Amber Alert - Jesus Goes Missing

Isn't it every parent's worst nightmare?  A child has gone missing and minutes feel like hours in the frantic search for the beloved child.  And what do we do when our child rounds the corner of the backyard fence or peeks out between the clothes in the store, just as we're getting ready to call the police?  Don't we hug first and then scold and discipline?  We react out of love and fear, all commingled together.

When 12 year old Jesus stays behind in the Temple with the learned scholars after the Passover Festival in Jerusalem, it takes Mary and Joseph 3 days to miss him and begin their fearful search.  And what do they do they find Jesus?  Mary scolds him as if he were a child, missing the fact that her 12 year old Jewish son, ready for his bar mitzvah, has been about his Father's (capital "F" here) business.  Luke 2: 41-52 is a heart wrenching, singular story of Jesus the boy maturing into a man.

And the literal search is not the most important part of the story.  Mary and Joseph as parents are not the most important part either, even as our hearts ache with either memories or fears of such a nightmare.  This is not a how-to-parent story, but a coming-of-age story as the hero Jesus begins his first step to his maturing into ministry.

If Jesus is maturing and growing into his intended ministry, how are we keeping up?  How will 2013 be a time of deepening our faith?  Will we grow closer to Jesus as we commit ourselves ever more deeply in relationship to other members of our family of faith?  Will we follow Jesus' teaching and preaching ministries as we serve others beyond our immediate community of faith?  Both challenges are intertwined as we set our faces toward 2013.  As we go forth from worship on Sundays, how do we engage with each other during the week?  Significant Relational Groups (SRGs) are excellent opportunities to practice our spiritual humanness together as we share passions, loves, interests.  Serving in mission to those who have been left behind provide excellent opportunities to see Jesus in the "other."  Topeka JUMP is a new opportunity to give voice to our concerns for social justice just as Jesus commands us to love and serve.

I wonder about God's worst nightmare as he sent his only Son, vulnerable to the ways of the world, to us to show us what God is like?  Is God hunting for us, searching the highways and byways for our commitments to the kingdom?  Does God grieve and groan as we go missing?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Prepare Your Spirit

When you hear ‘spirit’ during the Advent season, what do you immediately think of? The spirits of Christmas past, present, and future? The Christmas spirit? Making spirits bright? What kind of spirits you put in your eggnog? Or maybe even the Holy Spirit and how it is moving, breathing, pushing, pulling in your life and the life of Trinity right now? 

Many Christians think of Advent as a time to slow down – to catch our breath - that as the world gets busier and busier, we intentionally take time to still our hearts and prepare the way for the Lord once more. But as we prepare our spirits for the coming of the Christ child, it’s less of a “find your centering place” and more of a “Buckle your seatbelts – it’s going to be a bumpy ride.” 

Mary’s encounter with her cousin Elizabeth takes center stage in our Scripture this week. Read Micah 5:2-5a and Luke 1:39-55.

The Holy Spirit came upon Elizabeth, and the preacher’s wife became the prophet. The marginalized young unwed mother-to-be sang a revolutionary song, about God turning the world upside down, about a God of grace and mercy, about a good God who keeps promises. As Mary and Elizabeth’s spirits went on a rollercoaster ride between joy and worry and exultation and anxiety and fear that no one would believe them, they found solace and assurance in their relationship. They found that the Spirit came when they were together, those two women who carried the messenger and the Message. They found that it was easier to prepare their spirits for the coming uncertain days if they had community and connection. 

So too is my wish for all of us at Trinity – that we can truly prepare the way of the Lord through community and connection, that our spirits are complete only when we are together, that we find joy and assurance in how the Holy Spirit moves in our own spirits. The Christ child comes again at Christmas to fully be in relationship with all of humanity – so prepare your Spirit as we start to live His story again. Amen. 

Grace and peace, 
Pastor Kate

Prepare Your Home for Your Homecoming

How is your decorating coming?  Do you have enough room for your Christmas tree, your wreaths and garlands and Christmas knickknacks?  Or do you have to make room by moving chairs, tables, and your everyday "stuff" out of the way?  Are the presents wrapped and ready to go in the mail or under the tree?  How many parties involve bringing goodies?  Are the stockings hung over the chimney with care?
Am I touching a nerve in your busy, perhaps frantic schedule?
These are not the most important questions of course.  The bigger, more significant questions are:  "Have you made room for Jesus in your days - in your space - in your schedule?  Where do you squeeze him in?  Will you fling wide your front door if you open it and there he stands?"

Old Testament prophets speak to us when they promise:  The Lord is already in our midst (Zephaniah 3: 14-20) and the Lord will bring us back home for a great family gathering (Isaiah 12: 1-6).  How do we respond to these promises?  If the corners of our rooms and hearts and minds are too full, will we have to look for Jesus out back in our sheds or between the cobwebbed baskets/tools/recycle in the garage? Do we even recognize our Lord in our midst?

Our home is more than our space and the things that fill up our space, no matter the size of our spaces.  Our home is where God is - wherever and whenever we continue to nurture our relationship with Jesus.  So, both prophets Zephaniah and Isaiah encourage us to make room, recognize, and welcome our Lord.  Because they lived before the birth of Jesus, they're projecting their hopes, which we find realized and incarnated in Jesus the Christ.

Let us join them when we sing, shout, rejoice, exult, celebrate, raise the rafters with our joy, and proclaim the Lord's name with all that we do and share and serve through this season of thanksgiving for the birth of the Babe, who enters into the very real humanity of our lives - God with us - Emmanuel.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelleyhttp://bible.oremus.org/?ql=222333236

Lessons and Carols - We Tell the Birth Story

The combination of singing and reading scripture through worship emphasizes the importance of God's Word to us when we gather as a community of faith.  It's been said that singing is like praying twice.  Music has effects on us that are experienced in ways different than listening to the spoken Word.  Singing in participation or listening to music awakens us to God's presence and is a critical way that we learn the theology of our faith.  Scripture and music combine to evoke, edify, enhance and expand our consciousness of God's reality and God's grace and mercy.

Join us as we read, sing, listen, and remember the story of the the birth of our Lord, Jesus Christ, in worship this Sunday (Dec 9) at 10:30a.m. at Trinity

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Prepare Your Heart: Let Your Heart Lead the Way

How do we read the signs of the times today?  If we pay attention to newspaper headlines and stay up to date with current events, our times can seem absolutely apocalyptic.  Hurricane Sandy causes billions of dollars destroying much of our east coast.  Violence abounds not only in Syria, Israel, Palestine, and Afghanistan, but also in Topeka where headlines steadily remind us of shootings, burglaries, and physical abuse.  We seem determined to violate our environment as the polar ice cap melts faster than ever; our climate continues to warm; and we foul our air and water.

It's amazing how Gospel writer Luke seems to echo similar signs of doom and judgment in Luke 21: 25-36:  "There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves..."  (NRSV v 25) Yet Luke points us toward the second coming of Christ with an urgency that we prepare ourselves:  "But be on your guard.  Don't let the sharp edge of your expectation get dulled by parties and drinking and shopping." (Eugene Peterson, "The Message" Lk 21: 34)

Parties/drinking/shopping - isn't this a large part of how we prepare ourselves for Christmas as we await the birth of the Christ child?  Luke counsels us that whether we are preparing for the birth of Baby Jesus or for the second coming of Christ, we must not let our hearts be weighed down.  Trinity's  Advent sermon series will build on this theme of preparing ourselves:  our hearts, our minds, our homes, and our spirits.

To prepare our hearts, 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13 counsels us to "strengthen our hearts in holiness" (v 13a).  Our holiness is not an accomplishment to add to our "to do" lists, but a measure of our relationship to Jesus and our relationship to others in the name of Jesus.  So, preparing our hearts during this season of Advent is opening our hearts to Jesus in daily prayer and opening our hearts to others by serving them with love.  Our hearts are strengthened in holiness as we re-align our hearts with the priorities of Jesus.

May we all be attuned to the signs of the times that twinkle in our hearts as well as in the brightly lit streets and homes of December.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Christ the Unlikely King

When you hear the word ‘king’ or ‘kingdom’ what do you think of? Do you stay biblical because a pastor is writing this and think of King Saul/David/Solomon? King Herod? Do you travel into mythology and think of King Arthur or King Midas? Or into fiction and think of all the competing Kings & Queens in Game of Thrones, the Lion King, the King of Siam and his relationship with Anna? Or do you think of historical kings like King Henry VIII or King George? Or maybe as a  sports fan, King James or Jerry Lawler the King come to mind?

A claim to kingship is present in the Scripture readings today: John 18:33-37 and Psalm 93.

We certainly don't tend to think of current kings; we usually don't tend to think of ourselves as being part of a kingdom, submitting and obedient to a king. And yet Jesus' response to Pilate's accusation should strike us to the core. Just when we are thinking we are free to do what we want when we want, Jesus' words draw us back in to remind us just who and what we belong to.

In our country where we have rejected the tyranny of kingship, it's even more important to reclaim that word 'king' by naming Jesus Christ our unlikely king - a king who shares power by empowering others to do the work of the kingdom. In a world where kingdom brings up images of abuse and oppression, it's even more important to reclaim 'kingdom' by describing the kingdom of God - one of equality, of inclusivity, of radical hospitality, where no one is hungry or thirsty or naked or lonely or without a family. 

As we reflect on Christ the King in the midst of Thanksgiving week, let us give thanks to Christ our King, for choosing us to belong to the kingdom of God - for choosing us to be sisters and brothers - for choosing us to share His inheritance - for choosing us to work to make this kingdom a reality. Let us give thanks that it is not up to us - that we have a redeemer King.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Our Living, Lasting, Loving Legacy

How can a Hebrew Bible story of Mother-to-be, Hannah, (who promises to give back her child to serve God in the Temple if only God will grant her the joy of becoming pregnant after so many fruitless years of being barren) have any relevance to our lives today?  No mother I've ever encountered weaned her child and then took him to the priest to live in the church.  There must be something more to the story of 1 Samuel 1: 4-20
The bigger context of this story is that the tribes of Israel (until now loosely confederated) are moving into a time of becoming a kingdom.  Born to Hannah in response to her pleading and praying to God for a child, Samuel grows to become the powerful priest who select King Saul and begins the transition to an Israel united under the King David dynasty that genealogically results in the birth of Jesus many many generations later.
All Hannah has to do is to keep her vow to God and give back her precious son to God!  As disciples of Jesus, we too are called to give back to God - something perhaps as precious as our children.  In response to God's gifts of blessings and shalom, we respond with gratitude by offering our time to serve, our talents to witness the love of Christ for us, and our resources for the benefit of the kingdom, which is being established here and now.  In giving back, we continue a living, loving, lasting legacy of Christian faith which is our privilege and our thanksgiving.

The Tale of Four Women

Ruth and Naomi - Carmen and Ana:  4 women miles and years apart, yet similar in some important ways

Ruth (from Moab a bitter enemy to Israel) and Naomi (Ruth's mother in law and native of Israel)- both part of Jesus' ancestry - lost their husbands to death and were widows at a time when survival depended on male family protection (Ruth 1: 1-18).  Deciding to return to Bethlehem, Naomi urges Ruth to remain in her own country of Moab to better her chances of finding a husband to care for her.      Instead, in lines famous for their poignant loyalty, Ruth declares to Naomi:  "Do not press me to leave you or to turn back from following you!  where you go, I will go; where you lodge, I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God." (Ruth 1: 16)

Ruth and Naomi's story is one of possibilities that emerge when we dare to live beyond the walls that might define us and confine us.  As foreigner, stranger, lowly woman, and widow, Ruth dares to risk herself in faithful loyalty to Naomi and commit herself to Naomi's God - our God who is the God of ALL people.  The story concludes with Ruth marrying Boaz and giving birth to Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of King David - whose lineage led to the birth of Jesus.  This is a story of "hesed" - steadfast, loving kindness that won't be restricted by either religious or ethnic boundaries.

Carmen and Ana live in 21st century El Salvador - a country torn apart by 12 years of civil war from 1980 - 1992.  Carmen and Ana's devotion and loyalty is to the families of Los Talpetates, El Salvador.  While I know little of their personal history, they both live out "hesed" - steadfast loving kindness - in their call as El Salvadoran "sisters".  Carmen is a leader in the community and is a counselor in the primary school.  Ana teaches computer to the K-9th graders at school.  Carmen has provided stability, direction, vision, and principled decision making as the Talpetates community re-invented itself after the devastation of war.  Working with other leaders in the community, Carmen and the others set goals of education for the children and medical care for the families.  Ana represents a standard of computer literacy for the children, preparing them for high school - a standard that could hardly be dreamed possible 10 years ago.

Carmen and Ana are 2 women whom God uses to turn death and dislocation into new life.  Instead of dwelling in a post-war plight of suffering, loss, hardship and pain or choosing flight to the city or to another country, Carmen and Ana act in ways that allow God to strengthen the community against oppression and poverty.

Four women - centuries and countries apart - who turn the tide of history through their struggles and their faithfulness.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Our Family Tree of Saints and Sinners

Pastors have the privilege of being invited to family gatherings.  Dr Delmer Chilton remembers the family reunion where a woman excitedly began a report on her family history.  Beginning in the 1700s, she went on and on and on, talking for more than an hour.  As she finally came to the end, she asked, "Did I leave anyone out?"  The bored kid next to Dr Chilton responded - under her breath - "Yeah, Adam and Eve!" (Rev Dr Delmer L Chilton, "Sermon for All Saints Day")

On All Saints Sunday, before we recite our Christian family tree, remembering the saints who've gone before us, we should clarify what we mean by a saint.  I especially like Frederick Buechner's definition of a saint:  "In his holy flirtation with the world, God occasionally drops a pocket handkerchief.  These handkerchiefs are called saints." (F Buechner, "Beyond Words," Harper San Francisco, p352).

I remember sitting in my seminary New Testament class, when the professor would begin class with:  "Welcome Saints.  Let's get started."  I was jarred by being addressed as a saint because at the time I was wondering if I could survive the journey of seminary when I was plagued with doubts.  But I believe my professor was right.  Seminary students, professors, everyone sitting in a congregation - we're all saints because we're all grafted into God's family tree through our baptisms.  As adopted children of God we're sisters and brothers of Christ.  We've been marked with the sign of the cross on our foreheads and so we try to live into our adopted identities as holy ones (Greek for saints).  But we're only human, so if we adopt the moniker of saint (which I think is justifiable), we also should claim our status as sinners also.  Robert Louis Stevenson characterizes our status as: "The saints are the sinners who keep on going."

So, what is the witness of the communion of saints who have gone before us - that great cloud of witnesses who hover over and around us?  First, their witness is that we are part of a family - a family that began long before our present time and will continue long after us.  We have a place in this family. Second, God calls us to remember our own saintliness, our blessedness, and our holiness as a gift from God.  We're called to live into our saintliness.  Living into our saintliness means remembering the values and traditions of our ancestors and translating them into our rituals, our daily lives, and our care for ALL beloved children of God.  Third, we remember the promise of resurrection as we read about Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead (John 11: 32-44) - a precursor or foreshadowing of Jesus' own resurrection available to us.  Lastly, Revelation 21: 1-6a describes the new heaven and the new earth, the holy city and the new Jerusalem.  This is God's kingdom being realized here on earth:  "And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'See, the home of God is among mortals.  God will dwell with them; they will be God's peoples.'" (Rev 21: 3)  While we honor the saints who've gone before us, we sharpen our eyes for God's handkerchiefs living now among us.  For we are all part of the communion of saints past, present, and future.  Let us follow in these footsteps.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Mission Possible: Taste and See that the Lord is Good

"Get up.  Your faith has made you well," says Jesus to no-longer blind Bartimaeus.  What an extraordinary healing!  How did Bartimaeus make this happen?  Wrong question.  Miracles in the Bible point us to the healer - Jesus Christ.  When we focus on Jesus we see God revealed in the One who can bring us from darkness into light so that we become aware of what really matters in life and death.

Notice some details in this story in Mark 10: 46-52.  Sitting by the side of the road, Blind Bartimaeus is a blind beggar - ie. a man outside of any family support and unable to participate in any of the "normal" activities of family/town/culture.  Because he can't SEE Jesus, Bartimaeus is told that Jesus of Nazareth is walking past - ie. Jesus as identified by his home town means Jesus would be perceived as mere man, peasant of low status by virtue of his birth. But... Bartimaeus calls out to Jesus as "Son of David."  Somehow Bartimaeus knows Jesus to be the Messiah, the Christ, the anointed One destined to fulfill God's promise that King David's descendant would reign over Israel forever.  How does Bartimaeus know this about Jesus?  How do any of us KNOW OR SEE THIS TRUTH?

Some in the crowd urge Bartimaeus to be quiet.  I envision Archie Bunker saying to Edith in the tv show, "All in the Family":   "Stifle!"  But Bartimaeus won't be stifled or stopped.  He throws off his cloak - ie. his most treasured possession as a beggar which keeps him warm through the cold winter nights.  Just as Bartimaeus leaves his cherished treasure behind in the hope of healing, what are we willing to renounce to follow Jesus and beg for sight - for insight - for wisdom - for healing - for transformation?

Bartimaeus won't keep still as he springs to action.  Jesus stops for Bartimaeus and asks him, "What do you want me to do for you?"  Bartimaeus' response - "Let me see again" - understands that it is Jesus who has the authority and power to bring him his sight. Jesus responds to Bartimaeus' need, showing us that he, as God revealed, has the power to conquer our brokenness.  This is a testimony of hope - of trust in the ability of God to accomplish much more than all we can ask or imagine.

How do we respond to this good news?  First with praise, such as that from Psalm 34: 1-8:  "I will bless the Lord at all times.  God's praise shall continually be in my mouth...[We will] taste and see that the Lord is good."  Second, we respond with our behavior - our actions - our decisions.  In this time of being called to be good stewards of God's blessings already bestowed on us, we respond by pledging our treasured possessions, so that we too might be testimonies of hope to an unseeing world.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Mission POSSIBLE: God's Secret Agents

IF you wake up in the morning and faithfully lift up your prayers to God...
IF you take time for a morning devotional and then sit quietly waiting for God to speak...
IF you seize opportunities during your day to send shooting prayers to God...
IF you prepare for bed by reflecting on your day and turn to God in prayer...
Does your heart feel as if you're talking to a wall - a brick wall that doesn't let any light through the cracks - a high wall that keeps you in shadows - a wall that separates you from God and whatever God might choose to say to you?

Because these are common experiences for Christ followers, it may make Ephesians 3: 20-21 hard to swallow:  "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.  Amen."

This is a doxological prayer - a prayer of thanksgiving.  What's powerful in this promise about God's abundance is that our prayers and our church aren't just another self-help project.  God is the agent - the primary actor in this prayer.  It's not a matter of becoming stronger and better Christ followers on our own.  But by letting (ie surrendering ourselves) Christ into our hearts, we allow Christ to change us.

And how Christ wishes to transform us is to call us (perhaps through our prayers; perhaps through another person; perhaps through worship or acts of mission; perhaps through a Mission Possible tape recorder) to be agents for God and partners with God.  As the hymn, "Called as Partners in Christ's Service" sings:  we're called to ministries of grace and we respond with deep commitment [trusting in] fresh new lines of faith to trace.

We commit ourselves to be God's agents by generously and trustingly offering our time, our talents/gifts, and most specifically in this season of our stewardship campaign, our treasures.  My question is:  If the voice on the Mission Possible tape recorder were to be God's voice issuing us our challenge...would we trust God enough to give joyously and abundantly of those treasures with which God has blessed us in the first place?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Mission Possible: On a Mission From God

Last week in worship we saw through a clever video that Trinity has a mission…if we choose to accept it. But what is that mission? Who gives us the mission – and are we part of the Impossible Missions Force like in the TV series and movies Mission: Impossible? They are constantly given impossible missions, but they always find a way to make them possible. If we at Trinity accept our mission, will it actually be possible?

Read Mark 10:17-31 and 2 Corinthians 1:1-2.

Much like in the classic Blues Brothers movie, we at Trinity are on a mission from God.  

Just like Paul writes in 2 Corinthians, God has given us as Christ-followers a special mission. As we look at the Gospel message today, we might get the feeling that the mission is impossible.

A rich and faithful man approaches Jesus in a respectful way with a question that is on his heart. Because Jesus loves him, Jesus gives him a mission, a way that this rich man can be a participant in the kingdom of God. Jesus knows his obedient and faithful heart to the Jewish laws – so he asks the man to sell everything he has and give it to the poor.

While Christian tradition has always assumed that the man rejected the mission from Jesus, there is nothing in any of the Gospels to suggest that. We don't really know what his future looked like. All we know is the man went away sorrowful, grieving because he loved his possessions. Maybe he was sorrowful because he loved his possessions more than he loved God. Or maybe he was sorrowful because he knew that this was going to be a big change in the way he lived – no more nice dinners at the Rowhouse, no more KU basketball season tickets, no more shopping sprees in Kansas City. Maybe he was grieving his own self-centered way of living as he was taking the first step toward the kingdom of God.

We don’t know the end to the rich man’s story. But we hear in this Gospel a call to follow Jesus, a call to remove whatever blocks us from loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength – possessions, addictions, pop culture, our busy calendar. The Good News is that Jesus loves us enough to give us a mission. The Good News is that we can choose to accept that, and will be surrounded by sisters, brothers, and Jesus along that Way. How will you respond to God’s call to mission? What will the end of your story be? The Good News is that by the grace of God, we can take baby steps in the right direction, that we can trust in a God who makes the impossible possible, who turns little into much, who restores the sick to health, and who wants us to be partners in that mission. Thanks be to God!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Take it. Break It. Share It. Love It.

What comes to mind when you hear the Oregon Trail? Do you think of the trail of settlers that moved through Kansas in 1841? Do you think of the classic computer game (and now iPhone game?) Wherever your knowledge of the Oregon Trail originates, you probably know that it was not an easy journey. There were many challenges along the way, from the dangers of dysentery to finding food to broken wheels. They took the necessities from home, splitting things up in different wagons, sharing things with other families, and loving each other along the way.

With the struggles of the early American pioneers in mind, read Mark 10:13-16  and Hebrews 1:1-4,2:5-13.

The author of Hebrews says that Jesus is our Salvation Pioneer, that the one who is both fully human and fully divine, paved the way for us to follow. Jesus, being the imprint of God, could have taken a path that we couldn’t follow, or could have chosen to be ashamed of us as brothers and sisters.

Instead, Jesus as our Salvation Pioneer means that we are welcome and expected to join The Way – that we too can get close to perfection – which in this book means fulfilling the purpose to which we are called. In the midst of our hopeless world, we as Christians can have radical hope. We are empowered to live into our identity as Jesus’ brothers and sisters, who praise God alongside Jesus.

On this World Communion Sunday, we can rejoice in our calls as pioneers, as we follow along the trail that Jesus blazed, offering love and radical hospitality to our sisters and brothers around the world. We come together at the table, remembering that Jesus could have chosen a path purely of divine glory, but instead offered himself on the cross for us. We come to the table to take the bread and the cup, break it, share it, and love it, all because of the sacrifice that Jesus made and the sustenance that Jesus continues to offer us on our journey. Thanks be to God!

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

Enemy or Ally of Christ?

When I was little my mother taught me to make my bed every morning.  When I asked, "Why do I have to make it when I'm just going to crawl back in tonight and mess it up again?"  Thus began a system of allowance and consequence.  Every Friday evening when I'd made my bed all week, I was handed my allowance.  Since I liked to buy candy with my allowance I learned to avoid the consequences.  As an adult the external consequence has matured into the internal satisfaction I feel when I walk into an orderly bedroom with bedspread in place and clothes hung up.  No matter the turmoil in my life, my bedroom is an intrinsic oasis of peace.

A literal or superficial reading of Mark 9: 38-50 looks as if Jesus is setting up a system of rewards and awful consequences:  offer a cup of water to those who are thirsty, or else!  Language of demons, hellfires, undying worms, and personal amputation of our limbs grabs our attention. Demons and the fires of hell are graphic descriptions that effectively describe our emotions or how we experience our situations of psychological assault or mental unrest or feeling lost, lonely, or abandoned.  But if we focus too intently on demons we give them power over us and we forget that God created all creation and called it good. Demons pose no threat to Jesus!  Remember his 40 days in the wilderness when he dismissed the power of demons and that he cast out demons from people as he healed them.

Instead I read this passage as Jesus trying to get our attention through hyperbole in order to emphasize our call to servant discipleship - to offer a cup of water to someone dying of literal thirst or the many who are parched for the presence of Jesus in their lives. There are many stumbling blocks, both internal and external, that keep us from acting as agents of healing on behalf of others.  Just one of many obstacles is our belief that we do not have the gift of healing.  WRONG!!  As Jesus might say to us, "Get behind me, Satan!"

These stumbling blocks can quench the fires of our passions to serve.  We are called to name them so that we can open our eyes to our own woundedness that equips us to be wounded healers (as Henri Nouwen points out).  We are called to cast aside those stumbling blocks that would dilute our saltiness with shame or guilt or laziness or closed hearts, so that we are useless.  Instead, Jesus says we are his agents of healing and we are to act as preservatives of peace, wellbeing, and shalom in the world.  Those deeds which we do in the name of Jesus ally us with our Savior and Lord and are thus powerful far and wide.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Upside Down Hospitality According to Jesus

How are your hospitality credentials doing?  Have you been as welcoming as Jesus would have us be?  By reading Mark 9: 30-37 carefully, we might wonder why Jesus' 2nd prediction of his death and resurrection are immediately followed by a dispute among the disciples about "who is the greatest"? (Aren't the disciples paying attention?)  And Jesus' answer might further confuse us:  "Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me, and whoever welcomes me welcomes not me but the one who sent me" - ie. God (Mark 9: 37).

Welcoming the "other" (look at your "they" and "we" language to identify who is "other" to you) must be  fairly important to Jesus.  Yet if we take Jesus' response to welcome a child in a superficial way, we let ourselves off the hook for what is a more shocking and demanding call by Jesus.  If we want to welcome Jesus and if we want to welcome God, it's easy to pull a child onto our lap and see Jesus in most children's innocence, delight with life, and love-ability.  But this passage isn't about child-like sentimentality.  For children, in Jesus' time, are without any status and aren't even considered as real persons.  This isn't Jesus meek and mild!  We mustn't domesticate Jesus, but see the difficult challenge in  Jesus' words to ALL Christ followers.

If our lives are to mirror Jesus, then we're called to welcome/pay attention to/serve/care for the least, the lost, the lonely, and all who are invisible when we close our eyes to their presence among us.  There's a huge contrast between our longings for wealth, wisdom, worldly things, influence, status and Jesus' longing for us to serve - to offer genuine, authentic hospitality.  We can point to our service at Let's Help, Rescue Mission, Doorstep, VIDA, and other helping agencies if we want to justify our efforts in the eyes of God.  But in this passage, the intimacy of Jesus with a child in his lap points to relationship with others on a first name basis more than the anonymity or distance of cooking for others in our own kitchens or sending money to these worthwhile agencies.  Such efforts are valid ministry in the name of Jesus, but I wonder how transformative it is for us by keeping our distance from the differentness, the stench, and our fears because of the discomfort we feel.

Can you recall a time when you felt lonely or new or fearful and someone welcomed you and helped you feel at home and worthy again?  Stand in that memory for a moment.  Where is your opportunity to receive someone just as Jesus embraced the child?  When will you throw your reservations about who is different, deficient, difficult away so that you too can welcome Jesus?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Jesus for President

     Let’s imagine  that there’s a 3^rd candidate in this 2012 presidential election - a man relatively unknown til about 3 yrs ago.  His name is Jesus and there’s a groundswell of support from bluecollar workers –union laborers –farmers & their families throughout the country.  The youth in particular are intrigued with this man who dresses like them in sandals and do rags and dreadlocks and doesn’t travel in limousines.  In fact, he only has a security team of 12. But wherever he goes people flock to him.
     You can read more about him and his election platform in Mark 8: 27-38.  He challenges us to get to know him better as he asks, "Not only do I want to know who the people say I am; but also I want to know who YOU say I am?"  The confounding and paradoxical thing about this candidate is that people seem to love him or hate him.
     I wonder if this tension arises from his platform:  ‘If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life?Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.' (Mark 8: 34b-38)
     Could this man be elected president?  Probably not.  But can he be our Lord - our Savior - our King - our God?  This is the real challenge of following him.  Eugene Peterson (The Message) says we have to let Christ have the driver's seat and that we have to forget ourselves.  Maybe our vote and our confession is that we commit to acting FOR others on behalf of the gospel - the good news that Jesus is NOT president - but a whole lot more.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley
     

Favoritism is NOT a Failure of Faith

The NRSV translation of James 2: 1-10, 14-17 titles this scripture: "Warning Against Partiality" -  a call to impartiality about how we treat others, whether rich or poor, or of different skin color or gender, or those with education or those who are uneducated.  Pick any group that you call "they" (vs. "we) and you are challenged with partiality.  "But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors" (James 2: 9).

However, respectfully, I disagree with this perspective.  I believe James accuses us of being partial incorrectly.  James accuses disciples such as us as showing favoritism to those who are most like us or for those whom we emulate and admire for having qualities (money, wisdom, status, education, etc) that we yearn for ourselves.  From my perspective, James challenges us for not sharing God's own partiality for the lost, the lonely, the least, and the last.  Eugene Peterson paraphrases God's choices:  "Isn't it clear by now that God operates quite differently?  He chose the world's down-and-out as the kingdom's first citizens, with full rights and privileges" (The Message, James 2: 5b).

So, how do we move into being more in sync with God and God's partiality?  Verses 14-17 point us toward our actions resulting from our faith:  "Faith without works is dead" (James 2: 17).  Being very careful to stay Reformed - ie. justification by faith - James argues that a RESULT or OUTCOME of our faith can't help but be working to meet the needs of those with special needs.  Faith that issues in acts of compassion is an alive and lively faith.  James nails the coffin shut on faith without works by arguing that we will be judged by how we meet the bodily and physical needs of others.  His pointed example is:  "If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?" (James 2: 15).

How much easier it is to bless the homeless, hungry, and hopeless with our words of encouragement rather than walking alongside them in the difficulties of their journey.  A ministry of presence is the first step of coming into someone's situation, listening carefully to their travails, and seeing their lives through their eyes.  When we, as people of faith, do this, we can see the huge gap between their experiences and the kingdom of God - a kingdom of wellbeing and shalom that God intends for them.  When our hearts are opened to another's heart, compassion wells up in us.  Kingdom love is responding with loving actions.  We can see this kind of movement from indifference to caring, in Jesus' response to the Syrophoenician, Gentile woman in Mark 7: 24-30.  Being confronted by her request for her daughter's healing, Jesus first repudiates her as a "dog."  Even Jesus seems to be challenged with partiality for his own kind - the Jews. But in listening to her and taking her words to heart, Jesus responds with healing:  "For saying that, you may go - the demon has left your daughter" (Mark 7: 29).

Where are you complacent or settled with your partialities and your prejudices?  Where and how does God desire for you to choose other partialities and then act upon them?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Sanitizing Jesus

Have we over-sanitized ourselves, our children, our environment?  I don't know the answer, but I have suspicions.  In 1990 my good friend, Linda and I partnered together on a church trip to the Holy Land, ending up with the Passion Play in Oberammagau, Germany.  For 10 days, I delighted in trying new foods that captivated my senses - for the most part. I delighted in lox and hummus and herring - especially the vast array of Israeli breakfast food.  But something I ate didn't delight my stomach and my digestion was a serious problem on the 24 hour flight home.  The memories of watching folk line the airplane aisles for the bathroom caused as much anxiety as my actual physical symptoms.
While I'm grateful that I raised my children in the 20th century with homogenized milk, sanitary wipes, and all our immunizations, I also watch the rapid spread of hand/foot/mouth disease through the schools or the youth succumbing to travelers' disease in El Salvador with concern.  The recent research showing that infants living in a house with dogs were healthier and had fewer ear infections and needed fewer antibiotics raises the question that exposure to dirt and bacteria builds up babies' immune systems (Wall Street Journal, 7/9/12,p A2).
So, exactly what is Jesus getting at in Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23 when he criticizes the Pharisees and the Judean elite (who had access to water and money) for mandating ritual handwashing before meals?  Please understand that I'd never recommend not washing our own fruit before we eat it.  But Jesus sees that the Pharisees have made the laws (originally developed partially for sanitary reasons) that elevate ritual above God - as distractions from focusing on God.
So, Jesus responds to the Pharisees' challenge with:  "It's not what you swallow that pollutes your life; it's what you vomit - that's the real pollution." (E Peterson, The Message, Mark 7: 15)
Acknowledging that addictions to alcohol, drugs, cigarettes are an exception, I see that Jesus calls us to focus AWAY from the issue of sanitization and AWAY from elevating cherished traditions into hardened laws that separate us from God's heart.  Jesus also calls us AWAY from our focus on the devil as a metaphor for naming sin and evil as that which is only outside us.  Instead Jesus calls us to recognize, acknowledge, name, and repent from the hypocrisy that inhabits our hearts - our whole being - our total personhood.  Jesus names our polluted hearts as ones tempted toward or dominated by "obscenities, lusts, thefts, murders, adulteries, greed, depravity, deceptive dealings, carousing, mean looks, slander, arrogance, foolishness." (ibid, v 21)  Wherever  we present our superficial self as unblemished by sin, Jesus calls us to task for our hypocrisy.  Whenever we give lip service to purity and ritual, we fool ourselves and remain apart from God's holiness and God's forgiving love and mercy.  As Cynthia Campbell writes, "Beware when religious observance gets in the way of fulfilling the heart of the law, which is love of God and neighbor" ("ID Check," The Christian Century, 2006).
Let us look inside and measure our hearts (attitudes, thoughts, behaviors) by the standard Jesus sets as the highest:  Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Warriors' Weapons

I don't like guns.  Taking archery in college as a PE requirement is as close as I've come to holding a weapon.  I've never worn a bulletproof vest.  I've never been robbed or mugged.  I've only been in prison once to participate in Chuck Colson's Prison Ministry.  CSI is as close as I come to understanding the evil forces of crime.  So, Ephesians 6:10-20 is a challenge for me to understand how and why I would put on the whole armor of God.
But it's scripture.  It's the Word of God, so struggle I must, in my desire to be faithful.
It's helpful to understand the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, shoes to keep me ready to proclaim the gospel of peace, and the shield of faith as protective gear against the cosmic and powerful forces of evil and sin both within me and swirling about me in the world.  I can vote for this kind of protection.  But the sword of the Spirit - the Word of God - is an offensive weapon, meant to get me up off the couch to do battle with injustice and oppression and all that imprisons people in states of poverty, hunger, uneducated, homelessness, vulnerable to crime or drugs or gangs.  If God is calling me - us - into battle the very real forces of violence, I'll need all the protection and power possible.
So, I'm intrigued with Topeka JUMP - Topeka Justice and Ministry Project as a community, congregational effort to tackle root causes of injustice specifically in Topeka.  I'm anxious to team up with my congregation and many other diverse congregations to re-think justice beyond responding to the symptoms of injustice.  As we examine our values of faith and our call to share God's good news with the world, we can claim God's power through careful and caring discernment.  As prophets or speakers of truth to power, we can call institutions to accountability for fairness, equality, and well being.
May we all be fed with God's truth that we may then use the sword of language and testimony to call for transformation.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Shelley

You Are What You Eat

I believe Jesus could have been a Weight Watchers fan.  With their slogan "Believe Because It Works" Jesus could promote the power of losing weight while being able to eat from unlimited power foods.  Jesus could be our faith pantry for life.  For the male disciples, Jesus could preach "Lose Like a Man" by eating anything - no special or required foods, and no forbidden ones either, through making smarter choices.  Quoting Charles Barkley, Jesus can encourage men to eat the food they like & "Lose like a guy who hates losing."  For their city-to-city treks through the Palestinian countryside, there's even a Weight Watchers exercise plan to build up the disciples' strength.  Because Jesus primarily preached to peasants, Jesus could promote budget-friendly meals.  For the Marthas of the world, Jesus could encourage quick meals or snacking-on-the-go, so that ALL could sit at his feet and absorb his life changing words of wisdom. (quotes and slogans from WeightWatchers.com - official website)

But for so many of us today, dieting is about withholding the pizza, doughnuts, and pasta.  So Jesus' encouragement to eat and chew on the bread of life - his flesh and blood - feels countercultural.  And cannibalistic!  In John 6: 51-58, Jesus proclaims "Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man (Jesus) and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (John 6: 53b)  The entire pericope is graphic, repugnant to our sensibilities, shockingly hard to stomach and even harder to live out.  For Jesus wants to have ALL of us - nothing withheld from our participation in and our intimate relationship with the wholly human and wholly divine Son of God.

What do you hold back from giving your all to Jesus?  Would you rather consume the temptation to work so hard that your career credentials shine?  Would you choose the power to shop as a conspicuous consumptionist?  Would you choose the freedom of staying up late or sleeping in with online entertainment 24/7?  Are you tied up in knots with your obsession to diet off those last few pounds?  Are your savings accumulating for that perfect vacation or the perfect car?  Would you prefer to study the latest scholarship on Jesus or keep him as your spiritual, otherworldly, uncontaminated-by-the-world kind of God?  None of these alienate you from Jesus unless they have become your idols, so that Jesus shifts into 2nd, 3rd, or 10th place in your priorities.  How are we drawn to that which does not bring life?  What do we withhold from our relationship with Jesus?  How do we keep Jesus at a distance?

If we are what we eat, consider that Jesus wants us to eat of his flesh and drink of his blood as the path to eternal life.  I believe Jesus means the eternal life that we can experience here and now in our earthly experiences as Christ followers, as well as the eternal life with Jesus that follows death.  Jesus wants to assuage our hungers with his body, his blood, his everything, until we are filled with life.  How hungry do we have to be to allow Jesus into the innermost recesses of our veins and arteries that our hearts may be nourished?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Transformation Through Teardrops

You shalt not:  sin - as in don't lie (even little white ones), don't steal, don't speak slander, don't be bitter, ......  Not very encouraging words from Paul, the possible author of Ephesians 4:25 -5:2 are they?  This passage feels like the Ten Commandments of the New Testament if we focus on the "shalt nots".  Instead, let's come at them from the perspective of the Trinity - God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit - and see what they've already done in our lives.  Through the waters of baptism, we're already incorporated into one another (verse 25). So sinning through word or action hurts our family - hurts our very selves.  Through the waters of baptism, we've been marked with the seal of the Holy Spirit for our day of redemption(verse 30).  In other words, we have the equipping power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to resist the temptations listed in the "shalt nots". God in Christ has already forgiven us (verse 32).  Having already been forgiven (and we alone know how much we need this forgiveness), we can respond to our own forgiveness by forgiving others.  God's forgiveness is our model for kindness and compassion toward others.  Out of our relationship to God as God's children, flow the behaviors that are characteristic of our God.  By imitating God behaviors (5:1) we practice what we are becoming.  "We live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God." (5:2)

Each Sunday we watch the baptismal waters wash up into the light and spray down upon our upturned faces to remind us of all that God has already done for us.  When we cry in frustration of yet another time of criticizing others, acting out our bitterness, or letting our anger dictate our response, let our teardrops of sorrow wash us clean from such choices.  Instead let us welcome the wash of water down our cheeks remind us of the refreshment of God's grace, just as a cold shower in response to a hot summer day renews our energy for better choices.

May we continue to be watered with God's steadfast loving kindness.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Soul Food

What is your “soul food?” I’m not necessarily talking fried chicken or grits or any traditional Southern cuisine. It’s food that somehow, no matter how bad you feel, makes you feel just the tiniest better – tells you that it’s going to be okay. Many of you know some of my favorites – pizza, macaroni ‘n cheese, or those two together. Maybe your soul food that takes you back to a happy time, surrounded by people who love you, or to special occasions – my grandmother’s chocolate cake, my mom’s blonde brownies. It’s food that does more than providing nourishment to your body – it’s food that lifts up your heart and your soul.

Read Psalm 51:1-12 and John 6:24-35.

I see Psalm 51 as begging God for some soul food – help right our souls again, make our hearts clean. And Jesus offers us the bread of life – Himself – that would feed our soul forever. The crowds want a simple recipe for the bread – what should they do for the works of God? What sign will he give them? Will it be as good as Moses giving the people manna? Just tell us exactly what to do, give us black and white answers without any complexity.

Jesus instead offers them a more nourishing meal, with a seemingly simple recipe: believe in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. While the crowds were concerned with their stomachs and today, Jesus makes a proclamation for their hearts, souls, minds, and bodies, one that is everlasting.

So come, hear the stories about how the “soul food” the youth ate last week on their mission trip in South Dakota. Come, hear about Jesus unexpectedly showing up. Come, hear how Jesus is patient through our incomprehension. Come and dine on the music, the prayer, the Word, and the fellowship. Come, taste and see that the Lord is good.

Grace and peace,
Pastor Kate