God Holds a High Bar: The Highest Bar is at the Foot of the Cross

What is your image or reflection when we sing in worship:  “We fall down.  We lay our crowns at the feet of Jesus.  The greatness of mercy and love at the feet of Jesus”?  I think of standing at the foot of the cross – especially that massive cross in Trinity’s sanctuary.  Standing at the foot of that cross and looking up is overwhelming:  my smallness and its massive vertical and horizontal beams holding up the highest point of the sanctuary.  It’s just rough enough to remind me of the sacrifice of Jesus being nailed to it.  I am humbled at the abundance of love that God has for all the people of the world that we receive forgiveness, grace, and mercy over and over again.  Mercy unlimited.

The woman in Luke 7: 36-50 brought an exorbitantly expensive perfume to anoint Jesus’ feet and wipe his dusty feet with her hair as Jesus dined at the house of Simon the Pharisee.  She was not welcomed by Simon and his guests who whisper insults about her even as Jesus welcomes her – forgives her – receives her gift of love. 

Where would we sit at this table of hospitality – or more accurately, inhospitality?  Do we join with Simon and the others to exclude, ignore, walk past, deride, and cast out people who we perceive as sinners?  The immigrants, women, African or Asian Americans, Muslims, divorced, adulterers, pregnant and unmarried, addicts, homeless, and those who we consider too young or too old.  Who are the last, lonely, least whom we fear?

Or have you been the outcast – the invisible person – the sinner in need of forgiveness – the one who needs healing – the lost, last, or lonely?  Do you feel welcome at the table, in the sanctuary, or in fellowship? 

The good news of God’s forgiveness and God’s hospitality is that it extends to us all.  We’re all welcome at the foot of the cross.  We’re all invited to shed the chains that bind us and instead celebrate the mercy which binds us together in love.  Who have you invited to join you at the foot of the cross where God’s high bar of forgiveness awaits?

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley

God Gets the Last Laugh

To the saying "The only sure things in life are death and taxes," I'd add "our need for forgiveness and God's love."  As we approach tax day (extended for 3 days this year), we generally have a sense of dread.  I dare to suggest that we often approach our regular propensity to sin and the need to confess our sinfulness to God with dread.  Yet 1 John 1: 1 - 2:2  (a Word of Life) reminds us that God eagerly awaits our confessions with an abundance of grace and mercy. Because God is light and Christ is our earthly and heavenly Advocate, we can confront our sin openly and honestly. When we step into the light of confession, God is eager to speak the Word of assurance:  "You are forgiven."

Last week was Easter Sunday when we celebrated the Resurrection:  God raised Jesus from the dead.  On this second Sunday of Easter (Eastertide), we celebrate that God has confronted death (our ultimate fear) face to face and has laughed at death.  Herein lies our assurance that laughter is how we live and love because it's how God loves and lives in us.  While never denying our sinful natures, 1 John points us toward the light of laughter.  We who walk in the light of Christ by confessing our earthly nature, are able to have fellowship with one another through our faith in the fellowship of our trinitarian God:  Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer.  This Sunday (Holy Humor Sunday), we'll laugh with joy as we celebrate our assurance of God's grace and mercy.

Let us live, love and laugh,
Pastor Shelley

Dare to Remember. Dare to Forgive.

This Sunday we at Trinity, as well as people of diverse faiths, will gather to worship - many of us within the context of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. We will remember where we were and what we were doing on the morning of 9/11 and what we did afterward. We'll remember how this tragedy touched our lives and how our world has changed since then. These are powerful memories and reflections.

Our lectionary scriptures speak a powerful word to us: Matthew 18: 21-35 and Genesis 50: 15-21.

Among our myriad of mixed feelings about 9/11, the theme of forgiveness has tortured many through these last 10 years. In our gospel, Jesus commands the demanding work of forgiving others 70 x 7 times - in Jesus' day this represents no end to the process of forgiveness. Forgiveness is a repeated theme throughout Jesus' ministry. Here, it's especially harsh when a wicked steward, who having just been forgiven a huge debt, chooses not to forgive a fellow slave who owes him a debt. The king then hands the wicked steward over to torture. The parable ends with Jesus' promise: "So my heavenly Father will also do to everyone of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart" (Mt 18: 35). For those who respond to 9/11 or other acts of violence or betrayal with a desire for vengeance, I find that revenge is rarely sweet nor healing. Jesus shows us a path toward healing and wholeness through forgiveness.

Most compelling to me is the reminder in our daily praying the Lord's Prayer when we plead with God to forgive us our sins/debts/trespasses as we forgive the sins/debts/trespasses of others - as if the measure of our forgiveness by God rests upon our choice to forgive others. However, Jesus reminds us that we've already been forgiven and that he, as the Son of God will be with us always, to the end of the age. Through this I realize that my response of forgiveness is a response of gratitude for the unlimited grace and mercy I've already received from God. How can I but forgive - especially as Jesus promises to walk with me through this hard work of forgiving?

In Genesis 50, when Joseph promised his brothers who had attempted to have him killed, that they had nothing to fear (Fear Not!) because God intends to bring good out of what had been intended for evil. Shalom is God's intent for all of life. How do we bring ourselves to trust in God's power to heal? Forgiveness 70x7 times is a good set of first steps.

Ten years after 9/11 as we dare to remember and dare to forgive, how can we re-commit ourselves to peace and justice? How do we create a new future out of memories, forgiveness, and coming together? Our answer lies in our commitment to God's kingdom here on earth in which our ultimate loyalty is to God's vision - God's steadfastly loving nature - God's right to judgment.

Grace and Peace, Pastor Shelley