Constructive Faith

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”

Most Holy Creator
We want order and rules
and you give us Big Bang and Chaos.
We crave understanding
and you give us imagination.
We cling to our fear
and you call us out in love.
Forgive us when we try to contain You
and free us from our self-imposed shackles.
We ask this in the name of your Son,
chaotic, creative, love. Amen.

Since we’ve been talking about movies a lot recently, I have a confession to make. Many folks would consider some of my favorite films to be completely inappropriate for a pastor.

For example, I enjoyed the Omen series, a three movie series from 1976 to 1981 and focused on the coming of the Antichrist. It’s not that I believe the Revelation of John should be taken literally. I don’t even think it should be in the biblical canon! But the Omen movies were exceptionally well done.

Looking back over thirty years, with so much hatred in the headlines, we might find the portrayal of evil a little cartoonish. Continue reading “Anti-Christ: July 27, 2014”

Location, location, location. It is one of those business clichés that sounds simple, but is anything but. It is fine to declare that the location is critical to the success of a business, whether it be retail or food service or even manufacturing. It is another to identify what that location should be, what factors make for success. Certainly you’ll make less money selling air conditioners in Siberia than you will in Florida. But the difference between Main Street in Sayville and Vets Highway is less dramatic, more shades of gray than black and white. Location is, after all, relative to something else. The gas station near the L.I.E. exit. The pizza parlor next to the youth soccer complex, filled with teams celebrating, and not celebrating, over pizza. And to position one thing relative to another, in time or in space, you need a preposition. Continue reading “Toward: A Sermon on Prepositions, the Beginning, and Exodus”