Monday, November 14, 2016

Maintaining Momentum Beyond Fear and Anger

This past week has been whirlwind of emotions for many of us who have been frightened by Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric, certain of his supporters, and the aftermath of him becoming President-Elect. At least some of us had opened the possibility that he might actually govern differently than he campaigned. But his early picks of advisors for the transition and staff once he is inaugurated have pretty much dashed that hope.

So where do we go from here?

The field of psychology and study of history shows that fear and anger, while strong short-term motivators, are terrible for long-term momentum. Fear and anger are strong emotions that cannot be maintained. Our psyches become normalized to the new realities and the body chemistries generated by these strong emotions are harmful long-term. We should not, must not, rely on fear and anger to carry us through.

So what can we do?

We need to turn our current strong emotions into habits of action. We need to cultivate and work on actions that become a part of our regular lives: actions that welcome the stranger, actions that show compassion and respect, actions that look for ways to reduce bigotry and bullying, actions that foster empathy and love. We need to find ways to make a habit of going out of our comfort zones to make connections with people outside of our normal circles.

We need to find ways to keep informed via reliable sources. And we need make it a habit to give to organizations whose purpose is to fight hate and promote equality.

We have to turn our current negative, but very strong, emotions into positive habits that lead to change. Otherwise what Trump and his rhetoric have ushered in will become the new normal.

Personally, I do a few things to follow my own advice, and what I wrote above comes from my own experience:

I am a volunteer victims advocate for the local domestic violence and sexual assault advocacy organization. It helps me keep grounded with real people who work with the issue and with victims of violence and abuses of power.
I work with substance abuse issues in our community. This helps me see that issues don’t have easy, black-and-white answers or solutions. This helps me see that people are complex beings, and that I cannot impose solutions onto anyone.
I donate to Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Their regular e-mail and print newsletters keep me abreast of religious liberty issues as they apply not just to a segment of Christians, but to all people or all religions and the non-religious.
I just donated to Southern Poverty Law Center. I believe that the work they do in fighting acts of hate and raising awareness of instances of hate and hate crimes is especially vital going forward.

You might find some of these that work for you. And there are plenty of other ways to cultivate positive habits to combat fear and hate, and change the world for the better. My exhortation to you is that you find at least one or two ways.

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Nothing and Everything Changed

America, two days following the 2016 national elections, hasn't really changed that much in most practical ways; yet, in another sense, everything has changed. The latter didn't hit me until this afternoon while I was out walking about our small town. It's a single town on a small island in Alaska, accessible only by air and boat. So the people who reside here are pretty much the same, year in, and year out. So really, Tuesday hasn't changed a thing in this town.

Yet, there was something different inside of me. See, I am non-white and an immigrant - fitting two of the categories (of many) which have been marginalized and attacked during the election campaign. I've lived in the U.S. for many years and in this town for the past ten. And even yesterday, as I was walking about town, I didn't really feel that different.

But today, something changed. Not the environment, the town, the people who I encountered and with whom I interacted. But something in my psyche, my emotional health, and psychological well-being. I felt suspicion and uneasiness. I was on higher alert for threats and dangers.

Intellectually, I know that the chance that something has changed so much in this town that I would actually be a target and victim is probably infinitesimally low. Yet the election of Donald Trump and the tacit approval of the rhetoric that goes along with that has attacked my psyche and emotions. And if that can happen to me -- who I acknowledge as fairly privileged in many ways, has never been overtly been a target of racism or hate, and in many ways never will be -- how much more fearful are those who actually have been victims and targets?

Even if you aren't a racist or bigot, your celebration of Trump hurts. Even if you really do love immigrants and would never do anything to harm them, your refusal to strongly denounce hateful talk is damaging. Even though (giving the benefit of doubt) that most Trump supporters really do care about people around them, your silence speaks volumes about what you value and what you don't.

Your admonition to us to "stop whining" tells us what we're feeling doesn't matter. Your admonition to us to "learn that we can't always have our way" is telling us that our concerns are invalid. When you tell us to "suck it up" and place the "nation first," it's telling us that diversity is only of value when it conforms to traditional Evangelical Christian, white European, cis-gender views. Or to put it another way, diversity is only valued as a token.

There is a palpable fear being experienced by those who have been devalued by Donald Trump, his campaign, and some of his outspoken supporters. I hope that President Trump will have the strength, courage, and discipline to reject measures and policies that devalue and dehumanize any number of groups of people. I hope that Congress and the judiciary will act as real checks and balances, if President Trump oversteps.

When you say you care about those who aren't quite like you; when you say that you want to protect and help the marginalized; when you say that you don't hate immigrants and people whose religion aren't yours -- we need you to actually vocalize that loudly and to act strongly to support what you claim. We need you to actually go outside your comfort zones; to listen to people who are terrified, to people who are physically ill from what has happened; to denounce any kind of hate and dehumanization. Because if you don't, even if you say you're not a racist or bigot, your silence communicates something very different. We need to know we can trust what you say.

Sunday, November 06, 2016

Move Forward and Rebuild

Lectionary Year C, Proper 27
OT Reading: Haggai 1:15b-2:9

Sermon at First Presbyterian Church, Petersburg, Alaska on November 6, 2016.

Introduction

When we look around and observe the world around us, it’s difficult not to see the many problems, troubles, conflicts, divisions, and plain ugliness that seem omnipresent. There seem to be no easy solutions; and sometimes we wonder if there are any solutions at all. In the more pessimistic recesses of our minds, we think that maybe the world has gone so off track that it is on an irreversible downward trend into utter chaos and wreckage.

Many, faced with such a dark and uncertain future, understandably look to the past — when things seemed to be better, when things seemed more certain, when things and people seemed to be in their proper places, when there seemed to be order and predictability. And the temptation to try to recreate the past grows strong.

Nostalgia

There is a term for this which you’ve probably guessed; it is nostalgia. Alan R. Hirsch describes nostalgia as a yearning for an idealized past — “a longing for a sanitized impression of the past, what in psychoanalysis is referred to as a screen memory — not a true recreation of the past, but rather a combination of many different memories, all integrated together, and in the process all negative emotions filtered out.” (http://elitedaily.com/life/science-behind-nostalgia-love-much/673184/)

That sounds negative, but studies have found that nostalgia can help people cope with negative life events, depression, and even eases facing death.

Here are a few paragraphs in a New York Times article from 2013:

Nostalgia does have its painful side — it’s a bittersweet emotion — but the net effect is to make life seem more meaningful and death less frightening. When people speak wistfully of the past, they typically become more optimistic and inspired about the future.
“Nostalgia serves a crucial existential function,” Dr. Routledge says. “It brings to mind cherished experiences that assure us we are valued people who have meaningful lives. Some of our research shows that people who regularly engage in nostalgia are better at coping with concerns about death.”
“Nostalgia helps us deal with transitions,” Dr. Hepper says. “The young adults are just moving away from home and or starting their first jobs, so they fall back on memories of family Christmases, pets and friends in school.”

(http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/09/science/what-is-nostalgia-good-for-quite-a-bit-research-shows.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0)

Scientific American reports “situations that trigger negative emotions, feelings of loneliness, and perceptions of meaninglessness cause people to become nostalgic.” (https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/mind-guest-blog/the-rehabilitation-of-an-old-emotion-a-new-science-of-nostalgia/)

Dr. Hal McDonald, in Psychology Today (https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/time-travelling-apollo/201606/the-two-faces-nostalgia) describes two kinds of nostalgia. The first is restorative nostalgia, in which the person tries to recreate (or restore) the past into the present. The second is reflective nostalgia, in which the person savors the experience without trying to recreate it.

He writes:

These two types of nostalgia represent fundamentally different attitudes toward the past, and it is this difference that largely determines whether our memories of those happy days of yore will evoke feelings of joy or of sadness…
Restorative nostalgia is really a kind of homesickness—a homesickness for the past—more akin to the original pathological definition of nostalgia than to our current view of the term…
Reflective nostalgia, on the other hand, accepts the fact that the past is, in fact, past, and rather than trying to recreate a special past experience, savors the emotions evoked by its recollection. This acknowledgment of the irretrievability of our autobiographical past provides an aesthetic distance that allows us to enjoy a memory in the same way that we enjoy a movie or a good book.

As you might guess, the latter, reflective nostalgia, is a more healthy response than the former, which tries to recreate (in vain) an idealized past.

Back from Exile

This brings us to the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon. Or at least a few of them. The prophet Jeremiah, early in the exile, had written and told them:

5 “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce. 6 Marry and have children. Then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren. Multiply! Do not dwindle away! 7 And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” (Jeremiah 29:5-7 NLT)

Many had settled in Babylon and felt no need to return to their ancestral lands and face inevitable hardships there.

Cyrus had decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple there. But the work had not really begun. The people went and worked on their individual homes and fields. The prophets had prophesied that their return would result in blessings (c.f. Ezekiel), but the people only saw reminders of destruction, desolation, and daily experienced difficulties.

Nearly twenty years had passed. And now the prophet Haggai rose to declare to the people that the current sad state of affairs was due to their neglect in rebuilding the Temple.

Not the Prosperity Gospel

At this point it should be said that Haggai could be used to support a prosperity gospel: i.e., that God blesses those who contribute toward his demands, and curses those who neglect him.

But it is important to note that the ancient temple is not equivalent to the present day churches or denominations. Neither should the temple be limited to spiritual and religious facets of individual and societal life.

The ancient temple was the center of religious, spiritual, social, and economic life. It was the hub of community and connections. A healthy temple meant healthy society and community. It was the place of celebrations. It was where relationships between human and deity, and between humans were restored and strengthened.

I think it can be difficult for Westerners, particularly Americans, to understand how the temple could be the center of so much of community. We value individualism, we tend to strictly segregate different spheres of our lives, and religion is certainly in a decline. But at least from anecdotal, personal experience that I’ve had in Japan large temples and shrines still form a major part of the economy through tourism and festivals; they are still focus of major celebrations and places where families and community come together; where life’s petitions, dreams, and goals are offered up.

When Haggai claims that the peoples’ neglect of the temple was the cause of their life problems, we can see how that can be reasonable logic. Haggai’s accusation is that the people were so concerned about their individual survival and comfort that they had neglected the well-being of the community. It is not the prosperity gospel, at least not in the present-day sense of the phrase in which God blesses individuals in a quid pro quo fashion. Rather it is a declaration that when the community looks after everyone in the community, God can multiple the sum of their efforts for the good of the entire community.

What is Wealth?

Stanley Hauerwas, at Duke University, drawing from Millbank and Pabst, theologians and philosophers, to describe wealth in terms of

goods that can be shared together such as intimacy, trust, beauty. The goods that should determine how we live are embedded in the practices of honour and reciprocity which are developed over time through the habits sustained by a tradition. The formation of such traditions depends on the existence of people of wisdom who can provide the judgments necessary for responding to new challenges while remaining faithful to the past.
People who so live do not think their first task in life is to become more wealthy or powerful as individuals. Rather wealth is best thought of as what we share in common, such as parks, or practices to which all have access, such as medicine. In other words, the post-liberal strategy is exactly the opposite of the liberal assumption that assumes that social practices of mutual assistance should be eliminated, while at the same time encouraging our desires for wealth and prestige. The liberal desire for the well-being of the individual not only ignores the goods built on gift relations, but in effect destroys the habits that make such relations possible.

(http://www.abc.net.au/religion/articles/2016/11/02/4567512.htm)

Exhortation Heeded, But Things Don’t Look Good

The people heed Haggai’s words and begin the process of temple reconstruction. About two months later, Haggai offers a new word, the passage that was read this morning.

It appears that the people have been hard at work, but progress is slow. And what they have to show for it isn’t much. It is also possible that among the people are some elderly Jews who remember the first temple. Whether it is they, or the younger generation recalling the stories of old about the first temple, what they see before them is sorely lacking. They are discouraged. If their well-being and future rely upon God accepting the results of their construction, it doesn’t look very good. They have good reason to be concerned.

Suffering from Restorative Nostalgia

The people are suffering from the first, bad kind of nostalgia: restorative nostalgia. They want to recreate the new temple to resemble the first in its physical and religious grandeur. That’s, after all, what Ezekiel appears to have prophesied.

This kind of nostalgia can cause harm in many ways. It can halt progress — because the new can’t possibly be as good as the old, why bother? People can get stuck in the past. It can lead to feelings of depression and discouragement.

Or it can cause people to turn against each other — I know how it’s supposed to look like, so why can’t you just obey my instructions? Or, I know better than you, I’m the expert, so your opinions and ideas are worthless. Or, are you trying to sabotage the project with your less-than-perfect plans? People become divided, one group against another.

God Invites Reflective Nostalgia

Through Haggai, God offers a word of reflective nostalgia — the good kind of nostalgia. Haggai reminds the people of God’s faithfulness in their lives. The past cannot be recreated; but the past offers reminders that can strengthen and encourage the people to move forward.

God says, “I am with you.” He declares, “My spirit remains among you, just as I promised when you came out of Egypt. So do not be afraid.”

It is an invitation to remember how God has been with them, all the way from their beginnings in Egypt. It is an invitation to reflect on the power and strength of God to sustain and deliver.

It is a declaration that God does not dwell in the past but he is always a part of the present. God cannot be summoned by recreating the past. The people must move forward to where God is taking them.

God Is Found Where His People Work

God is already among them. The temple isn’t where God resides. God is where the people are doing the work of restoring God’s glory by their efforts to rebuild, restore, and heal community.

The returned exiles seemed to think God couldn’t come and bless them until the temple was complete and functional; and that the degree of blessing depended on the physical magnificence of the structure. What they heard was that their very efforts were where God could be present and manifest his glory.

Haggai exhorts the people to do the work. As long as they are doing the work of building community to reflect God’s image, God will be with them and bless them. Other nations will hear and wonder. They will be curious and come. And peace will be the result.

Fantasy or Reality?

Does this sound too good to be true? Is Haggai describing a fantasy?

I think the key point to remember is that the work we do for God is not to secure blessings for ourselves, or for our families, or for our church, but to bless the whole world. When Abram was first called by God, the blessings offered to him were so that the entire world would be blessed through him. I believe that is still God’s desire and his purpose for the church.

I think for far too long the church has been preoccupied with her own security and place in the world. Like the returned exiles during their first twenty years, the church is too often concerned about accounting and finances, membership rolls, and her pursuit of temporal influence and power. Too often the church neglects the people and community just outside her, sometimes literal, walls.

I believe the words of Haggai are still relevant for the church today. We need to rebuild the temple — no, not necessarily the physical church or congregations — but the image of God that we who claim to be followers of Christ represent to the world. The church must rebuild the picture of God that those outside her metaphorical walls see inside.

Is that impossible? Is that too hard? Has the image been so destroyed that it can’t be rebuilt? Is the destruction and desolation too much to bear?

Haggai’s words should still ring true for us today. God is with us. Just as he rescued Israel from Egypt, brought the exiles back from Babylon, helped them rebuild the second temple, gave us his perfect image in Jesus Christ, and sustained the church through two millennia, his Spirit remains to strengthen and lead us today. “Do not be afraid,” God commands.

Rebuild God’s Temple Today

We can rebuild God’s temple in our world today. We can restore the image of Jesus Christ that has been destroyed by religionists. We do it through our love, compassion, and faithfulness to the people of this community. We do it through our efforts to foster harmony and peace among peoples, especially among those with whom we disagree. We do it through our attitudes and actions that value people and relationships first.

We were placed on this earth to bless others. We were saved by Christ so that we would know his purpose and be given the power and strength to do this difficult but rewarding work. We have been given the ministry of reconciliation, of rebuilding people and relationships that have been broken. Let us come together and work together to restore the image and glory of God in his temple, the church, us.

Sunday, July 31, 2016

Sermon–Soliloquy of a Prodigal God

This sermon explores similarities between the parable of wayward Israel in Hosea 11 and the parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15. Questions explored include: What is the nature and character of God, what does it mean to be created in the image of God, and what does it mean for us to be holy as God is holy?

Sermon preached at the Presbyterian Church on July 31, 2016. Below is the manuscript text.

Texts: Hosea 11:1-11; Luke 15:11-32; Hosea 6:6a; Hebrews 1:3; 1 Peter 1:16

Introduction

If you, as a parent, had a child who persisted in making bad choices and even deliberately rebelled and rejected you, how would you feel? What would you do? If and when this child returned, what would be your response? Yell at them? Make them prove they’ve changed? Shame them? Keep reminding them of their guilt? Or rejoice at their return? Love them? Accept them? Restore them into the family as your child?

If you were this child who had deliberately rebelled and rejected your parents, would you ever return to them? What would you expect from them upon your return? What would you want from them upon your return?

❖

Parable Of Wayward Israel

Hosea chapter 11 is a parable – a parable about wayward Israel. In this parable, Israel is pictured as a son of God, and God is described using maternal imagery. Israel is rescued from Egypt who had been abusing him, and God has given life and healing to bring up Israel through his childhood.

Yet Israel is not content with what God has done. Israel longs to return to Egypt. And if a return to Egypt isn’t possible, then he wants to be with Assyria. Power is often attractive, even if it is abusive. To be associated with an entity of power makes the one associating feel powerful, even if they end up victims.

God reveals that his wish will come to pass, but that the result will not be what Israel expected. Instead of security and prosperity, he will find himself embroiled in death and destruction. He will discover that God does not come rushing in to intervene and deliver.

Yet God is moved with compassion and when Israel finally comes to see why he has suffered calamity, and in response returns to God, God will accept him back. There will be no rebuke, chastisement, or punishment. God will accept Israel back, restore him, and return him to his home.

❖

Parable Of The Prodigal Son

In Luke 15, there is another parable about a parent and a wayward child. It is probably quite familiar to most, if not all, of you. We know it by the title, The Prodigal Son.

Here’s the short version: there are two sons and the younger, for whatever reason, determines that he no longer wants to live within the confines of his father’s household. He asks for his portion of the inheritance and goes away to a far country. There, this son squanders the inheritance. Alas a famine hits the land and with his fortunes gone, he ends up in one of the most reviled jobs available: that of feeding pigs. He is so famished that he wishes he could eat the feed being given to the swine. In a moment of clarity, the son realizes that even the least servant in his father’s household is given enough to eat, and as a result decides to return home. He prepares a speech of contrition in which he asks to be given quarter, no longer as a son, but as one of the servants.

When the son approaches home, his father sees him, and moved with compassion, the father runs to meet his returning son. Before the son can even get the first sentence of his prepared speech out of his mouth, the father has directed his servants to reinstate the lost son back into the family to his former place as son.

A grand party is held, welcoming the son home. The older son hears the commotion, asks about it, and is quite displeased, because he had not gone astray like the younger, but has instead sacrificed all his life in service to his father. The father tries to talk to this older son about why they are celebrating, because a family member who had been lost has returned.

❖

God's Soliloquy

The central and vital portion of Hosea 11 is the center section, in which God reveals her (remember, this passage is depicting God in traditionally maternal terms) thoughts (and I’ll continue to use feminine pronouns for God throughout this sermon). It is a soliloquy in which she speaks about her initial reaction, her emotions, and then her conscious choice about what to do in response.

In Luke’s parable of the prodigal son, we aren’t told much about the father’s thoughts between the son’s departure and his return. But in Hosea I think we are given some of those thoughts and how God processes them. It gives us a look into the character and heart of God. As we examine God’s internal monologue, we can learn a little more of what it means to be created in the image of God.

❖

Where Did I Go Wrong?

One of the first thoughts that go through God’s mind is a review of all that has been done in caring for and raising the child. In this specific case of Israel, God recounts how Israel was delivered from an abusive environment, taught him how to walk, provided him with food, wounds healed, and shown love and care. Yet whatever God did, Israel did not seem to remember; and the more God called, the more determined Israel was to go away.

Similarly when we are rejected or attacked by those we tried to care for, our thoughts return to the times when we had given of ourselves to them. It is a part of being created in God’s image, that we too, build memories and look back on them.

❖

It's Okay To Feel Frustrated And Angry

When we think about God and emotions, we intellectually know that God has them. We read places where God loves, where God becomes angry, where God weeps. But I think we also have this image of God whose emotions are so perfect that in practical terms God doesn’t actually feel. I think it seems almost heretical to picture God who struggles with conflicting emotions and feelings and having to make a choice about how to respond.

That’s why I think the central section of Hosea 11 is so important. We are given a peek into the struggle within God’s heart and mind. Now, it is a human writer, writing in the language of poetry, but if we as humans feel conflicting emotions and we are made in the image of God, I think we can picture God who struggles with emotions.

So God looks back at all that she has done for Israel and yet Israel rejects her. God looks at the military and monetary powers of the world that Israel has turned to, and sees how they will be Israel’s downfall and destruction. Is it any wonder God feels frustrated and angry?

Those of us who are parents and those of us who have been around a little longer than others, have developed a pretty good sense of what foolish decisions made in inexperience and immaturity can lead into. We keep repeating the same instruction to our children, yet it seems they make the same poor decisions over and over. “Will they ever learn?” we ask ourselves.

On one hand we want to rush in and keep them from suffering consequences. Yet we know that we can’t keep doing that forever. We become frustrated and angry. And I think this is what God is saying to herself in Hosea. God doesn’t want to see Israel destroy himself, but God has to let Israel see for himself what happens when he stops trusting in God and in being content with what God has provided.

A key point to make here is that God is not willing suffering to come upon Israel to “teach him a lesson.” Neither has God somehow “ordained” that disaster come upon Israel. What God is doing is honoring the freedom of choice that Israel has made. Love and freedom have to exist together, if love is to be love. Freedom isn’t freedom if its consequences aren’t allowed to come to pass. A love coerced or manipulated isn’t love at all.

Just as parents allow themselves to be rejected and hurt, God too, can be rejected and hurt by humans in order to maintain the integrity of divine love.

❖

What Matters Is What's Done With Anger

The natural human inclination is to lash out and seek revenge upon those who have hurt us. Sometimes, even to our own children. In our frustration and anger, we want to teach them a lesson. Discipline is good, but have we sometimes excused punishment as discipline? I wonder how many times I’ve punished my own children to try to make myself feel better at the expense of providing actual discipline.

We are given a sight into God’s struggle in Hosea. God’s anger seems to want to take it out on Israel. Yet the memory of their earlier years and God’s love eventually extinguishes anger with compassion. God will not act impulsively like a human being. God will act counter-intuitively from human norms. Instead of judgment and raining down punishment, God will act with caring, compassion, and love.

I’ve sometimes heard that God’s primary attribute is holiness. When this is said, it is often in terms of God’s sinless perfection and thus how sin cannot exist in God presence, justifying God’s wrath, anger, and judgment. But what we read in Hosea is that God is holy because she chooses to act in a way very different from humans by foregoing anger and judgment, but instead acting in mercy and compassion.

The biblical definition of holy or holiness has to do with difference and alienness between God and his creation. Perfection and sinlessness can be a part of that, but they are not its entirety, as it is sometimes described. What we read in Hosea is that God is holy because he chooses to act so differently than humans would had they been in a similar circumstance.

Hosea 6:6a reads, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice.” Jesus quotes this verse twice in Matthew:

Matthew 9:13

13 Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

Matthew 12:7

7 And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless.

Since Jesus is the exact representation of God (Hebrews 1:3), what we read in Hosea should not be seen an exception but the actual character of God that has always been. The parable of the prodigal son in Luke 15 and the parable of wayward Israel in Hosea 11 describe the same God. Both parables depict a holy God who behaves quite contrary to a natural human, but instead offers full acceptance and restoration.

When Christians are commanded to “be holy, because I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16; c.f., Leviticus 19:2), I don’t think the command is primarily directed at becoming sinlessly perfect. I believe it means to act like God - with compassion and love - in all situations, even in those where we are rejected and hurt. We were created in the image of God. Sin has marred that image, but through Christ we have been given the Holy Spirit whose work is to restore the original image of God in us.

❖

Conclusion

Back to the questioned I asked at the beginning. If you were a parent whose child deliberately rebelled, rejected, and left you, and then came back, what would you do? I’d like to think that most parents would rejoice and accept their child back into the family and home. If we, as human parents would do that, how much more is God willing, happy, and eager to accept her wayward children back.

A parent-child relationship is different than one between siblings. What if it was your sister or brother that threw a bomb into the family, caused disaster, abandoned the family, lived a less-than-upright life, tarnished the family name, and then returned? Would you be as willing to accept them back? This is the position of the older brother in the Prodigal Son parable.

The older brother sincerely believed that belonging to the family meant keeping the family name clean and respectable, by all means necessary. Which included keeping out anyone who might tarnish it, even if it was your own brother. But the father comes out to instruct him that it isn’t about sacrifice - doing your duty - but about mercy - lifting up and restoring the fallen.

God, in Hosea’s parable, tells us that is what makes her different from all other gods – by rejecting anger and instead following compassion.

Jesus, in the parable recorded in Luke, tells us that the Father God, who really is the same as the God in Hosea, is moved to action by compassion.

The message for us, from both the Old and New Testaments, is to develop that kind of compassionate heart for the world. When we are mistreated, misunderstood, ridiculed and rejected, we must transcend anger and transform the passion generated by it into compassion. This is utterly impossible for humans, because it is a holy activity, and one that can be accomplished only through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and minds.

Let us choose today to have the Holy Spirit give us holy compassion with which to engage the world and all God’s children. Let us be holy, as God is holy.

Sunday, June 26, 2016

Sermon–Live and Love Beyond Lists

Text: Galatians 1, 13-25.

The famous “fruit of the Spirit” passage is included in this reading. Is that (and the corresponding “works of the flesh” list) Paul’s message and focus?

Manuscript of sermon preached at the Presbyterian Church.

Whether we admit it or not, most of us love lists. We make task lists, packing lists, shopping lists, bucket lists… And when we’re not making lists, we consume lists made by others: 22 Insane Sales to Shop This Weekend; 12 Sad Snacks That People Actually Made for Themselves; 24 Refreshing Ways to Drink Your Tea This Summer. (These were headlines I found at BuzzFeed, a popular site that posts listicles.) One of the most influential management and personal development lists is found in Steven Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Lists simplify many things in life, often help get us motivated, and allow us to be efficient with our time and effort.

Which brings us to Galatians chapter 5. If BuzzFeed had existed in the first century, we might have seen headlines such as “Paul Says Beware These 15 Signs of Fleshly Behavior” or “8 Habits of Highly Effective Christians by the Apostle Paul.”

Yet, by focusing on these lists we might be missing the more important messages of Galatians.

I’d like to read today’s reading again, but omitting the two lists. You’ll see that the natural flow is uninterrupted.

5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery…
13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another. 14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If, however, you bite and devour one another, take care that you are not consumed by one another.
16 Live by the Spirit, I say, and do not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the law… 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.

Paul’s point is not about the lists of virtues and vices that he includes, but rather about themes that occur at a broader level:

Freedom vs. slavery
Freedom vs. self-indulgence
Love vs. self-indulgence
Life in the Spirit vs. fleshly desires
Live in the Spirit vs. life by law

Freedom, love, and life in the Spirit come as a unit. On the other hand, slavery, self-indulgence, fleshly desires, and law come as an opposing unit. Verse 17 makes this clear that the two cannot coexist: “For what the flesh desires is opposed to the Spirit, and what the Spirit desires is opposed to the flesh; for these are opposed to each other, to prevent you from doing what you want.” This section of Galatians is telling us that our focus need not be on lists of virtues and vices, on making efforts at behavior modification, but that our focus is to be on living by the Spirit. The result will be that the items on the lists will naturally take care of themselves.

So what is the problem with lists? What is the problem with laws? For some possible responses to these questions, we need to step back and look at some of the reasons Paul wrote this particular epistle.

At this point in history, there is no separate “Christianity.” There are individuals and groups that follow Jesus and his teachings, but they are considered a sect of Judaism. Torah observance is a critical identifier of Judaism. Up to this point, for a non-Jew to become a Jew meant conforming to the Torah, and for males, undergoing circumcision. But in the emerging Jesus-sect of Judaism, not only are they not observing feast days and disregarding food laws, they are not requiring circumcision. This new sect is going directly against the boundary markers of what identifies and separates a Jew from everyone else. This boundary marker is important because it is considered the sign of the covenant. The failure to strictly adhere to the Torah, in many Jewish minds, was the reason for God rejecting them and sending them to Babylonian exile. There is perceived safety in conformity; in clearly identifying who is in and who is out. Laws and lists have allowed humanity to define divisions since the beginning of tribes up to and including this present age. Our brains are wired to categorize and group, to identify insiders vs. outsiders. But that is not how the Christian community is to operate.

The heart of this letter to the Galatians is found in 3:27-29:

27 As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

Paul vigorously and adamantly rejects any boundaries relating to nations, race, gender, or social standing when it comes to the value and worth of any human person. At the same time by reading his other letters, we know that Paul does not automatically reject cultural customs and tradition; he does not say that Jews must cease being Jews and Greeks cease being Greeks in order to belong to Christ. Rather, he writes that these distinctions don’t define who is in and who is out of Christ. But Paul is advocating ideas that go directly against centuries of Jewish tradition and expectations of piety and belonging.

Now I’d like to return to our reading starting with chapter five, verses 1 and 13:

5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery… 13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for self-indulgence, but through love become slaves to one another.

Freedom is a key concept here. Freedom is often seen as an absence of constraints, but that is not what Paul has in mind here. In verse 13 Paul tells his audience that self-indulgence is not an appropriate use of freedom, but that becoming slaves to one another through love is the proper use of freedom. Clearly then, there are different types of “slavery” that Paul brings into his discussion. One type is a yoke that believers must avoid, while slavery to one another is one that we must enter into.

What is the “yoke of slavery” that must be avoided? In this letter Paul has been railing against conforming to the Torah. He has likened it to the “slave woman” Hagar. Yet originally the Gentiles did not have the Torah. But Paul is now writing that conforming to the Torah will be submitting again to a yoke of slavery. So this yoke must be broader than the Torah. Paul has already told his readers how Gentiles were formerly enslaved in 4:8-9,

4:8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to beings that by nature are not gods. 9 Now, however, that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits? How can you want to be enslaved to them again?

We must not miss the highly charged accusation of equivalence that Paul is making here: That there is something about conforming to the Torah, which was given by God, that in practice is equivalent to serving pagan objects of worship.

Religion nearly always develops a power play of some kind. Because God or some powerful being is at the top, it is easy for human worshippers to think that paying sufficient homage secures blessings or avoids disaster. Then power hierarchies develop with some people becoming mediators of the power based on level of religious knowledge and expressions of piety. Even if such hierarchies aren’t formalized, an informal hierarchy often exists and adherents judge and measure themselves and one another according to written and unwritten lists and laws.

This is one the primary reasons why Paul is so harsh toward the law in this epistle. It too often becomes basis for judgment, condemnation, shame, divisions, and exclusions. They are used to consolidate power in a few, and keep the masses in place by enforcing conformity and uniformity in a community. A threat of exclusion from a community that teaches that belonging is required to be with God, is a powerful deterrent against nonconformity. A list that shows how well you are or aren’t doing in your spiritual walk with God can become a point of pride, if you’re doing well, but a source of terrible shame, if you aren’t. Paul’s solution to this universal corruption of power is his command to focus one’s efforts on serving one another in love.

He continues in chapter 5, verse 14,

5:14 For the whole law is summed up in a single commandment, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Notice that he writes “the whole law.” Not just those that involve human to human relationships. The whole law, including the ones that involve human-divine relationships. What I think Paul is trying to say to his audience is that contrary to what all former religions have valued, piety and what we think is faithfulness to God is not what God primarily wants from his worshippers. True devotion, piety, and faithfulness to God in the newly formed Jesus community is found in service to one another. We worship God through our love for one another. It isn’t about access to, or the acquisition of power. Rather, it’s about what we can do to empower every person around us.

But also note that self-care is part of the process of loving. When any of us neglect appropriate self-care we fall into one of two ditches: resentment or self-righteous pride, and sometimes both. When we take care of those around us as we do with ourselves, there is an appropriate balance. Everyone’s needs are met, the community flourishes, and God is glorified.

So why does Paul include those pesky lists? It almost seems like he has exchanged these new vice and virtue lists for the Torah. Couldn’t these lists be used the same way that the law was earlier? (And we know that they have been used to measure, judge, and shame; both self and others, in the millennia since they were penned.)

First, their intent is illustrative. Paul has been writing somewhat abstractly. In the middle he gives a “for example…” He’s saying, “If you see a cluster of these things together in a community, here’s what it’s signifying.”

Secondly, Paul wrote to a community that was assumed to already be walking by the Spirit. Our individualistic culture often assumes an individual application for his community-directed writings. The lists are not meant to be used to evaluate yourself or others.

Thirdly, items in these lists are not intended to be taken in isolation. They are to be seen as ongoing and regular practices of whole communities that signifies whether a community is obviously walking or not walking by the Spirit. An occasional failure is not an ongoing practice.

In the end, Paul’s focus isn’t on either of these lists. It’s about how the entire community has an ethos that works to build one another up, to meet the needs of one another, to break down partitions and walls that divide, yet at the same time to honor and respect unique contributions that differences bring to the community, to continue to grow a vision that sees beyond codified lists and laws and sees the imago dei in every person.

Good news! Lists don’t define who you are. You need not be a slave to lists to gain and maintain some kind of a fictional spiritual standing. You are free to love, lift up, and empower every person within your sphere of contact. No more putting people into boxes and drawing boundaries! This is the worship God desires. This is the worship that God wants from his family community.

Let us pledge to live and love beyond lists. As Paul wrote, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” Not lists.

Sunday, June 19, 2016

Sermon–When Zeal Consumes (1 Kings 19:1-18)

The following is the manuscript of the sermon I preached at the Presbyterian Church. The key question is: What does God’s response and actions found in 1 Kings 19:1-18 say about Elijah’s actions of 1 Kings 18?

When encountering today’s passage, many sermons focus on the “still, small voice” (v.12). A common theme is how God’s voice can’t be heard in the busy-ness and noise of life, and that we need to get away if we want to hear him.

Another approach might be to take Elijah’s anxiety and fear in running away from Jezebel and go into a discussion of how he ought to have trusted in God and stayed put, or perhaps a message about how to cope with discouragement and depression.

I think there is good case and support for each of these approaches. Yet what struck me as I read through the passage this time was what I perceived as similarities to Jonah chapter 4. It’s a short chapter so I’ll read it now in its entirety.

Jonah 4:1 Now this greatly displeased Jonah, and he became angry. 2 He prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord! Is this not what I said while I was still in my own land? This is the reason that I fled before to Tarshish, because I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger, abundant in faithfulness, and ready to relent from punishment. 3 Therefore, Lord, take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
4 Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
5 So Jonah went out of the city and sat down east of the city and made for himself a booth there. He sat under it in the shade, waiting to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the Lord God appointed a plant, and it grew up over Jonah to provide shade over his head, to provide comfort from his grief. And Jonah was very happy about the plant. 7 But at dawn the next day, God appointed a worm to attack the plant so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah so that he became faint and asked that he might die. He said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”
9 Then God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
And Jonah replied, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death.”
10 The Lord said, “You are troubled about the plant for which you did not labor and did not grow. It came up in a night and perished in a night. 11 Should I not, therefore, be concerned about Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people, who do not know their right hand from their left, and also many animals?” (MEV)

So here are particular points of similarities to note:

Both Elijah and Jonah had fled
Both ask God to take their lives
In both cases, God’s response comes in simple questions
Both situate themselves in a solitary place
God provides miraculous provisions in both cases
Wild natural events occur in both stories
God asks questions twice
In both cases the response from Elijah and Jonah repeat their first responses
In both cases God’s final response is about a large number of individuals

What shall we make of this? Is it merely coincidence? The book of Kings was placed into its final form sometime during or closely after the Jewish exile in Babylon. The book of Jonah was composed sometime after that. I think it is entirely possible that the author of Jonah used the story of Elijah as a kind of template, and perhaps even as a parody rebelling retelling of the earlier account. A number of commentators suggest that there could be some connection between the two stories.

Also, according to a number of Jewish traditions regarding Elijah’s story, they see God’s command to Elijah to anoint Elisha as his replacement, and to begin traveling the region anointing leaders, as a punishment of Elijah. In other words, Elijah’s response to God’s query (in 1Ki 19) is found wanting, and Elijah is placed on a retirement path. This too, aligns with the story of Jonah where at the end is found God’s rebuke of Jonah.

The rebuke is that Jonah had perceived God incorrectly, that Jonah’s desires about those who are “against God” are inappropriate. And so I began to wonder if something similar could be seen in Elijah’s story.

We need to back up and quickly review Elijah’s story prior to 1 Kings 19. Elijah was called to speak against Ahab and announce a drought. For three years the drought continued while Elijah was hidden and provided for, first through ravens and then through a widow in a foreign land. At the end of the three years God commands Elijah to “go and present [himself] to Ahab, and [God] will send rain upon the earth” (1Ki 18:1). Elijah does so and sets up a showdown between his God, and Baal and Asherah. It takes place on Mt. Carmel where Elijah’s God is shown to be the victor and Elijah commands the people to seize and kill all the prophets of Baal and Asherah, which they do. And this is where chapter 19 picks up with Ahab telling his wife, Jezebel, of what had happened. She gets angry and declares Elijah a traitor and enemy of the state. Elijah flees.

Now, the frequent interpretation I’ve heard growing up in the church of this preceding set of stories is how wonderful it is that God showed himself to be right, and how fitting it is that evil was destroyed. It’s a “Go God!” story, showing how God will vindicate himself.

But is it really?

Often when we read stories like these, we make the assumption that because things turn out in favor of God and the righteous, that what happened must be right and God’s will. In this case because God sends down fire on Mt. Carmel, it must have been his will, and that the subsequent action taken by Elijah was also God’s will.

But was it really?

What if Elijah was overstepping his bounds? What if Elijah had assumed things about God and was acting upon his own ideas about how he thought God would respond and about what he thought God wanted?

I’ve already laid out some evidence from Jonah and from Jewish commentators as to why an alternate reading is plausible. Now I’d like to show why I think the text of 1 Kings 18 and 19 itself supports this alternate interpretation.

First, in the command God gives to Elijah about returning to Ahab, God’s command is to “present himself [Elijah] to Ahab” and then the rain will return. There is nothing here about God commanding a showdown or a demonstration of power. This reminds me of Moses and his action at Meribah (Numbers 20). In biblical interpretation, Elijah is seen as a type of Moses, so it should not be surprising that the chronicler of Elijah might allude in some ways to Moses’ life events. At Meribah, the people are complaining about a lack of water. God commands Moses to speak to a rock, but instead, Moses, in his anger, strikes the rock twice. In spite of Moses’ actions God supplies water, but Moses is punished by not being allowed to enter the Promised Land. In this story Moses oversteps God’s commands and carries out his own desires. Perhaps the chronicler of Elijah is alluding to this story about Moses. I believe it is quite likely that the entire showdown at Mt. Carmel (that also, incidentally, uses water) was of Elijah going beyond God’s command. God still manifests himself through a sign, but it can be interpreted as not what God desired to happen. And the slaughter of the prophets of Baal? Quite possibly overzealousness on Elijah’s part, and his imitating surrounding culture in how opposing prophets were handled by victorious powers.

When God finally speaks to Elijah (in 1Ki 19) after fleeing Jezebel, there is no commendation of Elijah’s prior actions. Rather there seems to be a sense of rebuke. Elijah’s response is that he was defending God’s honor (“I’ve been zealous for the Lord”), and by pointing out that he was all alone in this, perhaps seeking some kind of pity and affirmation. But God offers neither. This happens twice. And Elijah’s response is identical both times.

In between the two conversations a violent storm, an earthquake, and fire come, but God is not in any of them. These are metaphors associated with violent judgment. But when God finally speaks, it is not through any of them but rather, in “a still, small voice.” Perhaps this is an explanation that the fire that came down on Mt. Carmel was more about Elijah’s desires rather than God’s. Perhaps this is God trying to tell Elijah that power and violence are not the means of reaching the hearts of people. I think here, Jonah’s story is the counterpoint, where merely speaking changes people’s hearts.

God asks again what Elijah is doing here, and Elijah gives an identical response, word for word. It seems clear that Elijah has failed to comprehend God and his methods of working with humans, even with those that fail to acknowledge him. Jewish commentaries suggest that Elijah’s failure was to consider God’s mercy and compassion as greater than his power and vengeance. It appears his zeal has consumed his ability to be merciful or to even think about it as a possibility. There is still work for Elijah, but it is in wrapping up his time on earth and appointing a successor.

I hope you can see now that Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel, often seen as an example for us to confront forcefully those we think are opposing God, could be the antithesis of what the storyteller in this passage really wanted the reader to understand. In the broader picture, this could be a story about people overzealously claiming things for God that God himself wants no part of.

I think we should be extremely wary of any claims to force, power, and violence as tools that God desires or uses. I think we should be very careful in how we defend God, if we ever feel the need arises. I think we need to re-read the Bible with more nuance and not automatically assume that because something turned out okay, God must have desired things to come about in the manner described. I think our frequent desire for judgment and vengeance is more a reflection about our nature than about God’s. I don’t think we can ever exaggerate the magnitude of God’s love, mercy, and compassion.

Whenever we are confused about how to respond to another person, favor the way of love, mercy, and compassion – with no ulterior motives and with no strings attached. Don’t let your zeal for God consume your mercy and love for others.

Friday, June 03, 2016

Religious tracts and stuff I used to believe

This showed up in my mailbox today. Whenever something comes in a plain envelope with “Truth” on it, I start to develop shakes and hives (okay, not literally, but psychologically). And when the word “Triumphant” is right in there as well, I know whatever is in it is probably crap. (Oh, and nice use of alliteration. Your homiletics prof would be proud.) The worst part about all this is that even though I would have never associated myself with fringe groups that send out this junk, I would have nodded in agreement with quite a bit of what is contained in it.

I’d normally have thrown it out without a second glance, but curiosity got the better of me. Question such as, how bad is it? Is there anything new or different that they’ve added? How fringe is it?

So the front artwork is the all-too-typical black-and-white line drawing. And of course it’s all about the good ol’ U.S.A. with the standard themes of patriotism and liberty under some sort of attack (in this case the text refers to 9-11).

The usual scare tactics and fear-mongering with little or no biblical support. Note the call-out and larger type.

And of course when it comes to apocalyptic prophecies, it’s all about secret knowledge and conspiracies. Note, too, the implied association of America as a special entity favored by God.

Ah, we can’t leave without first singing the refrain, “The Roman Catholic Church is evil!!!” Somehow the Vatican is going to unite everyone and everything against “True Believers.” Pope Francis – a tool of the devil.

All the bad and shocking stuff that happens around us and in the world? God. You read it right here. Because getting our attention is the most important thing, no matter what it takes – killing thousands via terrorism, wars, natural disasters, etc. Because in the end what happens to a single individual on earth doesn’t matter if many more are saved to get to heaven. Oh, and the 9-11 at the beginning? It was the 9-1-1 call (not pictured) from God to get our attention.

With PR like this, God doesn’t need enemies.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

Sermon for Trinity Sunday: Mirepoix

The following is the sermon I preached at the Petersburg Lutheran Church on Sunday, May 22, 2016. The gospel text is John 16:12-15 and the New Testament text is Romans 5:1-5.

Last month, April, Elise and I spent a week in New Orleans, Louisiana. Having been settled by the French in the early 1700’s, then given over to the Spanish, back to the French, and then to America, there is a lot of history. Its culinary heritage also contains the diverse mixture and history of its residents. In fact Creole cuisine is recognized as the only non-Native indigenous cuisine of North America.

In addition to the sight-seeing, one of the highlights we experienced was sitting through a cooking demonstration of Creole and Cajun cuisine at the New Orleans School of Cooking, where the instructor for that lunch period was Chef Kevin Belton. He demonstrated putting together gumbo, jambalaya, bread pudding, and pralines while talking about the culinary history of New Orleans and how it permeates his own personal and family history. For New Orleanians, food and cooking is not just something to do to take in nourishment, but it is a family affair. It brings multiple generations together to share community and tradition. It is a glue that holds people together.

The foundation and distinctiveness to much of this cuisine is three vegetables: onions, celery, and green peppers. When the French arrived from Europe, they brought with them their cooking style. In France many dishes are based on mirepoix which is onions, celery, and carrots combined and sautéed, fried, or baked. But these first settlers discovered they could not get carrots in the swamps of Louisiana, and so they substituted it with what they could find plenty of: green peppers. Whereas carrots are fairly mild and sweet, green peppers are bold, assertive, and grassy. And thus Creole cuisine was born. The French settlers, the devout Catholics that they were, termed this mirepoix combination the Trinity, which is still the term cooks use today.

Chef Kevin describes that in his family, his mother would often begin sautéing the Trinity before she knew what she was going to cook for dinner. That’s how integral these vegetables are to Creole cuisine. It is what makes New Orleans food so distinct. When you taste the finished dishes, you can pick out each individual components, but it is the combination that gives them their uniqueness.

I think food is an appropriate metaphor for the Christian Trinity in describing God. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit have their own unique characteristics, but it is when they come together as one, working in harmony and in combination, that the full and complete nature of the Godhead becomes evident and manifest. The foundational characteristic of God is self-sacrificing love, and that cannot be known by a singular individual. It requires a community. This love is the distinct flavor that is unique to the Christian Godhead, the Trinity, and it is what flavors all God’s interactions with creation and humankind.

In many restaurants, hierarchies exist: from the executive chef, to the sous chefs, to the line cooks, to servers, to the busboy, and to the dishwashers. But often, before the evening begins they come together to share a family meal, in which these distinctions are set aside, at least for a time.

The gospel text for today in John chapter 16 is part of Jesus’ extended discourse following the Last Supper in the Upper Room. We understand this to be Jesus’ inauguration of the Eucharist or Communion. It is where Jesus used food and drink to bring together and establish a community based on self-sacrificing love. It was an event where Jesus broke down hierarchies and human-distinctions and created a family-based faith community.

Anyone who cooks knows that recipes are important. It may be something you follow diligently from a book (or screen), or it may be something that you’ve done so many times that you just know. But there are ingredients and steps. There are amounts to be measured, and although substitutions can happen, they can’t just be random ones. But recipes don’t describe the experience of eating. Even the best food photographs, artfully presented, can only arouse the senses and desire. They cannot satisfy.

Food is an experience that has to be consumed. And while having a great dinner by yourself may be fine from time to time, the best experiences with food and eating usually happen in the setting of community – with family and friends. (As an aside and also an acknowledgement, some bad experiences do also happen around the dinner table with family.) In fact an average meal with good conversation and interactions are often more memorable than technically perfect dishes but with tension among the people around the table. Good food is valuable, but so is good company.

I think the same can be said of what happens in churches, our Christian community. Good theology, good services, good programs – they are valuable. But by themselves they mean very little. Even the Godhead, with its perfect love, mean nothing without a community in which that love can be manifest and through which its power is experienced by all the world.

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” (John 3:16) And this Son, Jesus Christ, created a community as part of his glorification of the Father. “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” (John 17:22-23) “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” (John 15:12-13) “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35). “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-14)

The glory of the Father is his love. This glory was shown to humankind through the self-sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Jesus gave his disciples the Holy Spirit to remind all future generations of this love, and to provide the power to enable us to live the love of Jesus in our daily lives.

The “truth” that Jesus spoke of in John 16:13 is not facts, data, or theological knowledge. It is the power and experience of love that seasons and binds the community of faith and transforms it into a family that genuinely cares and sacrifices for one another.

This is the divine mirepoix. This is the essence and foundation of God that we are acknowledging today on Trinity Sunday. Love – the genuine concern and care for one another – is the flavor that God wants to have permeate through his family: in this congregation, among all the churches in Petersburg, and through the whole world. It is the distinct flavor that anyone tasting it should recognize without question.

But we also much acknowledge that we are often rather imperfect at incorporating this divine mirepoix into our personal and communal lives. I know this for myself, and none of us need to be reminded or harangued about it. So I’m going to leave out any more criticism and ask a few questions for each of us to ponder.

Who or what in the past week has given you a taste of God’s love?
How would you most like to experience God’s love now?
How do you think God inviting you to participate in his love for the world?

In closing here is our reading from Romans:

Therefore, since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. (5:1-5)

Friday, April 22, 2016

Two week vacation with an iPhone as my only camera

I recently returned from two weeks vacationing in New Orleans and Kansas City. In preparation for the trip, I got myself a set of Moment lenses and a Moment case. I was very curious to see if I could capture decent images with an iPhone 6 and these lenses. I was interested in reducing the amount of equipment I carry around on trips. First, because it’s so much easier to pack everything that I can carry on to a flight – and reducing camera gear goes a long way towards reducing bulk and weight. Second, because having pocketable camera gear means I’ll have it with me more often, and I don’t have to intentionally remember to bring along a bag large enough (and possibly awkward to carry around). And thirdly, because so many venues and attractions now discourage or even prohibit “professional” (i.e., interchangeable lens) camera gear. And even if not prohibited, it feels more awkward to use a larger camera in a crowd.

The Good

Overall I was quite pleased during my two weeks having a pocketable system. The wide angle lens gave me sufficient coverage to pick up entire buildings in confined city areas, and broad landscapes. The telephoto lens allowed me to gain a little more reach and the ability to crop out optically distractions that would normally have entered into the frame. I had a few occasions to use the macro lens, mostly with flowers and plants. Switching the lenses was relatively quick and easy, something that practice helps with. The case and app combo worked well for the most part.

I was pleasantly surprised at the ability to capture some wildlife images, albeit it was in a park and they were used to having people around, thus they weren’t terribly skittish or quick to move. I wish there was a longer telephoto available, but I’m not sure the system would remain entirely pocketable.

The Not-So-Good

There were a number of areas where I experienced deficiencies and where I thought could use some improvements. The lenses are quite good, but I did notice a some distortion in the corners and sides. Interestingly it seems the telephoto lens seems to suffer more. While it may not be noticeable on smartphone size displays, it does become quite pronounced on larger displays.

The lens is quite small and I feared dropping one accidentally. This was particularly an issue when I was on a steamboat on the Mississippi with open railings going straight out into the water. Changing lenses was a bit of a nerve-wracking affair. Fortunately nothing of the sort happened during the trip.

My greatest annoyance might be with the Moment app and the case. As I wrote earlier, it works well most of the time. But from time to time the Bluetooth connection would seem to not work (even though it says connected) and pressing the shutter wouldn’t do anything. Or there would be seconds-long delay and the shutter would finally snap, taking an image of my foot or floor, or some other randomly pointed thing. Another app annoyance is that it recognizes when a lens is attached and prompts for selection of the lens type to be recorded into the EXIF metadata (as long as Bluetooth is connected). But it doesn’t clear out the selection when a lens is removed. Is the case unable to detect lens removal? The focusing with the telephoto lens attached didn’t always seem to track accurately, and I ended up having to manually adjust the focus on a number of occasions.

A Selection of Images

I estimate I snapped over 700 photos during the two weeks. About half I posted on Facebook to chronicle the vacation. Of these I found 95 to be worth another look, and eventually settled on 28 that I thought were most interesting, of good quality, and worth spending more time processing. I also sent these 28 out to MPix for printing – about half at 5x7 size, and the rest as 10x13. I processed these using On1’s photo editing suite, including enlarging them using its Genuine Fractals enlargement function. I haven’t received them back so I don’t know how they will look like in print, but from equivalent sizes I viewed on my PC display, I thought the images look quite good.

So here is the selection. Click on each image for larger version. I added the Moment lens used (EXIF might show wrong info, if I forgot to assign the correct lens in the app when I shot the image). If there is no mention, then the image was taken with the standard iPhone rear camera.

Somewhere over Vancouver BC. I was taken by the interesting lines made by the snow.
(Moment Tele)