It's Not Fair

“It’s not faaaaaaaaaair!” When was the last time you heard this refrain? Was it one of your students? Or children or grandchildren? Was it that whiny kid in the grocery store as the poor frazzled dad looked defeated? If you heard a kid say that, what would be your response? Would you try to make it fair? Or would you smile and respond “Well, life’s not fair”? 

Read Psalm 105:1-6,37-45 and Matthew 20:1-16.

We can all too easily imagine a child whining ‘it’s not faaaaair.” But the truth is, we never really grow out of that attitude – it just hides away in our hearts, and only comes out with our close friends or our spouses, where we can truly confess that it’s just not right, and it’s just not fair. So it’s a little too easy for us to resonate with the earliest group of workers in Matthew’s story today. They show up early and are recruited to work in the vineyard. They have the longest day – and working in the vineyard in the scorching heat isn’t easy! Therefore, regardless of the deal they made with the vineyard owner at the beginning of the story, they expect the most pay, the most merits, their just desserts. How dare this vineyard owner ‘make them equal’ to the workers who did less! 

But Jesus tells us that this vineyard owner is not like other business owners. In God’s vineyard, we receive the same gift of grace. In God’s vineyard, there is an economy of abundance and not scarcity. In God’s vineyard, we all receive enough for our daily bread. In God’s vineyard, we are ALL treated as beloved children of God, who have a job to do.

For it is a gift to be called to labor in God's vineyard. This Sunday is Back to Church Sunday, so hopefully we will see some new and returning faces in the pews. This parable of the vineyard is Good News for those who worry that they haven't been to church lately, or ever. This parable tells us that it is never too late to respond to God's call; those who come every week and those who come once in a while are equally loved by our generous God. Those who came early and those who came late still had plenty of work to do in the kingdom of God.  For God loves us still, whether we are gratefully receiving God’s gifts, or whining that it’s not enough, that it’s not fair.

For it’s not fair. We are, in fact, undeserving of the gifts of God. It’s not fair that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. It’s not fair that because of NOTHING we have done, God rewards us with eternal life. It’s not fair that no matter how far we wander away from God, God still loves us and pursues us and calls us home to the vineyard. It’s not fair – and that’s the best news of all. Thanks be to our God whose grace is unfair, unfettered, and unconditional. Amen. 

Grace and peace,
Pastor Kate

God Holds a High Bar: How High Must We Jump?

Doesn’t life seem like a series of hurdles and high jumps?  Once our child is toilet trained he/she can enter preschool.  With each grade of school we’re tested and tested before being promoted.  To prepare for college or graduate school we must master the ACT or SAT or MCAT or LSAT.  When we’re out in the world earning a living, we must jump through hoops for the promotion that will ensure that we can afford a bigger house or just the basics of insurance and a car that runs.  Even approaching retirement means we calculate if our savings are high enough or deep enough to carry us around the track.

God too holds a high bar.  But God’s bar works differently than the worldly standards that track our days.  God’s bar takes many shapes which we at Trinity will explore through our summer sermon series:  “God Holds a High Bar.”  We’ll look at God’s bar of faith, doing justice, loving others, committing ourselves to Christ, and serving the lost/lonely/last. 

In Luke 7: 1-10, a centurion – a soldier of authority in the Roman occupying force (ie. often considered and “enemy” of Israel) – sends Jewish elders to Jesus asking Jesus to come and heal one of the centurion’s servants or slaves.  First, this request is a remarkable commentary on the centurion’s compassion and care for one of his own who would be considered last in the hierarchy of society.  Second, the centurion’s faith in Jesus as a healer is also remarkable.  Third, the elders point to the centurion’s worth and love of the Jewish people as a rationale for why Jesus should heed the centurion’s request.  But the centurion contradicts such status or worth accorded to him, saying “Lord [notice his regard for Jesus’ worth], do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof.”  (Luke 7: 6b) And with that, and from a distance, Jesus heals the servant/slave.

According to this healing story, the centurion, although a man of authority, is humble and modest and in response, Jesus exclaims, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.” (Lk 7: 9)  God’s bar of faith here does not depend on the centurion’s ability to command his troops.  God’s bar of faith here does not depend on the centurion’s accomplishments such as building a synagogue for the Jewish people.  God’s bar of faith is not a hurdle or high jump which we, like the centurion, must master.  God’s bar of faith is a response to the centurion’s faith – his trust in Jesus the person who can heal.  The centurion’s faith is a gift which he neither “deserves nor earns.”  In contrast to the worldly bars to promotion and advancement, God’s bar or standard of faith is manifested when we cling to and trust in the person of Jesus with our utmost confidence, putting our “all-in-all” into our commitment to following or running along with Jesus our Christ. 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Shelley

Temptations in the Desert: Entitled Children

The word “entitlement” got politicized in this last presidential election, thanks to a covert recording of a Mitt Romney speech about the 47%. According to Merriam-Webster, entitlement is “the belief that one is deserving of or entitled to certain privileges.” What are you entitled to? What privileges are your right, what do you deserve?

Read Psalm 32 and Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32.

With whom do you identify? The lost son, who wanders away? The older son, who faithfully serves and builds up resentment? The father, who unconditionally loves the children over and over again? Many of us in the church can all too easily identify with the older son. We faithfully show up to worship, to Sunday School, to mission activities. We bake cookies and deliver bread and pray. And yet God gives the same grace to everyone? Even though we have worked so hard? It seems so…unfair.

Both the older and the younger sons share a temptation – the temptation of entitlement. The younger son believes that he deserves his inheritance – that he has done something in his life to earn it. Asking for his inheritance early is the same as spitting in his Father’s face: “I wish you were dead!” But the fact is, as the younger son, he did not deserve any inheritance. He was entitled to nothing.

The older son also suffers from the temptation of entitlement, believing that he deserves special celebrations for the work that he is called to do as a son. The older son believes that he deserves the same things that his younger brother gets – the older son falls into the temptation of entitlement, believing that he deserves more of his Father’s love because of his faithful work over many years.

We too fall into the temptation of entitlement, believing that we deserve a special place in heaven, or our special pew in church, because of our constant and faithful attendance. We too believe that we deserve our Father’s grace and love, that we should get a gold star – unlike those people outside of our church, unlike those people who don’t know about Jesus’ love yet.

And yet, the Father refuses to fall into these temptation games – He gives a constant love and a surprising love, a grace equally offered to all who will run back into his arms. As we have talked about repentance – turning back to God – during this season of Lent, look at this parable and see how our Father responds to repentance. In the words of Psalm 32, "God holds nothing against you." See that God will run to you with open arms, ready to throw a party and share all that God has with you, because you are a beloved child of God.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

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

A Little Bit Seedy

Cinderella, King David, and Jesus walk into a bar, each carrying a bag of mustard seeds…sorry, I don’t actually have a punchline for this made-up joke. But the Scriptures this week speak to all elements in that joke – unlikely selections, surprises of grace, seeds - and the Scriptures themselves are full of humor this week.

Read 1 Samuel 15:34-16:13 and Mark 4:26-34.

Cinderella, a servant, becomes a princess and finds her true love. David, the runt of the litter, is chosen over all his brothers to be anointed as the next King of Israel. A tiny mustard seed, a bushy garden herb, is declared to be the greatest tree of all, representing the kingdom of God – instead of a majestic, noble cedar or a long-living oak tree. Growing up, I always wondered: what made Cinderella so special that she gets a fairy godmother? Where’s my fairy godmother? Likewise, I bet David’s brothers wondered if Samuel had finally gotten too old, if he had finally lost his marbles – what was he thinking, picking the youngest, the smelly one who worked with the animals? And I can only imagine the disciples’ faces as Jesus explained to them the common mustard seed shrub was actually really great, in fact the best of them all.

Listen to the laughter in the stories, and think about in your own life: where have you had surprises? Where have you been unexpectedly lifted up? Or unexpectedly passed over, after you had worked so hard for that promotion? Where have you seen a passing comment, something tiny, change someone’s life? Where have you felt that you have received undeserved blessings – or jealous that someone else seemed to get all the good luck?

This is what Jesus tried and tried to explain to his disciples – he even took them aside in private to unpack the parables. Grace – overwhelming grace – abundant grace – overflowing grace. Grace – it really is that simple. And this message comes from Jesus, a commoner born in a smelly stable, overcomes sin and death as the Messiah and King of us all. We don’t deserve Jesus as our Savior – and yet we, like the mustard seed, like the runt of the litter, are transformed into sisters and brothers of the living Christ. And if the church is a mustard shrub instead of a great tree, then we can more easily embrace our sisters and brothers who are in need of grace, our sisters and brothers who are on the outskirts of society, who have been rejected and excluded.

Maybe that is the punchline – Cinderella, King David, and Jesus walk into a bar, each carrying a bag of mustard seeds. The bouncer kicks them all out, declaring that they are just too seedy for the establishment. And all three gained their happily ever after on the margins of society.

Grace and peace,

Pastor Kate

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

Heart-Tattooed by God

Have you been heart-tattooed by God?  Has God written on your heart:  "I am your God and you are my child?"  According to Hebrew Bible Jeremiah in Jeremiah 31: 31-34, God says "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." (31: 33b). This is a promise for "days that are coming" (31: 31).  In other words, the timing is uncertain.  This is one of those now, but not-yet passages.  God's work has begun and will be completed in us at some point in the future.  This covenant is the hope of the future and is still in the process of realization. God will make or engrave a new covenant on our hearts instead of the law that is written (and still very much valid) on tablets that can be lost or stolen or broken.

This is another covenant of grace upon grace - grace beyond our own measure of accomplishment.  This covenant - at God's initiative - pours out unmerited favor on those of us who cannot accomplish this ourselves.  We're given help from within to faithfully keep covenant with God.  God will make a way where there seems to be no way - at least according to our own abilities.

There are several amazing aspects to this covenant.  That God will forgive and forget our sin is amazing.  Visualizing a world without sin feels like utopia.  Yet it is a promise from our God who is steadfastly loyal and capable of both writing such a covenant upon our hearts and enabling us to respond.  It's also amazing because Jeremiah makes clear that it's meant for all people:  "they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest." (31: 34).  Imagine our enemies or criminals or people whom we despise or reject or those on whom we deem inferior being tattooed with God's love.  The promise of a God-tattooed-heart takes lots of imagination.

Jesuit priest, Father Gregory Boyle, writes of the power of boundless compassion in his book "Tattoos on the Heart."  As he provides a service to help gang members (homies) have their tattoos of gang membership erased, Father G does the much more important service to restore the homies' hearts into hearts of compassion and love that reflect God's real intent of shalom for the homies.

If you understand yourself to be God-tattooed, how will you share God's boundless compassion to others?  Who will you welcome into God's family with your hospitality and sharing how God has tattooed you?

Grace and Peace,
Pastor Shelley

The Royal Banquet

Did you read the story about the young men beat up in their church parking lot…by church members? They didn’t even get through the front door before they were accosted, verbally and physically, by deacons – those charged to care for God’s children.

What sort of church is this? A church where the pastor yells “sic ‘em” and instructs deacons to beat young men up?

Does it change your view of the story if I tell you that one of the young men was the pastor’s son? Does it change your view of the story if I tell you that the young men were a couple? You can read more about this story here.

What a heartbreaking world we live in. Read Philippians 4:1-9 and Matthew 22:1-14.

Sometimes the kingdom of heaven here and now seems…not here and not now. It seems so far out of reach that there is nothing we could do. Paul commands us, as followers of Christ, to “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” None of those words describe the behavior of this pastor and his church leaders.

Matthew writes the kingdom of heaven is like a fabulous wedding party, filled with unexpected guests. Those who were supposed to show up didn’t, so the least of these, the ones not worthy enough to grace the original guest list, get all the honors and food and drink and good times at this wedding party. What an odd wedding party.

So who is at the table in the kingdom of heaven here and now? Who has RSVPed YES! to our King of Kings who calls us again and again to come to the party?

Jerry Pittman Jr. has been invited. So have many others who have been victimized, bullied, oppressed, exploited, pushed aside, and rejected. Those who have been broken down, homeless, friendless, and excluded. We know this from the life and ministry of Jesus the Christ.

But the surprising part is that the invitation is also extended to Pastor Jerry Pittman Sr. The invitation has also been extended to the deacons and the bystanders of the congregation. And to Fred Phelps and to Rick Perry. We know this from the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ. For if any of those people are beyond redemption, beyond the reach of God’s love – then so are you and me. We are offered wedding robes of grace and redemption, which mean we cannot remain the same in the kingdom of heaven as we are in the kingdom of earth.

The kingdom of heaven here and now is filled with surprising guests – all here by special invitation by our King. Our king – who is unlike earthly kings – will not reject someone for lack of special clothes, or burn down cities when the king is rejected. And thanks be to God for the gracious gift of the invitation, the inclusion, and the redemption.

Love, 

Pastor Kate

It's About the Owner, Not the Laborers

I’ve been learning a lot about gardening lately, living in a home with a yard for the first time in my adult life. I’m learning the difference between trees and bushes, weeds and things you actually want there. I’m learning that it is hard work to sweat out in the sun to try and tend to all the living plants out there!

Our Scriptures for this week come from Psalm 105:1-6, 37-45 and Matthew 20:1-16.

It’s with this new outlook that I read the Matthew story – I bet that vineyard work wasn’t very easy on the backs of the laborers. This isn’t a cushy office job, but a hard, sweaty, messy, exhausting job. And it’s a job for a LOT of people. It makes me wonder just how big this vineyard is! And then they get paid, whether they sweated for one hour or all day, the same amount. Immediately we want to say along with the first workers “But that’s not fair! That’s not what we deserve!”

One of the most frustrating aspects of my yard is the weeds. It’s been a jungle out there, with no one tending to it for several years. No matter how many times I cut them down or pull them from the flowerbeds, they keep appearing. They don’t work according to my plan. And fortunately for all of us, neither does God’s grace.

I figure this passage is not really about the laborers, but the employers. It’s not about how long someone works, or any other of their merits. It’s about the employers – willing to call anyone for this job, willing to pay them enough. It’s about God, a God whose grace is bigger than our narrow systems of fairness. It’s about our God whose grace is like weeds, growing wherever God intends, not me, appearing in unexpected places and showing me just how small and how feeble my plan really is.

We don’t get what we deserve. And that’s a good thing. The radical gift of free grace, a gift that makes us shout at its unfairness, is offered by God to all. And thanks be to God for that!

Love,
Pastor Kate

The Labor of Living with Sinners

Jesus is at his most challenging in Matthew 18: 15-20. It would be easier if we read his Rule as a "how-to" step-by-step procedure for dealing with sinners within our community. But it's so much more than this. It's a mandate for restoring relationships with the community that we call the Body of Christ. To make our way carefully through this demanding, difficult process for confronting and addressing conflict, we first are challenged to understand Jesus' terminology and his context:

• "Member of the church" (verse 15) means that the sinner is part of our family.
• How to define "sin"? I like Rev. Richard Aguilar's broadening of sin as missing the mark: "misguided beliefs and misdirected behavior. A miss in life! Miss the boat. Miss the bus. Miss the Appointment. Miss the ball. Miss the shot. Misunderstand. Miscommunicate." ("Day One," 8/31/11).
• To confront someone as an act of discipline is not to punish a family member, but to restore that person back into the family. Discipline, correctly used, has the same root as disciple. So discipline is most productively used to teach and restore to truth with wisdom and love.
• "Let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector" is a phrase that has been traditionally used to cast out a sinner who rejects repentance and turning away from sin. However Jesus ate with Gentiles and tax collectors. Jesus says that those we consider last will be first in the kingdom. I believe Jesus admonishes us to try, try again to restore that one who has broken relationship back into relationship - much more demanding of our patience and perseverance, as we're reminded in the immediately following verses to forgive 77 times.
• Jesus once again uses the phrase "binding and loosing" - our authority as a community to heal and reconcile.
• And Jesus concludes with the promise of his presence "when two or three are gathered in my name." This is a powerful promise that Jesus will be with us in the midst of conflict and will be an agent of reconciliation when we include him in the process. Gathered in Jesus' name means we meet face to face, talk candidly, and listen with love because Jesus' honor and worth are involved when we invoke his name.

So what difference does it make whether we go to the trouble of reconciling ourselves with those who have offended us or have caused great pain within the community we call our church? The church is distinct from other organizations to which we belong primarily because we gather in Christ's name. Because we are together in Christ, we can expect our church to be a place of healing and a place of grace. While it is God's grace that we seek, it is our labors of love on this Labor Day weekend that facilitate the possibilities of God's grace (freely given) to weave reconciliation throughout the Body of Christ.