 

and god comes to us again and again and again, as the gardener; cultivating the ground, spreading manure, nourishing us that we might bear fruit.  we cannot and do not do it ourselves.  only god can.  and god chooses to do it through us.

god nurtures us into bearing fruits like immanuel’s involvement in the struggle to level the economic playing field by working to raise the minimum wage and cap interest rates on payday loans, both of which would positively impact primarily women and people of color, those most likely to live in poverty.

god is working in us to bear fruits worthy of repentance in involvement to reduce gun violence as part of the movement to change our culture of violence.  reducing gun violence would positively impact us all and especially those most likely to be victims of gun violence:  african american youth and women who are, or could become victims of domestic violence.

god works through us as we repent, re-turning to god to bear fruits worthy of repentance.  god works through us as we advocate to expand medicaid coverage for those without means to afford health care on their own, giving those who are more likely to live in poverty the help they need.

there is so much that god can and does do through us as we repent,

renouncing racism, sexism, and all the systems of oppression at work in the world.  and god is at work in our repentance.             

always forgiving                                    

and always working to nourish us

so that the fruit we bear may be fruits worthy of repentance.

repent.  re-turn to god.  for in god there is life.  and we can trust that god will always work for one more year, one more chance—more time to work with us, to feed us [table], to water us [font], to help us bear fruits worthy of repentance.

thanks be to god!

dream day

this colorado girl's dream day!!  today was one of my monthly reading days (scheduled about a month ago with no knowledge of "winter storm q"'s plans to come visit--what does the q stand for, anyway??).  the snow just kept piling up and after a visit from jesus (or was she just a homeless woman in need of shelter?), i headed outside.

this is my rain meter - something i didn't know about until coming to kansas city. 
yes, it is full of snow with snow piled all around it.

my car, approximately five minutes (or less) after i had brushed it clean - as in, black like it's painted. 
when i was getting my snow gear on, it wasn't even snowing!

the snow would not pack together for a snowbaby on my porch, so i had to at least make a snow angel!

this is my happy (and maybe a little cold and tired) face!

for a girl who was beginning to give up on winter here in kansas city, this snow was a dream come true!!

may you be covered in the dust of jesus: ash wednesday

the psalm with which we began the service was psalm 51.
the first reading was joel 2:1-2, 12-17.

the holy gospel according to matthew, the 6th chapter.  glory to you, o lord.

“Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. ²“So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ³But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, ⁴so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

⁵“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.⁶But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁶“And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. ¹⁷But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, ¹⁸so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

¹⁹“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; ²⁰but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. ²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

the gospel of the lord.  praise to you, o christ.

-----

remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.

just as joel sounds the trumpets for a solemn assembly, much of our lives are marked by funerals and loss.  sometimes i find myself keeping track of the events of my life in relationship to those who have died.  it’s not necessarily every year that someone close to me dies, but it’s often enough that they can be time markers.  my uncle in third grade, my grandfather at the end of eighth grade, my high school classmate my second year of college, and my grandmother this past year.

you are dust and to dust you shall return.

death is all around us and yet the world that surrounds us does not like death or mortality.  it does not want to be reminded that we will all die in the end—you can see it in commercials most clearly.  denying mortality, the underlying message is that you will be more alive, more immortal, further from death—or, at least, that is how you will appear.  you will look younger, more alive, vibrant if you would just by this one product.

but we were created out of the dust to be a dusty people.  god formed the first human from the dust of the ground.  it’s even in the hebrew of the words.  adam from adamah.  we are dusty people,    from dust,    and when we die, we will return to the dust of the earth. 

as god has provided us with nourishment from creation for our living, so, in our dying do we respond with nourishment for creation.  returning to the earth at the end of our lives, continuing the cycle for generation after generation.

you are dust and to dust you shall return.

we come today to put ashes on our foreheads, to proclaim the good news of our mortality to the world.  we come today to stare death in the face,   to face our mortality    in the grace of god because even as we embrace mortality, we know that in jesus christ, death does not have the final word. so we can come to join the solemn assembly of joel to honor that life is precious and short—even when it lasts for over a century.  we come to say that yes, we will die, we will get sick, we will be sad and lonely and angry, we will mess up and sin and hurt, and,   even in all of that,   we have a god who loves us.

a god who loves us in all our messiness and a god who knows not only our shadow sides, our sinfulness, but also our original goodness.  this is the god who creates us, the god who comes to dwell with us, to be the Dusty One among the dusty many.  a god who comes to us, even knowing the path ahead.

you are dust and to dust you shall return.

that is what these long 40 days are about.  we begin our lenten journey marked by dust—the dust of the cross.  we know this road.  we have traveled it before.  this is the road to jerusalem.  the disciples walked it so many years ago, not knowing how it would end.  we know where the road leads, to the top of the hill, to the cross.  yet our call is to discipleship.

in high school sunday school, we talked about discipleship in jesus’ time and learned that in jesus’ day, disciples were the people who tried to be just like their rabbi.  they would try to follow the rabbi so closely that the saying for disciples was, “may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”

you are dust and to dust you shall return.

we are covered in the dust of our rabbi, marked with the cross of christ.  looking forward to these 40 days as a time to deepen our discipleship—to be covered in the dust of jesus not just today, but every day.

it is in light of our dusty situations that we hear jesus’ words to us that in our alms giving, in our praying, and in our fasting we are to do it not for the recognition that the world gives, but for our own growth.  we do it as a way of helping our hearts to get to the right place.  jesus says, “where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

my heart does not always go where i want it to.  psalm 51 makes it clear, requesting, “create in me a clean heart, o god, and renew a right spirit within me.  cast me not away from your presence, and take not your holy spirit from me.  restore to me the joy of your salvation, and sustain me with your bountiful spirit.”

jesus’ promise that where we decide to store up treasure will help our heart to go where we choose gives me hope that even when i am struggling in my heart, my mind and intentionality matter and they can guide my heart in the long run.  it is a promise that says i have agency and i get to choose where i lead my heart. 

my heart, though very much influenced by it, is not bound to evil or consumerism, spite or fear.  i get to help my heart live into its original goodness, which came before and is stronger than any original sin, and part of how i get to do that is in how i respond to what god has provided.  i get to store up my treasures where i choose.

and lest i get too full of myself, believing my salvation might depend on me rather than on god, i am reminded:

you are dust and to dust you shall return.

even as i get to choose where to store up my treasure, where i want to lead my heart.  here on ash wednesday it is clear.  i am not dependent on my own heart or my will or my actions.  even as i seek to be covered in the dust of jesus, i am not jesus and i am not the one with all the grace. 

even as i store up my treasure, as i come for repentance, for forgiveness, for comfort, i am reminded of my favorite definition of grace: there is nothing you can do to make god love you any more and there is nothing you can do to make god love you any less. 

because although we are dust and to dust we shall return, that is not all we are.  in our baptisms we are claimed as god’s beloved children.  so when we come seeking clean hearts and right spirits, we know that god will cleanse us as with hyssop and make us clean because god has already cleansed us with the waters of baptism, where we were joined to jesus in his death so that we might be raised with him in the resurrection.

so i come to be covered in the dust of jesus, trusting that god’s grace, poured down at baptism and made known in jesus christ, covers me long after the dust of ashes has been washed away.

you are dust and to dust you shall return.

jesus chooses his disciples: narrative lectionary

the holy gospel according to luke, the 5th chapter, glory to you, o lord.

Once while Jesus was standing beside the lake of Gennesaret, and the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, ²he saw two boats there at the shore of the lake; the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. ³He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little way from the shore. Then he sat down and taught the crowds from the boat. ⁴When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” ⁵Simon answered, “Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.” ⁶When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. ⁷So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink. ⁸But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man!” ⁹For he and all who were with him were amazed at the catch of fish that they had taken; ¹⁰and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. Then Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching people.” ¹¹When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him.

the gospel of the lord, praise to you, o christ.

-----

in high school sunday school, we’ve been watching a video series by rob bell.  a couple weeks ago when i taught sunday school the theme was discipleship.  we learned a couple things about those who were disciples to a rabbi that really stuck out to me.

1-disciples were the best of the best of the best as all others were filtered off into their family business and being a disciple was the dream job, such that a rabbi would go to a potential disciple—who had memorized the torah (the first 5 books of the bible), the talmud (the rest of the books that make up what we call the hebrew bible or old testament genesis through malachi), and the midrash, or commentary from the rabbi (referred to as the rabbi’s yoke)—and say “come, follow me” and a disciple would do it in a heartbeat.

2-the goal of discipleship was to be like your rabbi—to the extent that you walked right behind them and walked in what they walked in and the saying was “may you be covered in the dust of your rabbi.”

so, when jesus as a rabbi comes to simon and james and john to call them as disciples, he is not calling the best of the best—they’re already well into the family business, after all—but it’s no wonder they say yes!

it’s the dream job of the day!  the catch with jesus is that try as anyone might, they cannot follow him as they would another rabbi.  jesus is god incarnate—grace made real—and so while we can try to be like him, we will never be him.  we will never fully succeed.  his love and grace is so overflowing that it breaks the nets we cast and nearly submerges our boats!

this is the part of the sermon where i invited people to make use of the crayons, pens, and paper in their pews to reflect individually and then with someone next to them on the following two sets of questions:

1- what is your dream job?  if you could do anything and get paid for it, what would it be?            

what would you say if somebody came by out of the blue and offered you that job?                       

2-when has someone chosen you for something?  how/for what do you wish god would choose you?

as we move through lent this year, i invite you to reflect on how you might deepen your discipleship.  what would it take and what would it look like for you to be covered in the dust of jesus?  what would it mean to you?

jesus is ready to jump: 4th sunday after epiphany

jeremiah 1:4-10 was also a reading assigned for today.

the holy gospel according to luke, the 4^th chapter, glory to you, o lord.

²¹Then Jesus began to say to them, “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.”

²²All spoke well of him and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. They said, “Is not this Joseph’s son?” ²³He said to them, “Doubtless you will quote to me this proverb, ‘Doctor, cure yourself!’ And you will say,

‘Do here also in your hometown

the things that we have heard you did at Capernaum.’”

²⁴And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. ²⁵But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; ²⁶yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. ²⁷There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.”

²⁸When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage.

²⁹They got up,

drove him out of the town,

and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built,

so that they might hurl him off the cliff.

³⁰But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

the gospel of the lord, praise to you, o christ.

----- 

last week pastor jennifer read the passage just before this where jesus outlines his vocation, saying, “the spirit of the lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. he has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free,                        to proclaim the year of the lord’s favor.”(luke 4:18-19)  jesus then makes clear that this is what he is about.  as in most of luke’s gospel, salvation comes here and now.  “today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

now.

this first glimpse in the gospel of luke of god’s glory being revealed in jesus gets the hometown crowd pretty excited.  their reaction is positive, if slightly patronizing: “this is joseph’s kid!”  “we know him!”  “he sure is getting his money’s worth at school!”  but then jesus drops the figurative bombshell:

not here.

this is not “good ol’ boy” salvation that comes, as the hometown crowd expects, to family and hometown first.  just like jeremiah, jesus has good news of building and planting: freedom from oppression—release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, but for them both first comes reality: for jeremiah that reality is destruction—plucking up and pulling down, destroying and overthrowing—babylonian captivity—for jesus it’s that god doesn’t play by our rules—the way we’ve always done things.

jesus has come for all nations and all people;            there sure are a lot of those other nations.  and, the hometown crowd are no more deserving than the gentile widow at zarephath or the gentile leper, namaan.

nor, is the hometown crowd any less deserving, but until they can realize that first part, that they are not more entitled to the first and best from god, they won’t be able to appreciate the second, that because of god’s love and grace, they are just as deserving as everyone else.

this realization—that they are not automatically entitled to all the miracles they want as the hometown crowd—leads             to             rage.          in typical mob mentality, the crowd switches from praise and hope    to rage    in a heartbeat.

…and they’re off. 

filling with rage, driving jesus out of town, and preparing to hurl jesus off the cliff. …  that’s the plan, anyway.  but in all their rush to hurl jesus off the cliff,      somehow,   he manages   to pass   through   the midst of them, begging the question: if he could just walk away, why did he let it go so far in the first place?

as he is pushed and shoved to the hilltop,    is jesus holding onto a glimmer of hope that the crowd will ask to be a part of what he is up to?  to join jesus’ mission instead of getting riled up that he won’t join theirs?

i wonder what would happen if, instead of trying to throw him off, the crowd had tried    to fly with him.  what if jesus let them shuttle him up to the hilltop to see if anyone would have the courage to ask to fly?                         the courage to leap with him into his ministry and vocation.

so, jesus keeps waiting and hoping that our questions and requests of “what will you do for me?”  and “please bless what i am doing.”  will change to “what can i do for you?” and “how can i get involved in what you’re up to in the world?”

if jesus is always waiting for us, pursuing us, what does it mean that he tells the crowd—his hometown crowd, who expects his utmost allegiance:      it’s not happening here.

it’s not that what the hometown crowd does is awful, they clearly care enough for jesus that they listen to him and praise what he says—at first.    the tough part,     the part where emotions turn on a dime,    is when his hometown realizes that while jesus is for everybody, their privileged position as the hometown crowd doesn’t entitle them to anything. 

jesus holds out hope as long as he can.  perhaps out of love for this very hometown crowd that is running him out of town.  i can just imagine jesus, being pushed and shoved along the way to the top of the hill, waiting and hoping for a voice to speak against the mob.

and finally, as they make it to the top of the hill, jesus looks around at everyone, and, with a deep sigh, lets his head hang down and passes gently through the midst of them to go on his way, always waiting and hoping, glancing back, to hear one voice, one person, break with the crowd and ask to join jesus.

but it’s hard.  it takes courage and tough deliberation to leap.                       

at seminary, it was a big deal, for me, to lead a student organization as we worked to become a reconciling in christ seminary, to make our welcome official, and to engage in the tough conversations about welcome, but i was not alone in it—it was jesus who was ready to jump, and i was just trying to join in and that happened to be the role i was given.

at immanuel, we have plenty of chances to jump, to be brave and courageous and ask jesus how we can join what he’s doing. 

sometimes the chance to jump with jesus is clear, easy, or straightforward:

            saying yes to serving at bessie’s house

            bringing extra food for mlm or the souper bowl on sundays

            increasing your giving

            attending a worshipping opportunity you don’t regularly attend

            becoming a faith mentor

sometimes it’s a harder question:

            how do we express god’s welcome, love, and acceptance to those who come here?

do we want to adopt a new welcoming statement?

how do we want to spend money as a church?

how much do we want our benevolence to be?

how do we use this building?

how might we use this building?

what is jesus up to in westport?  in kansas city?  in the country?  the world?

sometimes, like jesus’ hometown crowd, i do not want to join jesus in what he’s doing.  i would much rather hurl him off the cliff because this different way of being or this new idea is too much for me and i’d rather stick to the way things have always been.  

lucky for me, jesus always seems to pass through and go on his way before i get the chance to actually hurl him off the cliff, and i am left to ponder what i could have possibly been thinking.

other times, though, i am ready to be that voice in the crowd that says, “wait!  i want in.  i want to fly with you, jesus.  take me where you’re going!”  it’s both scary and exciting.  i want it and i fear it, and much of the time it is our vocation—it is where our desires and joys meet the world’s needs—it is a dream that seems far off, but might    actually    be    as close as jesus    passing    through    the midst of us.

what is it for you?  

what makes you scared?  

what makes you want to hurl jesus off the cliff?  

what makes you excited?  

what is jesus up to that makes you want to jump?  

how do you?  —how will you—jump with jesus?

lenten vigil intern project

(yes, i know, it's confusing...lenten series, on easter vigil old testament readings, as my intern project)

the time has come!  as i write this, i am in the midst of coordinating my intern project for the year.  the project is called god provides, we respond and will take place primarily as the lenten wednesday series.

the idea for this project came from a workshop i attended last year at lstc.  in the workshop, we looked at the easter vigil readings through the lens of stewardship.  we discovered, as the presenter already had, that each of the texts involved god providing something, which naturally raises the question: how do we respond?

so, during lent we will be exploring the old testament readings from the easter vigil both in worship and preaching as well as in the adult education time following the service.  each week a different text from the vigil will be used as the scripture for the worship service and then during adult education afterwards we will explore the text together and its implications for our lives as 21^st century disciples. 

the person who will be reading the text at the vigil will be helping lead the education component, which will help us all to dive more deeply into the readings and their meaning for our lives today.  the hope is also that this deeper exploration during lent will lead to more meaningful engagement, connection, and interest in the vigil itself.

i am really excited about the creative engagement people are already having with the texts and can't wait for lent to begin!  if you're in kansas city this lent or easter, come check out immanuel!

abundant life for all: 2nd sunday after epiphany

additional reading of note: 1 corinthians 12:1-11

the holy gospel according to john, the 2nd chapter, glory to you, o lord.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. ²Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding.

³When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”

⁴And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.”

⁵His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

⁶Now standing there were six stone water jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.

⁷Jesus said to them, “Fill the jars with water.”

And they filled them up to the brim.

⁸He said to them, “Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.”

So they took it.

⁹When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom ¹⁰and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.”

¹¹Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

the gospel of the lord, praise to you, o christ.




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on the third day.  what is always bound to happen “on the third day” in the gospels?  the Resurrection, of course!  you know and i know and the first hearers of the gospel of john definitely knew.  god’s glory is revealed on the third day.  this is especially true as this is the season of epiphany.

and so on this third day, we find jesus, his disciples, and his mother together at … a wedding?  now, weddings in biblical times lasted for about a week.  this was a celebration!  so on the third day there was a feast, joy, a celebration of life and commitment, a party, abundance! … and … the wine ran out.  now i don’t know much about wedding planning, having never planned one of my own, but even i know that you don’t want the wine to run out!

so, just when those who are “in the know” think there will be no wine, no spirit, no liveliness left for the second half of the wedding week; and when those who are not “in the know” are expecting the cheap, bad wine that works, but is definitely less than ideal—it’s the cheap stuff, after all;  when there are no high expectations regarding wine, the mother of jesus faithfully calls on her son.  mary trusts in what she knows from raising the word of god incarnate, and calls on him to rescue the whole wedding party from this terrible social faux paux, from this scarcity.

jesus isn’t even ready yet.  his hour has not yet come—that is, it’s not time for crucifixion yet, he’s not quite ready to be sent out into the real world—just a few more days, weeks, months at home, please!  then maybe he’ll try it.  sounds like the dream for many parents, my own included, who watched their children leave the nest as quickly as they could.  and yet, mary is faithful and knows that jesus’ time is now.

just as mary carried jesus in her womb for those long nine months, so now she carries him into his first public ministry.  the two places that mary shows up in the gospel of john are what appears to be the beginning, here at the wedding in cana of galilee, and what appears to be the end, at the foot of the cross. 

in reality, this is not the beginning and the foot of the cross is not the end.  the gospel of john makes clear that the beginning was the beginning of all things, after all, “in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god” (john 1:1).  and john knows that while jesus’ hour is his crucifixion, it is not the last word, it is not his end, nor is it the end.  there is life and hope, for on the third day is Resurrection.

that mary appears only here and at the cross, that this wedding takes place “on the third day,” and that jesus is already talking about “his hour,” make this a story of god’s glory revealed in jesus christ through the lens of death and resurrection.  we cannot understand this story except through jesus’ crucifixion and on the third day, his Resurrection.

so we come to the middle of the wedding feast with expectations of, at most bad, cheap wine, and at worst, no wine at all and what we get is the best wine imaginable!—the good stuff.              

joy and abundance for all gathered at the celebration feast!  here and throughout the gospel of john, jesus’ desire for humanity and, indeed, what he brings humanity, is:  Abundant Life.  not for some, but for all.

jesus’ desire for us all is Abundant Life, which martin luther king, jr. articulates as the Beloved Community. the king center states that, “dr. king’s Beloved Community is a global vision, in which all people can share in the wealth of the earth.

“in the Beloved Community, poverty, hunger and homelessness will not be tolerated… racism and all forms of discrimination, bigotry and prejudice will be replaced by an all-inclusive spirit of sisterhood and brotherhood… love and trust will triumph over fear and hatred.” 

in king’s own words, that love “is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. it is the love of god working in [people’s lives]. this is the love that may well be the salvation of our civilization.” “it is this love which will bring about miracles in the hearts of [people].”

through this love, our part in the Beloved Community, in the Abundant Life only Christ can provide, is to recognize the gifts the holy spirit has given each of us.  paul is clear: these gifts are not to build ourselves up to a place of prominence, but instead to build up the body of christ, the Beloved Community.  to join with the servants in cana—contributing our part—our gifts—to build each other up, to participate in king’s Beloved Community and in jesus’ Abundant Life.

it is about diverse people coming together for the good of all people.  that we would care not only for the friends and family we’ve grown up with or look like, but also for all of god’s beloved children. 

Abundant Life in Christ is for the people who come hungry, angry, lonely, tired, excited, and joyful. 

Abundant Life in Christ is for those on welfare, the working poor, the teachers and middle managers, the entrepreneurs, and the ceos. 

Abundant Life in Christ is for people of all sexual orientations, gender identities, and expressions, whether they are locked in the closet, peeking out, or have burst from it with a fabulous outfit/wardrobe.  it is for friends and family who supported or shunned them; hugged them or sent them away when they came out.  it is even for those who never knew.

Abundant Life in Christ is for those whose ancestors lived here before it was “discovered,” those whose ancestors “conquered” this land, those who founded this congregation, those who immigrated to this country—proficient in english or not speaking a single word of it, and those who have just arrived—by boat, by plane, and through the desert. 

Abundant Life in Christ is for those whose skin is as dark as midnight, those whose skin glows bright in the dark of midnight, and those in every shade and hue of the color we call “flesh.”

Abundant Life in Christ  is for everyone and the only way we get the Beloved Community—Abundant Life in Christ is when there truly is a place at the table for everyone—when all people really know deep in their souls that they are not only welcome, but wanted.  that is what god does at communion.  god invites, god wants, god welcomes, and god feeds everyone who comes to the Table.

we may set the Table and serve the food, but it is now and always will be god’s Table, god’s food, god’s invitation, and god’s guests, come to receive christ’s body given for us, the Beloved Community—Abundant Life for all people.  communion is the collection of all people for a feast of abundance—love and nourishment and spirit.  communion is the kin-dom on earth.  god’s gift of grace and reconciliation for you and for me and for all people.

theologian vítor westhelle talks about communion as anamnesis—remembrance.  he points out that communion is so vital because of the remembrance it brings of the community the disciples had together with jesus.  communion is a remembrance of the past in a way that brings life to the present and in this coming together of past and present, we receive community and hope for the future to come. 

every sunday we celebrate the community christ forms and we celebrate Abundant Life in Christ—love and care by all and for all.  that is what christ does in cana of galilee on the third day and that is what christ does in his Resurrection on the 3rd day and that is what christ does for us today.  at the Table.

let there be...epiphany!

i still have the echoes of the immanuel children’s christmas program in my ears and the confirmation kids’ rap, “you were once in darkness, but now you are the light in the world.  live as children of light, and find out what pleases the lord.”  (from ephesians) luckily, this is perfect for the first sunday this month!

epiphany is one of my joys each year in large part because i love the image of god as light.  in high school our synod youth gathering theme one year was “glow” and was based on john 1:5 “a light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not/will not/cannot overcome it.”  wherever there is light, the darkness crawls away and so if i can hold god’s spark inside of me, there will always be light to scatter the darkness.

i also really like the concept of god as light because of the science of it.  when it comes to light, the bright “lightness” of light happens because all of the colors visible to us on the light spectrum combine.  it’s similar to when we talk about humans being made in the image of god, imago dei.  it’s not that i, personally, am what god looks like, but instead, together, in our collective diversity as all of humanity, we are made in the image of god.  god as light is the gathering together of all of the diversity of the color spectrum.  when we can come together in our diversity—the whole rainbow of creation, of the human race—then we have the chance to live into god’s light and to manifest that light in this world.