Transgender Justice, John 9:1-41 March 26 2017

Audio is here

In today’s Gospel, we see a man go through a life changing experience.  A physical miracle as he goes form blind to sighted.  As I mentioned at the opening today, we are honoring the National weekend of Prayer for Transgender Justice.  Being Transgender has been viewed as a gift, an awesome blessing of one who can transcend the physical boundaries of gender. Because of that they were, in some cultures, believe to be able to transcend the physical and spiritual worlds.  I think that is truly a beautiful way of looking at what it means to be transgender.

I look at being transgender as a calling.  People are being called to be who they truly are and that requires a special process, a special way of being in the world that is different than most people understand. Many People choose not to even try to understand.

This sermon is not going to be easy.  Some of the facts are hard.  Much of the truth is painful.  If it wasn’t we would have no need for a weekend of prayer for Transgender Justice. Unfortunately, we do…

This article came from the southern Poverty law center march 1^st

In the past week, four transgender black women have been murdered in the United States — a trend that’s alarming civil rights and anti-violence advocates.

The New York City Anti-Violence Project, which tracks transgender crimes, says there have been seven murders of transgender people so far, this year, well above the corresponding number last year.

The Anti-Violence Project documented the homicides of 23 transgender and gender nonconforming people in 2016, the highest ever recorded by the coalition.

“As we face an administration which devalues the safety and rights of transgender people and people of color, we must work tirelessly to support transgender friends, family, and community members,” NCAVP manager Emily Waters said in a statement.

Three of the most-recent homicides occurred in Louisiana, two in New Orleans.

Ciara McElveen, was found stabbed to death on Monday in New Orleans 7th Ward. That homicide came only two days after another black transgender woman, Chyna Gibson, was shot and killed in New Orleans on Feb. 25, the Anti-Violence Project reports.

In Monroe, Louisiana Jaquarrius Holland was found murdered on Feb. 19, the Anti-Violence Project reports.

In Chicago, Keke Collier, also known to friends as Tiara Richmond, was shot to death on Feb. 22 while walking near her home in Chicago.

Earlier homicides involving transgender victims occurred Jan. 4, with the death of Mesha Caldwell, in Canton, Mississippi; the Jan. 6 death of Jamie Lee Wounded Arrow, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the Feb. 8 death of Jojo Striker, in Toledo, Ohio, according to data provided to Hatewatch by the Anti-Violence Project.

McElveen’s murder brings transgender killings up to the numbers reported at the same time last year, with transgender women targeted at a slightly higher rate than in previous years.

Because Ciara McElveen and Chyna Doll Dupree were killed in Louisiana, a state with hate crime laws that do not offer protections for gender identity, it is unlikely the charge will be pursued without federal support for the investigation. Keke Collier’s murder is the only one of the six carried out in a state with hate crime laws that protect transgender people.

In previous years, those not covered by state hate crimes laws could have placed some hope in the federal government under the Matthew Shephard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Developed in the wake of the brutal 1998 murders of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old gay man from Wyoming, and James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old African-African man, the act was used to prosecute an anti-transgender hate crime for the first time in 2016.

However, given the Trump administration’s most recent rescinding of President Barack Obama’s guidance on protections for transgender school children, along with the withdrawal from a court challenge related to this guidance by Jeff Sessions and the Department of Justice, there is concern that these murders will go overlooked by the Trump administration.

Lisa Gilmore, of the Illinois Accountability Initiative, said the Chicago murder is “yet another violent attack leading to the death of a young transgender woman of color in our beloved community.”

“The humanity and personhood of transgender women need to be recognized,” Gilmore said. “As trans-women of color are among the most vulnerable in our communities and our nation, we all must be accountable for their safety and access to opportunities.”

In New Orleans, local transgender activist Syria Sinclaire expressed sadness about the trend. “We should have the right to live our lives open and free and not be taunted and traumatized by the general public if they don't approve,” Sinclaire said in a statement released by the Anti-Violence Project.

Shelby Chestnut, director of community organizing and public advocacy for the organization, said the record-pace number of transgender homicides comes at a time when “the Trump administration is rolling back protections for transgender youth. This is totally unacceptable.”

“We need to protect transgender lives at all stages, but especially in youth where they experience bullying, family rejection and violence that affects them throughout their lives,” Chestnut said.[1]

Per a recent report “In America, up to 1.6 million youth experience homelessness each year. The statistics for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) homeless youth are even more shocking, as this group represents up to 40% all young people experiencing homelessness. Considering that LGBT youth represent an estimated 7% of the total youth population, these numbers are disproportionately high. While even a single young person without a home is one too many, the disparity of LGBT youth experiencing homelessness is unfathomable.”[2]

In the transgender population 1 in 5 have reported experiencing homelessness.  The issue for homeless transgender youth is that they need to eat, they need to have safe space to sleep and they need money for their medications.  This often leads them seeking ways to make money that is unsafe and dangerous.  Often when I worked with the transgender youth group at Children’s hospital Los Angeles I would hear stories of young people seeking hormones on the street because they could net get medical services. To pay for these meds they did whatever they needed to do to survive.

In the book, Queering Christianity, I wrote on the topic of transgender youth. 

“Many times, in our daily lives as we try to discover who we are and wat we need to be, we struggle we struggle with the concept of God who calls us to be ourselves.”[3]Virginia Mollenkott reminds us “We often find that we are more concerned with being ‘right’ and appearing to have it all together than being faithful to God’s holy calling to live our lives with as much integrity we can muster.”[4] ”Unfortunately with the constraints’ of society, culture, faith, and family we tend to shy away from these callings”[5]

Again Virginia Mollenkott point out that “As gender variant people we have also been and continue to be the unwilling , undeserving targets of a pervasive lack of social and spiritual integrity.  That is why we must do all we can to move the gender-variant persons out of the category of “victim” into that of “survivor” and even “thriver”.”[6]

“Society must cease its targeting and seeking out, or in some cases, ignoring the transgender person. The transgender person has an inevitable right to live life as a recognized and valued member of society.”[7]  We as Christians are called walk beside the transgender person through their journey, we are called to defend and protect each and every person as a child of God but more so the least of these, those who stand at the margins of society.

The first transgender person I met was a man named Dwayne he lived in the men’s dorm at the catholic college.  But on the weekends, he would do his hair and makeup and go out to perform and live as his true self miss Natalie.  He lived a dual life and though I do not know what has happened to him since he often spoke of how he hated being one person during the week and another on the weekend.  I hope he found his happiness.

I must not I used the pronoun he because at the time Dwayne referred to himself in the male pronoun. Of course that was 1981-82.

There is a wonderful story going around.  You know when someone has a baby the first question is “is it a boy or a girl”  the correct answer is we don’t know it hasn’t told us yet!”  If only we lived in such a world where everyone was truly free to express who they are and going to be in their own terms.

Today the Transgender person is becoming more visible and role models can be seen throughout our modern American society. For example Judge Vicki Kowolkowski is a superior court Judge since 2011 and  a transgender woman.  She also happens to be a colleague and friend as she is an ordained minister in the Metropolitan community church.

People can see show like transparent thought the star is straight himself Jeffery Tambor plays a true to the experience role. Of course, there is Laverne Cox Hollywood star, actress and model who has two shows on T.V. right now. Here is a brief bio of her from Wikipedia

“Laverne Cox is an American actress, reality television star, television producer, and LGBT advocate. [She became known for her portrayal of Sophia Burset on the Netflix television series Orange Is the New Black, for which she became the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the acting category, and the first to be nominated for an Emmy Award since composer/musician Angela Morley in 1990. In 2015, she became the first openly transgender person to have a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds. In 2017, she became the first transgender person to play a transgender series regular on broadcast TV as Cameron Wirth on Doubt on CBS.”[8]

I can honestly say there has not been a time in my life since I was 19 that there has not been a transgender person in my circle.  I lost one friend to violence in san Francisco back 1989.  I mourn her every time I need to talk about this.  And WE need to talk about this.

People call transgender people all sort of awful things.  They condemn them to death without a judge or a jury not that one is needed for no crime has been committed..  In today’s Gospel when asked why the man was blind what did Jesus say? 

The disciples ask Jesus what is this individual’s sin that caused this is it his own or his parents?

Jesus replies;

“It wasn’t because of anyone’s sin---

Not this person’s, nor the parents’.

Rather, it was to let God’s works shine forth

In this person” (John 9:3)

I am sure I am going to hear it from someone how dare I use Christ’s word to justify a transgender or gender queer person. Well just in case I didn’t get it right the first time, I can do it again Jeremiah 1:5 says; “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;” Each Human being has Value.  Each one of us form the most marginalized to the hardest to understand or comprehend has value.

We as Christians are called to stand up and fight.  Has an open and affirming congregation we are called over and over again to voice our convictions, marginalization of people will not be tolerated. It is easy to stand here in the pulpit and to sit in the pew and maybe even in coffee hour where we are comfortable with similar minded people to talk about it.

 But do we do when out in a crowd and we hear something or someone says something?  Do we stand up?  Do we attempt to educate?  Or do we sit back quietly in fear or anger and maybe just grumble to ourselves?

The man who was blind but now could see was taken before the Pharisees. They asked him since your eyes were opened what do you say about Jesus. He is a prophet the man replied knowing this could get him kicked out of the synagogue.

So they brought in his parents who knew if they affirmed the miracle they could be kicked out so they said he is old enough ask him.  Again they did and he replied “I do not know if he is a sinner or not all I know is I can see.”

Finally they asked him again how this happened and he replied I already told you why do you need me to tell you again Unless you too wish to be his disciple.  Of course they get in an argument and finally he proclaims “if this one was not from God he could never had done such a thing!”

This man Never saw Jesus but knew his work without seeing him as a matter of fact he acknowledges Christ 3 times knowing what the consequence would be. He makes Peter look really bad.

What I am saying here is over and over again a person proclaims who they are meant to be  and our society tries to suppress, deny them,  or fix them and if that doesn’t work they well evidently they will beat them and worse kill them!

Let me tell you about my friend Bamby Salcedo.

“Very early in life, she experienced numerous challenges. Growing up in a poor home with a single working mother in Guadalajara, Mexico, she was drawn to the companionship and lessons of several hardships in life like childhood sexual abuse by an abusive step father, the use of drugs and surviving in the hard streets of Guadalajara Mexico as a child. Maneuvering her uneasy way through separate worlds of family, school, gangs, and LGBTQ friends, she fell into a deep cycle of drugs, crime, juvenile institutions and later, after immigrating to the US, prisons and constant street violence. Repeatedly facing her mortality, and amid many reversals, she committed herself to treatment for her addiction to work on herself and learn the root cause of what was leading the life she was living.

She then slowly began to experience, build and imagine a different and better life for herself. But Bamby’s improbable survival also inspired within her a sense of duty to help others as she recovered her life. One by one, she began to transform each challenge and each issue of her early life into the substance, basis and gravitas for her current extraordinary work, activism and life. Even now, she is always ready to credit others who assisted her transcendent rise. Bamby often speaks of herself as a “Community Investment”.[9]

I first met Bamby when she was working at Children’s hospital as the social advocate for the transgender youth program.  It was because of Bamby’s openness and willingness to listen, that we could establish an ongoing spiritual outreach to the program that continues to this day.

One of the programs she initiated at children’s hospital was angels of change;

Arriving at Children’s Hospital, Bamby saw a lack of visibility and funding for the trans youth programs. Angels of Change, a remarkable ‘rite-of-passage’ experience for trans and gender nonconforming youth. Angels of Change is a calendar and runway show that Bamby has produced each year for the past seven years. Angels of Change also raises funds for The Center for Trans Youth Health and Development with Children’s Hospital Los Angeles Division of Adolescent and Young Adult Medicine.

Participating in “Angels of Change” is an opportunity for trans and gender non-conforming youth to develop self-presentation skills in a safe, fun environment by participating in the production of a yearly calendar – the world’s first calendar featuring trans youth. A celebratory, non-competitive runway show by the participants caps off a program that challenges and builds self-esteem, confidence, cooperation, belonging and an opportunity to project into the future for its participants. Bamby’s creation of “Angels of Change” recognizes and significantly addresses a previously missing cultural positive representation of trans and gender nonconforming youth.

My Life is richer because of the many, many transgender youth I have worked with and the transgender adults who helped shape my life.  We as an open and affirming church and even as a denomination are called to do more than proclaim it when in the face of such violence in our community.  We must stand up and act.  So, on this weekend of National prayer for Transgender Justice – Freedom we pray;

Let the rain come and wash away the ancient grudges, the bitter hatreds held and nurtured over generations. Let the rain wash away the memory of the heart, and neglect. Then Oh God, let the sun come out and fill the sky with beautiful rainbows.

Let the warmth of the Sun heal us wherever we are broken. Let It burn away the fog so that each of us sees each other clearly. So that we can move beyond labels, beyond accents, gender, sexual orientation, or skin color. Let the warmth and brightness of the sun melt our selfishness. So that we can share the joy and sorrow of our neighbors. And let the light of the sun be so strong that we will see all people as our neighbors.

Let the Earth, nourished by rain, bring forth flowers to surround us with your beauty, and let the mountains teach our hearts to reach upward to heaven. Then, Dear God, grant us comfort, give us peace, and allow us strength to enable us to Stand up, Fight for, and be a Voice for Equality. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Offered by Rev. Debra J. Hopkins, Black trans woman, minister at

Sacred Souls Community Church in Charlotte, NC.

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[1] Bill Morlin, Four Transgender Murders in a Week "Alarming Trend,” March 1, 2017, accessed March 21, 2017, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2017/03/01/four-transgender-murders-week-alarming-trend.

[2] true colors fund, our issue, 2017, accessed March 21, 2017, https://truecolorsfund.org/our-issue/.

[3] Robert E. Shore-Goss et al., eds., Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians (Santa Barbara, California: Praeger, 2013), 300.

[4] Virginia Ramey Mollenkott, and Vanessa Sheridan, Transgender Journeys (Cleveland: Pilgrim Press, 2003), 30.

[5] Shore-Goss et al., Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians, 300. 

[6] Virginia Ramey Mollenkott , and Vanessa Sheridan, Transgender Journeys, 30.

[7] Shore-Goss et al., Queering Christianity: Finding a Place at the Table for LGBTQI Christians, 300

[8] Wikipedia, Laverne Cox, accessed March 22, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laverne_Cox.

[9] Bamby Salcedo, Bamby Salcedo Bio, 2017, accessed March 22, 2017, http://bambysalcedo.com/bio.php.

The woman at the well, John 4:5-42 March 19 2017

recording of the sermon is here

“There is a hunger deep in every heart, a deep craving for forgiveness and hope, a sense that our best days are not all behind us, that God has not given up on us even if we have in some ways given up on ourselves. I believe we all crave some token of God’s presence in what often seems a godforsaken world.”[1]

The Story of the Samaritan women at the well calls to our yearning our need to be touched by God or at least to see God present in this world.  As obvious as water from a well may be, we do not know we have it till it is brought up into the light.

The interesting thing about the Samaritan woman and this well is that readers at the time would know exactly what this story was referencing.  Ministry magazine has a nice summary.

“Abraham decided it was time for his son Isaac to get married. In Bible times, fathers decided these things. So Abraham sent his servant to go to the place of Abraham’s birth, to a foreign land, and, among his relatives, to find a wife for Isaac. The servant packed ten camels with tons of goods and gifts and headed out (Genesis 24).

After entering the foreign land, the servant stopped by a well and he prayed: “There are young women coming to this well to draw water. I am going to ask for a drink. May the one who gives me a drink and offers to water my camels, may she be the wife you have chosen for Isaac.” Even before he finished his prayer, Rebekah arrived at the well and did everything he had asked. When she finished watering the camels, she ran home. The servant of Abraham was then invited to supper, but before he would allow himself to eat, he asked that arrangements be made for the marriage of Rebekah and Isaac.

Isaac and Rebekah’s son Jacob also met his bride at a well (Genesis 29). After traveling to a foreign land, Jacob stopped near a well and began asking whether anyone hanging around knew his relatives. Just then a young woman came up to the well. Scripture says that Jacob kissed her and wept. Like Rebekah, her soon-to-be mother-in-law, Rachel immediately ran home. Eventually her father and Jacob made marriage arrangements.

Fast-forward to Moses. After he got into serious trouble with Egypt’s  pharaoh, Moses fled from Egypt and went into a foreign land called Midian. Scripture says that he “sat down by a well” (Exodus 2). What have we come to expect at this moment? Sure enough—the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came with their father’s flocks for water to the well where Moses rested. But a group of shepherds started giving the women trouble. Moses stepped in, defended the women, and made sure that their flocks had all the water they needed, and then the women went home. After Moses was invited to supper, one of the seven sisters, Zipporah, was given to Moses in marriage.

Wells and weddings seem to go together.[2]

I had not ever heard this parallel drawn before and I must say it truly intrigued me.  In the past I have always heard how this story is a mirror image of the Nicodemus story.  And the images are easy to see the parallels and the differences almost as if they were meant to be read side by side.

Look at the characters of the two stories: “Nicodemus” and “the woman.” She is not named, which is significant. If the designation makes her anonymous in one way, it also makes her representative. We cannot excuse ourselves from this story by imagining that what Jesus said or did applies only to her.

In addition, obviously, unlike Nicodemus she is a woman. That Jesus talked to women at all, even taught women, scandalized the Pharisees, who were known to thank God they had been born men. She is a Samaritan, moreover, while Nicodemus was a Jew. Jews had no dealings with Samaritans (think apartheid or Jim Crow). Jews considered Samaritans half-breeds, pagans, heretics, and apostates. Samaritans, like all persecuted peoples, considered themselves the true witnesses to God, the builders of God’s true temple on Mount Gerizim. Jews and Samaritans hated each other both racially and religiously.

Nicodemus is a three-time winner and insider: he is a Pharisee, a leader of the Jews (meaning an elected official), and he is a teacher of Israel. The woman is as outside as Nicodemus is in: not only because she is a woman, and a Samaritan woman besides, but she is a sinful Samaritan woman at that—married and divorced so many times she doesn’t even bother with the ceremony anymore—ostracized by the other women, by the other Samaritan women; that’s when you know it is bad.”[3]

This is an interesting and , I must say not a very modern view of this woman’s plight.  Modern society and even ancient labelled her a sinner. Yet what is one person’s Judgement may not be reality at all.  Mary Haloviak has a different perspective; “Modern western readers typically think of her as a loose woman with a sinful past—because of her five marriages and because, at the time she met Jesus, she was living with a man who was not her husband. However, in the world of Jesus’ day, men decided issues of marriage and divorce, not women. Unlike today, only husbands could get a divorce, abandon their families, and kick out their spouse. Also, in the world of Jesus’ day, women could not survive unless they were attached to a man. After this woman’s first abandonment (through death or divorce), if she did not have a father or brother or adult son who would take her in, she had to attach herself to another man in order to live. Going through this experience five times is tragic beyond words.

Given the world of Jesus’ day, her story is probably more of a discarded woman with a painful past than of a loose woman with a sinful past. Why was she discarded so many times? Since her current living conditions were based on her own survival, she was living with someone who refused to acknowledge his responsibility to her. We should probably see her more as a slave who had to do whatever he wanted than as a secret lover having an affair. She was trying to survive. He should have married her.”[4]

The days and the circumstances were very different then than they are today and in this context one may also understand why Jesus bequeaths his mother to the beloved disciple it was assuring her survival.

So some final differences are Nicodemus Goes to Jesus in the night in secret. Jesus goes to the woman in daylight plain as can be and he addresses her.  Nicodemus as I pointed out last week just didn’t understand Jesus or his ministry where we the Woman says I see you are a prophet!

So Jesus asked this Samaritan woman for water from the well.  We know she is nothing like the other Biblical women who ended up married because they were at a well. And Yet John has set us up for what? A Wedding?

Well according to ministry magazine yes sort of…. “Yet Jesus keeps talking with her. He keeps offering her living water. He proclaims to her that His “hour” is coming
and when it comes, worship of God will not be about ethnicity or whether one worships on this mountain or that mountain. With Jesus, the hour has come where true worshipers will worship God in spirit and truth. Jesus tells her that God seeks such worshipers. In this encounter at a Samaritan well, the family of God is expanding!

For the first time in John Jesus shares his true identity.4 When she begins talking about the Messiah who is coming, Jesus says, “I am”! I am the Living Water, the Messiah, the One coming, the One here, God! Suddenly her hope for the future is also for the present! The Messiah is no longer something to anticipate, the Messiah is here . . .”[5]

Can you imagine being this woman who has so been beaten down and yet , from the conversation we know she is theologically savvy.  She knows the prophecies she knows and believes what has been handed down through the ages to her people.  And now here is the messiah.  Her heart must have leapt.

He has told her everything about herself.  He has broken the social rules to speak to her.  He has broken the ritualistic Jewish and Samaritan rules to even share a cup from the well with her.  There is something new and exciting happening here.

“Typically, in scenes when women and men meet at wells, the woman leaves the well and goes to her family, and the family then comes to meet the man, the future bridegroom, at the well. Then, after they share a meal, the two families make wedding plans. In John 4, the Samaritan woman does not go to her family. This is another clue in the story that she probably does not have one. But she does go to her community.”[6]

I would venture to say she did run back to tell her family.  This town had one way or another become her family either through her own cunning to survive or, as I would like to believe, they were intentional in making sure she was cared for and not left to die destitute and hungry.  So now she has gone to town and is preaching up a storm.  She is bringing the whole village to Christ.

Jesus kind of reproaches his own disciples by saying “I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into that labor’ ” (4:38, NRSV) The harvest which the disciples did not labor are all those who will come to Christ.  Literally in this moment it is the Samaritan village that is running across the fields to meet Jesus.  They came to believe because of what the woman told them.  Her personal witness of how Christ had moved her and perhaps even changed her.

“The family of God has expanded. The harvest has begun. Jesus receiving hospitality from Samaritans for two days must have meant lots of sharing of eating utensils and drinking vessels. When women from other Samaritan homes went to the well for water to cook and serve Jesus and His disciples, did the disciples go with them to help? What boundaries were broken down during those two days? How were the disciples’ eyes opened? After all, in the future they will follow the Samaritan woman’s example, bringing all kinds of people to Jesus, in all different cities and villages.”[7]

This is what we are called to do as Christians as a community.  Now evangelization is not everyone’s thing.  Today if one goes about preaching that one knows the messiah you get written off as a cook ro a fanatic. But breaking boundaries?  Going where we are not expected to go? Offering water that is life giving?  That we can do.

For example, through the One great Hour of Sharing “In cooperation with Global Ministries, Church World Service, Action by Churches Together, Interchurch Medical Assistance, Foods Resource Bank, Oikocredit, Freedom from Hunger and hundreds of local partners around the world, One Great Hour of Sharing is part of a remarkable network of service and caring that is efficient, effective and faithful. Administrative costs are typically less than eight percent annually.

The United Church of Christ unites with Christians in eight other Protestant denominations and Church World Service in One Great Hour of Sharing, thus multiplying the effectiveness and extent of our witness many times over.

The partnership we share with nearly 6,000 United Church of Christ congregations across the United States and Puerto Rico is where this remarkable miracle connecting UCC members to the world truly begins. The UCC annually channels more than $3 million dollars through One Great Hour of Sharing to humanitarian needs in the world.”[8]

You are a 5 by 5 church that means through special collections you are reaching out across borders that are social, economic, and cultural.  We are telling the world we may be small as a community church but we are part of something huge that is making a difference in the world.  In the same way we can do that right here.

The bird house project is a great opportunity to reach out to our neighbors.  Tell them who we are, what we are doing, and invite them to come visit and maybe even stay for coffee and some conversation.  Do you know the number one reason people come to church and stay??  Because they are invited.  Because someone went past their fears and insecurities and say …Hey I would love you to join me this Sunday and become a part of a wonderful community.

When was the last time you went and told someone we are doing such and such in our church?  The Samaritan woman ran and told her whole village about one conversation.  We are making a difference in this world as a denomination and we are making a difference in this community as a congregation now all we have to do is tell people about it!

Spread the Good news.  There is plenty of water in the well!

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[1] Thomas R. Steagald, The Samaritan Woman and Nicodemus, February 23, 2013, accessed March 13, 2017, http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/741/the-samaritan-woman-and-nicodemus.

[2] Kendra Haloviak, The wedding at the well, Januarary 2014, accessed March 13, 2017, https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/2014/01/the-wedding-at-the-well.

[3] Steagald, The Samaritan Woman and Nicodemus.

[4] Haloviak, The Wedding at the Well.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid.

[7] Ibid.

[8] UCC.org, One Great Hour of Sharing _About, 2017, accessed March 13, 2017, http://www.ucc.org/oghs_about.

To Be born Anew 4/12/17

recording of the sermon is here

Today we have a Pharisee, Nicodemus sneaking over to see Jesus in the cover of the night. But who were the Pharisees.  Besides the accounts in Mathew when Jesus throws at them the seven woes, as Christians, we do not hear much about them.

Matt 23:31-33 "Therefore you are witnesses against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' guilt. Serpents, brood of vipers! How can you escape the condemnation of hell?"

 Matt 23:13 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."

So, who were these Pharisees?

Per that font of wisdom Wikipedia; “The Pharisees /ˈfærəˌsiːz/ were at various times a political party, a social movement, and a school of thought in the Holy Land during the time of Second Temple Judaism. After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Pharisaic beliefs became the foundational, liturgical and ritualistic basis for Rabbinic Judaism.”[1]

There were conflicts between the Pharisees and the Sadducees one, the Sadducees were more Hellenistic or Greek allowing only for the written law with Greek philosophy while the Pharisees honored Oral history of the Torah, the prophets and the writings as well as they supported the resurrection of the dead.

“During the start of His ministry the body of Pharisees would have been interested to hear what Jesus had to say. They were interested to hear what any teacher in Israel had to say. The problem that they had with Jesus was His monumental claims and the authority in which He spoke. No man had ever spoken like this man, and no man had ever won the favor of the masses so quickly and so thoroughly. He even went so far as to claim that He was the very reason for Torah and the fulfillment of it. Their opposition against him grew to the point that they had plotted His death. When Jesus was to be arrested, the Pharisees were among those that came to take Him away:”[2]

John 18:2-3 "Then Judas, having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with lanterns, torches, and weapons"

So why Let this Pharisee in?  Why have an audience with him?  Well for one we know Jesus believed in the teachings of the Pharisees.

Matt 23:1-4 "Then Jesus spoke to the multitudes and to His disciples, saying: "The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. Therefore, whatever they tell you to observe, that observe and do, but do not do according to their works; for they say, and do not do.”

Jesus’ problem with the Pharisees is that they were hypocrites however, as in any group, not all were hypocrites and some were very good men.

“It is also important to note that all of the Pharisees were not like those described in Matthew 23. The gospels contain references to Pharisees who were admirable men. Nicodemus is an excellent example of what a Pharisee ought to have been. He was genuinely a seeker of truth (John 3:1 ff.) (Todays reading), spoke out for justice on behalf of Jesus (John 7:50) [i.e. Here Nicodemus ask the others to hear Jesus out before condemning him], and remained a follower of Jesus even after the disciples had fallen away (John 19:39) [i.e. when Nicodemus brings herbs and aloe to the tomb].

Joseph of Arimathea was a member of the Sanhedrin and he looked for the kingdom of God (Mark 15:43), he was almost certainly a Pharisee, he also did not consent to the decision to do away with Jesus (Luke 23:51) [i.e. in Luke he disagrees with the Pharisees decision]. He was a disciple of Jesus "secretly, for fear of the Jews" (John 19:38) and he made final provisions for the body of Jesus.

There were no doubt many such Pharisees who believed in Jesus, yet probably secretly. Even those who were not necessarily believers could display admirable traits: Gamaliel argued for open-mindedness (Acts 5:34 ff.); others warned Jesus of an attempt on His life: Luke 13:30-31 "On that very day some Pharisees came, saying to Him, "Get out and depart from here, for Herod wants to kill You."[3]

In Luke, there are at least three separate occasions ion which Jesus dines at a Pharisees home.

So, in this conversation we hear Jesus tell Nicodemus that he must be born form above or anew.  The issue here is Jesus seems to be saying one thing and Nicodemus is understanding another thing.  But the Greek word used in the line has two meanings.  Even in our language today being born “anew” would not make us jump to the conclusion that one means for us to be being physically born again.  But this confusion and this statement may be part of Johns intent.

And then, according to the seven times Journal; “Jesus' reply seems unrelated to Nicodemus' statement. Why did He respond in this way?

According to some commentators, Jesus' response was to Nicodemus' inability to "see" beyond a certain point. The Pharisee was willing to acknowledge that Jesus was "a teacher come from God," but was not willing to accept Him as the Messiah, the Savior of the world, the Son of God. Thus, Nicodemus was unable to "see," or experience, the operation of the Kingdom. He had only seen a visible sign, but was unable to "see," with spiritual perception, the invisible Kingdom of God.”[4]

I believe Jesus is trying to get the Pharisee, Nicodemus, to move beyond his tradition to move past a practical theology and into a spiritual, more esoteric way of viewing life. A new way of being in the world.

I like the way Jesus explains it in the message Bible;

“5-6 Jesus said, “You’re not listening. Let me say it again. Unless a person submits to this original creation—the ‘wind-hovering-over-the-water’ creation, the invisible moving the visible, a baptism into a new life—it’s not possible to enter God’s kingdom. When you look at a baby, it’s just that: a body you can look at and touch. But the person who takes shape within is formed by something you can’t see and touch—the Spirit—and becomes a living spirit.”[5]

“We are spiritual beings having a human experience” I am sure you may have heard this said before.  Dr. Wayne dryer likes to quote it and attribute it to de Chardin but there is no proof that Chardin ever actually said it.  But that is beside the point.  The point is we are spiritual beings and we must renew ourselves make ourselves a new by spirit.

So how does one go about making oneself anew to be born from above?  Prayer and practice!  Just look at Christ’s ministry it is all prayer and practice. If he is not teaching us how to be in the world if he is not leading either by example or parable then he is teaching us to pray or going off to pray.

Richard Rohr reminds us that “Jesus’s own style of teaching in stories, parables, and enigmatic sayings was undoubtedly learned in his own prayer practices.  He clearly operated from a consciousness different from that of the masses and even that of the religious leaders who largely fought him.  Most seemed to misunderstand him, or even ignore him, despite what seem to be astounding healing and miracles.”[6]  Even Nicodemus who sought out the teacher still confused what Jesus was trying to say so that Jesus had to explain it again.

We often tend to focus on Jesus’ miracles but Jesus had a strong prayer life. “Jesus himself seemed to prefer a prayer of quiet, something more than social, liturgical, or verbal prayer, which is mentioned only a very few times.  What we do hear are frequent references such as ‘In the morning, long before dawn, he got up and left the house and went off to a lonely place to pray.’ (Mark 1:35; also in Matthew 14:23 and Mark 1:12-13) Luke describes him as praying privately before almost all major events. There are the forty days alone in the desert, which means he must have missed the family-based Sabbath observances and the public temple services.  And of course, there is his final prayer alone in the Garden of Gethsemane.”[7]

Richard Rohr Points out that Jesus taught us “You should go to your private room, shut the door, and pray to your Creator who is in that secret place.” (Matthew 6:6)  This is again rather explicit and also intimately invitational, especially because most homes of his people would have had no such thing as a private room.”[3]

But some people Caught what Jesus was teaching, he was teaching of seeking a quiet place.  This quiet private space does not need to be physical.  It can be spiritual, it can be done in group much as it is done here today.

“We need no wings to go in search of

God, but have only to find a place where we

can be alone and look upon Him present

within us.” These words were written by St.

Teresa of Avila in her book The Way of

Perfection”[8]

One way to look upon God present within us is to sit quietly, breathe slowly and focus on a word or phrase from the Bible.  Allow whatever calls to you maybe in the daily reading or through the ancient practice of Bible roulette.  Sit with the phrase or word for just 5 minutes in the morning, do it again 5 minutes somewhere in your lunch hour and again at the end of the day.  This is one way you stay connected to the spirit of God.  You stay washed anew from above.

Maybe you’re a person who needs something more concrete more rigorous.  There is the liturgy of the hours.

“The Liturgy of the hours consists of;

Matins (during the night, at midnight with some); also called Vigils or Nocturns or, in monastic usage, the Night Office

Lauds or Dawn Prayer (at Dawn, or 3 a.m.)

Prime or Early Morning Prayer (First Hour = approximately 6 a.m.)

Terce or Mid-Morning Prayer (Third Hour = approximately 9 a.m.)

Sext or Midday Prayer (Sixth Hour = approximately 12 noon)

None or Mid-Afternoon Prayer (Ninth Hour = approximately 3 p.m.)

Vespers or Evening Prayer ("at the lighting of the lamps", generally at 6 p.m.)

Compline or Night Prayer (before retiring, generally at 9 p.m.)

This arrangement of the Liturgy of the Hours is attributed to Saint Benedict. However, it is found in Saint John Cassian's Institutes and Conferences,[12] which describe the monastic practices of the Desert Fathers of Egypt.

You can see if you are living a monastic life in community with this schedule Christ and God are always in your heart and on your mind.  For the average me, I mean the average Joe this is a bit umm shall we say tight.

But there are lighter versions around such as the divine hours as interpreted by Phyllis Tickle there are four books for each of the seasons and a special book for Christmas time.  They consist of prayers listed day by day with morning, midday, and vespers, now if you are really disciplined there is an order to be recited right before bed.

The concept for those who practice the hours is that all over the world there are Christians everywhere praying all the time the same psalms and songs and prayers.  There is the universal connection to the other and each other.  The problem still is this is a much-disciplined practice and very difficult for those who live normal everyday first world lives.”[9]

There are many many ways to keep yourself refreshed and anew.  There are many ways to seek out the connection from above.  You are called to do so.  We as Christians are called to do so.  We are called to take time on the Sabbath, we are called to walk the path, the way of Christ and in that way we are called to be born anew in the spirit daily.

For some that may mean a walk on a quite path, for others that may mean doing something artistic creative and yet highly focused.  For others, it may be chanting or meditating.  Still for others it may be dancing.

I would encourage any and all to seek out a retreat for yourself some quiet time that is just between you and God.  Perhaps you need to journey with someone to talk out your spiritual needs?  I also strongly support the concept of having a spiritual companion, friend, spiritual director.  This si a person professionally trained to walk with someone on their spiritual journey.  They are there to help you notice the all the richness of the path you are on.

I encourage you to seek out a spiritual practice that works for you. The season of lent is always a great time to do this.  Instead of giving something up one can take on a spiritual practice. It is a way to seek to be born anew, form above, everyday. May God continue to bless us as we continue our spiritual journey amen!

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[1] wikipedia, The Pharisees, February 27, 2017, accessed March 6, 2017, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharisees.

[2] Bible History Online, Jesus and the Pharisees, 2016, accessed March 6, 2017, http://www.bible-history.com/pharisees/PHARISEESJesus_and_the_Pharisees.htm.

[3] Bible History Online, Jesus and the Pharisees, 2016, accessed March 6, 2017, http://www.bible-history.com/pharisees/PHARISEESJesus_and_the_Pharisees.htm.

[4] Vance A. Stinson, "Born From Above" ... Or ... "Born Again?,” 2012, accessed March 7, 2017, http://7times.org/newsletter/bornagain.shtml.

[5] Eugene H. Peterson, The Message Remix: (Colorado Springs, CO: NavPress, 2003), 1929.

[6] Richard Rohr, The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (New York: Crossroad Pub., 2009).

[7] Ibid.

[8] Joseph Shore-Goss, The Persistent Widow's call to us...Pray Constantly, October 24, 2016, accessed March 7, 2017, http://revjoeshore.blogspot.com/search?q=prayer.

[9] Joseph Shore-Goss, They will produce Much fruit, May 10, 2015, accessed March 7, 2017, http://revjoeshore.blogspot.com/2015/05/john-15-1-8-then-you-will-produce-much_10.html.

what Kind of Child of God are we called to be?

 one can listen tot eh sermon Here!

What kind of Child of god are we called to be?

Today’s Gospel has Jesus filled with the holy spirit being led out into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days.

“To fast simply means to voluntarily abstain from eating and/or drinking for

an extended period of time.

Biblical fasting is a discipline of voluntarily denying one’s self of the basics

of eating to be available for prayer and communion with the Lord. Since it

is an ultimate act of self-denial, you are simply entering into an intense training in

righteousness.

You can fast for one day, one week, or just one meal. You can fast from one

type of food or from all foods. You can fast or abstain from solid foods or all foods

and liquids. It is during this time of abstinence from food that you are to spend

time seeking the Lord in Bible study, prayer and meditation.

The discipline of fasting is designed to separate you from your perceived

life support so you can focus exclusively on the Lord, your actual life support.

Fasting is the one discipline Jesus promised would bring about supernatural results.

Fasting just one time will be equivalent to having one good workout in the

gym. You may feel great for a while, but you will experience new lasting effects in

the long term”.[1]

Forty days and nights were a long time to go without food but I believe the fast Jesus was on might have looked more like something we dee during Ramadan.  Literally defined, fasting means to abstain "completely" from foods, drinks, intimate intercourse and smoking, before the break of the dawn till sunset. 

Unlike Ramadan that happens in the communities of faith, the Gospel says Jesus was out in the wilderness. So, unless Jesus brought a caravan of Food supplies I suspect his fast looked more like what John was doing when he lived in the wilderness.

I would also venture this may have been Jesus’ motivation.  He knew John. John was his cousin.  He was aware of the Baptizers preaching of redemption and the life he was living.  It is said that the holy spirit led z to the wilderness.  In this choice, it may also have become a time of discernment, speculation and revelation.

God sent the Godself to earth to be born of woman and become fully human and fully alive.  God became human to learn, grow, and to experience what his creation meant.  What it meant to be well human.

That leads to after 30 years of being a good son.  Learning to be a carpenter.  Learning what it meant to be a Jewish man raised in the town of Nazareth. The spirit started to move something in his heart.  He suddenly had to make a change.  What was the catalyst for this drastic move we don’t know?  But suddenly he decides to go off to the wilderness for forty days, where he fasts, and prays.

Of course, the main thing every one recalls and pays attention to is what is called the temptation of Christ. While hungry, dehydrated, exhausted and probably, literally prayed out Satan comes to challenge Christ.  To give him three opportunities to stray from his path.

I think the First temptation is the most tempting.  I don’t know about you but I love baked dread.  There is nothing like the smell of it as the aroma fills the house.  Letting it cool on the window sill or counter till it is finally cool enough to slice into.  So now I have got you all thinking about fresh baked bread, right!

So now imagine being hungry and tired and someone reminds you hey you can just go make yourself a loaf.  Not just make yourself a loaf of bread but just command these stones to do it and they will become bread for you.

This temptation, one could say, it hits at the heart of what is the root of humanity.  I mean food and water is what is needed to be alive.  Food is desperately needed and wanted when one is hungry.  So, after forty days of fasting you can bet this hits Christ right where it means to be human.

This temptation would so appease what Jesus wants and needs but in the refusal, we are called to be better.  In Jesus’ refusal to accept the offer, challenge, distraction from Satan he sets and example.  He does not seek personal satisfaction.  And answers this temptation with “it is written people won’t live only by bread but by every word spoken by God” (Matt4:4) “Jesus refused to make his personal needs the center of his life but continued focus on God’s plans and trust God.  Jesus teaches us to resist temptation for personal reasons.”[2]

As we are born into this world as Human so was Jesus. This temptation is very real and translatable to us as this is about “ME”! Right?  This is about our basic needs what we want here and now.  What we want when we want it.  How many times has what I needed or I wanted got in the way of what God was calling me to do or calling me to be? I wonder and no I am not going to start listing my personal failings for you all to enjoy that was rhetorical.

In the second temptation Satan takes Jesus to the highest point of the temple.  Now even looking at the temple mount today that sit high above sea level at 2430 ft.  Now that is the height of the base structure you add a temple on top of that and some turrets and pillars well on can imagine the height must had been dizzying.

Satan says to Jesus if you are the only begotten throw yourself down “and here the devil uses a verse of Scripture (Psalm 91:11–12), but the Lord replies again with Scripture to the contrary (Deuteronomy 6:16), stating that it is wrong for Him to abuse His own powers”[3] the psalm Satan uses is a psalm of Moses and God is saying how the people will be protected as they are the chosen people.  Talk about using scripture out of context. So, Jesus rebukes him using Deuteronomy out of context.  See the c setting is commanding the Jewish people to follow Yhwh and not to follow the examples of others around them who worship other Gods.  Yhwh reminds them that he has a short fuse and do not test me.

All in all, this is a mighty big production Satan has put before Jesus but again Jesus stands his ground, um pinnacle.  He is not about to allow his own being be used to sensationalize himself.  He was not about to attract attention to himself by attempting this grand act just for Satan’s enjoyment or anyone else’s.  Jesus refused to put himself in front of God.

As we are born into this world as Human so was Jesus. This temptation is very real and translatable to us as this is about look at what I can do.  So many times, we lose our spiritual center.  The prayerful ministry we are called to do as individuals can and has become less about ministry and more about look what I can do.  Ministry becomes self-promotion as opposed to self-sacrifice and gift.

.  How many times has what I done and what I felt needed to be done go in the way of what God wanted to be done?  How many times were people’s hearts, spirits broken because I made a ministry about me? Because I made some project about being perfect so I looked good instead of making it about God and the people so that good was done?

Then, as if the temple wasn’t scary enough Satan takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows him all the kingdoms and offered them to him. The site Got questions dot org say this about the final temptation;

 “and if any quick route to the Messiahship could be attained, bypassing the passion and crucifixion for which He had originally come, this was the way. The devil already had control over the kingdoms of the world (Ephesians 2:2) but was now ready to give everything to Christ in return for His allegiance. But the mere thought almost causes the Lord’s divine nature to shudder at such a concept and He replies sharply, “You shall worship the Lord your God and serve Him only” (Deuteronomy 6:13).”[4]

“Jesus resist the temptation for power and control and again uses free will to resist temptation.”[5] He does not let the concept of power and control and/or riches of the kingdoms sway him.  He stays faithful to his path.

How many times have I allowed the concept of power, control or even financial stability sway we from where God has called me to be?  How many times did I say yes to the easy light path or maybe it was the expected path.  Not necessarily being tempted by power but perhaps giving into to power and influence as opposed to doing what God would want or has called me to be. I wonder.

Ministry Matters website reminds us:

Most of the time, without any real thought, we do what we want to do and make inferior choices. We trivialize sin when we think of it as an error in judgment. Sin is a flawed approach to decision making that leads us to the worst decision with which we can be comfortable. In a thousand ways, we get used to making lesser choices. We’re so used to choosing what’s easiest that deciding to become more than we are doesn’t occur to us.

Yet it’s always possible to be true to the higher calling. Jesus is baptized in the muddy water of the Jordan River. The voice from heaven proclaims, “You are my child, my beloved, in you I am well pleased.” Then Jesus goes to the middle of nowhere to decide what kind of child he’s going to be.”[6]

This time of Lent is an opportunity for each one of us to enter an intentional time of prayer, reflection and fasting if you feel called to do so.  This is a time when one can decide What kind of child of God am I called to be. Maybe this is a time of self-sacrifice for the better of the self and or the world around you.  It is for you to decide. The one thing I recommend is just don’t give in to temptation and make the easy choice.  pray about it and allow yourself to be challenged.  Amen 

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[1] Miles McPherson, 40 days of prayer and fasting, 1997, accessed February 28, 2017, http://www.sdrock.com/uploads/docs/archive/prayerfasting.pdf.

[2] Scott Hoezee, ed., The Abingdon Preaching Annual (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2017), 33.

[3] questions.org, What was the meaning and purpose of Jesus' temptations., 2017, accessed March 1, 2017, https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-temptations.html.

[4] questions.org, What was the meaning and purpose of Jesus' temptations., 2017, accessed March 1, 2017, https://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-temptations.html.

[5] Hoezee, The Abingdon Preaching Annual, 33.

[6] Bret Younger, Disabling intentions, February 1, 7217, accessed March 1, 2017, http://www.ministrymatters.com/all/entry/4748/disabling-temptations.