This will not Destroy Us....

I confess when I started thinking about today’s sermon I did not know what I was going to write.  Now as I write I do not know which words are to follow.  I am wring from my heart. 

The pain of last Sunday morning is still fresh in me as I am sure it is with many of you. I find it good that today’s reading was about the mad man made sane.  It is an example of how one man’s madness can affect thousands.  I know it’s a stretch but I am keeping it.  Because other than that this has nothing to d0 with today’s reflection.

I am heart broken by what has been done to our community. I have been reassured by many of the proper, comforting responses.  I have been dismayed by the hateful rhetoric it has inspired in some, by the ignorance pronounced by others and the lies still being propagated by a few. I stand, no we stand in opposition of any hate speech because this can and does fuel more hate and that solves nothing.

A young man’s response that I think echoes many emotions this week

Us gays.

We make you look prettier.

We dress you for your important occasions.

We polish up your neighborhoods until we get priced out of them.

We plan and attend your weddings even though you take vows to an entity (that we hear too often though we know better) that hates us.

We are involved in every movie you see.

We are involved in every TV show you watch.

We are involved in every song you listen to - even the homophobic ones.

We teach your children without having to tell you it's us.

We protect your communities without having to tell you it's us.

We nurse you back to health without, without having to tell you it's us.

We clean your gutters, paint your houses and mow your lawns without without having to tell you it's us.

We fix your pipes without without having to tell you it's us, even though you let us know what bathroom we can use.

We govern your citizens - sometimes openly, sometimes only until we're involved in a scandal after years of spewing homophobic rhetoric.

We are on every, single one of the sports teams you root for, but are usually hesitant to say we're there because we don't want shit thrown at us on the playing field.

We are at the root of every cue you take in life - even those of you who wish us dead.

We fight and die on your battlefields without letting you know it's us - and until recently, we weren't even allowed to let you know.

We got rid of DOMA.

We won the right to marry, which was already guaranteed to us, but we just had to work harder than you.

And now, as though we don't have enough on our plate, we will absolutely be the ones to fix up your abhorrent f...ing gun laws.

Watch it happen, and marvel.

Because that's what we do.

We clean up your messes.

Without the guarantee of safety and respect in return.

Can you imagine doing ALL of that work without DECENCY as a reward?

So don't tell me I have to view #PulseOrlando as an attack on America instead of an attack on gay people.

Because we're not Americans when you call us faggots, we're not Americans when you legally fire us, we're not Americans when you kill trans people, we're not Americans when you deny us adoption rights, we're not Americans when you say nasty shit to us when we're holding hands on the street (and yeah, we do hear you) we're not Americans when you deny us marriage licenses or a simple wedding cake with our names on it.

In all of those circumstances we're just gay people, and being an American doesn't matter.

So, out of respect for everyone who fought and died before me, I'm going to take a few days to mourn as a gay man before I mourn as an American.

And then after that, you can resume telling me I have to be at war with people I don't know, even though I've been at war with my own countrymen my entire f..ing life.

Be happy you're at war with ISIS.

Because you would lose a war against us.

Oh, and you're welcome in advance for the gun thing. Like always.

-Dominic Pupa[1]

This is one person’s anger, justifiable anger, coming to the forefront but in his words there is a plan. He is doing something very creative.  He has decided instead of just being angry he is going to do something about it and fight the gun laws that allow things like this to happen.  That may be your path that may not be .But, he has done several very healthy things here that, I think are easy to see.  He has expressed his need to grieve and how he needs to grieve.  He is not allowing others to tell him how he should feel and he is being proactive in his response.

You see much like todays reading we have been affected by and yes even infected by somebody else’s madness. So how do we deal with that?  We cannot allow it to drive us to our own destruction.

Market street center for Psychotherapy has published 10 steps to help process the massacre written by Kip Williams.  I am going to paraphrase some of what kip says and quote other parts.

Some people have noticed that they should have felt more, that they were surprised by their initial lack of reaction.  Pay attention to your reaction we may be becoming desensitized to violence.  We are overwhelmed by so many stories of shootings, hate crimes and the so on.  Take a moment to  just look back and take note of your first reaction.

Second is that we need to regulate our consumption of news and social media?  It is so easy today to allow ourselves to be traumatized over and over again when they just keep repeating the same story showing the same ugly horrifying images.  Whether the news you are reading is commentary or reporting the facts doesn’t matter it is a fact that the more we watch the higher our anxiety level goes our perspective and clarity become impaired. Turn it off, walk away, step outside and walk around allow your mind and soul to rest.

3 notice how the discourse impacts your sense of belonging and acceptance.

“Many gay men in metropolitan areas have immigrated from other parts of the country or the world. What’s it like for you to be you within your family and your religious, cultural, and national context? Are you out to your family, and have you felt accepted by them? How has your family talked about the shooting, and how does that make you feel? How have people’s reactions affected your feelings about home? How have reactions within the gay community affected your sense of belonging?”[2] One person raised a question in another article where they said their friends have all checked in but not one call from immediate family or relatives…they just don’t get it.

Kip goes on to say that we should explore what death means for you what does loss mean?  Have you lost loved ones?   How did that affect you?  Is it affecting you now has this brought back anything for you?

You should pay attention on how you feel about the gunman?  Is there a judgement about him, his family?  Do we find a need to examine our own prejudices?  Is this just one man or does it translate into a culture, into many, or is your anger focused on just one man?  These are questions you need to explore.

Then check out your gut reactions to the political fallout…this is about gun control, hate crime, terrorism, national security, islamophobia, homophobia, the exclusion of gay men to donate blood, and many more.  What issues do you see that you may want to focus on, give some of your energy too?

You need to pay attention to how you are dealing with this experience overall.  What old wounds are opening for you? Are you feeling extremely connected to this attack or maybe just numb? Are you reaching out to one another or are you isolating yourself?  Either are legitimate responses the point is to pay attention to yourself and your needs and what is happening in you…stay connected to you!

When you can start to focus on what matter s most. 

“While a crisis can cause immense pain and suffering, it can also clarify what’s really important in our lives. What kind of person do you want to be, and who and what matters most in your life? Compassion is often a very good place to start. Remember the victims and their loved ones with loving kindness. Be gentle with yourself and the people you interact with. Notice when you get drawn into problems and conflicts that don’t matter in the grand scheme of things, and commit your energy to the things that do matter.”[3] Things that matter to you, we are each different and need to find our own way.

Finally Kip recommends don’t shut down; express yourself!  You each come from unique places and times and experiences which creates unique perspectives.  Allow time to write, paint, sing, dance, call a friend, and write a Facebook rant…whatever you need to do to allow what’s inside you to come out.

Finally I would add to kips suggestions by reminding you we cannot live in fear.  Fear is not a way of life and we cannot afford to allow this or any incident makes us cower and shut down.  There is a saying that says the bible uses fear not 365 times one for each day of the year,  it’ not true but it is a lovely thought.  God does say be not afraid, have no fear, fear not and more.  I searched fear not appears 127 times be not afraid 65 times more importantly there are over 333 verses about peace.  Basically God’s wish for us as humans as the creators gift is to be at peace, to live in peace and work towards peace that we may create god’s kindom here on earth.

So my wish in the midst of this turmoil, in this heartache and pain is that we may each find a way to heal.  To love one another, find a way to support one another and keep on loving.  Our love is not dead, but made stronger by this attach against us and our love will prevail.  This was an attack against the gay community but because the gay community is part of, and a strong part of the Christian community this was an attack against Christianity…because gay people are Muslim this was an attack on the Muslim community...because gay people are human this was an attack against humanity.

this progression I just listed is a justified and logical progression of our pain  for many the attack was very personal, it still feels that way and yet as we reflect and we allow the love we have through Christ heal us that pain expands and the need to reach out expands.  As we reach out and extend our love the attacks power is diminished and our power arises to unite as a people of faith, of interfaith, of humanity then through that power we can make this a better place.  Through that power of God’s love that is beyond all our understanding and comprehension, through the power of a God who made each and every one of us in their image we can take this pain, turn it around and do something, do something, do something that will make this a better place.

Do something, write, pledge, dance, hug do something and this world is already a better place for it.  This will not destroy us but only make us stronger.  Amen!

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[1] Domic Pupa, US Gays, accessed June 15, 2016, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10154261250303980&set=a.141693468979.135697.586218979&type=3&theater.

[2] Kip Williams, 10 steps to help process the Orlando Massacre, June 14, 2016, accessed June 15, 2016, http://marketstreetpsychotherapy.com/blog/10-steps-to-help-process-the-orlando-massacre/.

[3] Ibid.

Out with the old in with the new or a movement towards compassion Luke 7:11-17

I want to start today's sharing with a quote.  I know this is a big surprise as I love quoting theologians and storytellers alike.  So here it is;

Anointed with the Spirit at his baptism, Jesus begins his prophetic ministry, declaring the prophetic verse Isaiah 61.1 has been fulfilled today.  For Luke, God has appointed him as a charismatic prophet to preach the good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives, bring recovery of sight to the blind, free the oppressed, and proclaim a year of God’s favour. He breaks social and physical boundaries to heal and mend lives.  Luke highlights God’s compassion in Jesus’ ministry. In the ‘Sermon on the Plain’, Jesus announces ‘be compassionate as your God is compassionate’ (6.36) Marcus Borg notes that ‘…Compassionate bore the connotations of “wombiness,” nourishing, giving life, embracing; perhaps it also suggested feelings of tenderness’ (Borg 1984 (1998): 102).

Jesus speaks and lives the compassion of God by addressing the poor and the rich alike, healing the suffering, and creating an inclusive community.  Healings and exorcisms are prominent in Jesus’ ministry.  Luke’s Gospel appears to stress the suffering of those people seeking healing.  Traditionally, Luke was understood to be a physician, and that impression emerges from the portrayal of Jesus compassionately healing the ill and exorcising the possessed.  For Luke, Jesus makes whole those who are ill and restores them to a new society: God’s reign.  Since the sick are not part of the realm of the healthy they must be kept apart or excluded.  Jesus expresses God’s compassion for those physically suffering, even defying the Sabbath laws to heal the sick (4:31-7; 6.6-11; 13.10-17; 14.1-6).  Jesus argues that the Sabbath is a day of restoration and wholeness, and what a better day to heal and make people whole.  The Sabbath is about God’s compassion.[1]

Today’s Gospel is a wonderful example of Jesus’ compassion, God’s compassion, playing out in real life.  Fred Craddock says; “The Object of his compassion is the mother.  His total attention is on this woman who is a widow and whose only son, her sole means of support as well as being her whole family, is dead.”[2]  The compassion of Christ demonstrating Gods compassion for the world turns the world of the day inside out and upside down.  The story itself sort of shows the old ways going out and the new way stepping in.

When the story opens Jesus is walking into the town of Nain with his disciples and a crowd following him. They literally run into a man who had died, his widowed mother and a large crowd from the town.  So here is a group, following Jesus, whose ministry was all about how to be compassionate in the world and bring in a new kindom a new way of being in the world. He is followed by a crowed of people excited about Christ’s teachings and ministry, probably a slightly revelatory crowd, running smack dab in to their exact opposite.

They meet the woman who has no hope of a future for she has lost all her family and without a son she loses all her inheritance and support.  Her future is grim.  She is followed by a crowd from the town some probably professional mourners and those who are morning the loss of a friend.  A rather depressing group to say the least. Which represents the old way of being in this world.

To further the point Christ is so moved he has compassion for her. His heart goes out to her. “For Luke emphasizes that, when Jesus sees her situation, “his heart went out to her” (7:13, niv). Three times Luke inserts the feminine pronoun into this single verse. Jesus’ compassion is fueled by the widow’s plight. In the ancient world much more than in contemporary Western settings, it was the case that people’s children were their retirement. Jesus’ compassionate restoration of this widow’s son may have meant the difference between survival and destitution.”[3] He is not really concerned with the dead man here.

So what we have is Jesus’ modern, joyous, compassionate, lively society meeting the old society of exclusion, grief and death head on.  At the first he is moved by compassion.  The words used here convey more than just a feeling but literally a physical internal reaction. One researcher points out that: “‘Having seen her’: This is interesting. After the ‘behold!’ draws attention to the man who had died (which is in the nominative case in v.12), Jesus beholds the mother. In fact, the feminine pronoun ‘her’ is used three times in this verse. The lord saw her; he was moved with compassion toward her; he said to her. 2. In case we missed it, this is about her.”[4] This is all about changing the woman’s’ world and the way the world treats widows and women.

Then Jesus reaches out and touches the bier, the cot, which holds the dead man.  This alone could be viewed as making himself unclean.  Yet, here we have no objection and if there is any we do not hear about it.  In this narrative it is almost as if all the crowds disappear for a moment and it is just Jesus, the widow and the dead man.  Even those carrying the cot have stopped moving and are frozen in this moment of Christ’s compassion.  It is so strong that everything stops.

Jesus commands the man to rise.  Get up.  Immediately the man arises and starts speaking. Of course, at first the crowd is afraid and then they glorified God.

The widow who had no future, who was about to be an outcast, her life is turned around by one act of compassion.  The crowd who believed the world has to be one way and only operated in one way, had their lives turned around.  What was two groups of people in two very different places became one group glorifying God.

We live in a different world and yet this message is as needed today as it was then. In a Place where we think of ourselves as so advanced and yet “The raw wage gap data shows that a woman would earn roughly 73.7% to 77% of what a man would earn over their lifetime.”[5]  Women are still subject to pay inequality, regulated to certain expected professions, and are deemed too strong or Bitchy should they be in a position of Power.

We have men in power who publicly use horrible language when addressing their female counterparts. Saying things like “she is ugly inside and out”, or saying a woman is “Disgusting” because she needs to break to pump milk for her child and if a woman should stand up they are called an “animal” or a “child.[6]  These are quotes form just one person you can imagine quotes from others that are not being reported on.

Here in America, at the beginning of the twenty-first century, sexism is very much on the wane, but misogyny is not. Sexism—the conviction that women don’t deserve equal pay, political rights, or access to education—can be combated by argument, by anti-discrimination laws, and by giving women the opportunity to prove their ability. Misogyny is not amenable to such advances; they can in some circumstances exacerbate it, though they may drive it underground. An example of misogyny is when someone online threatens to rape and mutilate a woman whose opinions that person does not like. Another is when a Presidential candidate says of a female journalist whose questions he finds impertinent, “There was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her—wherever.”[7]

Women are regularly raped on college campuses and no criminal charges are filed.  Women are harassed at work and expected to toughen up if they want to make it in this world.  Women are kidnapped and raped as political prisoners around the world.  Women are still sold into slavery even here in the United States.  One place where slavery is still rampant is in what we would call house workers or maid service.

according to that state department “the involuntary servitude of domestic workers, whose workplace is informal, connected to their off-duty living quarters, and not often shared with other workers. Such an environment, which often socially isolates domestic workers, is conducive to non-consensual exploitation since authorities cannot inspect private property as easily as formal workplaces. Investigators and service providers report many cases of untreated illnesses and, tragically, widespread sexual abuse, which in some cases may be symptoms of a situation of involuntary servitude.”[8] In this day and age there is no excuse for any of this!

The same attitudes toward women translates into the fear of the transgender people and fear of gay people. We need to be a voice for all people.

When I think of the widow in our Gospel I need to point out something no one thinks about.  The widow was a member of contemporary society and about to become the unseen marginalized.  You see she looks like everyone else.  Her plight would go on unnoticed not like a person who is lame, or has leprosy, or is mad shouting in the street.  Society sees those people and chooses to turn away maybe feeling guilty maybe not.

But the widow would be unseen.  She would quietly go back to her life and quietly it would fall apart and she would slowly disappear into society unseen uncared for.  This is much the same as our modern day marginalization of women.  Unless someone makes noise about it, it goes on unseen, unchallenged and there is no guilt or shame around it.  Yet Christ call in this Gospel is one of equality and justice for the unseen.  First to the widow, then to all women and then I would say to the rest of society.  Why do I say this?

For it is easy for us to turn our eyes to those who are obviously in need such as the homeless, the injured, the mentally ill on our streets.  But those who suffer from misogynistic attitudes, wage theft and inequality of pay.  We must seek out, we must be moved with compassion so that this world we can bring about God’s Kindom for all.

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[1] Deryn Guest et al., eds., The Queer Bible Commentary (London: SCM Press, 2006).

[2] Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation, a Bible commentary for teaching and preaching (Louisville, Ky: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), Digital eBook.

[3] Jeannine Brown, Commentary on Luke 7:11-17, Medium, accessed May 26, 2016, http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1679.

[4] D. Mark Davis, Jesus Raises a prophet?, Medium, accessed May 26, 2016, http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2013/06/jesus-raises-prophet.html.

[5] wikipedia, Gender pay gap United states, May 31, 2016, accessed May 31, 2016, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_pay_gap#United_States.

[6] Nina Easton, The history of donald trumps's insults to women, August 9, 2015, accessed May 31, 2016, http://fortune.com/2015/08/09/trump-insult-women-history/.

[7] Margaret Talbot, The G.O.P.’s Misogyny Primary, August 12, 2015, accessed May 31, 2016, http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-g-o-p-s-misogyny-primary.

[8] United states govermnet state department, What is modern salvery, accessed May 31, 2016, http://www.state.gov/j/tip/what/.

Whats next? A look at the In Between time! Luke 24:44-53

Ascension Sunday

As we read this Gospel reading today we celebrate ascension Sunday.  So what is ascension Sunday?  Where did it start and what does it mean.  Well as with everything else it means different things to different people.

According to timedate.com;

Ascension Day is one of the earliest Christian festivals dating back to the year 68. According to the New Testament in the Bible, Jesus Christ met several times with his disciples during the 40 days after his resurrection to instruct them on how to carry out his teachings. It is believed that on the 40th day he took them to the Mount of Olives, where they watched as he ascended to heaven.

Ascension Day marks the end of the Easter season and occurs ten days before Pentecost. Depending upon the phases of the Moon in a particular year, Ascension Day is celebrated on a Thursday. However, some churches, particularly in the United States, celebrate it on the following Sunday.

Many Eastern Orthodox churches calculate the date of Pascha (Easter) according to the Julian calendar, rather than the Gregorian calendar used by many western churches, so their Ascension Day usually occurs after the western observance.

Symbols

Ascension Day celebrations include processions symbolizing Christ’s entry into heaven and, in some countries, chasing a “devil” through the streets and dunking it in a pond or burning it in effigy – symbolic of the Messiah’s triumph over the devil when he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

In England, eggs laid on Ascension Day are said to never go bad and will guarantee good luck for a household if placed in the roof. In Devon, it was an ancient belief that the clouds always formed into the familiar Christian image of a lamb on Ascension Day. If the weather is sunny on Ascension Day, the summer will be long and hot. If it rains on the day, crops will do badly and livestock will suffer from disease. According to Welsh superstition, it is unlucky to do any work on Ascension Day.

In Portugal, Ascension Day is associated with wishes for peace and prosperity. Traditionally, in rural communities, people make bouquets from olive branches and sheaves of wheat with poppies and daisies. The olive and wheat are symbolic of abundant harvest; the poppy stands for peace and the daisy for money. Wheat is kept in the house throughout the coming year as a symbol of prosperity.[1]

For many of us we have an image of Christ arising through the clouds where he is crowned the king of heaven.  Martha Spong shares a story of the problem with this image we have of Christ on ascension Sunday.  This is from the Abingdon press creative preaching annual;

“Who is that?” she asked, looking up at the stained-glass window.  My eleven-year-old daughter and I were standing in the sanctuary of a church I had just come to serve.  Over the altar hung a white-robed Jesus with his feet on top of the Earth, an orb and scepter in his hands, and a crown on his head.

                “It’s Jesus,” I answered.

                “Really?”

     “Yes.” I thought a moment.  “It’s Jesus after he ascends into heaven.”

     “So he’s a king?”  She continued to struggle with the image.  “But in the windows in our other church he was holding a lamb in his arms and sitting with the children all around him.”  She knew Jesus in particular ways.  Her Jesus prayed in the wilderness for forty days, got some fishermen to be his disciples by telling them to try putting the net on the other side of the boat, told stories runaway sons and lost coins, and made sure the children got to talk to him even though the disciples tried to keep them away.

     The disciples knew the same Jesus.  He drove unclean spirits out of the suffering.  He fed thousands of people with only five loaves and two fish.  He straightened the back of a woman bent over for eighteen years.  He had flesh on his bones and a back strong enough to carry his own cross to the hill where soldiers crucified him.

     They knew the Jesus who lived and breathed and touched them in gestures of healing and love.

     “I miss the Jesus from our other church,” declared my daughter.  So did the disciples.  They couldn’t see yet what later generations would make of him, clothing him in stained glass regalia.  They could only watch him go…[2]

In today’s Gospel there is nothing of exotic rituals.  There is no talk about what is the plan.  We know the Disciples stayed in Jerusalem and worshipped in the temple.  We are told the disciples minds were opened so that they understood all that was said of Jesus in the scriptures, it was all made clear. 

This understanding is kind of important.  Remember time and time again Jesus is trying to explain things to show truth to the disciples but they don’t get it.  Not all of it anyway.  They may get glimpses or pieces or say something that is true but yet do not completely understand its meaning. So Jesus opens their minds.  This is beyond simple comprehension.  Jesus opens their minds so that they can see fully and clearly in a way that none of us can.  In a way that scholars and theologians are still trying to discern, learn and figure out all that Christ’s teachings imply and how they can be applied today in our daily lives.

But I can’t help but wonder about this confusing in between time.  We learned of Jesus death and resurrection three days later.  There was no time for a true grieving process.  Jesus appeared and says look I am dead but not really for I am glorified and resurrected.  I am sorry but for us mere humans this would seem, at least to me, to be a very confusing time.

“Many unclear good byes in everyday family life also fall outside of traditional categories of loss but nonetheless cause distress.”[3] So can you imagine what the disciples must have gone through first believing Jesus died, a few even witnessed his horrific death.  Then hearing the body is gone.  Then seeing the Lord. 

Jesus actually appears about ten times in different accounts over a 40 day period.  I can only imagine this left more questions than answers and knowing how we grieve as humans this must have left many happy and yet sad and wanting to mourn yet not sure they should.  Perhaps they should mourn and yet rejoice at the same time.

I am sure we can all relate to this confusion of emotions.  Maybe a good friend moved for a better job or for love.  We are happy for their lives being better but sad and mourn the loss of them being nearby. Or perhaps we can recall someone we knew who was truly suffering from illness.  We are glad they are feeling no more pain or suffering yet we still mourn their loss even though in our hearts we know they are whole again in heaven.

So this is the confusing ambiguous state we find the disciples in when they are happy to be in Christ’s presence for this final time.  Now Jesus Could have just said good-bye and left them for good leaving them to their own devices and manners of coping.  But he decided to give them this great gift.  A Gift of complete comprehension.

This new comprehension must have been overwhelming.  So everything in all the Old Testament that points to Jesus, the messiah, to God can now be understood in its entirety by these disciples.  That is everything from genesis through the Maccabees.  That’s is all the funky laws and the deeply coded psalms.  That must have been amazing and overwhelming and exciting all at once.

Suddenly they had no need to grieve or fear.  They now have more than faith, they have complete and total comprehension.  All that was leading up to Jesus’ Birth and ministry, all that he had been teaching and everything that had been taught about him, they understood it all.  They knew what this conquering of death meant.  They knew!  This is a gift not often given for this is beyond faith. They no longer had any need to grieve Jesus’ death or death at all.

They knew all that had happened and understood why it had to happen in such a way.  They knew what Jewish scholars and sects had been arguing over for years.  They understood each and every reference to Christ and how it was meant to be applied.  Then they were told they must proclaim forgiveness in Jesus’ name starting with Jerusalem and then everywhere else.  Then they were told that they must stay in Jerusalem until … until you have been furnished with heavenly power….Until you have been clothed with power from on high…  wait …what???

Jesus final recorded words in Luke are really no surprise.  We have often seen Jesus give the orders that require a blind trust.  Go to the village you will find a colt tell the owner the master has need of it …okay I’ll go get  it and hope I am not arrested and or clobbered…..Take the pitcher of water and pour it for the master of the feast…go wash your eyes in the river…stand up and walk.  Jesus stories are full of  bold statements and his followers and the people he encounters do what he says.  He had that charisma.

So after you been following this guy around for three years, you have seen all that he has done,  you have been a part of this fantastic life for three years and he tells you hang around the city you do it.  You go to the temple praising God for all that you have seen and all that you now understand and know.  The world you had known three years ago is gone there is no going back to the way things were.  You hang around the city waiting for what’s next.  They may have had no issue with this as what was to come next they may have already understood due to this divine comprehension.

But what is next?  What is going to happen now?  Well I can tell you what isn’t happening there is no vision of a white robed king hovering over the earth judging us all.  The disciples weren’t taught that.  There is no vision of toppling over Rome…Jesus himself squashed that vision.  This is a time of in between.  This is a time of change, and opportunity.  You see while the disciples waited for what was next they continued to do what they knew.  Isn’t that the best thing to do in the midst of transition?  The best advice in the midst of radical change is not to do anything but to wait, pray, weigh things out carefully.

Again today’s reading is what we call “the great commission” and it is found in all the Synoptic Gospels. It is the emphatic call from Jesus to the church that would be created by apostles that the gospel is to be preached among all nations for the salvation of all who will receive it. This is the call that later becomes communities of love and support.  The model of the early church where, yes they shared the Christ story, but more importantly, they practiced the Christ story.

The apostles had this gift of complete and full knowledge during this in between time they did what they needed to do.  They attended temple.  They prayed and cared for each other and the community around them that had been touched by Christ. They probably reminisced and shared what they now understood amongst themselves and perhaps a few others.  They had time to process all of this for a time until the day they were all gathered again in that room and things would change once more.

See I may be repeating myself but to have suddenly been gifted with all this understanding of the scriptures.  It is a staggering thought, it had to be a rush like neo in the matrix when they plug a computer into his brain and he suddenly knows Kung Fu.  His eyes are closed as all this information is dumped into his brain he opens his eyes lets out a very heavy sigh and states I know Kung Fu.  Morpheus says show me and well that doesn’t quite go as Neo expected.

Again a reason for the time between the commissioning and the gift of the spirit.  To know something is one thing and actually apply it is another.  The apostles had all this knowledge but they needed time to figure out how it may all apply.  How they were to use it, where they were to go.

here is a brief summary.

– Andrew – missionary to modern day Georgia/Bulgaria (area adjacent to the Black Sea near Turkey); martyred/crucified in town of Achaia (Greece)

He was a fisherman from Galilee; was Peter’s brother; brought Peter to Jesus; preached to the Scythians and Thracians; was crucified and buried at Patrae (Greece).

3 – Bartholomew – missionary to India; martyred/crucified upside down in Armenia (Georgia)

Eusebius, in his Church History, confirms the ministry of Bartholomew in India.

4 – James, Son of Alphaeus – local missionary in Jerusalem; martyred/stoned in Jerusalem and was buried there beside the temple.

5 – James, Son of Zebedee – local missionary in Judea; martyred/beheaded in Judea

6 – John, brother of James and son of Zebedee – banished to Patmos; died of old age

John was one of the few disciples that did not die a cruel death, but of old age.

7 – Matthew/Levi – missionary to Parthia (Iran); died of old age

8 – Simon/Peter – missionary to Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Betania, Italy, Asia; martyred/crucified upside down in Rome

9 – Philip – missionary to Phrygia (Turkey); martyred/crucified upside down in Hierapolis (Turkey)

10 – Simon the Zealot – bishop of Jerusalem after James; died of old age

11 – Thaddaeus/Judas son of James – missionary to Edessa and to the surrounding Mesopotamian region (Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran); died of old age

He may have taken the name Thaddaeus (“warm-hearted”) because of the infamy that came to be attached to the name Judas;

12 – Thomas: Also called Didymus; possibly a fisherman; often remembered as “Doubting Thomas”; preached to the Parthians (Iran), Medes (Iran), Persians (Iran), Hyrcanians (Iran), Bactrians (Afghanistan), and Margians; was killed and buried in Calamene, a city of India.

13 – Matthias – local missionary in Jerusalem; died of old age

After Jesus’ ascension the 11 Apostles met in the upper room where they were staying and cast lots to decide between two disciples, Matthias and Joseph called Barsabus, who was surnamed Justus.

Matthias replaced Judas Iscariot to bring the Apostles number back to 12; was one of the 72 and preached in Jerusalem; died and was buried there.

14 – Paul – missionary to Illyricum (Croatia), Italy, Spain; martyred/beheaded in Rome

Paul became an apostle a year after the ascension of Christ and beginning at Jerusalem, he advanced as far as Illyricum (Croatia), Italy and Spain, preaching the Gospel for 35-years. In the time of Nero he was beheaded and buried at Rome.

12 disciples + Matthias (replacement to Judas) + Paul = 14 disciples

Out of 14, 1 was lost forever, 9 were martyrs. 4 were local missionaries in Jerusalem/Judea. The rest were foreign missionaries who left their local surroundings–9 of them out of the 14 were foreign missionaries and church planters.[4]

Often we fear change or in the midst of it make rash decisions. Though the fate of the disciples is hard they made their choices with clear heads and full hearts because they took the time to live in the present of the between time.  May we have the grace to do the same as we grow and live into who we are called to be as a church and as individuals.  amen.

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[1] Time and date AS, Acension, accessed April 25, 2016, http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/common/ascension-day.

[2] Jenee Woodard, The Abingdon Creative Preaching Annual 2016 (nashville: abingdon press, 2015), 97.

[3] Pauline Boss, Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1999), Digital eBook.

[4] Ray Choi, What happened to the 12 disciples after the resurrection and ascension?, June 1, 2012, accessed May 7, 2016, http://raychoi.org/2012/06/01/what-happened-to-the-12-disciples-after-the-resurrection-and-ascension/.

We Are Family - Easter Sunday 3/27/2016

Centering reflection

Frederick Buechner (pronounced BEEK-ner) is an American writer and theologian. He is the author of more than thirty published books and has been an important source of inspiration and learning for many readers. He has a perspective on Easter I find unique and a great way to start.

The Gospels are far from clear as to just what happened. It began in the dark. The stone had been rolled aside. Matthew alone speaks of an earthquake. In the tomb there were two white-clad figures or possibly just one. Mary Magdalen seems to have gotten there before anybody else. There was a man she thought at first was the gardener. Perhaps Mary the mother of James was with her and another woman named Joanna. One account says Peter came too with one of the other disciples. Elsewhere the suggestion is that there were only the women and that the disciples, who were somewhere else, didn't believe the women's story when they heard it. There was the sound of people running, of voices. Matthew speaks of "fear and great joy." Confusion was everywhere. There is no agreement even as to the role of Jesus himself. Did he appear at the tomb or only later? Where? To whom did he appear? What did he say? What did he do?

It is not a major production at all, and the minor attractions we have created around it—the bunnies and baskets and bonnets, the dyed eggs—have so little to do with what it's all about that they neither add much nor subtract much. It's not really even much of a story when you come right down to it, and that is of course the power of it. It doesn't have the ring of great drama. It has the ring of truth. I f the Gospel writers had wanted to tell it in a way to convince the world that Jesus indeed rose from the dead, they would presumably have done it with all the skill and fanfare they could muster. Here there is no skill, no fanfare. They seem to be telling it simply the way it was. The narrative is as fragmented, shadowy, incomplete as life itself. When it comes to just what happened, there can be no certainty. That something unimaginable happened, there can be no doubt.

The symbol of Easter is the empty tomb. You can't depict or domesticate emptiness. You can't make it into pageants and string it with lights. It doesn't move people to give presents to each other or sing old songs. It ebbs and flows all around us, the Eastertide. Even the great choruses of Handel's Messiah sound a little like a handful of crickets chirping under the moon.

He rose. A few saw him briefly and talked to him. If it is true, there is nothing left to say. If it is not true, there is nothing left to say. For believers and unbelievers both, life has never been the same again. For some, neither has death. What is left now is the emptiness. There are those who, like Magdalen, will never stop searching it till they find his face. [1]

Easter Sunday Morning Starts with this emptiness but leads us to a new place a new way of being in this world and relating to one another and that will be explored in the sermon...

WE ARE GODS’ FAMILY

Ok I admit when I sat down to write this sermon I was not sure where it would go.  I like having some quotes in mind, stories to tell, other research at hand.  This time I am starting from the text and see where it leads me.

“Early in the morning while it was still dark Mary Magdalene came to the tomb.”  I am thinking that is brave. But after researching I see there is some merit to this.  Yet some reversal as well. 

We always have said that Jesus came to turn the whole social order and the world upside down.  He does away with tradition left and right while he walked on this earth and even in death.

According to Bible archeology website burial custom for the time of Jesus was that it was the;

“women’s task to prepare a dead body for burial. The body was washed, and hair and nails were cut. Then it was gently wiped with a mixture of spices and wrapped in linen strips of various sizes and widths. While this was happening, prayers from the Scriptures were chanted.

The body was wrapped in a shroud, but was otherwise uncovered.

Tombs were visited and watched for three days by family members and friends. On the third day after death, the body was examined. This was to make sure that the person was really dead, for accidental burial of someone still alive could happen.

At this stage the body would be treated by the women of the family with oils and perfumes.”[2]

Through this description we can see where the burial of Jesus is still turning things the wrong way out.  First it is Joseph of Arimathea along with Nicodemus who “took Jesus’ body and wrapped it, with spices, in linen clothes.” (John 19:40)  This was women’s work according to the tradition of the time and yet we have the men doing it.

Then tradition has it that the romans stood guard over the tomb.  Not the Family but the Government, the ruling class has taken on the role of what would have been for family and friends to do.

Then Mary, while it is not yet light enough to see where one is going heads to the tomb alone.  Women did not travel alone.  Nobody went out before light except those who had the lowest of jobs to sweep the streets, night watch or shepherds. Yet Mary sets of alone with no concern on how she would roll the tombstone back.

Mary runs back to the disciples and then we find Mary right behind the disciples back at the garden.  She is healthy no wonder she thought she could move the tomb stone by herself.

John traditionally holds the two disciples are Peter and the one who Jesus loved ran back to the garden.  The one out races Mary and Peter and sticks his head in the tomb and see the linens lying there and then peter walks in and sees the face cloth folded and then the other disciple walks in sees all this and believes.

I often thought this a great leap.  The beloved disciple only had but to look into the tomb and believe.  But what think this really says is he was paying attention and got what Jesus was teaching all along.  You see with the linens lying there and the face clothe all folded up neatly says this is no robbery.  Who would steal a body and take the time to unwrap it first?  It had to be something else.

Some think the next verse is a little contradictory but I do not see it as such.  It says they did not yet understand the scripture that Jesus must rise from the dead.  Peter, I assume walked away understanding nothing, as usual.  The beloved disciple believed, he may not have made the scriptural reference as yet but he understood Jesus’ words and sayings.

Of course the men leave Mary standing there alone, in her grief, unaccompanied again!

Mary sticks her head inside the tomb and there are two angels seated at the head and the foot of where Jesus’ body should be.  Jesus is bracketed by angels.  Angels at his conception, birth and now at his resurrection.  This says that death is not that important.  It is important to us because we identify with human suffering – yet the resurrection, to me, points past the suffering.  I believe the narration points to that as well. For the Angels ask her “Women why are you crying?”  She answers; “They have taken my Lord away and I don’t know where they have put him.”  Isn’t that the definition of grief?  I mean when a love one dies we try to rationalize we try to stand firm in our faith but in that ultimate moment of extreme grief we are lost. Our loved one is gone and we really do not know where they are.  Mary is us at any moment of loss, confusion fear…the tomb is empty.  As empty as the hole in our heart when we lose someone we cherish.

Then Jesus repeats the question “Woman why are you crying.” I think this is made to emphasize this is not a time of grief, “The life lived is not to be grieved”[3] see my blog spot Sometimes Alleluia November 2015 for that sermon. Then Jesus asks; “who are you looking for?”  That is a strange question to be asking at a grave side.  I mean the question assumes you must be seeking someone living for the dead are easy to find.  But Mary, missing that it is Jesus is speaking to her, says just tell me where he is and I’ll get him.  So Mary is assuming this Gardener is somehow part of this conspiracy to steal the body of Jesus. Then he says to her, in a tone of voice that only she could recognize and it melts her heart and opens her eyes…Mary.  As Christ calls her by name she recognizes him.  How many times in our own lives when we look back we can see God’s hand at play but when we were in the moment we could not or refused to see God with us.  I wonder how often Mary looked back on that moment and wondered why she did not recognize Jesus Right away.

Jesus then says do not hold onto me, or another translation would be do not cling to me.  Jesus is saying to do not hold on to me as you once believed for I am something new, something different, and something beyond physical. One interpreter believes this is Jesus saying my Physical body has died and I am now a spiritual being.[4]  This is where Jesus moves form man to Christ.  There is a shift in his being and how he is perceived from here on out.  Then he proclaims to Mary “Go to my Brothers and Sisters and tell them I am going to my Abba and your Abba, to my God and your God!”(John 20:19)  This is important again because not all of Jesus followers, not all of his disciples were Jewish.  We traditionally think of the disciples as the twelve yet in the books of acts the numbers “range between 70 and 120 to a ‘growing Multitude’”.[5] Like we teach here about the last supper it was women, children servants those healed by Christ and those who will hear the 12 in their own tongue.  Jesus proclaims one loving accepting parent God for all and in that God we are all, every one of us, brothers and sisters.

The final Proclamation Mary Makes is “I have seen the Lord”.  Mary, a woman, who ventures out before dawn.  Mary who walks around independent of any man or any other companions.  Mary who is assuming she can roll back the stone.  Mary who keeps pace running with the men. Mary is the first to see the Lord and proclaim a resurrected Christ a new Jesus a new way of being in relation to one another in this world. A world where we are called to care for each other no matter who you are or where you are in life’s journey. A world where we as Brothers and Sisters in Christ proudly proclaim for all to hear…You are a part of God’s family!  This is what I hear in today’s Gospel and the message of the resurrection.  May we always get past the empty tomb moment and live in the experience of an all loving God, a true family of humanity, and the blessings that a relationship with Christ can bring into our lives.  Amen.

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[1]. Frederick Buechner, Easter, October 13, 2009, accessed March 14, 2016, http://www.frederickbuechner.com/content/easter.

[2]. Elizabeth Fletcher, Tombs, http://www.bible-archaeology.info/tombs.htm.

[3]. Joseph Shore-Goss, The life lived is not to be grieved, November, 2015, http://revjoeshore.blogspot.com/2015/11/the-life-lived-is-not-to-be-grieved.html.

[4]. anonymous, John 20:17, February, 2014, accessed March 14, 2016, http://www.whatjesusreallysaid.com/2014/02/do-not-hold-on-to-me-for-i-have-not-yet.html.

[5]. Nikhilesh Jasuja, Priya mMenon, and Carolyn, Apostle vs Disciple, March 8, 2016, accessed March 14, 2016, http://www.diffen.com/difference/Apostle_vs_Disciple.

This is about them sermon 1/31/2016

“I assure you no prophet is welcome in his home town!”  A drop the mike moment.  He could have easily walked away.

A.J. Thomas a Methodist preacher relays this story of going home

“A Hometown Preacher

A few months after I finished seminary and entered full-time pastoral ministry, I was invited to preach at my home church - St. James United Methodist Church in Niagara Falls, NY.  The day arrived, and the crowds came.  I looked around and took it all in.  There was my 1st-grade teacher, a pillar member of the congregation, in her usual place on the left side, sitting on the center aisle, four rows from the front.  There were my neighbors, classmates, people whose grass I had cut, whose newspapers I had faithfully delivered.  My hometown had come out to greet one of their own.

At the risk of sounding boastful, I gave a good sermon, too.  If not a home run, at least a solid double or triple.  I remember that feeling of a job well-done as I gave the benediction, and joined the recessional down the main aisle to greet folks at the door as they departed, just waiting for the accolades to roll in.

However, I soon realized that no one had paid any attention to the content of the sermon itself.  They were more complementary about how I looked in my robe and how proud they were just to see one of their own up there, rather than any expressed sense of God having spoken through me to them.”[1] “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown” (Luke 4:24).

In today’s Gospel we have Jesus, The illegitimate son of a carpenter, who has been gone for a little while.  There have been stories.  Yea really good stories.  After he was baptized and gone on a retreat in the desert, he has been teaching in the synagogues and he was praised by everyone (Luke 4.14-15).  So you can imagine the excitement.

Jesus is coming home.  Jesus is going to teach in our synagogue.  Imagine the headlines, “Home town boy makes good come see the man in action!”  People were geared up for something special.  You know sometimes anticipation of the event is the greatest part of it.

“There was once an evangelist named Billy Sunday. He was the Billy Graham of his generation. He was conducting a crusade in a particular city, and in one sermon he said something critical of labor conditions for workers in that city. After the service, several businessmen sent him a message which read as follows: “Billy, leave labor matters alone. Concentrate on getting people saved. Stay away from political issues. You’re rubbing the fur the wrong way”. Billy Sunday sent this message back to them: “If I’m rubbing the fur the wrong way, tell the cats to turn around”[2]

Basically Jesus was about to stroke the fur the wrong way.  Now don’t get me wrong at first all was Good.  He stood up and read from the scroll as he was supposed to.  He read from Isaiah just as it was written... “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me.  He has sent me to preach good news to the poor, to proclaim release to the prisoners and recovery of sight to the blind, to liberate the oppressed, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor” (Luke 4:18-19)

He hands the scroll back to its care taker and sits down.  Now to you and I this may sound a bit arrogant however this is actually the norm.  A teacher would sit to teach.  Remember the story of Jesus in the temple…”They found Jesus seated among the teachers” (Luke: 2:46) you see it was the norm for a teacher to sit and for the students to be at his feet as others gathered round to listen.

So Jesus took a seat nothing new there and everyone is paying real close attention.  They have all heard the stories already circulating about his skills as a teacher.  He says; “this scripture has now been fulfilled in your hearing.” (Luke 4.21)  Now let me stop right there.

There is something about the word of the prophet being fulfilled but not because it is written.  It is only fulfilled in its hearing. There is something physical and contextual about the word when it is read out loud. Would this service be the same if we said here is today’s text and read it to yourselves?  I will give you 5 minutes.  Good now let me preach/teach/ convey to you how the spirit is moving me in the word.

There is a physical need for the scriptures to be heard and read.  I may read it one way another person another but in the hearing of it we contextualize it.  Someone may be moved extremely by the way one has read the text another not so much but….But each of us start to hear the text as it is meant for each one of us to hear it which opens souls to the movement of God in our lives as I or whoever is up here tries to do their best to give that spirit more momentum so to speak.

So the crowd was already geared up and then Jesus reads the scripture and announces it is fulfilled through the peoples hearing of the word and what happens.  The crowd is happy. They like what they are hearing   the bible says they were amazed. Anyone here amazed yet??  I am afraid I do not have the power to amaze anyone.  Of course they were all the more amazed because isn’t this Joseph’s boy?  Wasn’t eh supposed to be a carpenter?  Wow!  I can see them all nodding in agreement and murmuring how amazing this guy is just like everyone said.

A.J Thomas, the Methodist minister who no one paid attention to what he said in his hometown says this would be a good time to quit!

“Quit While You’re Ahead

There’s a saying that “You should always leave them wanting more.”  If Jesus wanted to quit while he was ahead, now is a great time for the benediction, at least if he’s trying to win friends and influence people.  Yet, Jesus’ sermon isn’t finished just yet.”[3]

Noooo, as one may say, He couldn’t just stop there and leave well enough alone but he had to keep going. 

Jesus basically says you are not going to like what I have to say. You are going to ask me to do tricks and miracles for you but I am not going to do that here.  Instead let me remind you of two other scripture readings.  He then goes on to speak of the time of Elijah when there was a great famine and the people of Israel were hurting.  God did not send the prophet to Israel but to a widow in Sidon.  A gentile to care for the prophet.  Then he recounts the story of Naaman a commander of Syria’s army and believed to be an enemy and yet Elisha cured him of his leprosy as opposed to curing one of many people of Israel suffering from the same.

So why did Jesus’ reminder to the people of this story upset them so much?  Jesus wasn’t relaying a new story.  Jesus wasn’t saying anything more than just relating their own story back to them.  But something in hearing these stories come from Jesus, something shifted.  Yes they knew the stories!  Yes this is our own history.  But God is blessing and fraternizing with Gentiles in these stories.  You are supposed to be one of us.  You came here for us!  How dare you?

You see what is getting to the people here is Jesus is saying my ministry is not just for you.  God has been here for you and always will be but now is the time of the outsider.  Now is the time of the other, the exiled, and the despised.  From the Gospels this means now is the time of the tax collector, the Samaritan, and the woman at the well.  This is the time of the leper, the blind and the deaf.

The people of Israel have had Gods Prophets, teachers and words for all these years.  They tell stories of the great miracles and redemption of their people.  God gave them the law, the land and salvation.  Now it is time to go further.  This is what made them angry.  This is what made Jesus’ own home town run him to the edge of a hill ready to throw him off.  But instead of arguing and confronting them he just walked away.  Leaving them to replay this event and his message again and again over in their minds.  You know they did.

You ever get so mad about something you heard you just have to talk to somebody about it? I am not naming names but there isn’t a day goes by today that I do not hear from someone something that some politician said that they didn’t like.  I confess I have engaged in the very same reactions. As a person of a liberal bent I am usually disparaging someone who has the other point of view.

On this point I am going to get on my soap box for a minute to remind myself, we have to pray for those who we disagree with. For some people the world is changing so fast around them they are clinging onto the very last bit of a world that they use to know that will not exist in ten to twenty years. America is changing in how we look at the other and who we believe should be treated with human kindness and love as opposed to having lines drawn and being declared unworthy.

This is what Jesus was doing here.  The lines that Israel had drawn around their religious beliefs and laws and restrictions.  Who they decided was in and out and how they practiced those beliefs …Jesus was saying it’s done.  We will have no more of this…Now is a time of a loving and welcoming and accepting God and that will be Jesus’ challenge to the established Hierarchy and the norms of the time.

And Guess what that is still the challenge today!  Jesus challenges the United Church of Christ and we challenge ourselves to be a loving and open community but we still have a long way to go.

 I wonder how many of our congregations have engaged in the Just peace movement. The Just Peace movement “ focuses attention on alleviating systemic injustice of all types using non-violence and calls us to offer the message, grounded in the hope of reconciliation in Jesus, that “Peace is possible.”[4]

I know this community is open and affirming yet did you know that we have 14 UCC related seminaries and yet only 8 are ONA. Of our 5000 churches only 26% roughly 1300 (as of November) are ONA.  We still have a long way to go. Even those that proclaim they are ONA often do not want to discuss further what that may mean or what they may be called to do.

 I wonder how many of our churches are accessible to all or even know about United Church of Christ disabilities Ministries? People believe being accessible means putting in a ramp or two but we are called to go much further than that.  We are called by Christ to go further than that.

The United Church of Christ Disabilities ministries asks our churches to;

To be a Church where everyone is welcome.

To encourage local churches to be open, inclusive, affirming and accessible in all aspects of their lives, including buildings, worship, education, fellowship and service, and thereby enabled to proclaim God’s word with and to all persons, including people with disabilities.

To advocate with and for persons with disabilities, especially people who have been marginalized and alienated.

To advocate for and collaborate with care giving ministries with and for

Persons with disabilities.

To develop and support the leadership of laity and clergy with disabilities at all levels within the entire United Church of Christ.

To encourage all settings of the United Church of Christ to consciously use language inclusive of and sensitive to accessibility and disabilities issues.

To offer a forum of communication and networking.[5]

We have local projects, food pantries, hospitals, habitat for humanity that call our attention every day.  We have the homeless on our own streets and the mentally ill who are not receiving services because they do not have permanent addresses.  We still have workplace inequality, wage theft and forms of enslavement happening right here in the Los Angeles area.

Now what happens in your heads and hearts when you hear such a litany of so many things?  What happens when you here all about them and this isn’t about us?  Do you hear what I just said?  This is all about them…. Jesus said this is all about them. That’s what upset the people of Nazareth they thought that Gods saving grace was going to be all about them.

Here is a little secret…Sunday is all about us.  Yep today here and now is all about us.  It about us resting in God’s spirit.  It is about us being grateful for all of God’s gifts.  It is about us getting energized, inspired and refueled…but for what?

Refueled with God’s loving spirit so we can go out and serve them!  So we can become the kindom of God here on earth and welcome all into our midst with love and compassion and understanding.

In conclusion here is a poem by Simone Poortman

Them and Us

Them---------------------------------------------------------------Us

Where do I fit in?

If I am one of “them”, they are “us”

If I am one of “us”, who are “they?”

Being one of “us” is only half.

I miss “them.”

Only when I am one of “them,”

Can I be part of the complete “us.”

I know both “them” and “us.”

How do I dare to become one of “them”

In order to become of “us?’

By Simone Poortman

Delegate from the Netherlands and part of EDAN[6]

Let us pray;

Loving God in our brokenness, in our search to find wholeness for ourselves let us also seek to find wholeness for our community and the world.  Help us to see you in the other and welcome them with love, compassion and understanding that only through your grace we may provide.  Help us and bless us as we strive to bring your kindom here and now. Amen!

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[1] A.J. Thomas, Home Town Hero, July 22, 2012, accessed January 18, 2016, http://theproclaimedword.blogspot.com/2012/07/hometown-hero-luke-421-30.html.

[2] Craig Condon, Luke 4:21-30 Rubbing People the Wrong Way, June 23, 2012, accessed January 18, 2016, http://sermonsfrommyheart.blogspot.com/2012/06/luke-421-30-rubbing-people-wrong-way.html.

[3] Thomas, Home Town Hero.

[4] United Church of Christ, Just Peace, Medium, accessed January 18, 2016, http://www.ucc.org/justice_just-peace.

[5] UCC Disabilities Ministries, About, Medium, accessed January 18, 2016, http://uccdm.org/about/.

[6] Simone Poortman, Them vs Us, Medium, accessed January 18, 2016, http://www.dsfnetwork.org/assets/Uploads/2007-04-22-Brazil-Report-April-07.pdf.