Wholly Human and Holy Human

In Isaiah's call scripture (Isaiah 6: 1-8), 8th century prophet, Isaiah comes into God's mighty and holy presence in the Temple in Jerusalem.  There he encounters the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and the hem of God's robe filled the Temple.  The seraphs attending the Lord proclaim God to be holy, holy, holy - foreshadowing our understanding of the life of God as being a trinitarian relationship:  Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - or - Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer. The seraphs (6 winged creatures) also declare that the earth is full of God's glory.

In contrast to Isaiah's understanding of God's almightiness, have we lost our sense of awe as we behold God?  Have we undermined or de-valued the sense of the sacred and holy?  If we stand in God's presence, would we, like Isaiah, cry out our distress - "Woe is me!" - as we become aware of the great gulf between God's holiness and our all-too-real wholly humanness?  Today we use the word awesome to describe someone's outfit or latest haircut or tattoo.  Recovering our awe in the face of the sacred and holy is a challenge for us today.  Just as our trinitarian God is in a mutually loving relationship of Love/Beloved/Lover, so God wants to be in relationship with us.  Our role in responding to God initiating a relationship is to confess our human tendency to sin by commission or omission.  If our lips (or heart) burn within us as we confess, perhaps God is in the act of cleansing so that our guilt may depart and our sin be blotted out.  Holy is wherever God is present.  Our holiness depends on our forgiven and grace-filled presence to and relationship with God.

But staying in God's presence and praising God's name is never enough.  Our response to God's grace is to hear God sending us forth - to answer with "Here am I.  Send me."  Being sent can be scary because God is rarely about the easy tasks in life of saving people and building a kingdom of love, peace, and justice.  Again - the importance of the Trinity.  As God sends us - commissions us - Jesus will walk alongside our very human selves and the Holy Spirit will equip us for the tasks unique to our call.  Thanks be to a God who loves us enough to send God's Son into the world so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life (John 3:16).

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

The Holy Spirit of Pentecost

"God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh..." (Acts 2:1)  Jesus has arisen and Pentecost is his promise to all Christ followers that they/we will be filled with the Holy Spirit.  Pentecost (50 days following our Easter Resurrection) is the birth of the church as the primary place (although not the only place) where Jesus will be present to us through the power and presence of the Holy Spirit.  Read Acts 2: 1-21 for an account of the fiery tongues of flames, roaring winds, and the languages across the nations as God pours out the Spirit for ALL peoples.  This is the power of God given to the church empowering it to be the Body of Christ.
The power of the Holy Spirit, represented by wind and flames, can be perceived as a life-threatening force when we think of wildfires wiping out wilderness or tornadoes tearing through the towns of Joplin or Harveyville.  But the real power of the Spirit is a spirit of love and goodness.  At the same time it's a power of transformation - both mundane and miraculous.  Because real transformation can be difficult to perceive within a short timeline or because of the often personal nature of transformation, we have trouble recognizing the Holy Spirit blowing through our lives and our church.  The Holy Spirit is always on the move and any Body of Christ that becomes stagnant or self satisfied cuts themselves off from the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is about the fruits of the spirit (Galatians 5: 22): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.  Or as Paul writes in Galatians 4:18:  "It is fine to be zealous, provided the purpose is good."
The challenge for the church is to continue looking and asking, "Where is the Holy Spirit moving, breathing, working, pushing, pulling, nudging, whispering to me and throughout my church?"  When we can discern answers to this question, we will have the direction and challenge to which we must respond.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Sending Forth into the New Unknown

What do you say to your young or grown child as you send him forth into the world?  What are your last pearls of wisdom to guide her forth in safety?  Or what's in your last will and testament that will prepare your loved ones for life without you?  This "exit interview" in John 17: 6-19 is Jesus' last will and testament (his high priestly prayer) to his disciples and to us.  As Jesus prepares his disciples (and us) for life without him, what are his prayer requests?  Jesus reminds God that he has showed us God in who he is and asks God to guard us from the wiles of the world that distract us from our focus on Jesus as our center.  Jesus reminds us hearing this prayer that we are to be "in" the world, but not "of" the world - do our mission and service as we are called to care for the least/lost/lonely, work for justice, and share Christ's love as he has shared it with us.

In this month of graduations and Confirmation, we remember that we have done as best we could to prepare those who we send forth.  We have taught, role modeled, listened, and loved as Jesus has done for us.  Now it's time to trust in God's guidance, the whisperings of the Holy Spirit, and the power of prayer as we let go.  Our stance is as ones "standin' in the need of prayer."  And then we too go forth into the world.

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

Sharing a Chariot

I remember when I first read about the Trayvon Martin case, I was astounded. And then, as I heard commentators like Geraldo Rivera say that Trayvon shouldn't have been wearing a hoodie, I was absolutely baffled. A hoodie? I wear hoodies all the time - always have, and I doubt anyone has ever felt threatened by my article of clothing. But I'm white. Trayvon sadly was the Other.

As you remember what you know about his case, read 1 John 4:7-21 and Acts 8:26-40.

I'm not saying that all the facts are clear in the death of Trayvon Martin, that the shooting was or was not justified. But the media storm that followed made one thing very clear to me: we are SO not post-racism. And it's hard for that feeling to not influence stories like the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch, an encounter between two guys from very different worlds.

When we read this story, it is so easy to slip in the shoes of Philip and think this is who we need to be as Easter people, that this is the kind of evangelist God calls us to be. If only the Holy Spirit would call us – we would be ready to go! Surely God would grant us the courage to share the Good News, that Jesus Christ has lived, died, and was risen so that we may have eternal life. Surely we wouldn’t be afraid of a desert road, or a foreigner in a fancy chariot, or of baptizing someone without the permission of Session. It is so easy to identify with the Christ-follower.

What if this story is less about Philip’s faithfulness and more about the Ethiopian eunuch’s faith journey? We can read between the lines of Scripture and know that this man was probably pretty different from Philip – a different race, country, socioeconomic class, sexuality. The Ethiopian eunuch was not like Philip – a sweaty, poor Jewish man on the lam from persecution in Jerusalem. So often we commend Philip for not letting those boundaries stop him from sharing the Good News.

But it’s the Ethiopian eunuch who shows his hospitality and invites the stranger into his chariot. It’s the eunuch who is educated enough to know how to read, devout enough to spend time studying Scripture and making a long journey to worship, and humble enough to know that he needs help. Hospitality, education, devotion, and humility – why do we not strive to slip into his shoes, to live up to the eunuch as a pillar of our faith? Is it we who are scared of the Other, scared to cross boundaries, scared to ask for help, scared to read the Scripture with someone so radically different, scared of a young black man in a hoodie with a bag of Skittles?

Maybe this story is not about Philip or the eunuch but about the Holy Spirit bringing sisters and brothers together in Christ, so that not only knowledge but testimony may be shared. Being in the community with the Other does not mean writing checks to El Salvador or VIDA or the Rescue Mission (although that’s a nice thing to do). Being in community with the Other means an incarnational relationship, means face-to-face meeting, means learning what it’s like in the Other's lives. Then the Other will cease to be the Other, and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, we will all rejoice in baptisms and Good News. Thanks be to God.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate