Category: Main Blog

The Roman Empire had respect for things that were old. Their own pantheon of gods was derived from the Hellenistic culture of Greece and the eastern Mediterranean. They were able to accept the Egyptian gods when they conquered that land. They were a little twitchy about the Hebrew god, because the Hebrews insisted on exclusive worship of Yahweh, which was just weird, and wouldn’t participate in the Imperial cult. This lead to a few conflicts, but ultimately, the fact that the Hebrew god was an ancient god was enough, and the Hebrews were tolerated. Continue reading “The Judgment of Solomon”

When I was young, a distant cousin was convinced that Skylab, falling out of orbit, would fall on her home and kill her. The threat was not real, but her fear was. It changed her behavior for several weeks, making her world a small and threatening place.

On 9/11, I walked from lower Manhattan, back to my home in Queens, crossing with thousands the Queensboro Bridge. Exhausted, anxious, at the bottom of the bridge I discovered merchants from that neighborhood handing bottles of water to anyone who would take them. Ironically, most of these merchants were Pakistani, and would find themselves anxious and afraid in the coming weeks as violence against Sikhs and Muslims spread throughout the country. I would succumb to fear as well, experiencing panic attacks when I was in high profile sites listed as potential targets by law enforcement and the news media.

Fear is a powerful thing, a weapon that is used all too often, to drive up ratings, to incite violence, to gain political advantage.

Ebola is a terrible disease. It has been around for years, and has reached epidemic proportions in West Africa, a region with repeated civil wars and ethnic conflict, with distrust of government, and with health systems that are primitive by Western standards.

There have been two cases of Ebola transmission in the US. Both cases involved nurses who had direct contact with the bodily fluids of a patient who contracted the disease in West Africa. There has been no casual transmission of the disease in the US. And, so far, the other cases treated here, those originating in West Africa and the two domestic cases, have not proved fatal. The first two patients have recovered, and one has contributed to the care of others.

Reputable news outlets have played a contradictory game with this crisis. I regularly watch ABC News, where they tease the great disaster one moment, only to have their in-house expert, a former Acting Director of the Center for Disease Control, play down those fears the next. Less reputable news outlets have manipulated the situation to further their extremist agenda.

Have you wondered why Ebola is the focus, and not Enterovirus 68, which is actually spreading throughout the United States, killing and crippling children? Could it be because Ebola originates in Africa, playing into the racist fears flamed by extremists in recent years? Is this one more case of “fear of the black man,” no different than the false charges that our current president takes too many vacations, a charge meant to invoke the “lazy black man” trope of the Jim Crow South? (When in fact, he takes fewer vacations days out of the White House than his predecessor.)

There are enough things to make us anxious without being lead into fear by those with an agenda, whether it be profit or politics. And fear changes us. We are less ourselves. A society gripped in fear turns violent, seeks scapegoats, from Kristallnacht to the murder of Sikhs after 9/11.

Be informed. Use common sense, both is responding to health concerns, and in choosing your exposure to the poison of fear-mongering. And remember, if we trust in our God and in the promises of Jesus, then we can choose to live into his instruction to those who would follow him. “Be not afraid.”

Blessings,
Pastor Gary

 

We speak of aimlessness and sin. We wash away sins in the rivers of baptism. We seek forgiveness for our sins. Some claim that Christ died for our sins, paying it forward across thousands of years for countless individuals. But what is this sin of which we speak? And is there anything “original” about it? Can it be passed on from generation to generation, as a blood guilt, as sinful genes, as a portion of today’s reading suggests? Continue reading “Sinful Genes: Sermon for the Decalogue”

Blessed Savior,
we speak of celestial beings that attend thee,
we sing of spacious skies,
we think of heaven as up,
no matter where we stand on the
round jewel that is our home…
But again, like many years ago
the skies have not been friendly…
planes brought down by violence,
by accident,
or simply lost.
We are brought up short by such loss,
and humbled in our powerlessness
before forces of hatred and avarice.
Then we are reminded that we are not our own,
that we belong to a loving Creator,
and that we are called to be people of hope –
that the practice of hope is a practice of faith,
and we believe –
that you can soften hardened hearts,
that faith, hope and love abide…
and that the greatest of these is love…
your love for us,
our love for one another,
and the love we are called to…
to love the stranger,
to love our enemies.
Fill us with your love,
that we might change lives,
and follow on your way.
Amen.

Many of you are already familiar with the myths of Ancient Greece. They are powerful, filled with archetype, stories of devotion and love. And lust. And murder. And divine manipulation. Perfect for a new series on Showtime… though even cable television might find some of the stories distasteful. So we come to the founding hero of Athens, one Theseus. And, as always, there is a back story, for despite the biological impossibility of the thing, Theseus has two fathers. One, Aegeus, is a powerful mortal king. He might be the first bigamist, for he goes out of town to take a wife, the daughter of another king. On the night of their wedding, having consummated their marriage, the bride promptly goes down to the beach and gets funky with Poseidon. And so Theseus is conceived as a quarter god. Aegeus buries his sword and sandals under a huge rock, and says the boy can claim them, if he is heroic enough, and so confirm his royal parentage. And then Augeus does what all good bigamists do. He promptly goes home, where he takes up with Medea, fresh from killing her own sons. Continue reading “Final Sermon on the Book of Ruth: August 31st”

Challenging Creator, we always come with the same silly hope, that somehow being here for an hour on Sunday will provoke a divine magic act, that we will suddenly feel okay, that life will be easy and fair, that we will be freed from the world of sin and despair. We know this is not so, but we repeat the ritual week after week. Forgive us our delusion, for in our hearts we know the truth, that your word is a word of challenge, that we are called to be broken and remade every week by the power of your word, cleansed by the fire of the Spirit, re-invigorated by the waters of baptism. We know that this is not our home, that our home is in the world, that you send us out to do your will, and so we pray that in this place we might be prepared and transformed, comforted for a moment before we return to your mission: that we might deepen faith, that we might make disciples, that we might build your just and caring realm. Amen.

As with the last post, I have spent some time thinking about the stories we choose to tell. This from a recent newsletter to the congregation:

Stories are a funny thing. We choose what to put into them. Imagine how many would follow if the story of Jesus was only of a man who rebuked his followers, bickered with the Pharisees, and waged a violent protest against the money-changers in the Temple. Yet, this is one version of the story. It misses the miracles, the teaching, the forgiveness, the sacrifice.

Jesus looked at a naked mentally ill man living in a cemetery and saw a person, looked at an adulteress and saw a daughter of God, looked at a redneck fisherman and saw an apostle. What will you choose to see today?

There was a direct cause and effect relationship between a very private encounter in lower Manhattan during the mid-morning of September 11th, 2001 and a public event here at this church on the evening of December 14th, 2012, though that connection, that thread is not obvious. For while many of you know my 9/11 story, few know this part, and why it shaped my response the day of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre. It is a story worth retelling. Continue reading “Tell the Stories: A Sermon on the Book of Ruth – August 17th”

This Sunday we begin our four week series on the Book of Ruth, wedged into the Hebrew Scriptures between the chaos of Judges and the slowly evolving order and drama of the Books of Samuel. The Book of Ruth is beloved, some verses frequently used in wedding service. Yet, despite its popularity, few notice the many ways in which it is subversive. In fact, we could as easily consider this little story as the start of a series called “Why Jesus is like jazz…” acknowledging that uniquely American form with its mash-up of African and European musical traditions. Or maybe we could call the series “Bubble and Squeak,” with a nod to our English friends… But I’m way ahead of myself… Continue reading “Against the Wall: A Sermon on the Book of Ruth – August 10, 2014”