What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, January 29, 2012

Fourth Sunday after the Epiphany
Deuteronomy 18:15-20 • Psalm 111 • 1 Corinthians 8:1-13 • Mark 1:21-28

[Jesus and his disciples] went to Capernaum; and when the sabbath came, he entered the synagogue and taught. They were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. Just then there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit, and he cried out, "What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are, the Holy One of God." But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be silent, and come out of him!" And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying with a loud voice, came out of him. They were all amazed, and they kept on asking one another, "What is this? A new teaching--with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him." At once his fame began to spread throughout the surrounding region of Galilee.

Believe it or not, Valentine’s Day is coming up on February 14^th, so please count this as your reminder to get your valentine a card or gift. Those days have a way of sneaking up on us sometimes. As we look towards that day in a few weeks, it got me thinking about what makes for a healthy relationship in married life, or in a dating relationship, or even what makes for a healthy friendship, one where there’s just lots of mutual affection and respect—not in a lubby dubby way, but in the best possible sense. And one of the things that is an ingredient in a healthy relationship, believe it or not, is something that’s actually counter-intuitive to what we’d think would make for health…and it’s conflict.

I was taught in seminary to always be wary of a couple coming in for pre-marital counseling that had never had a conflict before….because health in any relationship is not that there’s an absence of conflict, but that when it happens there’s a willingness to talk about it, and remain faithful to each other, and to forgive, so that the disagreement does not become a burden on what’s most important, which is the relationship—and not whatever it is the disagreement is about.

Another way we could say this is: “Staying connected in our relationships is not about who is right. It's not about keeping score.” When our spouse hasn’t taken out the trash in three weeks and it’s their job, and we go to them and they point out that we haven’t cleaned the toilets in four weeks, the way forwards in the relationship is not about keeping score. When a friend at school invites you over to play video games with a big group of friends and then doesn’t let you play as much as anyone else, and you ask them about it and they complain that you’re not good enough to possibly have a chance at beating them, the way forwards in the relationship is not about keeping score. When a parent who has been increasingly spending 3 and 4 nights a week at work finally asks their child if they would like to watch a movie for a family night at home, and the child says “no”, going on listing each time in the last few months when the parent called to say they couldn’t give them a ride to a friend’s house or to a play date because they had to stay at work…the way forwards in the relationship is not about keeping score.

When Jesus begins his public ministry in today’s reading from Mark’s Gospel, he paints a picture for us of how “not keeping score” is a fundamental part of how Jesus reforms and renews our relationships with each other in his kingdom. A few weeks ago we heard Jesus declare, after his baptism and his journey through the wilderness, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15) Today’s Gospel is our first picture of what the kingdom that Jesus comes to usher in looks like….and the scene where he steps into his public ministry is a scene where there is a whole lot of score keeping going on.

It’s the Sabbath day, a holy, sacred day for the Jews, and as Jesus begins interrupting their worship with his teaching, a “unclean” man, a man possessed by a demon, a man who by the score kept in the temple regulations should not have been there. But nevertheless, he comes inside this holiest of holy places. This man coming in to this temple changes the score that was usually kept in this sacred space: where the so-called “clean”, acceptable, privileged and powerful ones came and were affirmed for their “ritual pureness.” This sacred space was not supposed to be a place where people who were “unclean” came in and God made them acceptable.

But that’s the kind of kingdom Jesus wants to build. Jesus comes in and sees that the way forwards for him in his relationship with God’s people is not about keeping score of how unclean this person or that person is. Jesus comes to reform an unhealthy Temple system where people cannot or are not able to admit: all our lives are “unclean”, blemished and scarred.

In Jesus’ kingdom, everyone is unclean…not just this possessed man, but everyone…those inside and outside of God’s sacred space. Everyone faces evil powers that try to abuse and enslave us,whether it's addiction, greed, affluenza, sickness, workaholism... Whatever it is…no one gets a perfect score in the game called life. For Jesus to find a way to inaugurate his rule among us, his way forwards in his relationship with us, he chooses not to keep score of all the ways we are unclean. His rule comes so that when we gather in his name, lives are changed, and we who are unclean can discover that his rule makes us whole.

When Jesus comes to the Temple, he rebukes the power that keeping score of each other’s faults and good works has on us. When he gives us his healing power, he comes to the center of Israel's religious life to show us...he is Lord over even the most powerful systems and communities. His Lordship comes and rules over that which tries to possess this man, and us. His Lordship comes and exposes the way worldly powers keep their power—by keeping score. He comes in with a different kind of Lordship that unbinds the powers that try to Lord themselves over us...so that his rule of acceptance and mercy can rule in our hearts.

Jesus begins his rule in his kingdom with this miracle of an exorcism….a miracle that turns sacred space like this space here this morning…into a portrait of his kingdom… a kingdom where as our Lord, he doesn’t display his greatness through might, force or power. Jesus’ rule gives up his divine greatness for the sake of loving us. His rule gives up bullying us into submission and instead wins us over with his mercy. Jesus’ rule gives up power, to show that we can all have the power to be equal partners in his kingdom. In his kingdom, it’s not the score of winners and losers that matters; it’s not the score of our wrong or right behavior. It’s the giving away of his healing, gracious love, as we’ve been given…love that gives itself away for the sake of both the clean and the un-clean...that is what his kingdom looks like.

Why is it, though, that so many people persist in thinking that this place, and the church in general, is anything but a place where everyone gets to be in the picture of Jesus' kingdom? Why does the image persist that scores are kept here, rather than Jesus' making clean of us all? We see some of the common reasons why in an internet video campaign made last year called “Back to Church Sunday”. All the reasons people gave for not coming to church had something to do with viewing themselves like the possessed man in today’s Gospel did: as “unclean”...as people who were possessed by powers, perceptions and guilt that made them think God would not accept them in church. I'm going to recreate a few of these reasons with Lucy's help right now, where I'll share the reason someone gave for why they are “unclean”, and then an actual church-goer responds with the values of Jesus’ kingdom:

“I can’t come to church until I get my life together.”
“Church is how I got my life together….it’s a place for a new beginning.”

“Church is filled with a bunch of hypocrites.”
“And there’s always room for one more…imperfect people are welcome.”

“All they care about is your money.”
“[A CEO replies] They care about me, not about my money…people are priceless.”

“Church just makes me nervous.”
“I was nervous at first, but then I felt right at home….right where God wants you.”

“I’m not sure I believe everything you believe [in church].”
“But you can still belong…doubters are welcome.”

“Church is for whimpy, girly men.”
“[Big rough dudes with goatees and muscle shirts:] You want to say that again?”

“If you knew me, and what I’ve done…you wouldn’t want me.”

“If you knew me and what I’ve done, you wouldn’t be worried [about being a part of this community.]”

These are so many ways we can invite others not just into church...but into Jesus' kingdom....where scores are not kept, but relationships with each other, God and the world matter the most. Jesus changes the rules in his kingdom so that we are no longer bound by the powers that keep us from conneting with him and one another.

What’s occupying us, or our community, or our world that we need to be unbound from? What do we need to lift up to God to loosen its grip on our lives? Whatever “uncleanliness” it is that possesses us, Jesus' kingdom of compassion breaks us from them and rules over them all: even our failures, our hypocrisy, our finances, our doubts, and our stereotypes. Jesus’ kingdom comes, on earth just as it is in heaven, to rule over even the conflicts of our closest relationships…conflicts that are inevitably part of even the healthiest of relationships…conflicts where we can find a way forwards not by keeping score, but by giving up being right for the sake of staying connected to the other person. That may be not be the most popular message on this year's Valentine’s Day cards…but it’s the message of Jesus' inaugural miracle...a message that sets us under his rule...and that frees us from a life of keeping score to a life that lives his rule of love for the other.

Amen.

What Pastor Jon Preached on Sunday, January 22, 2012

Third Sunday after the Epiphany
Jonah 3:1-5, 10 • Psalm 62:5-12 • 1 Corinthians 7:29-31 • Mark 1:14-20

Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God,and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." As Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the sea--for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, "Follow me and I will make you fish for people." And immediately they left their nets and followed him.As he went a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John, who were in their boat mending the nets. Immediately he called them; and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men, and followed him.

Is it the case in your home, as it is the case in many, that the younger the family member of friend there, the more likely they are to know how to operate your technology? Take for example, Peter, whose family had a twelve year old VCR—remember those? This VCR was malfunctioning so bad, it refused to rewind, fast forward, or even eject out the videotapes. Peter’s seventh grade son announced to his wife and him: “Mom and Dad, this is a really low-tech household.” So to remedy this situation, Peter went and bought a new DVD player that he said probably ushered them into the threshold of being at least a “medium-tech” household.

But a new problem arose as the result of this purchase. The family room table now had one more remote control device, bringing the total to three. Nobody could figure out how to operate this new one! It had more buttons than the cockpit of a Boeing 757 airplane. Even when they could figure out how to operate it, it wasn’t always easy to find it!

Several years ago the company Magnavox released a study indicating that more than half of all Americans lose their remote every week between one and five times. In 63% of these searches, it took at least five minutes to find the lost remote. Most people indicated they found their remote hiding in furniture or a nearby room. Six percent said they would usually find it in their refrigerator!

So who came up with this device that is so prone to being lost? Zenith engineer Gene Polley came up with the idea for the remote in 1955, hoping that we would be forever freed from the oppression of having to get up off our couch to change the channel.

But this simple little device is really about one thing…one thing that we want so desperately in our lives, but that slips through our fingers as quickly as we can lose this little rectangle of plastic in our home. What we really want with this device, and with our lives is control. Almost every marriage, or coupled relationship in the western world finds this device to be a bone of contention in the household. Perfectly loving, caring people can in an instant become set off with rage over whose fingers can control the channel, volume and when to hit the pause or mute buttons. As handy as this device is, it fuels a hunger we have to be the one in control of our life. (Marty, The Anatomy of Grace, 92-93)

Jesus’ call of his first disciples in Mark’s Gospel finds an extraordinary example of people who lose control over something much more precious than a remote control. When Jesus calls Simon, Andrew, Peter and John, they immediately, without hesitation, drop their fishing nets…and follow Jesus. In an instant, they let the “remote” out of their hands, and out of their lives: they drop the very thing that gives them life, their livelihood, their income, their food and their community. They even drop their nets to leave behind their families.

How could these disciples have possibly done this? What happened to the people who depended on their fish for food? What happened to their nets and boats? Did they just float away into the sea?

The disciples display an astonishing willingness to leave everything behind not for the sake of a secure, prosperous and easy future. Rather than being in control, they leave everything for the sake of following Jesus. They lose their life in the love and service of “fishing for people”, in order to save it.

Jesus’ invitation to follow him challenges us to ponder—what are we willing to give up control over to follow where he will lead us. As we enter deeper into this season of the church year, after we celebrate God’s coming into the world through Jesus, we get to enter deeper into the embodying our call from God to follow this incarnate Jesus. We heard last week about Samuel’s call to be one of God’s prophets. Samuel’s call came from God's voice that led him to a specific action: demanding accountability for the Temple priest’s sons who were stealing and abusing their power. There are times when we respond to God’s call for such a specific action. But there are also times for each of us where we are called by God to account for who is our Lord…to account for who we say we give our whole lives to, whom will we follow, who receives our utmost allegiance. No matter how much we stumble, no matter how much we drag our feet, no matter how much we may want to not let go of our control, Jesus asks us to let go...and follow.

Somehow, some way, the invitation that Jesus offers to these first disciples compels them, as it compels us, to answer that call to follow Jesus as their Lord. Somehow, some way…they trusted that what they left behind—all that was unfinished, all that was still to be done, all the people they loved and cared for—that those things were in God's hands. Somehow they trusted God would mend the nets of the parts of their lives that were now their former lives, the lives they had torn themselves apart from.

Perhaps in the end what compelled the disciples to leave everything and risk living a life they had no control over was that they really were not changing professions. Jesus told them instead of fishing for fish, they would be fishing for people. Instead of casting nets for fish, these fishermen would cast their nets to catch people and get them out of the waters that were drowning them with sickness, pain and suffering. These fishermen would confront those who wanted too many fish at the expense of others going hungry. These fishermen were asked to put Jesus as the captain of their fishing boat, even when doing so meant taking the risk that the powerful would stop at nothing to try and drown them.

The promise of Jesus’ call to us, to follow him as his disciples, is not a guarantee of a life where we are in control. It does not guarantee that life will be easier. But it does promise that our lives’ legacy will be lives of love, because the way of following Jesus always flows through the cross. The way of Jesus flows through responding to the world’s hurts with his compassion. The call to follow Jesus is the call to risk everything for the sake of letting Jesus' mercy loose on the world. His call is to follow him to the cross where he let go of his life, in order to give us life...and where his gnarled fingers opened just enough to find a couple of spikes being hammered through them. Living with our hands open means facing the threat of losing everything.

Rather than grasping for control over what gives us power—whether it's authority, status, or a remote control--we can answer his call to love as he loves us: by opening our hands. We can open our hands to something that’s much more low-tech than a remote control: we can open our hands to the flesh and blood hands of someone else. Living with open hands gets us in touch with Jesus' love that touches people's lives...and that has the power to cast out fears.

What do we need to let go of today, in order to follow Jesus’ call of open-handed compassion more closely? What do we need to get un-stuck from and hand over to our Lord, so we can partake of the rich life that finds power in letting go for the sake of love? That’s a question for us all to answer…but thankfully as people Jesus calls together to be the church…we don’t have to answer it alone. With Simon, Andrew, James, John and all who let go to follow Jesus, we get to answer his call together.

Today during the Lord’s Prayer I’d like to invite us to let go of whatever we are holding, and hold onto each other’s hands….and to together embody what living with our hands open looks like. Although it may be awkward…it’s no more awkward than it would be to give up bickering about who in our house gets to hold the remote control. Instead, it will be like anytime we let go of our desire for control: we'll find ourselves instead getting in touch the undeniably low-tech life of caring for the human family that following Jesus as our Lord is all about.

Amen.