Epiphany is one of my most favorite seasons of the church year. Every Sunday between now and February 26 (Transfiguration Sunday) in the scriptures that we study an aspect of Jesus’ character will be revealed. For the first Sunday after the Epiphany we get to witness, through the eyes of Matthew, Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River.

More importantly we come to understand how Jesus keeps his focus and his head in the game.

John has just finished saying, “I baptize you with water …the one coming after me …he is much more powerful and I am not even worthy to carry his sandals. He will baptize you with fire and the Holy Spirit.” And right on cue, Jesus appears on the scene to be baptized.

John doesn’t want to do it.

All four gospels record the baptism of Jesus. All four gospels to squirm at this point. How is it that the one without sin has come to the Jordan to be baptized? It doesn’t make sense.

John asks a question of Jesus, “do you come to me?”  He understands who Jesus is. He knows whose Jesus is. What purpose does it serve that Jesus comes to be baptized? John knows it should be Jesus baptizing him! And so he asks the question, “do you come to me?”

Yes, Jesus comes to John. “…it is proper for us to in this way to fulfill all righteousness.” In other words, it’s time to get to receive the mission, get focused and get to work.

This baptism is a two-person proposition. Jesus must seek it; John must do it. This is God’s plan and it must be so. That is the path to righteousness.

What does this righteousness look like? For Jesus, it is both inward and outward – an inward desire paired with outward actions.

This is the first act of Jesus’ public ministry and he is obedient to God’s will, God’s calling for his life and all that is before him. Jesus is on a mission – God’s mission — this is how it is to begin.

Yes, Jesus is the messiah but he is a humble messiah. He walks the same path that we walk though his walk is very different. Setting the example for us, he is not so unsure of himself that he has to hold onto power. It will be at his weakest point that he will be the most powerful.

And God punctuates this whole scene with a simple statement – “this is my Son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” Jesus’ identity is affirmed. Before and above anything else, Jesus is God’s son, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

Jesus is focused. He understands who and whose he is before he begins the enormous mission before him. The first test will come soon. The same Holy Spirit that descends on him will take him by the hand into the desert for a 40-day fast and a tempting three-day conversation with Satan.

If Jesus has just one ounce of doubt, one degree of misunderstanding of who and whose he is, if he mistrusts the relationship he has with God, it will leave him open to temptation. He must stay focused and keep his head in the game. And he will do that knowing that he is God’s son, the beloved, with whom God is well pleased.

Before we start any mission, we too, must be focused and have our head in the game.

We must understand who and whose we are and understand the relationship that we have with God so that we, too, may resist the temptation to make it our mission, our call rather than God’s mission and God’s call to where we are to be and who we are to be at this place and in this time.

The most important thing that we can hear from the scripture is that we, too, are God’s beloved. And perhaps that is the hardest to hear and understand.

Why is that? Because all our lives we hear other names that people call us – stupid, loser, chicken, fat, dumb, clumsy – think about the names that people have called you.

Names are powerful – we are given names. We take names for ourselves. Names give us pride. Names shame us. Names can make us great. Names can reduce us to nothing. The old adage – sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me – is undone. The cold, hard reality is that names are powerful.

Our earthly names do not define us, they do not give us life and none of them provide for us redemption. BUT God’s name for us does. God’s name gives us life. God’s name gives us redemption.

In our baptism GOD calls us his child, his beloved.  Who we are: beloved. Whose we are: child of God. Names are powerful but God’s name for us is so much more powerful than any name that we could be given here on earth.

NAMED by God as his beloved child and CLAIMED by God when we are marked with the cross of Christ forever, we have the promise of the Holy Spirit, we are given the promise of life with God forever.

So who are we? Beloved child! Whose are we? of God! This means that no matter where we go, God goes with us.

Who are we? Beloved. And Whose are we? Child of God. This means that no matter what we do, God does not abandon us.

Named and claimed – we can go forth to face the challenges of the world before us.

Named and claimed – we can, with boldness, answer God’s call to his mission.

So the next time someone asks you what’s your name tell them, “I’m a beloved child of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and focused on answering God’s call to mission.”

And if that is too much to remember, simply say,” I am a beloved baptized child of God.”

Depending on who and whose you are, there might be a lot in a name.

Do you know what your name means? Or how you got it? Are you named for someone special? Or was it something that your parents picked out of a hat? Was it something that they “just liked” and so they thought it would be a great idea to give it to you?

We all know someone with a funny name and, if you’re old enough, the song “A Boy Named ‘Sue’” written by Shel Silverstein and sung by Johnny Cash brings home the dilemma of having a “meaningful” name.  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BttlvcAeNSo) Frank Zappa did it and so did George Foreman – gave their children funny names.

According to answers.com about 17,000 people each year change their name and the number one reason, according to Legal Zoom.com – is because they dislike their present name.

Even names in the Bible were changed – Abram and Sarai were changed to Abraham, which means the “father of many” and Sarah.

Jesus changed Simon bar Jonah’s name to Simon Petra or Simon Peter, which means rock and of course Saul, the great persecutor of the Christians and the one behind the first martyr, Stephen, became Paul, a fool for Christ and the author of many of the New Testament letters.

Names are powerful things! They identify you! They tell the world what family you are from – what about Kennedy or Hurst or Vanderbuilt or Rockefeller.

But what about God? How does that name identify us?

In Galatians 4:5 we are told that we are adopted as children of God.

That is what our baptism is all about – we are adopted as children of God. That day that we were Christ-ened – in other words, we were named in Christ. When we present children for baptism we never use their last name.

This brings home to us the reality that we are children of God and an heir to the kingdom of heaven. In our baptisms, the Holy Spirit has put on Christ onto us. And we receive the blessings from God.

In Numbers 6:27, we are told that God’s put his name on us and as a result we have received a blessing.

So what is a blessing? It is more than just good luck. God is claiming the nation of Israel. God is saying that not only does he dwell in the temple but that he is promising his presence on the  people.

In the Old Testament, a blessing carried a lot of weight. It was so much more than just words – it is an action, the passing on of power, the passing on of prosperity. That is why Jacob sought to steal the blessing of his older twin brother Esau (see Genesis 25-28)

A blessing is so much more than giving permission. Think about when your children have asked to do something or when you, as a young child, would ask to have or do something.

After an onslaught of “pleeeeeaaaassseee” we might do so grudgingly – that’s giving permission. “Ok, fine.”

But when they ask for something and we tell them, “Sure, go ahead and have a great time!” – now that is a blessing! We not just giving permission, but we’re giving our excitement and our love and our support – there’s a difference!

So God is saying to Israel, “go ahead, have a great time in the promised land and take my name out into the world – it’s going to be awesome!”

There are six verbs in the Numbers passage and God is the subject of every single one of them:

• The Lord bless,
• the Lord Keep,
• the Lord make his face to shine,
• the Lord be gracious,
• the Lord lift up his countenance,
• the Lord gives

Not only that, it’s personal!

• The Lord bless you,
• the Lord Keep you ,
• the Lord make his face to shine upon you,
• the Lord be gracious to you,
• the Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
• the Lord give you peace.

This is a personal “you” – not “you all” as in community. Perhaps the idea is that as we hear this blessing, we will make it our own, take it personally and then take it out into the community.

Then to put the exclamation point on it, to say one more time that he is the originator of the action, God says, “I will bless them” because my name is upon them.

This is the same name that has been put on us through our baptism and that we take this same personal blessing out into the world. We are his children and we are blessed to be a blessing to those around us.

There is power in that name of Jesus – his very name, “the Lord saves” reminds us that he came to bring us and the entire world salvation.

We are encouraged to pray in Jesus name and in fact that’s how we end our prayers.

There is healing in Jesus’ name, too – Peter and John tried to heal a man crippled from birth who was laid at the at the gates of Jerusalem. But when they evoked Jesus’ name and then commanded the man to get up and walk, he did. (Acts 3)

In Jesus name, we find our purpose, our identity – he tells us as the Father sent him, so he sends us – out into the world to share God’s blessings with others.

Galatians reminds us that God sent the Spirit of Son into our hearts and that we are children and heirs, through God.

In this new year, may we think about

• what it means to have the name of Jesus upon us,
• how it might shape our decisions,
• how it might affect us in our workplace,
• how we might think about our relationships a bit differently
• and how, as children of God, it affects our very actions.

In the name of Christ, Happy New Year!

All four gospel writers give a different picture of Jesus’ birth, depending on for whom and when the Gospel was written. The writer of Luke – addressing the Gentile community – tried to put down an “orderly” account – facts and documentation – of Christ’s birth.

Matthew – writing for his Jewish community – tried to explain Jesus by starting out with a genealogy that traces Jesus through the line of David and finishes up with prophecies and fulfillment.

Mark doesn’t even bother and goes right to John the Baptist crying out in the desert.

John is different. He seeks to give us a “big picture” look at Jesus. Writing about 100 years after the birth of Christ, he seems to understand the Western mind – our western minds—as he explains the “who” and the “why” of Jesus, because to the writer of John, knowing and believing who Jesus is matters.

The first thing that this writer wants us to understand is that Jesus didn’t start in Bethlehem.

Jesus started much, much earlier. Like in the beginning. Like BEFORE the beginning.

The Gospel of John starts with: “ In the beginning was the word… the word was God.”

Turn to Genesis. “In the beginning, God created…” and spoke the world into existence. Sound familiar?

The writer of John has given Jesus an interesting name. He calls him “word” or in the Greek “logos.” This word “word” means an expression of a thought or reason.

From “logos”, we get the word “logic” as well as the word, “logo,” which means a literal, physical expression. Here’s an example: show anyone a picture of the “Golden Arches,” especially children and immediately, even if they don’t read, they understand hamburgers, French fries, happy meals and toys!

So Jesus is the “logos” – the Word, the literal, physical expression of God, with God in the beginning, the true light that gives light to the world was coming in the world.

God is eternal and so is Jesus.

For the writer of John in particular, knowing and believing who Jesus is matters but there is a problem – a really big problem. The world didn’t know or believe who or what Jesus was.

Over 300 messianic prophecies and the world couldn’t recognize him.

The Israelites, now called the Jews, were looking for a messiah that would save them from all their problems, provide an earthly kingdom and just hand it to them on a platter. Just like Cyrus the Persian did some 600 years before when he released the Israelites from Babylon. The first world leader to be called “great.” He gave them money – a lot of money — to return to Jerusalem, to rebuild the temple, their homes and lives.

In their defense, it was a confusing time. Depending upon what sect you were a member, you either didn’t believe that there would be a messiah, that there would be two or that the messiah would look Cyrus.

In the middle of all this confusion, God tried to come to his own, to redeem them.

They were too occupied with what they wanted to see, they couldn’t hear the words of the prophets nor could they see the signs right before them – from the words of the psalmists, to Micah, to Isaiah to Zechariah.

All those signs. They did not receive God. The world didn’t know or believe who or what Jesus was. They were still in the dark.

Do we have the same problem?

Are we still in the dark? Are we overcome by the noise of the world? Our ears cannot hear, our hearts so occupied with other things, our eyes so taken with this world?

Too self-absorbed and so busy that we don’t have time to know who Jesus is much less believe? What could possibly get our attention? What could have possibly get their attention 2000 years ago?

God had a plan – he always has a plan – and it’s in verse 14 “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.”

Literally, in the Greek, God pitched his tent and lived with us. God camps out with us.

The one who spoke the world into being is now one of us lying in a manger.

The one who’s voice sounded like thunder from top of Mount Sinai now could not utter an intelligible sound and do nothing more than coo and cry.

The light of the world in all his glory was now a baby full of grace and truth.

God became a human so that you and I can see God in all his glory – the sum of the attributes of God.

God became human so that you and I can see God in all his grace – which are gifts that we receive that are neither deserved or earned.

God became human so that you and I can see God in all his truth – which is unhidden knowledge.

We couldn’t see God before but now we can see God – because Jesus is Emmanuel – which means the “with us God.”

And God didn’t send anyone – God sent himself, God came himself, God has made himself known through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.

If you thought that Jesus was just an historical figure, a godly or good man or simply another prophet, then we have a case of mistaken identity. If you think that Jesus came to coerce, avenge and punish, you’ve got the wrong god and the wrong messiah.

God came as a savior that no one could miss to give a gift that no one else could give. For everyone. For the Jews. For the Gentiles. For you. For me.

Jesus is the perfect sacrifice, the perfect example of a God who loves us so much, who wants a relationship with us.

God has come to change our point of view – because knowing and believing who Jesus is…matters!

We’ve all been there…having to make a decision between two options, neither of which are very good. It’s an intolerable situation – faced with making a choice, neither of which would have a pleasant outcome. Perhaps a decision that will have life and death results. It’s called being between a rock and a hard place, a very uncomfortable place.

That’s where Joseph find himself…making a decision that will have life and death results. Divorce Mary quietly or loudly – a broken promise was a broken promise. We don’t know what went on between Mary and Joseph or Mary’s father and Joseph when it was discovered that Mary was pregnant. It couldn’t have been a pleasant conversation.

First century marriage customs are different – many of the marriages were prearranged between the men of the family when the children were, well, children. Love was not the issue. The bride did not expect love, companionship or comfort.

The idea of marriage was to join two families together, not individuals.  And most of the time it was done to gain economic or political advantage. It all came with a price — a bride price, which was paid by the husband-to-be.

Betrothals were about a year long and were binding, just like marriage. Only death or divorce terminated them and if the betrothed died before the actual wedding date, the surviving spouse to be would be considered “widowed”.

And, the honor code was simple – you didn’t take something that was not yours and that included your betrothed wife. And since the child was NOT his, Joseph was entitled to a refund of the bride price. The families were in crisis – confused, hurt with dreams dashed – and terribly embarrassed.

Joseph lived his life according to the law of Moses – he was righteous in that respect. He loved Mary but now he found himself hurt and disappointed – and betrayed. His espoused wife had obviously been unfaithful. The evidence was clear. She was pregnant and Joseph knew he wasn’t the father.

She faced death by stoning and when they caught up with the father – well, he could face the same penalty – again for taking something that was not his to take.

It was a dark day indeed for Joseph, son of David. His rock and hard place. Two choices. Both bad. The outcome – the scandal – so much to bear.

That’s what the angel called him – “son of David” – King David – right out of the Old Testament — now there’s a man with a story rife with scandal.

Matthew, in vs. 1-17, of this same chapter, takes great pains to draw the genealogical line from Abraham right up to Joseph. Contained in that line are the names of “other” women – Tamar, who slept with her father-in-law, Rahab the Amorite Harlot, Ruth the Moabite, and the wife of Uriah – Bathsheba, who became David’s wife.

That’s what it means to be a part of the family – no one is perfect and yet God works through all the imperfection to create something wonderful and beautiful and good and God’s purpose will not be thwarted. God does new things through old sinful ways and habits of God’s people.

Do not be afraid… those places between rocks and hard places scare us. Fear – opposite of faith – stops us in our tracks, makes us contemplate and do things that aren’t in God’s plan.

It takes a dream and an angel to awaken Joseph to something beyond his wildest imagination – God is revealing a new thing that God is doing in the world.

God awakens us to the possibility that it just might not be about us, but something much bigger, beyond all comprehension is going to happen, and that all God is doing is beckoning us to take God’s hand for an adventure of a lifetime. It may make absolutely no sense to us.

This is scary stuff . No less for Joseph. It took an angel to convince Joseph. Take Mary. Take the child. Name him Jesus.

YOU name him Jesus. It was the father that did the naming and therefore the claiming of the child. That was the 1^st century litmus test for paternity.

That’s like saying: You will have a son and name him Bill, which your grandfather said whose name was to be Marvin. This is not logical.

Because simply put, there are times that to us, God is not logical. What we have here is a baby named Jesus, the fulfillment of a promise that is a baby that is going to be named Emmanuel.

Emmanuel, which means God with us.

A baby is born, who is going to save people and that he is also God manifest – God with us – Jesus and Emmanuel.  God makes a promise and then in surprising ways, fulfills it.

Jesus is that promise kept. And this passage also reveals the character of God to us. Not only does he keep his promises in ways that we don’t expect and might find strange, but God goes above and beyond.

Here, not only has God kept his promise, but broadened it. This promise is not just for David and all his kinfolk as well as Israel, but it is for all of us. And now that Jesus is called “Emmanuel” begins to make more sense.

“Emmanuel” – which means, literally translated from the Hebrew, – “the ‘with us’ God.”  The bible was written because God had much to say to us and it is a book of faith to be believed. Jesus is the ‘with us’ God who saves the world from its sins.

This narrative that contains unexpected, surprising and even jaw-dropping events helps us to see God as one who will do the unexpected. It helps us to see God as one that will not quit.

God’s creation is a work in progress, always changing, not always making sense, sometimes downright inconvenient and confusing. God is always at work, never tiring and always surprising.

God is the ultimate promise-keeper. And this is never more fully understood than in the cry of a child, born of an unwed pregnant teenager out in the stable.

As we bring this Advent season to a close, may we listen for God’s word of love, grace and mercy today and always, knowing that God is coming, God is here and that in the end, everything will turn out OK  — even when we’re face with impossible situations, rocks and hard places — because God has promised to always be Emmanuel.

Fear not. God is doing a new thing. And God has invited us to be a part of God’s amazing, creative, redemptive work.

Recently I had to replace my beloved Dell laptop that I had for 8 years. I knew it was coming… that one day the blue screen of foreboding would morph into the black screen of death.

Sure enough, one fateful day in late October, it happened. So I checked my laptop into computer ICU at MicroCenter and hoped for the best.

It was not to be…so I waited for the Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals and replace it.

Which I did with a Surface. It arrived while I was at work and so I had to wait until the next morning to set it up. And it wants to take my picture.

It was early in the morning, still dark outside, I was still wearing my kitty cat slippers and thinking nothing of it, I let it take my picture. It also asked for pin for a backup.

And then I saw the picture it took. The florescent light coming from the desk light above cast very unflattering shadows on my face, aging me about 20 years. Whatever.

Until it started using that picture to identify me with the face recognition software every time I went to log in.

“Are you the one? Let me see your face. “

And it doesn’t recognize me, because the picture looks nothing like me in the warm light of day with make up on. So it asks for my pin and then suggests that perhaps I take another picture, perhaps that one will be better.

John the Baptist is sitting in prison and asks the same question, “Are you the one? John was having a little trouble with the 1st century version of face recognition of a Messiah.

He had good reason to question if Jesus was THE messiah that everyone was waiting for.

John proclaimed that the coming Messiah standing at the threshing floor, winnowing fork in hand and a fire brightly burning.

When they met at the river Jordan, when John didn’t feel worthy to baptize him, Jesus said we need to do this because “it is proper for us in this way to fulfill all righteousness,” which was a messianic accomplishment.

In first century Judaism had no specific job description and expectations for what a Messiah should do and be. Their activities were up for debate in regard to nature, identity and activities.

Some expected a priestly messiah, others a shepherd. One sect thought that there were going to be two messiahs and still others had no messianic expectations at all. Many thought that John the Baptist was the messiah.

To confuse matters a bit, Jesus is acting a whole lot like a prophet, and after having heard of John’s arrest in Matthew 4:17, takes up John’s cry of “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

So John is saying, I know that I’m not the messiah, I’m just a prophet. Go ask this guy, “Are you the one or should we wait for another?”

One family member in Herod’s prison is enough. Jesus didn’t need to join him. So he sends back a coded message that the guards surely wouldn’t understand.

He tells John’s disciples to go and tell what you see and hear. Jesus rattles off a whole bunch of reversals: Blind people see. Lame people walk. Lepers are cleansed. The deaf hear. The dead live. Poor people hear good news and it is brought to them.

And the punch line: Blessed is anyone who takes no offense at Jesus for doing these things.

Face recognition.

Understanding.

Mission statement.

Restoration.

See. Hear. Go. Tell.

See Jesus and recognize him as he sees others that society would rather not. Hear what is being said and understand. Go in mission. Tell about the restoration of minds, bodies, spirits, relationships.

No, don’t wait for another because the kingdom of heaven has come near. Now. Jesus is the one. And he brings hope for all people. Don’t be scandalized by actions that are done solely for the sake of the other; and that give justice to the least of these.

Then Jesus reminds the crowd why they went out into the wilderness – to see a prophet. But did they listen? Did they hear what John said?

Jesus heaps praises on John and declares him the greatest of the prophets. Yet even the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.

John is relating to the world in the old way. And he was the greatest of that age. But there is a new age now. The new age and new world order that Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount and in the beatitudes.

In the new age, we are invited to relate in a new way. We are to seek good for the other. We are to give to others as we find ourselves.

There will be reversals. Poor in spirit receive the kingdom of heaven; mourners will be comforted; hungry will be filled.

This is a new way of doing discipleship. Choose this way and already you are greater than John the Baptist, greater than anyone in the old age.

Jesus helps us see the world through God’s eyes. He came to help us hear the Good news. He came to give us a promise of eternal life with God.

John never got out of that jail cell. He was beheaded.

As we come back to John’s original question, are you the one who is to come or should we wait for another – we must ask ourselves– is this a Messiah that we can live with?

Can we handle a God who desires us to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with him? Or are we looking for a vengeful, frightening God?

Can we deal with a God who insists that we see the least, the last, the lost the lonely, the left behind and insists upon us doing the same when our inclination is to look the other way?

Can we deal with a God who comes to us in Jesus offering forgiveness, showing mercy, calling us all to repentance, no matter who we are? Because all means all?

God never shows up in ways that we expect him and the kingdom of heaven manifests itself in ways that we can never imagine.

God does show up and the kingdom of heaven does draw close and we know this simply because he sent Jesus to embody that promise.

And we don’t have to wait for another because the kingdom of heaven is near.

Every time we answer God’s invitation and join in God’s redemptive work, doing his work with our hands, getting our hands dirty, then restoration occurs on a large scale.

May we see Christ in each other, recognizing those whom we serve.

Meet John the Baptist today and he would probably creep you out. You might even think he was crazy and in need of medication. Really strong medication.

But not to the people who were flocking to see him in the first century along the river Jordan.

He was a standard issue, first century prophet. He drank no strong drink or wine and lived in the tradition of Elijah as described in 2 Kings 1. That made him a rather hairy fellow because prophets didn’t cut their hair. Eating locusts and wild honey out in the desert, he was totally dependent on God and living off the land.

Prophets didn’t talk about the future. They recalled the past and spoke in the present. They have been described as “truth tellers of the present and past.” And John was out in the wilderness continually prophesying, continually telling the truth.

This was what people were coming out in the desert to see, in the wilderness.

His message was simple, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

The word “repent” is interesting in what doesn’t get translated in the Bible. The word is that in Greek is continuous action.  “Repent.” (and keep on repenting),  not “one and done.”

Commas and punctuation matters, except in the Greek where they didn’t have punctuation much less spaces between words and everything was written in capital letters for many of the books.

Depending upon where you place the punctuation, it can be as we have it, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord” OR if you go back to Isiah 40:3 where John quotes this from it is punctuated differently. “The voice of one crying: In the wilderness, prepare the way of the Lord.” Prepare the way of the Lord in the wilderness.

And the rest of the verse: make straight in the desert a highway for our God.

It is in the desert that we find John. It is in the wilderness where Jesus goes toe-to-toe with the devil in preparation for his ministry. It is the wilderness where things get worked out.

It is in the wilderness where our God is not afraid to meet us and work things out and prepare us for ministry.

Think about the wilderness times in your life. How has God met you there? How did things get worked out? How where you prepared for ministry?

The image of the threshing floor is an interesting analogy for preparation for ministry. It is a concept that we don’t understand because of our urban base of understanding and let’s face it, how many threshing floors will you find in the United States?

Wheat grows on a stem and the grain is in the head. The grain needs to be separated from the rest of the plant. This would be done on a threshing floor.

A threshing floor is a three sided structure that is built in the side of a rise where air comes over it.

So the wheat is put on this floor and beaten. It is the process that separates the wheat grains from the chaff, which would be everything else. But wheat grains are significantly smaller than the rest of the chaff.

So the farmer takes the winnowing fork, which is two pronged fork. The thresher will scoop up the wheat and chaff and throw it up in the air, where the breeze comes over the structure and blows the chaff away and the wheat falls to the floor. It is then collected and made into bread.

Jesus is standing at the threshing floor. There are times when we feel so beaten down, that we too, lay broken on the floor. It is Jesus who picks up – our good parts and our bad parts – and gently throws all of into the air.

And with his holy breath, his ruach, his Holy Spirit, that gently blows our chaff away. This spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. The same words spoken at our baptisms and confirmations.

It is this spirit that blows our chaff into the fire and Jesus gathers the good part of us, which he puts into his granary and uses for his purposes.

The bad parts, the disappointing parts of us are burned with unquenchable fire and destroyed.

And we are prepared for repentance. Continual repentance.

Repentance is much more than saying, “I’m sorry and I won’t do it again.” It is a literal turning around. Do a u-turn. Go in the other direction.

So it is not so much of what we are doing wrong but rather, what do we need to do differently.

God uses the wilderness times in our lives to point out that our way is not the way that God would have us to go and it’s time to change course.

Imagine just what direction God could be pointing us in? Ask ourselves the question what does God want us to do and be in this time and this place.

God has a dream. We hear about it in Isaiah. It is a Peaceable Kingdom. That is the product of God’s judgement. A place where once there was animosity and hate is now harmony. Wolves and lambs. Leopard and baby goats. Calves and lions. All getting along. Lions become vegetarians and share meals with oxen. Children play with snakes and don’t get bitten. All are  righteousness and faithfulness.

A place of justice and mercy. A place of hope. A place of wholeness. A place of peace.

God has a dream. The God who can raise up children of Abraham out of stones, will raise up a child out of a manger who grows up to be a man on a cross for the sake of all people.  This man’s life, death and resurrection will be for the salvation of all.

So we are called by God to repentance, to change directions, to imagine, to hope, to be a part of God’s dream where the kingdom of heaven is so very near.

Even if it’s in the middle of our personal wilderness. A voice is crying, “Prepare the way of the Lord.

God is indeed doing a new thing! This is the time to dream.

This is a question posed in the lyrics of a song performed by the musical group “Chicago.”  Ask a child this question right now and they’ll probably tell you… it’s Christmas time!! Not only that, they just might be able to tell you how many days, hours, minutes AND seconds until the “big day.” Just so you know, there IS an app for that complete with the sung reminder that “Santa Claus is Coming to Town” so you better be good, not shout, pout, cry or pick on your brother or sister because he’s going to find out just who’s naughty or nice!

In the scripture assigned for this past Sunday, Jesus is already in Jerusalem, Palm Sunday has passed and Jesus is in the temple teaching. By the time we get to Matthew 24, Jesus’ fate is sealed as the powers and principalities plot against him.

Jesus begins talking about another “big day” – the day when the temple will be leveled. And so the disciples have their own “come to Jesus” moment and ask him, “When is the Son of Man coming? What will be the signs?” In other words, what time is it?

People do like to predict the end of the world – even back in the 1^st century. It frightened the disciples then. And it frightens people today.  This second coming language has been used to scare the bejeebers out of people and coerce them into behaving the way a church has decided they should.  These verses have been used to falsely convey what a certain sect of the church thinks it knows and exactly what going to happen, who’s good or bad (naughty or nice) and who gets a present or just a lump of coal.

It is easy to get hung up on all this end of the world, apocalyptic words and miss the words of promise  — and because we don’t read vs. 31 where Jesus says that the son of man, with a loud trumpet call, will send out his angels to “gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

And then Jesus gets to the heart of the matter – what it is that scares us and it’s the unexpectedness and unpredictability of life – what scares you? Health concerns, illnesses, loss of a parent or child, loss of a job, catastrophic weather… what’s your list?

And we want to protect ourselves from these things in life that we can’t control – we want to insulate ourselves from the fear and pain and the shear unpredictability of life.

So we seek to control that unpredictability with life insurance, medical insurance, disability, travel, house, phone, car, malpractice – you name it insurance. And understand, I am not saying throw these insurances to the wind – but it does speak to our need to feel safe and secure.

And we would do well to keep repeating vs. 36, “But about that day and hour NO ONE KNOWS, not the angels who get sent by the son, not the son who sends the angels but only the Father, God.

We don’t know when we’ll need any of the insurances that we pay for – there is no way of knowing what medical calamities will befall us, when we will utilize that car insurance.

And we know of way too many instances of where one is taken while the other is left behind – that happens today, in our time, now – 911, Sandy Hook, right here in our community. Was anyone prepared for these disasters?

That’s what Jesus is saying in vs. 37-39, when he compares his return to the flood and Noah’s family. First thing to notice is that there is no moral judgment passed upon these people who fell victim to the massive flooding.

They were going about their lives – eating and drinking – we all do that; and marrying and giving in marriage – we all do that, too. It’s what people do. But the people of Noah’s day were not prepared for what was coming their way. Noah was – and keep in mind – he and his family were those left behind, to do God’s work, to carry on God’s story and promise.

Jesus uses this instance to show the sudden and unexpected act of God. Likewise the pairs of people out doing what they are supposed to be doing – living their lives, working hard in the fields and grinding wheat – all is peaceful, people going about their business – not suspecting a thing, not knowing that something is about to happen.

Have you walked through your neighborhood at night? What do you notice? Street lights? What about that yard light? Are your neighbors home? Perhaps out of town for a few days? When you’re gone, do you have lights on timers, motion-sensor lights on your porch.

All is calm in the neighborhood.

We are vigilant even when we’re gone – we makes sure the mail is taken in, the papers are not left out to advertise our absence, less a robber comes to invade our home, our lives, our property, stealing our peace and security.

We’re ready – just in case… We’re diligent – just in case…

And yet, we’re called to live lives, not in fear, but in faith. That’s the way God made us! We have the promise of the future hope, God calls his elect. We have the promises made to us in our baptisms. God has promised us Emmanuel – to be the “with us God.”

Therefore, we must be ready – as scripture implores us this day. Emmanuel doesn’t insulate us from all that scares us but he does promise that we don’t face it alone.  This preparation for God takes place – as we go about our business – as we eat and drink, marry and give in marriage, as we plant in our fields and grind our wheat – in the living of life.

The promise of the presence of Emmanuel and the hope of Emmanuel to come allows us to think about the possibilities. What can we dare to do?

Living in the sure and present hope of the future yet to come, what can we dare to do now?

The invitation of Advent implores us to explore a different kind of living in daily life. What do we dare to change right now in our lives that reflects who and whose we are – that reflect that we are children of God, wonderful made to live in his image, in faith and not fear?

And even if we fail, we have the promise of healing. We have the promise of Emmanuel, who came such a long time ago, who comes to us now, in the waters of baptism and the bread and the wine and who has promised to come again.

What can we dare to do? What possibilities can we imagine? Because Jesus came, Jesus comes to us now and Jesus comes again – and God’s glory is to be praised! Do you really know what time it is? We really do care that it’s Jesus’ time!

How are you doing? I ask this because there are some who are happy with the election results and there are some who are very sad with the election results. What I do know is that the vast majority of us are Just. Plain. Tired.

The reality is that no matter which candidate lost, we were going to deal with an incredible amount of change. There would be grief, deep grief coupled with anxiety. That has certainly come true.

I don’t think anyone anticipated just how deep the grief has gone. I don’t think that anyone anticipated what the result would unleash in this country.

The election has brought out anxiety and tension, and caused trauma among those who are the most vulnerable in our society. It has brought out the worst that this country has to offer. There are people who are scared. To. Death. The fear is real. The grief is real. The pain is real. The anger is real.

Elizabeth Eaton, bishop of the ELCA, said in her post-election reflection: “all human beings are created in the image of God, even the ones who didn’t vote for your candidate.” I commend her one-minute youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nw2-f82fklc

What is so very important to do, especially in our communities of faith, is to compassionately hold space for those who are grieving.

The majority of the people who voted for Trump did so because they were angry and worried and hopeful that he would fix a system that is not working for them either economically or politically. They voted for significant change to a system that only benefits a small percentage of Americans. They didn’t feel listened to.

No matter which side of the aisle you voted, we all want some of the same things. There is common ground somewhere in there. We all want to be heard, we all want an equitable system that will benefit ALL people, not just the few at the top.

It is at these times especially, that it is important to listen to what God is speaking to us through scripture, how it connects with our lives and informs us.

I’ll digress for a few paragraphs and revisit the All Saints readings from Luke, chapter 6 which included the blessings and the woes, the realities and the reversals.

It was also near the beginning of Jesus’ ministry.

People met Jesus on the level place. They came from all over – Judea, Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon, to listen to Jesus.

They came because they were hurting, they were afraid, the present economic and political system was not only NOT working for them but exploiting them as well. They came to hear a word of hope in a hopeless world.

Sound familiar?

Then Jesus says, “But I say to you that listen…”.
“I say, YOU listen.”

Jesus got very personal in this address. Not “all y’all” but YOU singular. This is how you get through all this yucky stuff that’s going to happen to you.

Love and keep on loving.

Do good and keep on doing good.

Bless and keep on blessing.

Pray and keep on praying.

Give and keep on giving.

And then Jesus punctuates all of this with the Golden Rule.

This week’s scripture takes place at the very end of Jesus’ ministry, in the temple, after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem that we commemorate every year as Palm Sunday.

It’s the last time that he will be in the temple. He’s told his last parable. He’s driven out the money changers. And people were getting up early every day to come listen to him.

Jesus and his disciples are sitting in this grand and opulent place. The disciples SEE all the really cool things that are there and are just blown away. And Jesus must have seen their eyes bug out. And so he brings them back down to earth and to reality with the gravity of the situation.

It’s not going to last. You SEE only this temple.

The struggles of life will still go on. Nothing will change in that regard.

But an interesting opportunity will arise – right after they arrest you and persecute you and throw you in prison and drag you before the oppositional leadership simply because you uttered the name of Jesus —

“THIS will give you an opportunity to testify.”

Testify! Now, there is a word that strikes fear in the heart of just about any self-respecting Lutheran. We avoid that word like the “plague.” It’s not that we don’t do it – we just prefer to call it by another name – “temple talk.”

When we get up and give a “temple talk” about where we SEE God at work through us and how that affects others people’s lives or even our own life and how God was a part of that difference – we are indeed TESTIFYING to the mighty acts of the Father.

The question is what will our testimony be in this time and in this place? The answer lies in what we SEE.

SEEING is very important in the Gospel of Luke – one of the repeated themes. And what we see determines what we choose to see.

And whatever we see we will testify.

If we choose to see God as judge and jury, then we will testify to a vengeful God and will others as deserving of punishment.

If we chose to see hope in God then we will testify to that hope.

Do we see like Jesus? Do we see who he sees? Do we see the least, the last, the lonely, the lost and the left-behind?

Do we see God’s love in it all?

Hope, grace, love and mercy is our testimony. We are God’s hand and feet as well as God’s eyes in this world. It is only through God that we can begin to replace fear with faith.

Now is the time to testify – that is what we must do. And we do it by living out our baptismal covenant – especially that part about working for justice and peace in the all the earth.

In fact we are COMMANDED to do just that.

We are to stand with ALL those who are being persecuted – our persons of color, gay, Muslim, immigrant brothers and sisters. When we see injustice against any brother or sister, we are to call it out. Our silence will only condone the acts and is just as dangerous.

And we need not worry about what we are going to say because the Holy Spirit has our back on that one. Not only will we have words but we will have wisdom as well.

May the wounds begin to heal, may the hatred turn to tolerance, may the distance between each other shorten, may the grief turn to joy.

May our God be praised in all that we do and say and sing, sing to the Lord a new song filled with love, hope and joy!

I knew that this blog would be a challenge to write even before November 8. In every election there is a winner and a loser.  And I would like to think that no matter who won, it wouldn’t change how I wrote this article. I must confess this is not the blog post that I was thinking that I would be writing today.

Just about everyone thought that Clinton would win. She had even planned a fireworks display (which the Coast Guard nixed – good thing) to celebrate her victory. To prove my point, I share a quote from a publication generated by the financial institution that handles our kids’ college funds. Clearly for it to have been delivered in early November, it had to be printed in late October with the articles written by mid-October.  It read, “Following the Nov 8 election…responding favorably to the balance of a Democratic president and Republican congress.”  Wow.

As I sat bleary-eyed in the wee morning hours of November 9 with my entire family glued to the television, I heard a stunned Chuck Todd of “Meet the Press” say, “We just got it wrong. We all just got it wrong.” And I wish I knew who said this: “Donald Trump heard a voice that no one else heard.”

And then the scripture from All Saints’ Sunday, November 6 started to speak to me.

Luke 6:27-31 (excerpted, emphasis my own…) ²⁷ “But I say to you that listen, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. ²⁹ If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. ³⁰ Give to everyone who begs from you; and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. ³¹ Do to others as you would have them do to you.”¹

“To you that listen” And that is what I set out to do. Shut up and listen. For me, that means reading articles by colleagues that are leaders in the field and write with integrity and respect. And asking about colleagues, parishioners, friends, family.

What I heard was, “What do we tell the children?” “My daughter cried.” And from the ELCA Youth Ministry Network facebook page, multiple postings from youth workers describing in painful detail what their young people experienced in school on November 9.

I share the post of Cathryn Hewitt, St. Phillip Lutheran Church of Raleigh, NC, here: School was a battleground. A Trump supporter was scared to go to school for fear of being attacked and hated, this is a good kid! A young lady got on the bus and some boys starting laughing at her and telling her they guessed they didn’t have to respect women anymore. An American born, dark haired, olive skinned young man was approached and told that since he was clearly Mexican that he best start packing and get out of here. A young white boy was repeatedly told that he is what’s wrong with America, “obviously” being a Trump supporter. He is 15 and never said a word about politics at school. A young lady spent a good deal of her day comforting gay and lesbian friends who were being aggressively approached and told that they won’t ever be getting married now, deal with it! One young lady has a friend who is black and muslim, and this person did not even speak yesterday. Other comments that were shared included being told that, “ha, we got you and now you just have to get over it,” “our family is going to move out of the US,” “my muslim friend was told to pack her bags.”²

My heart broke for these kids. My heart just broke. And I grieve for the loss of innocence and safety that I believe that we all want for our children, regardless of how we voted.

I realized the prophetic in the words from Sunday’s sermon, “be the embodiment of God’s love to a hurting world.”

And Jesus tells us how to do it in Luke.

The blessings and woes in this passage in Luke call on us to stand in solidarity, not with the wealthy, but with the least, the last, the lost, the lonely and the left-behind.

We are called to speak up, just as Jesus spoke up for those around him. That’s why he was surrounded by all those people that day on the plain, which is the setting for Luke 6. People came to listen and to hear a word of hope and to feel loved.

And he tells us how to embody the God’s love in this world: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, ²⁸ bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you… Give to everyone who begs from you…” Interestingly enough, the imperatives used don’t completely reflect the Greek from which they are translated, in that we are to do and keep on doing – not a one-and-done- but a continuous action, don’t stop.

Just don’t stop. And say something. Martin Luther King, Jr did. Ghandi did. Silence is dangerous. When we are silent we send the message that what is going on around us is OK and we know that it’s not. Bigotry, racism, sexism, xenophobia, white-privilege, intimidation, misogyny, it’s all NOT ok.

And that’s one thing that I plan to do – speak up and be silent no more. That’s going to take a whole lot of courage from me. I don’t like to ruffle feathers but when something’s not OK, I’m going to say so. I will start right here by saying that while I understand the anger on the part of those who do not want to accept Trump as president, protesting, defacing public property, and intimidation are not appropriate. Period.

An after-election poll by Channel 4 revealed in this area that 42% are scared, 27% are concerned, 16% are optimistic and 15% are excited about the outcome. Understand that this is a time of deep grief for many. And I don’t believe that if the winner and loser exchanged places the grief would have been any less.

The passage from Luke 6 ended with the Golden Rule. So as you come to church this coming Sunday, and I hope that you do, be kind to those who are feeling this grief. No triumphant jeers. And no blaming Trump supporters, either.

A colleague reminded his students about what happened the day after the crucifixion, when the women went to the tomb and “did something that we need to do. They showed up.” The faithful showed up.

That’s what we are called to do as well. Show up. Be faithful.

I sent both of my college young adults out of the door on Wednesday with these words, “God is still King, Jesus is still Lord and the Holy Spirit has got our backs.” I am amending this to “The Holy Spirit is blowing us in new directions.”

The Holy Spirit is reminding us that we are to be God’s hands and feet in this world. The Holy Spirit is reminding us that God is in control and we, as well as ANY president of any nation, are not.

Finally, borrowing from John Wesley’s General Rules (he’s the 18^th century reformer and the founder of the Methodists) “Do no harm, do good, stay in love with God.” Stay in love with God.

I share this prayer with you from Brian McLaren, a 21^st century theologian, pastor and author that he shared on his facebook page yesterday:

Lord, please make us instruments of Your transforming love.

Where hostile voices yell in fearful anger, help us sing loud songs of courageous friendship.

Where people trapped in bigotry send out their shrill dogwhistles of fear, let us form a resounding multi-faith choir of generous inclusion.

Where bulldozers of greed roar in to plunder all that is green and alive, Empower us overcome their noise with our hymn of praise for this beautiful earth.

Where cynicism echoes in the broken hearts of struggling idealists, Let us crescendo with a new song of resilient hope.

O, Holy One, may we seek less to silence our opponents and more to teach them to love your music and join the choir.

Oh God of all beauty, may we be instruments of your transforming love, and may your holy melody rise in us again, more sweet, loud, and strong than ever before, starting now. Amen.

We will all be OK, no matter who we voted for, we will be OK.

Show up, stay faithful, stay in love with God, who is still king, Jesus who is still Lord and the Holy Spirit, who has our backs, and is doing a new thing, blowing us in new directions. We will be OK.

Blessings on your week and peace be with you!

Pastor Heidi

¹New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

²https://www.facebook.com/groups/elcaymnet/

Getting the God that we need…

We celebrate Reformation once a year but re-formation is a continual process. We celebrate Reformation once a year but re-formation is a continual process. Word and sacrament –and the Jesus we find there — continually reforms us.

The conversation between Jesus and “the Jews who had believed in him” in John 8 which Jesus tells us that we “will know the truth and the truth will make [us] free” poignantly shows how true that is.

Those who were listening didn’t understand the phrase “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

And we share so much kinship with Jews of long ago. We respond to the word “freedom” much like they did.

The Jews said that we are descendants of Abraham, slaves to no one. Ok, so they seem to have forgotten the reason behind that little 40-year excursion in the desert.

They were so caught up in their righteousness that they lost sight of the need for justification, for the Word, for the truth.

But as Lutherans are we any different?

Do we get so caught up in our righteousness that we loose sight of the need and free gift of justification?

In other words, does our work on the Word get in the way of the Word’s work on us?

That’s what was happening to Martin Luther. He was so caught up in all the doing and doing it right, that he lost sight of the Truth. In his own words, he was worshiping the wrong God.

I believe it accurate to say that up until that point Martin lived a tortured spiritual life.  He was worshiping a god that scared him to death. This was a god who expected righteousness – strict adherence to the law – and punished ruthlessly those who couldn’t get it right, which is of course everyone.

And when God comes out looking like a tyrant who must be appeased, who is all about the justice, then Jesus becomes nothing more than a “whipping boy” – the one who stood in for us and took the merciless beating we deserve. The one who had to die to make God a forgiving God.¹

And then Luther met Jesus, the Word, the Logos, the Truth and went to work on Martin.

And he found freedom in the Word – freedom from the God that scared him to death².  And met through Jesus a God that was all about love.

It was a God that Martin didn’t expect to meet.

That is what was going on in John 8 – the Jews were meeting the unexpected God, a God of loving and forgiving. A God that didn’t care if they were righteous. A God that wanted to take away their fear.

A God of freedom – from sin, from death, from the devil.

A God of salvation. A God that sees us, seeks us out and brings us home, safe to his bosom, holding us in a close relationship.

And we have just as hard time believing it now as they did then.

A colleague shared this story about a member of a youth group who asked her friends what they imagined Jesus thought of them².

So take a few moments and imagine what Jesus thinks of you.

Is Jesus shaking his head? Perhaps burying his face in his hands? Face palm? Glancing over at God and saying, with outstretched arms, “Hey, I tried…”

The overwhelming answer that the young woman received? Disappointment. They assumed that Jesus and God was disappointed with them.

Yeah, I get that picture, too sometimes, ok, a lot of the times.

How easy it is to forget that we have a God who loves us no matter what and that there is nothing that we can do to make God love us more or make God love us less.

It has to do with how we define and see God. If we see a God that is angry, wants absolute and impeccable righteousness, that is waiting to zap us for every single sin, then of course God is going to be disappointed with us.

It’s because that’s the kind of God that I expect to show up.

And the good news is that I don’t get the God that I expect but rather the one that I need. And that is true for everyone.

What we get is God who shows up when no one and nothing else does.

A God who looks for the least, the lost, the lonely, the last and the left behind.

A God who likes to surprise us with unexpected salvation and grace.

A God who loves us, seeks us out, sees us, runs to us, embraces us, and brings us home – no matter what and without exception.

The son, the Word, the Logos, the truth has made us free and we are free indeed. The Word is re forming us as his disciples. May the Word burn in our hearts, in our minds, in our souls.  And may our response be…

To God’s glory…the Son has made us free!

¹ http://www.workingpreacher.org/

²Thank you, Mike Geyser, for sharing your wonderful insight with me after the service on Sunday – “for me freedom is freedom from fear.”