John 11:33-54: These signs are written so that you may come to believe in Christ Jesus.

At the end of his gospel account, John summarizes his purpose writing, “These [signs] are written so that you may come to believe.”  What does it mean to believe? What does believing look like? Or, who does believing look like?

Today’s gospel reading, which I have expanded to include most of yesterday’s story of Mary and Lazarus depicts two of three members of a family from Bethany. Martha, Mary, and Lazarus might just be belief personified at least according to John.

Before what we heard this afternoon, Martha hears that Jesus is near and does not wait in her household, but seeks out Jesus in the streets. The subsequent conversation enlightens the characteristics of a believer in the face of life and death.  Martha greets Jesus simultaneously challenging him and illuminating her belief in him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” She longs to be reconnected with her brother, but thinks this will happen through the Resurrection on the last day. When Jesus makes a profound confession, “I am the Resurrection and the Life,” Martha is able to make a personal response looking Jesus in the eye and saying, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” Martha takes one form of a believer, and when we confidently go out to meet our Lord we like Martha personify belief in Christ.

Mary is called by her sister to go and find Jesus. She does not hesitate to respond to this calling, as she gets up quickly and goes to him. The interaction that Mary and Jesus have depicts another way of believing. She uses the same words as her sister’s to greet Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Instead of following up with confident words of belief, she weeps. Mary’s response is not a display of disbelief, rather it is a glimpse of the inner pain that accompanies death and loss. Jesus does not tell her that Lazarus is in a better place, nor does he attempt to take away her pain with a cliché phrase of false comfort, nor does he make a theological statement, instead Christ joins in the weeping. Mary walks with Jesus to her brothers tomb to continue in her grief process, not knowing what will happen next. Mary, displays another form of a believer and when we weep in grief, frustration, or anger we again personify belief, and Christ weeps with us.

Lazarus does not seek out Jesus in the same way as his sisters, rather Jesus seeks him out. This interaction displays another shape of believing. In this story we may focus upon Lazarus’ natural death, yet it is also about his emotional/spiritual disconnection from his friend Jesus at the time of death. Jesus calls out Lazarus from the darkness of his tomb, and any doubt in Jesus as the Messiah is overcome when Lazarus shakes off all disconnection and death to respond to this call. Jesus calls the community to unbind him. Lazarus is a believer like his sisters, and I believe even in our disconnection and spiritual death we too personify belief.

Many believed through Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the dead, but the Pharisees, the religious elite of the day, worried that Jesus would cause a revolt that would bring the Roman Empire’s wrath upon them. The Chief priests and Pharisees did not want to shake the status quo, as life was comfortable to them. More Roman troops would diminish the power that they had, so Caiaphas, speaking as the high priest, offered to his fellow temple leaders a solution. Instead of letting the believers of this upstart “Messiah” gain too much momentum and fervor, let us have this one man killed instead of our whole nation. What Caiaphas did not realize in this statement that he was prophesying in the name of the Almighty God. The death of Christ would call all the disparate Children of God together as One Body to believe in the Son that God sent to earth. What does it mean to believe?

To believe is to run out to meet our God. To believe is to weep when we are grief stricken and to know that Jesus weeps with us. To believe is even to be spiritually dead and to allow for Christ to raise us and for our community to unbind us. To believe is to see that even through the fear of losing the status quo and the systematic sin that took Christ to the Cross God’s Will is accomplished. These signs are written so that you may come to believe in Christ Jesus.

Romans 12:1-8: Who are you? What are your gifts? What is your place in the world?

“What do you think are your spiritual gifts?” was one question posed to the youth confirmation class this past Sunday afternoon. After a moment of pondering the question one high school student said, “I like to serve others and… music, I like to make music.” Another teenager piped up, “I think I am pretty patient.” Then one more said, “I love to work with kids.” “I am funny and I like to laugh with others,” another added. In the midst of what is a difficult time in anyone’s life, high school, the six youth involved in confirmation class showed immense maturity to take a critical look inside to wonder some big questions: “Who am I? What are my gifts? What is my place in the world going to be?”

Who are you? What are your gifts? What is your place in the world? These three questions have bugged me since I first heard them almost ten years ago. Eric Hartman, the dean of students at Sewanee was keen on asking these three introspective puzzlers to anyone who sought his counsel and even some who did not. So this past Sunday after we talked about spiritual gifts Kristin Hanson invited me to talk about my experience of discerning one’s gifts and a call to ordained ministry.

As I talked about spiritual gifts and ministry, I stumbled upon a Truth that I keep bumping into in my own life. No matter how hard I try to figure out my call right now, no matter how much work I put into discernment at this moment, no matter how exhaustive I am with discerning a vocation, I will still have to keep listening to figure out who I am, what my gifts are, and what my place is in this world.

In today’s epistle to the Church in Rome, Paul help us, or at least me, to know how it is that spiritual gifts are most effectively used. At this point in the early Church, the gentiles within the Church of Rome were boasting of their practices to the Jewish faction within the church. The gentiles did not follow the same rigorous code that the Jewish followers of Christ did, but instead of harmoniously coexisting, the gentiles rubbed it in faces of their Jewish brothers and sisters. As this is one of Paul’s last letters, it possesses some more advanced statements of his Faith in God, and he eloquently urges both sides to come together. By this point, twelve chapters into the letter, Paul is issuing an invitation not to one specific group but to all members of Christ’s Body. That exhortation extends to us. This is how we can best identify, understand, and use our spiritual gifts… together!

Paul presses hearers of this letter to come together, not focusing on what is happening in the world, but by discerning together the will of God. When we start to see what God is working right here in this world listening as a community, we no longer focus primarily on our individual needs or petty differences that keep us apart. We start to act as a body. It is as this body that we can start to answer, “Who am I? What are my gifts? What is my place in this world?”

Sometimes I think of the simplicity of picking up a coffee mug and then putting it back on a table. My biceps and triceps must work together along with all the smaller muscles in my forearm and all the tendons and ligaments in my hand and fingers. While this task might not drain my brain, I typically have to think about it and send some neural signals down my spine to my arm and fingers. It seems that only when the members do not work together do I ever even think about this task.

Each part of the body has a task to do. Each member has gifts that help to accomplish that task. We can withhold our gifts from one another, we can without our talents from one another, we can without ourselves from this corporate body, but with Paul, “I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present yourselves (your bodies) as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

We will constantly ask, “Who am I? What are my gifts and talents? What is my place in the world?” While we will never have a permanent answer, by presenting ourselves to God as a living sacrifice, God uses our gifts together to bring healing, unity with God, and love to Creation. We each are given gifts through God’s abundant grace. We must be bold and share these gifts with one another, so that we can make this body stronger and allow Christ to work through us.

Who are you? What are your gifts? What is your place in the world?

Matthew 5:13-20: Salt, Light, and Shame

There have only been a handful of times when I have really gotten into real trouble in my life. I mean the type of trouble where one is called to the principal's, camp director's, or coach's office. It is funny how those particular memories are etched into the fabric of my being. Shame cannot come out with just one wash, instead it takes years of spinning around and rinsing. I can remember one such encounter very vividly.

I had done something at camp that was a clear violation of the rules. When the camp director confronted my cohorts and me, we were all very meek, humiliated, and saddened by our thoughtless behavior. Still, I felt that I was more guilty by association than an outright offender and in a private meeting I pleaded my case. One of the camp matriarchs found out about trying to pass the buck, and she simply said, "If a man does not have his word, what does he have?" My mouth gets dry thinking about that moment. As if I had just swallowed salt water, yet it seemed that I had lost my saltiness.

This coming Sunday's gospel follows the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12):
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Jesus' short list of those who are blessed enlightens this message about salt and light. The poor, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, and the righteously persecuted all receive blessings. To be blessed is to be salt and to be light. I imagine most of us at some point have been one of these blessed. Yet, for us to deny this blessing is for us to lose our saltiness and to block out the light. While I am not one for using shame as punishment, there is a difference between denying the Truth to avoid the shame of punishment and recruiting shame as a fear tactic. In my moment of denial I lost my saltiness, I blocked out the light of what it is to be blessed.

Now, I am not condoning seeking delinquent, illicit, or immoral behavior for the sake of experiencing some sort of persecution. Rather, I am saying that in our poverty, sorrow, meekness, hunger, mercy, purity, peace-seeking, and persecuted states we receive God's presence. When we are in a rather impoverished spiritual state we can clearly see God walking with us in ways that are not always apparent when we are riding high spiritually.

Additionally, I do not think getting in trouble for not following camp rules constitutes righteous persecution, rather in the shamed state I occupied, I clearly felt a closeness with God who called me into a deeper relationship. Jesus fulfilled the Law not so we could ignore it, but so that we might with him feel blessings and keep growing deeper in our saltiness and our lightness. Now I wonder, "How do we teach that we are blessed in our weakness without instilling shame in one another?"

Luke 2:22-40: Jesus (and our) Presentation

-As it is the day of the Super Bowl, and since we are jumping from John’s and Matthew’s Gospels the last two weeks respectively, I felt that it was fitting to do a little play-by-play and color commentary on what is really going on in today’s gospel account from Luke.

-Story of the Presentation with some insights:

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, the parents of Jesus brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." (2:22-24)

-When Jesus was born, according to Moses’ Law, as stated in Leviticus, Mary would have been seen as impure for one whole week. She would have been bathed after seven days, as a means of purification, yet this was not the end of it. For thirty-three days more Mary would have been prohibited from touching anything holy. So forty days after December 25th when we celebrate Jesus’ birth, is February 2nd (today) when this purification would have occurred. At the time of her purification, Mary would have presented an offering as well. In the case of someone from her lowly social class, her offering would be not three French hens, not a partridge in a pear tree, but two turtledoves or two pigeons.

-Yet, in Luke’s gospel it is not Mary that goes to the Temple for purification, but the whole family. Mary, Joseph, and Jesus go to the Temple together bringing their offering and themselves in line with both the Law of Moses and God’s will. In this case, unlike many times later in life when Jesus will be at odds with the Pharisees quoting the Law of Moses, God’s will and the aim of the law are in sync with one another.

-Still the law comes off seeming a bit strange in regard to Mary. She who bore God’s Son, the Messiah, the Incarnation of all things holy, was not to touch anything that was holy for forty days. So maybe the law is not completely in line with God’s workings here, but at least it is close.

-Today we offer our first fruits to God in the spiritual practice of stewardship, in this day and age, it was customary that the first male child was offered to God as a priest in God’s Temple. One could get out this priestly duty for merely five shekels.  (Look at Evan: You mean we can get out of this for five shekels?). We call today the Presentation because this is the day on which Jesus is presented to God and designated as holy to the Lord. Imagining this Holy moment when Mary and Joseph travel from Galilee to Jerusalem so that they can fulfill the law and be righteous to God designating their son to the Lord AND at the same time on some level knowing from the visions of angels before Jesus’ birth that this actually was the LORD on Earth… seeing this moment makes me my heart burst. Yet, it gets better!

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; (2:25-27a)

-Simeon was a priest in the Temple whom the Holy Spirit had visited. In this visitation Simeon discovered that he was not to taste death until he had met the Savior, the one who would console Israel, the Lord’ Messiah. Simeon has a gift that constantly eludes me: patience.

-Waiting: traffic, airports, dorm staff, laundry mat; I do not enjoy this.

-Simeon though spent his life being ready, waiting and watching. It is in this hyper awareness that the Spirit leads Simeon to be at the Temple and to take the Christ child in his arms.

and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel." (2:27b-32)

OR

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, *
    according to thy word;
For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, *
    which thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, *
    and to be the glory of thy people Israel. (BCP p. 66)

OR

Lord, you now have set your servant free *
    to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, *
    whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A Light to enlighten the nations, *
    and the glory of your people Israel. (BCP p. 135)

-Every Sunday that the EYC (our Episcopal Youth Community) meets at about 6:45 in the evening, you can hear this beautiful song. To be present in hearing its harmonies dance upon my ears makes my heart smile. Still there is more beauty in this song than even its pleasant sound in my hearing.

-God had called Simeon to wait, and to be a far more patient man than I will ever be. When he finally takes the Christ child in his arms he cannot help but burst into song, for consolation has come to Israel and God’s Savior has come into the world. Sure Simeon is free from waiting, but he is free from so much more. He is free now to help in sharing that light that will enlighten the nations, he is free to go in peace, he is free to be a part of the Good News.

-As difficult as it is, I pray that I might have patience, so that I might be alert enough to pay attention when God is right in front of me. In a friend who requires me to listen, in a beggar who needs more than money to get by, in a stranger who seeks true connection Jesus Christ is there. Am I going to be like Simeon, waiting and watching, to see Jesus in my arms? At the altar? At the peace? Do I see Christ in my arms like he saw Jesus in his?

And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. (2:33)

-After forty days of changing diapers, feeding, and bathing baby Jesus, his parents were bleary eyed and exhausted. Perhaps they forgot that the angels had visited them, maybe the whole “This is God’s Son” thing was wearing off when they heard Simeon’s song. They were amazed.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed-- and a sword will pierce your own soul too." (2:34-35)

-Simeon’s final words to Mary after he blesses them are haunting. Jesus will reveal the inner thoughts of many and he is destined for the rising and falling of many in Israel. Even among God’s Chosen people Jesus will cause tumult. Those who wanted Jesus to lead with military force would surely be disappointed, those who saw the messiah as one taking away their power would also face a fall, but those who were lowly and like Simeon sought the fulfilling of all things would rise.

-Like Simeon, Anna has been waiting. She has lived a long life after her marriage and spends here nights and days fasting and praying. Right as Mary and Joseph have been amazed by one prophet of God Anna reiterates that in Jesus God is praised.

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. (2:36-38)

-If we look at what Simeon and Anna do together: fast, pray, spend time in Temple, look for the redemption (consolation) of Israel, present to the Spirit, praise God.

-This is what we must also do.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.(2:39-40)

-Mary and Joseph went to fulfill the law, but what they receive is reaffirmation that the child Jesus in their care is God’s Messiah destined to cause many in Israel to rise and fall and to bring out their thoughts and to cause the fulfillment of God’s purposes on this earth.