My two dads

       The Evangelical Christian community often rants and goes on about the traditional family. I have to say though that after reading just the book of Genesis, the concept of what a family is does not quite measure up with what these self righteous religious zealots claim it to be. There is sex with concubines , slaves, rape of a father (Lot ) by his two daughters and even Sarah and Abraham were half brother and sister which later on in Leviticus would have them being stoned to death. Reading scripture is not for the faint of heart and making judgments out of context or from a single line of scripture is just flat out wrong.

          But today we have a snippet of Scripture that speaks to several versions of what family is.  Of course there is Mary, Jesus and Joseph. There is the 'biological' Dad in the Holy Spirit. After all, Joseph is the step dad in the family. Note too that Jesus had brothers and I do not believe for one second that the passage is speaking of spiritual brothers in the Apostles or something like that. Who is to say Mary and Joseph did not have children of their own?

       Then there is another version of family portrayed here. Jesus says ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’  That is an astounding statement but one of such importance that it cannot be at all dismissed. Who is your family?

        One of the problems I have encountered as a preacher is trying to use the symbol of Father as a standard. God the Father loves you!  But what if your father is a drunken lush and a real bastard who beats you , your siblings and your mom? Not a good symbol for me to use in that case although there is no mal intent.  There are countless people from dysfunctional families that find that friends and other people in their life are more of family than biologicals.

        This scenario has played out again and again in divorces and especially in the LGBTQ community where owning who you are is sometimes met with chastisement, derision and disownment. This is a major fear that keeps so many people in the closet and bifurcated.  But to those who can and do come out, the ones that fail us ( especially our immediate family ) are balanced by those that step up to the plate and offer astounding and overwhelming love.  Many in the LGBTQ community find the concept of family is perhaps a bit different than what they originally experienced in life. And there are countless families who are made of LGBTQ community members who have recreated the Holy family of their own and it is more loving, more accepting and more stable than the ones many have been turned out of.

         When we think of the Holy family, we think of love and perhaps that wonderful Jewish mom, Mary, who loved her Son to the moon and back. Mary stood by her son as he was taken into custody, beaten, whipped, paraded and hung on a cross.  She never abandoned her Son.  As humans were are not always as enlightened, loving or open to God's call. Jesus, I think, made it abundantly clear that family is a concept born entirely of love and the will of God which is love.

        Let us not be so arrogant or ignorant to define what we want a family to be but let it be freely defined by the love and mercy of God.

Mark 3:19-35

and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home; and the crowd came together again, so that they could not even eat. When his family heard it, they went out to restrain him, for people were saying, ‘He has gone out of his mind.’ And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ‘He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.’ And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, ‘How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.

 ‘Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin’— for they had said, ‘He has an unclean spirit.’

 Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you.’ And he replied, ‘Who are my mother and my brothers?’ And looking at those who sat around him, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.’ 

Smiling, arrogant hate mongering. God weeps.

        I went to see Cher the other night, wonderful concert, checked all the boxes, enormous crowds. It is amazing to me how this 72 year old diva speaks to such a large and diverse audience and still moves it on stage, physically and vocally. 

       There is another 72 year old that also attracts large crowds. However people usually do not pay to see him and quite often they are payed to attend. It must be a real ego booster to have such throngs around you. Of course you must have something to say and Mr. Trump comes armed with standardized one liners and hate mongering. Quite a difference in people who are 72.  Polar opposites?

       Jesus also garnered great crowds. Who knows quite how many, but enough that Jesus had given thought to being crushed.  People seek Jesus for several reasons. The crowds who needed cures are one. These are the literally and figuratively ill. The marginalized, the outcasts. These are also the people seeking a real relationship with God. Seekers listen in the desert of life, seekers listen for God's voice.

       There is a whole other group of people who feel that they have a relationship with God. It is not static or growing, it is what it is. These people have 'the word' that they have already interpreted for their own means and they need nothing more. They already claim salvation and the privilege somehow to judge everyone else. These people do not see The Word and they do not really seek Jesus. They have some bastardized, contorted version of truth.

        The real seekers of a relationship with God are willing to be cured, willing to change, willing to give up and have a stirring in their soul for a deeper relationship with God.  They speak less and listen more - and they do, they love. People who seek Jesus know that they are while they are loved like everyone else, they are not yet complete, not fulfilled and have no right to judge anyone else or their journey to wholeness. 

         Hate mongering crowds are smug, calculating, manipulative, arrogant and in reality, as far as one can get from a real meaningful relationship with God. They speak so loudly they can barely hear themselves, let alone God's voice. I often refer to these people as fake Christians. These people wield scripture like hammers and shoot them like bullets of hate and self righteousness.  This does not speak of love. It does not speak of humbleness of heart. This does not sound like anything that Jesus would say or do.

      There are plenty of crowds out there, sometimes mobs.  Some speak to your soul, speak of love and speak of a loving and all embracing God. Other crowds speak of hate, judgment, blame and exclusion.. Be careful which you aim for, which crowds you teach are worthy of your time and attention. 

Mark 3:7-19

 Jesus departed with his disciples to the lake, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, ‘You are the Son of God!’ But he sternly ordered them not to make him known.

 He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Then he went home;

Final exams cancelled

       One of the classes that I took in college was Biochemistry. The professor rattled on from the moment we entered class until the moment we left our seats. In similar fashion, his exams were never a question. What was on the test? Every single thing was on the test, each and every word was important. The grades seemed abysmal. He once proudly told to me that my "C" was an exceptional grade, certainly an "A" in anyone else's course. Another teacher of Organic Chemistry was equally methodical in his teaching and testing. I believe the average (uncurved) grade was well below a 30. Yes, out of 100 . The argument of the organic chemistry teacher was that we were not really allowed to make mistakes. In medicine, a mistake meant death or a an error that could not be undone in most cases. His exam booklets were strewn with paged size font ( in red ) which simply read "Zero"  Testing is very much still     'a thing' in our lives. 

          There is of course the exams every student must endure if only to see if the knowledge has been received. Unfortunately there is a great deal more testing in the world as with the Pharisees in today's reading from Mark.  You are worthy if you obey all the rules and rubrics. For Jesus, that just ain't so. 

        When Jesus comes across someone with a whithering hand, a paralytic, someone with seizures, years of menses, blindness, leprosy or a sick loved one, there are no questions. There is no test of worthiness. No questions to assess if you should indeed be cured or dismissed.  It seems to me that the ones labelled by society as the most unworthy are the ones that Jesus deems indeed very worthy. 

          This is maddening to some people and to whole churches. You must do something. Jesus really apparently does not work on that premise. If Jesus did work on that premise would he have cured the Roman Centurions sickly homosexual partner ? ( Pais ).  Understand, this is an officer of the occupying army, not even a Jew, not likely one who could even address any question of scripture and lived as is common in Roman and Greek life, with a subordinate ( but totally loved ) male lover. How many even today would judge this man and his companion, both, as unworthy. Perhaps worthy of disdain or hate but not love and an open cure. 

          It seems to me the lesson is as it was yesterday, literally, and today and tomorrow and the next. We are all worthy, we are all beloved creations of God. We need not do anything to be worthy but we are worthy by our 'mere' creation in the image and likeness of God.  Our existence is reason to be loved and cured. Sounds like socialized medicine to me! Seems absolutely childlike in it's simplicity and yet that is also what Jesus said.  We are after all, ALL children of God no matter who or what you define God as.

          As far as God, religion and love, there should be no tests, no exams.  

Mark 2:23-3:6

 One sabbath he was going through the cornfields; and as they made their way his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. The Pharisees said to him, ‘Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the sabbath?’ And he said to them, ‘Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and he gave some to his companions.’ Then he said to them, ‘The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath; so the Son of Man is lord even of the sabbath.’

Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there who had a withered hand. They watched him to see whether he would cure him on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man who had the withered hand, ‘Come forward.’ Then he said to them, ‘Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the sabbath, to save life or to kill?’ But they were silent. He looked around at them with anger; he was grieved at their hardness of heart and said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. 

Worthy of love

       We have a bit of a luxury. We from several vantage points have the benefit of the gift of faith. Even if we have not experienced the loving hand and heart of Jesus in our lives, we know the historical figure who at the very least was a prophet. To believers, Jesus is the Word made flesh, God, Son of God and lover of all creation.

       That last one about lover of creation is truly present in today's passage from Mark.

Jesus consorts with the most unlikely people. It is not an accident or a rare occasion. Jesus always seeks out the marginalized in his ministry. The leper, the blind sinners, the lame, the dead, the sick, the tax collectors, the occupying army's Centurion and his lover. 

        Are there any limits to Jesus' love and inclusion?  The answer is a resolute no. There are no limits. God created all, God loves all. Jesus does not hold the same  judgments that humans do and has a vision of humanity not in just what we can do or should do but sees something more, deeper, more profound. Jesus seems to see a beautiful essence that we often overlook. We fail to see with the eyes of God, the eyes of Love, the eyes of hope.

       If we fail to see what Jesus sees, what God sees in everyone of us, it is because we fail to see the magnificence in ourselves. We stay quite too busy judging ourselves as much as we judge others. I suspect deeply rooted in our judgment and even hate of others is a strong dislike of ourselves. We easily pass judgment on ourselves when it really is equally easy to love ourselves. Whatever we use to cut ourselves down, God sees a journey to wholeness that cannot be demeaned or debased. God sees the whole picture, the essence and the  purity of who we are. Can we? 

        The only way to follow the commandment to love others is to also love ourselves. We cannot dismiss our flaws or mistakes but we also cannot take those as the basis for the entirety of who we are. Jesus did not see sinners in that way. Jesus welcomed in unrestricted fashion and thought His love worthy for all. Can we do so for ourselves and others?

Mark 2:13-22

 Jesus went out again beside the lake; the whole crowd gathered around him, and he taught them. As he was walking along, he saw Levi son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

 And as he sat at dinner in Levi’s house, many tax-collectors and sinners were also sitting with Jesus and his disciples—for there were many who followed him. When the scribes of the Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax-collectors, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ When Jesus heard this, he said to them, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

 Now John’s disciples and the Pharisees were fasting; and people came and said to him, ‘Why do John’s disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ Jesus said to them, ‘The wedding-guests cannot fast while the bridegroom is with them, can they? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast on that day.

 ‘No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old cloak; otherwise, the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost, and so are the skins; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins.’

The Commonwealth of Israel

     As I noted recently, I have taken to reading the Bible every day with the intent of finishing it, cover to cover, in 90 days. One of the striking things about Genesis is the focus on genealogy and the relationships from 'the beginning'.

         In today's passage from Ephesians, there is a phrase used that has me thinking about our community of believers and that we are, as it says, a 'commonwealth of Israel'. It is so interestingly put forth as a matter of fact. I so often rail against the Roman church that I failed perhaps to see that they are my brothers in faith, however misguided or wrong hearted.  What are we to do with the people of Christian faith and the Jewish community that we do not always see eye to eye with, perhaps even vehemently disagree with, and know that we are our kinsmen?

       As long as I can recall I have been of the belief that God loves "them" at least as much as God loves me and I think God loves me a whole heckuva bunch. I am accustomed to thinking that way in terms of foreigners or people that simply rub me the wrong way. Do I believe the same about Christians in other denominations who seem so wrong hearted and sterile? How about 'the hats' that my father-in-law and I speak of? The ultra orthodox Jews that seem so distant and foreign in our midst? Are they my welcomed and loved kinsmen?  What of the crazy errant Westboro Baptist church? Are they my kinsmen? Do I love them and pray for them?

         It truly is not an easy task to say, believe and act on the notion that we are the 'commonwealth of Israel' but yet we are if we claim to be any kind of Jew, Christian and yes, even Islam began at the branch of Abraham. How are we called to act with this newly realized piece of information? This is something I will be thinking about all day and especially as I continue reading the Bible each day.

 

Ephesians 2:11-22

 So then, remember that at one time you Gentiles by birth, called ‘the uncircumcision’ by those who are called ‘the circumcision’—a physical circumcision made in the flesh by human hands— remember that you were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace; in his flesh he has made both groups into one and has broken down the dividing wall, that is, the hostility between us. He has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances, so that he might create in himself one new humanity in place of the two, thus making peace, and might reconcile both groups to God in one body through the cross, thus putting to death that hostility through it. So he came and proclaimed peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near; for through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spirituallyinto a dwelling-place for God.

Morning would

       Someone once told me that the essence of the arguments against anyone who is  in the LGBTQ rainbow is that people want to have control of our genitals. They see black and white and though nature may reveal otherwise, though God loves all her creations, some people feel free to pass judgment on the gay  community. One of those judgments , not specifically geared to our genitalia, is that we can never be happy, we love wrongly if not just differently from the 'norm'.  No one in the gay community they say could ever live a normal loving life. Never mind right now how wrong that has been proven over and over again over the millennia.

        When you are told that you can never live up to the norm and you will never be able to have a meaningful relationship, the tendency ( if you believe that tripe ) is to live in a manner that reaches for every unorthodox kind of relationship. One night stands, meaningless sex, and every variety of fetish or inclination can be fulfilled.  Honestly, that is one of the nicest things about being gay. Sexual freedom to explore and not feel badly about the gift of sexuality that God has  graced us with. In some ways, I feel sorry for the heterosexual people who seem so locked in and puritanical about their sexuality.

         When my husband and I got married in a very private ceremony, between God, he and I, we had no official template to follow. We were not allowed to get married at that time. What a freeing moment. We could openly and freely express our love and God's love without the minutia and rubrics of religions created by mankind. When we were legally married we also felt free to create a ceremony that picked and chose from different traditions to express our love and the uniting of two families in love.  Again, very freeing.

           Now that you may think I am a religious and sexual anarchist, let me assure you I am not. I am not because I do not accept the judgments and limitations others place on me.  The only limitations placed on me are ones of self and God. I do not believe anyone is created to misuse or use their sexuality in a light or disrespectful manner.  The way we choose to live as gay or straight people is  based on who are as people and more clearly to my estimation, people of God.

        That means no one is really free to act in unthoughtful and malicious ways with regard to their sexuality.  Free to express, yes. Free to abuse, no. As faithful people we are called to use all our gifts and talents wisely and for the glory of God.  Musician, wealthy, excellent tongue, whatever; no judgment but no misuse. All for the glory of God. All for the love of our fellow man and I mean men, women and other.  As God created every single being and entity we are called to be true to our creation in love, respect and generosity.

         Sexual feelings for this morning.

Ephesians 2:1-10

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus.For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God— not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Emma and David

          I want to speak about a recent school shooting and oddly, I find myself having a difficult time identifying which one of the many shootings I am thinking about.  Each and every one of the incidents are enabled by powerful legislators who are puny of morals and bought by the gun lobbyists.  The children are always students simply going to school, innocently, working diligently at their  goals and enjoying school life as it should be.  Normal people find this kind of school violence abhorrent and know where to squarely put the blame.

       For Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and others, that horrific day at Parkland was a rude awakening. The adults who are running the world abdicated their responsibility to keep them safe. The same adults and leaders enabled the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Connecticut. Yes, an Elementary school. Shame on legislators, shame on the NRA, shame on us all for our complacency and allowing this problem to go unchecked. Rampant violence against innocents.  But Emma and David are just whom I am reminded of today as I read Isaiah.  The passage notes about God that He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless.

       Many times in life a voices raises and an activist is created by a baptism by fire. In the case of Emma and David, it was baptism , essentially, by firing squad. God raises up the most unlikely people and does not use human logic because even our best logic cannot compete or compare to the logic, wisdom and love of our Creator.

        In one of the other readings from today, Jesus is picking his disciples and he chooses several Fisherman. How odd.  Not whom I might go to as my first choices. In another passage, Scripture relates a time when the fisherman have toiled laboriously all night fishing and to no avail. Jesus ( the carpenter ) comes along and asks them to put their nets out one more time. Their catch almost sinks the boat. A carpenter is not who I would necessarily listen to if I were a professional fisherman.

          When we go about our daily lives, be wary of our judgments about whom God can call, raise up and have serve. Jesus chooses some unlikely people to major tasks. While we are remembering that, know also that we are all called to loving action on God's behalf. Thank you Emma and David.

Isaiah 40:25-31

To whom then will you compare me,
   or who is my equal? says the Holy One. 
Lift up your eyes on high and see:
   Who created these?
He who brings out their host and numbers them,
   calling them all by name;
because he is great in strength,
   mighty in power,
   not one is missing. 

Why do you say, O Jacob,
   and speak, O Israel,
‘My way is hidden from the Lord,
   and my right is disregarded by my God’? 
Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
   the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
   his understanding is unsearchable. 
He gives power to the faint,
   and strengthens the powerless. 
Even youths will faint and be weary,
   and the young will fall exhausted; 
but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength,
   they shall mount up with wings like eagles,
they shall run and not be weary,
   they shall walk and not faint.