January 2, 2005 - Year A - Christmas 2

Wesley White

January 2, 2005

Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12
Psalm 147:12-20 or Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21
Ephesians 1:3-14
John 1:1-18

Wisdom seems to be the order of the day. Unfortunately the examples of such are few and far between. Mostly we get caught in saying, "Wisdom is a good thing."

We will be able to find a number of wise folks on an individual level. The trick is going to be finding them in national/international positions. Is this because wisdom needs to be acknowledged by others or just that such positions bring with them so many competing forces that wisdom gets caught in a web of intrigue that keeps the forest of wisdom from being seen by the trees of details.

Wesley White

John 1:1-18

John sounds a lot like Karl Rove. Everything is over and done. Our candidate or savior trumps yours. There is nothing else to be done but have everyone capitulate. Things are not simply red and blue, but all-colored (us) and no-colored (you). We not only have the law on our side, but all moral values.

You who thought you had an important part to play, well it is only prelude to the game we are playing. Imagine Jesus W. Christ or Gesus.

Let's see how this affirmation is going to play itself out.

As we connect this with the rest of the scriptures for this week we need to ask about Wisdom, also at the beginning. Are "Word" and "Wisdom" interchangeable? In their male and female orientations? How do you respond to one reading or the other? Which does the world need at this point? Have we taken the Word end of the pendulum as far as it can go currently and now we are swinging back in the direction of Wisdom?

Good luck with those meta-something questions that call out for examples rather than position statements.

Wesley White

Ephesians 1:3-14

Again the highfalutin language about wisdom and plans for fulfillment that somehow or other never involve us. It is all God's doing. That may have cut it at some time, but given what we know about the permutability of circumstances and actually being able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear (hooray for genetic recombination) there would seem to be a place for talking more about desire and participation than destiny and bestowal.

As we proceed through this letter there are some specifics that are important to consider (see 4:25-32 for starters). If we don't get to what these praiseful words mean in the realities of our lives, we will have missed their import.

The place I connect with this passage is toward the end with images of being marked with the Holy Spirit and moving toward redemption. Here there is room for us to shift our bodies into different choice patterns and to take appropriate responsibility for journeying in a direction that leaves us better off in the long-term.

Where do you find yourself reflected in this passage?

Wesley White

Psalm 147:12-20 or Wisdom of Solomon 10:15-21

The Psalmist's "he" and Wisdom's "she" run along parallel tracks of action. They each rescue and inflict.

One interesting difference, among several that can be accounted for by their different situations while they were writing, is the way in which the male word declares to and the female opens the mouths of the mute to do the declaring. Some of this can be seen in silent Joseph who is declared unto and simply acts and singing Mary who responds with an affirmation lifting the poor and outcast.

The differences here are less about male or female roles since there are males who declare and males that open and females that open and females who declare. Whether male or female (all are one in larger perspectives) what is at stake is the question of what is needed in a given situation. Are we at the point of needing folks who can speak to and for others or folks who can assist folks to speak their own experience.

This discernment is important because we tend to get caught in roles, even roles of wisdom, and develop a Johnny-One-Note approach to situations. Wisdom can adjust to the need of the time and the need of the future to bring forth what is needed. Without the ability to implement appropriately, wisdom is simply wisdom, but unhelpful, unable to get any traction to affect needed changes.

So are you a "he" or a "she" in your current situation? Have you been the alternative "she" or "he" in other situations? We need those who are persistent, in good times or bad, and those who shift to bring a needed perspective. It is not that one is automatically preferable but that what is needed might be evidenced.

Praise God; affirm Wisdom.

Justin Grimm

I am curious how other people will approach the Gospel text in lieu of the tradegy of the Tsunami. I have recieved questions from many of friends who are not believers about where "my God" is at in that. How do we preach- the light that has no darkness- amidst a terrible dark moment? Thoughts?

Wesley White

Here is one prayer possibility:

Tsunami Prayer (Further Revised)
by Rev'd Peter Armstrong
Redcliffe Uniting Church in Australia

THERE IS A LIGHT IN THE DARKNESS

Let us pray for the people and nations affected by recent earthquakes and tsunamis in the Indian Ocean:

Over the chaos of the waters Lord you spoke and there was light.

God of creation, you acted to bring about this world
we ask you to continue to act to bring about a new creation and new hope
from the darkness of these disastrous sea waves.

Jesus, who grieved over lost ones,
be with those who grieve even now for their lost loved ones,
Come to them in their pain and loss with your healing and mercy.

Holy Spirit, giver of good gifts and consolation,
direct and be with those involved in ongoing aid and recovery.
Through their efforts, may your light be seen in the darkness.

Heavenly Father, bless the many endeavours happening
across nations, peoples, and faiths:
for the sake of the poor and the lost.

We ask this in Jesus name. AMEN.

(Revisions by Rev'd Dennis Webster, Vicar,
Parish of Pascoe Vale with Oak Park
and Rev'd John Maynard,
St. John's Uniting Church, Phillip Island)

Wesley White

Here is another response from a report from the area that will be preached somewhere and our task is to bring light rather than this darkness. Amazing, isn't it, how Jesus can be used in the service of the Dark Force.

- - -

Also, apparently one of the largest Christian congregations in Colombo, Sri Lanka has started a poster campaign in all three languages saying something like: "Don't mess with Jesus; you have seen his wrath unleashed for what you tried to do to him." Please pray for the church and wisdom for leaders so that such tragically wrong moves would not be made at a time like this.

Wesley White

Jeremiah 31:7-14 or Sirach 24:1-12

Faultlines in the earth's crust hold much power even though they are hidden far beyond our sight and measurement. Should a time come when we can see and measure them, they will still hold much power that will have to be accounted for. Until then folks will continue to periodically experience longer or shorter times of exile from their desire for the comfort and continuance of their particular way of life. (My own sense is that we will not arrive at a time when all will be predictable. Tsunamis will continue come in all manner of appearances, including Dust Bowls.)

My sense aside, a promise is that those who have been swept away will be brought back with consolations. From there we will use the wisdom given to develop an early warning process based on a traversing the depths of chaotic abysses that will be installed and work to warn folks to back off from their usual routines during Tsunami moments.

Questions abound about our response to warnings, whether geophysical or theological. Will we listen to warnings or return to exile? Our current list of warning issues can go on and on but three quickly coming Tsunamis on the radar screen might be: the consequence of moving toward legitimizing preemptive war, delaying for false economic reasons a response to global warming, and continuing discriminations between us on such minutiae as another's sexual orientation.

A disconnect between the light and praise and wisdom language and our experiences in the world continues at a significantly high level. This may have something to do with the fragility of current religious stability. While I have a yearning to more closely follow a non-regimented Spirit I am aware of a grieving over so many ways in which religious sensibilities are reality denying. All this eternal praise talk seems at some remove from our daily sense of danger, insecurity, and exile. What a way to start a new calendar year (though we are well into the liturgical year).

Justin Grimm

Wow- great prayer idea. That is very helpful. Yet, I still am struggling with how to preach on light in the midst of such darkness- what can we say to those that are skeptics, to those with questions as to how can a "light filled" God be present in this darkness, as John assures us? I am unsure why it is so difficult this time for me as I prepare this sermon- I mean we are always in a dark world... yet this time it seems more difficult.....

Wesley White

It is so hard to keep the joy of Christmas going for long. Friday Christmas Eve Candlelight, Saturday Christmas Day, Sunday Tsunami. Part of our struggle is with the counterpoint of Joy of the season and Death from the sea. Our discernment is not very discerning and so we experience "GOD is with us" one moment and absent the next. We struggle with gifts of gold and frankincense, on the one hand, and myrrh, on the other.

My difficulty lies not with GOD's light, but our darkness and resistance to seeing such. In the USofA we started out with a pittance of governmental support. Ask your congregation how generous they think Americans are with their "foreign aid" and most would peg it very high, up to a quarter (.25) of our national budget. In reality it is a quarter of 1% (.0025) of our expenses. Not even a low-expectation church could get by on that. Over time we raised our commitment a bit to some $35 million. Wow, that's only $5 million short of what the Republicans are expecting to spend for the inaugural activities in a couple of days. How dare we be called stingy! I just received an invitation to a "Inaugural Bawl" and think that an appropriate image - bawling for our lack of political will to be involved in the world around us in a positive way. We would rather cut our taxes than do something really significant to bind us to one another and to creation. And this doesn't even begin to compare our military related budgets to our own schools, much less helping where tsunamis rise or vaccines are needed.

I do believe GOD's light shines and we won't put it out, but we sure will turn our back to it and live in our own shadow. A part of me knows how unpopular revealing hypocrisy is. When we budget for AIDS help in Africa and never spend a penny why should we have any confidence that our pledges today will go any further than they are forced by public political opinion. We will cover things with false promises and well-crafted speeches, but always come up short of any stated intention. To reveal this puts preachers at risk in a religious setting that is at least as culturally bound as it is discerning of GOD's desires. We know better and in that knowing the difficulty of speaking out and not letting go keeps rising and rising against our speaking out. It is as if the cultural baggage and ignorance of our actual actions acts as a tsunami against a prophetic preacher. Not wanting to be among those run over, we run from making a far-away event as significant as a near-to-home one is. We run from having too large a heart when our own church building needs repair. In judging both claims as equal we lose both.

This huge loss of life that has been predicted, we know the mechanism and it was just a matter of time before it occurred, throws us into a tizzy. Other large losses of life that are caused by human decisions never come to light. Anyone know how many Iraqis have died in the current war? If we can get at the discrepancy between our responses to natural and human caused misery we will begin to move to a spot where GOD’s light might again be turned toward and draw us toward health.

Dave Stratton

Justin,

I have thought of your question all week, and all the texts grab me with an "AHA", an Epiphany and light theme.

I suggest you circle the word needy in the Psalm 72. Now, the wise men are non Jews. All the texts are speaking about sharing with non-christians.

As we look at the tragedy that has happened, we are not once saying, we will only send money and aid to the Christians. This is forcing us to be what God has always called us to be, caring for the needy, who ever they might be.

The message for me this Sunday seems to be for us and not those who are suffering. It is for us to respond. It is for us to find the AHA in how to live anytime and anywhere. It is for us, who see the stupidity of war.
We need to find stories of Muslims and Jews, who are also caring for these in need. We have not all arrived at the truth from the same perspective, but we are all showing compassion!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hope these give you a couple of ideas to play with?

Wesley White

Ephesians 1:3-14

Our twelve verses here are one long sentence in Greek. Near the middle, verses 9 and 10, we have the mysterious plan for all things in heaven and earth to be gathered together in Christ.

Just how might a Christ, a Messiah, a Savior gather up all the living and the dead after this week? Where does the unlikely rescue fit with the end of a whole family line? Can we count some of the gathered as smart because they built on a hill and others as dumb for having been sea-level dwellers? What about the next major disaster that gets the hill dwellers and leaves the sea dwellers alone - will all of them also be gathered?

This is indeed a mysterious plan. It doesn't label folks as better or worse sinners because a tower fell on them or a sea rose up over them. It doesn't label folks as better or worse sinners in rosy times or sad times. It doesn't label folks as better or worse sinners for following Buddha, Allah, Christ, or other Spirits. It doesn't label folks as better or worse sinners, period.

The Holy Spirit is rather profligate and indiscriminate in sealing all with a promise of being gathered together. The various denominational mission and relief agencies might be seen as the Holy Spirit at work in a post-sea-wave time, doing Christ's work of gathering up all the living and the dead from this past week and binding them together.

Check your own denomination's websites for information about how they are going about the practice of the theory of praise of Christ.

Dave Stratton

Wesley, your comments on fault lines got me to thinking of other kinds of fault lines. War breaking over peace, Propaganda breaking over truth. Greed breaking over compassion.

We live in the ruins of this kind of thinking and living, so how will we bring healing, aid, compassion, order and justice out of this chaos?

Wesley White

Here is a link to a sermon from Australia regarding the Christmas 2 scriptures and the tsunami.

It is this kind of disastrous grounding that brings these scriptures beyond simple, rote praise.

Wesley White

John 1:1-18

From idea to action, word to implementation, Word to Incarnation, light to life, and Light to Life — so we travel into our lives with the many details, exhaustions, obliviousness, and habits. We go along and go along. It is as if just getting this far has taken all we have. Enfleshment keeps us grounded in that very flesh, doing what we do and always have done and may yet do.

Then come events, horrendous events, and we catch a glimpse of how fragile such an accomplishments as word to flesh is, any word to flesh.

And so we begin to travel in the other direction, from our specifics to our ideals. We look for exactly this expressive language (note the number of translational footnotes to get a feel for how connotative it is). In returning to the preciousness of enfleshment we are energized to care for life in one precarious position (Lord, have mercy on us if we stop with immediate aid and give in to tsunami fatigue).

This reawakened awareness is one of many grace upon graces experienced. In the midst of our every darkness there is more blessed darkness and light interacting with one another to keep us from that danger of eternally Wording or persistently Fleshing. In the midst of dark we catch a glimpse of light; in the midst of light we reappreciate it with a glimpse of dark.

Who knows what this has to do with anything and so we drop balls to put another year into depository of time, we mourn for a moment and learn or not, we find meaning where was is none and travel on.

January 6, 2005 - Year A - Epiphany

Wesley White

January 6, 2005

Isaiah 60:1-6
Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14
Ephesians 3:1-12
Matthew 2:1-12

What ministry has come your way from a non-Christian/a Gentile?
What ministry do you participate in with or to non-Christians/Gentiles?

Wesley White

Isaiah 60:1-6

The obvious connection with Epiphany is the reference to gold and frankincense (the camels are probably only present as an anachronism from Christmas pageants).

If we start at the beginning this passage, instead of the end, we are encouraged to reflect on what we would use as a sign of hope in the midst of darkness. Consider your particular vocation/occupation. What would make sense, in that context, for you to anticipate or respond to a sense of new beginnings.

The Magi seem to be more scholarly/priestly types who are particularly attuned to the stars. So their catching on to something, going on beyond their ken, that needs their attention and presence would likely come from the stars.

When they arrive in Jerusalem there seems to be no consideration being given to the issue of a fulfillment of hope and where its locus might be identified. Both king and priests had to scramble to figure something out. Eventually, based on the Magi-estic questions, folks remember Bethlehem.

What in your area of experience/expertise is calling out to you for recognition and your involvement? In your questions others will be stimulated to begin paying attention to that same call from their arenas of participation with life.

I won't be using a star gazing approach, for that is not my gift. I'd be more likely to catch a glimpse from some small reflection on the Daily Show. What puts you in touch with the prophetic recognition of new life in the midst of the darkness of our usual power and control issues?

Dave Stratton

Good points, Wesley, hope does not come from the establishments and power brokers. It comes out of the grass roots and the "Marys", who say "Let it be" to God!

Wesley White

Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14

Is this the description of a king that would get 3 guys off their couch to go look for such a one?

More precisely, are verses 1-7 and 12-14 compelling, or is it verses 10-11?

What are you looking for: justice for others or tribute for self?

Wesley White

Ephesians 3:1-12

Note from The New Interpreter's Study Bible :

[ 3:3 Mystery is used four times in this section. Originally a Greek military term from Ptolemaic Egypt, "mysteries" were plans drawn up by the royal family and kept secret even from the generals before battle. In Greco-Roman religious practice, "mysteries" were the secret information shared with initiates to lead them to immortality. In the Qumran scrolls, the word is used in connection with God's wise providence, the mystery of salvation previously hidden in God but revealed to the Teacher. ]

Here is an interesting mystery, Paul's commission of highlighting grace was given for others, for us, for others. It does seem to take a revelation so involved with our vocation that we don't measure ourselves and our work against the usual standards of the day. It is not a question of ending up with everything being about "me". We go where we go and do what we do and it turns out that we build up the community by our little part or we reduce community by our little part. One way of predicting which way it will go has to do with a gift we have been given. Give the gift away, whether gold, frankincense, or myrrh, and community is strengthened, others are included in. Keep a gift, and its interest, and community is weakened, others are excluded.

The mystery is not about victory, eternity or prosperity. Mystery is about giving — giving a child, giving a safe trip to Egypt, giving gold/frankincense/myrrh, or giving grace. As we approach a day that is traditionally associated with giving, what will you give (not resolve to give, but actually give)?

Wesley White

Matthew 2:1-12

A great question, "Where is the child?"

Where is the child that will lead the next generation of mathematicians?
Where is the child that's got his/her/herm own?
Where is the child that has been born a leader of one oppressed group or another or many?

Where is the child that is the cutest ever born?

Wherever a child is born, hope arises.

Just like responses to a natural disaster we are all about the possibilities of things being set right. But, then, we get distracted by the next child and the next and the next disaster and the next. We get child and compassion fatigued. We lose focus after the, quote, defining, end quote, event and set in with rules that box in all that potential to the culturally acceptable and set it about with rules about when grief should be over and folks should be able to fend for themselves.

To again ask, "Where is the child?", can be a cry to revolution, a prophetic perspective.
For some direction about where you might bring your gift to see some child through check out Children's Defense Fund.

January 9, 2005 - Year A - Epiphany 1 - Baptism of Christ

Wesley White

January 9, 2005

Isaiah 42:1-9
Psalm 29
Acts 10:34-43
Matthew 3:13-17

What voice have you heard? What voice are you using?

Wesley White

Matthew 3:13-17

Two important voices play off one another here:

"Let it be" and "Beloved".

When we are able to come to the point of saying, "Let it be" we are open to being able to hear an echo of the far-off hymn, "Beloved."

In hearing the word "Beloved" addressed to us, we are able to relax enough to say to the pressing world around, "Let it be".

This cycle is a source of peace and action. It allows us the present action that responds to long-range benefit as well as short-term. It calls us to call others "Beloved" in such a way that they are likewise opened to the possibilities of peace in their life.

When we are not practicing the presence of GOD, we are not able to let the world around be the world it is that it might become the world it desires to be. When we are not practicing the presence of GOD, we are not able to let our world be beloved in its own time. When we are not practicing the presence of GOD, we are not able to claim the belovedness that is ours.

Did it really take Jesus some 30 years to come to baptism? Perhaps as it takes awhile in this wobbly old world to have the perspective of "Let it be". And for baptism to be filled with doves and voices rather than simply ritual, it takes that kind of time to know what to do about being beloved, to even be able to hear that affirmation.

You who are baptized — are you beloved? or just baptized?
You who are not baptized — are you beloved? would that change if you were baptized?

Wesley White

Acts 10:34-43

GOD shows no partiality and in baptism we are called to live in that same image. Our baptismal vows ask us to resist evil in whatever guise it comes. Partiality, particularly unconscious partiality, is a major disguise of evil. Our baptismal vows ask us to affirm Christ as our way to GOD, to impartiality.

This is a definition of the presence of the Holy Spirit: In the beginning was impartiality, and this impartiality was with GOD, and this impartiality was GOD. All things came into being through this impartiality, and without impartiality not one thing came into being. What has come into being in Christ was impartiality, and this impartiality was and is the light of all people. Impartiality shines in the partial, and the partial did not and has not overcome it.

Evie Miller

Wow! That use of impartiality offers terrific perspective on the nature of God. I've never quite known what to do with "the WORD was God." Siding with impartiality seems more concrete, although still murky because it's also subjective as an abstraction. Lots to think about. Thanks.

Wesley White

Psalm 29

“May we be blessed with peace” — everyone’s favorite easy answer to the question, “What do you most desire this year.”

Working backward through the Psalm, we find ourselves a-shoutin’, “Glory!” Why would we do that?

Might it be as a result of what GOD has thundered over the waters of chaos since time immemorial — “Beloved!”

And GOD saw that creation was good and is good and will be good. All manner of things shall be well. GOD dreamt Beloved and light came to show it. GOD whispered Beloved and division came to show a blessing of particularlity. GOD said Beloved and seed came to carry it on. GOD spoke Beloved and cycles polished it bright. GOD intoned Beloved and multiplication arose to show a blessing of universality. GOD thundered Beloved and burst into infinite images of beloved caring.

Want peace? See Belovedness everywhere (beauty ahead, behind,....). Thunder Belovedness everywhere.

BBaepltoivsemd
BBealpotviesdm

Whether you begin with Baptism or Belovedness, the two are intimately intertwined.

Wesley White

Isaiah 42:1-9

"My servant", "my chosen" are the same as "my beloved".

To be baptized is to have been visited by the spirit of justice.
To have a spirit of justice is to be baptized.

A regular, steadfast, quietly determined if dimly burning, justice orientation in everyday events is our role in life. The big, flashy, creation-wide righteousness is GOD's.

Moment by moment new justice is declared and brought to pass, one by one and two by two.

Brother Servant, Sister Chosen, Beloved All, let us throw off our chains of fear that those we are complicit in oppressing might rise. We will do so not out of an expectation of reward for doing so, but because they will spring forth with or without us and it is better to be part of the party.

Wesley White

Acts 10:34-43

In his baptism Jesus joins us all in repenting of sins and experiencing the nearness of GOD's presence. It is this "all-ness" that Peter just experienced and is trying to put into language.

Jesus' baptism led him to go about doing good and healing all who were oppressed (whether you think of the devil as personal or structural doesn't make any difference here), for God was with him (Emmanuel was with Emmanuel — all are one and one, all).

Peter has had his baptismal experience with a tablecloth coming from above, instead of a dove. Both Peter and Jesus are living out of an enlarged understanding that what GOD has made clean they are not to dismiss (regardless of what scriptural or traditional rules there are to contrary). Non-kosher and non-saints are no longer nonsense, but the very venue within which they are to work.

So it is that Peter has gone about doing good and healing. And while trying to explain the basis of his experience and remembrance of Jesus' teaching, the Holy Spirit is at work again. When we are living out our baptismal experiences good happens.

The end result is that those who had been religiously held at bay were now included in. I sure wish all those who are baptized by water these days would catch the fever for inclusion that Peter and Jesus did after their respective baptisms. Were that the case the church would certainly be a different place with its confrontation of racism, heterosexism, and war (to mention only three of today's arenas of religious retrenchment).

Wesley White

Matthew 3:13-17

Doves have a long history of being a multivalent symbol.

Doves portend rescue for ark-encumbered folks. The foretaste of a new start.

Doves are sacrificial elements.

Doves are lovers.

Doves are weak, mourners.

Doves are stupid, easily deceived, senseless.

How then does a dove descend into your life?

Is it a native sign flitting along the edge of sight giving a sense of hope, of there being a blessing just around the corner?

Is it a stand-in for you while you catch your breath, call a time-out to rectify an poor choice?

Is it a metaphor for the way you are loved and cared for that goes beyond the way in which those words or experiences have been eroded by overuse?

Is it a mourner for the loss in your life to wrap you round with understanding comfort that will leave you strangely strengthened?

Is it a part of GOD's profligate nature, deserved or undeserved, it flutters now this way and that, ending, somehow with you.

How then do you enter the lives of others as a presence of GOD?

Are you holding out hope to the hopeless, encouraging the downtrodden to arise?

Are you a martyr, in the best sense of the word?

Are you letting others know they are beloved, chosen by you?

Are you mourning with the mourners that you both might find comfort?

Are you just plain silly about who you will be with so it doesn't make any difference who they are because all are worthy?

Doves of the world arise; we, quite literally, have nothing to lose.

January 16, 2005 - Year A - Epiphany 2

Wesley White

January 16, 2005

Isaiah 49:1-7
Psalm 40:1-11
1 Corinthians 1:1-9
John 1:29-42

Wesley White

John 1:29-42

The "Lamb of God" imagery is extensively looked at in Jack Miles' book, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God.

Miles concludes his section on "The Lamb of God":

"At the start of his public ministry as a human being, God submitted to a rite of repentance in the waters of the Jordan and, speaking from heaven, with his Holy Spirit hovering visibly over his human brow, he declared himself well pleased with what he had done and who he had become. He had become a lamb, and he was pleased as he has not been since the last day of creation.

[long paragraph on repentance/metanoia in regard to use of the weapon of nature/creation that no creature can counter -- violence on Noahic humanity and Egyptian slaving, and threatened against exile-making Assyria and Babylon]

"He was going to all that again; but somehow, mysteriously, when the time came, he couldn't go through with it. His mind had changed. In the end, what would such a victory accomplish? After it, the deeper consequences of his own inaugural violence — a catastrophe for mankind far more devastating than any mere military defeat, more devastating even than slavery — would remain as unending punishment for them and a silent indictment of him.

"Adam and Eve did not speak of themselves as God's children, and God did not speak of himself as their father. That came later, for God had to learn how to be a father. He had to learn how to be a spouse as well: The Lord God as the bridegroom of the universe and husband of the human race. Most of all, he had to learn how to win by losing. It took a long time, and Satan has not yet been entirely vanquished, but the Lamb of God has won the only victory that really matters. The Good News of the Gospel is the news of how the Lord of All the earth won his last battle — with himself."

- - -

Had you identified pleasure with the "Lamb of God" title or simply sacrifice? How pleased are you to be a "follower of the Lamb"?

Wesley White

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

Hey! You! Did you know you were called to be a saint?

You are not lacking any spiritual gift that you need or that is needed in a larger community of growing people.

When you feel yourself flagging, strength is available one more time so that you might be whole in the present moment and ready to be wholer in the next. Quite a mystery this wholeness. It seems there is no end to it.

It is time to get together with folks who are stretching their hearts and minds and opening their doors to new opportunities. When such is done it can be called Christian — following Christ, not just as an imitation but as a fellow-traveller.

Hey, Saint! You can still be a force for good. Remember to read about yourself in the mysteries of Leslie Charteris.

Wesley White

Psalm 40:1-11

Often images of the Lamb of God are related to a sacrificial approach to living — accept the hurt of now for a joy later. Sometimes this has the feel of a zero-sum game. One of the outs of this either/or trap is that of trust.

An important element in this trusting process is a sense of presence. "Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear", reminds us that revelation is not about absolute states, but relationships.

When we are able to trust this relationship, then we can say, "Here I am." This in both its showing up for service sense and that of finding and presenting one's self.

In this way the Lamb of God simply shows up for service (whether that service is easy or difficult is not the question) and has a valued identity that can interact with others (whether revered or reviled).

So how is your trust level in the face of every evidence that the world is falling apart, both naturally and politically/economically? To what issue of life are you willing to show up, "Here I am," and express your trust through the powdermilk biscuit route of "doing what has to be done."

Wesley White

Isaiah 49:1-7

For the workaholics and/or perfectionists among us it is easy to get caught in verse 6: "It is too light a thing that you should be who you are, doing what you are; I have something larger for you to attend to."

These words can also be a challenge to individuals, congregations, communities, and nations who. over time, have come to the conclusion that the dreams we once had have become vain. We settle in to routines and settle out of the action.

Now comes a larger picture again. Will we have the energy to follow where it leads? Can we face one more disappointment? Has our strength been for nothing? Is vanity all there is?

What dream, what call, has been beckoning for the last little while in your life and in the life of the communities you connect with? Perhaps it is time to take that last breath and give it a try. Trust is not in our own, but in the call. Follow and gain and learn. Follow and fail and learn. Follow. Learn.

Justin Grimm

I find the readings for this week to fit quite well with the weekend they fall on- "Martin Luther King Jr." The Gospel invites the disciples to "Come and See". Martin Luther King Jr. was inviting many to come and see as well while standing on the foundation of the promise of Jesus Christ. Today the invitation still stands for us to come and see and realize the power that the Lamb of God truly has for us and over the evils of this world. That power and that promise can strengthen all of us on our calls to make a difference in the world in the name of Jesus Christ the Lamb of God.

Wesley White

1 Corinthians 1:1-9

With Human Relations Sunday coming in the United Methodist Church we can look at this passage through the lens of community building. Paul (and Sosthenes, we too often forget) write to the saints as saints (plural, never singular).

Who would you join in writing a joint letter to another group to be encouraging? Or, in our individualistic world, is it out of bounds to do such a thing? Can you imagine your own response getting a letter written by another congregation, addressed to the congregation you are in, and then reading it aloud in your gathering? Wouldn't it take up too much time that could be better spent in improving your own ministries? Wouldn't it miss some important nuance and so be counter-productive?

On the other hand, what would be important enough for you to join someone else in writing to another branch? Would you focus on the issue of the abundance of spiritual gifts that will strengthen them even further in the common ministry you both have (they in their time and place and you in your place and time)?

Can you relate spiritual gifts to the revelation of GOD? The opportunity to be more strongly bonded together with one another and with others? In this regard spiritual gifts are a slow-drying glue, not the instant glues of today that if you don't get it right the first time it is just wrong? Slow-drying gives the opportunity for realignment and looking from a variety of angles to see that it is what is needed.

To return to the writing process, what feelings and thoughts do you have when you consider the possibility of writing to others? How bold would you be? How cautious in your phrasing? Would a sense of an expansive grace and peace assist you to be both pastoral and prophetic? So, why, again, aren't we writing or otherwise communicating between the varieties of saints?

Wesley White

John 1:29-42

"Lion of Judah"! or "Lamb of GOD"!

"Might we, in Jesus Christ, perceive that the lion of justice and lamb of love are not Jekyll and Hyde opposites in God but one reality?" [modified version of a sentence from the Victory of God ]

Lots of folks have tried to smash these titles together to show their connection. It is part of the ongoing tension within the church. It is almost a test of which branch of the church you are a part of. When push comes to shove are you a Lion or a Lamb? The Lions in one denomination seem to have more in common with Lions in other denominations than they do with the Lambs of their own. And vice versa.

To hold these images as self-evidently related is difficult. We usually come out with an emphasis upon one or the other.

Imagine Lion John pointing to Lamb Jesus. Is his comment derision or adulation? It Jesus the unknown part of John or his completion? Does their common word of "repent" take on a different sense if you hear it from Lion John's lips or from those of Lamb Jesus?

As we come to our congregations are we dealing with the joy of communion between lion and lamb dwelling together or the pain of lions gorging on lambs and lambs being devoured?

January 23, 2005 - Year A - Epiphany 3

Wesley White

January 23, 2005

Isaiah 9:1-4
Psalm 27:1, 4-9
1 Corinthians 1:10-18
Matthew 4:12-23

Sometimes divisions within the church feel like we are in foreign territory without having to take a step. In someways the most challenging mission field is within the body. It isn’t often we stop to think about how much Gentile/Pagan (metaphorically) we have within the ranks of self-professed believers. In some sense we have been innoculated by an overfamiliarity with religious talk. It appears religious pundits and the spin doctors carry more clout than truth and they are not loath to use it. Real life experience ceases to have value. It is as if value-talk disvalues lived-values.

Wesley White

Matthew 4:12-23

After last week's passage from John we now hear something completely different about the addition of disciples. In John it was John B.'s testimony that brought Andrew and Simon Peter to Jesus. In Matthew it is Jesus catching them catching fish and challenging them to catch people.

There is confusion here, but the kind of confusion that opens discipleship up to you and to me and to all. How you arrive will look differently to different folks. There is no one story to tell of how we arrive at our specific ministries.

It is this very openness to be "called" that is fitting on a day that remembers Martin Luther King, Jr. He had a dream that folks would be judged by their character, by their fruits, by their discipleship, not on the basis of their skin color, sexual orientation or any particular form of call to a ministry.

May we be open and help the church be open to all who are called without putting additional controls on. There is room for discernment by the community regarding one's call, but not discrimination. Sometimes we get confused about these and call our discriminations discernment. To honor both the heritage of discipleship and Martin let us remember the word "open."

This morning's New York Times editorial by Bob Herbert concludes with these words that could lead us to pray that the openness of discipleship might be filled — perhaps even by you.

"From my perspective, this is a dark moment in American history. The Treasury has been raided and the loot is being turned over by the trainload to those who are already the richest citizens in the land. We've launched a hideous war for no good reason in Iraq. And we're about to elevate to the highest law enforcement position in the land a man who helped choreograph the American effort to evade the international prohibitions against torture.

"Never since his assassination in 1968 have I felt the absence of Martin Luther King more acutely. Where are today's voices of moral outrage? Where is the leadership willing to stand up and say: Enough! We've sullied ourselves enough.

"I'm convinced, without being able to prove it, that those voices will emerge. There was a time when no one had heard of Dr. King. Or Oscar Arias Sanchez. Or Martin O'Brien, who founded the foremost human rights organization in Northern Ireland, and who tells us: 'The worst thing is apathy - to sit idly by in the face of injustice and to do nothing about it.'"

To be called is antidote and antipathy to apathy. Claim your call.

Wesley White

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Sounds like Paul wasn't much of an administrator. Would you care to be the next evangelist after Paul? How could you operate without a clear record of who is baptized?

Getting that detail right may not have been Paul's first concern, or even fourth. Can you proclaim the gospel without getting a count on the altar call, knowing how many gave themselves to Christ as a result of your revival meeting? Can the gospel be proclaimed without it ending up with an inventory of who's now in and who's now still out? What happens to gospel preaching when there is not a connection to traditional rites?

For Paul the issue is that of empowering people, not emptying them. (By "emptying" I mean having a sense of "once and done" or "So-And-So will care for it for me" or "magic talismans are the currency of choice".) The same is true of empowering symbols of life — from vision told and retold, manger and cradle births including those in the back of a cab, moments of insight and healing, deaths/endings/crosses, and new visions/horizon visions/resurrections. All too often these days everything is empty and so scoundrels can get away with anything as they define emptiness to their own benefit.

When we are full of meaning we are as threatening to the power structures as was Jesus. We dare not empty our own journey toward the clarifying of our values. Risk and death are two of the places where we see who we are. Facing our particular temptations to ease and comfort are other places. Let us be empowered, filling life, ours and others, not just get by.

Well? . . . You're right, it is foolish to live at that level. ... Nonetheless, Fools, arise!

Wesley White

Psalm 27:1, 4-9

In the midst of the roller-coaster that is life —

Up - confidence in God
Down - evildoers assail
Up - I'll still be confident
Down - days of trouble
Up - praise
Down - abandoned
Up - taken in
Down - violence
Up - courage

are you a glass half-full (bottom-half awaiting more or top-half anticipating a fall) are a glass half-empty (bottom-half, what's left from being of service, or top-half, covering emptiness)?

If called will you go hesitantly or enthusiastically? In the midst of disagreement are you a hands-on bridgebuilder or hands-off proclaimer that they deserve each other?

It really isn't so amazing that there is still a sense of uncertainty while inside GOD's place. GOD seems to have arguments with GOD with GOD repenting GOD's own actions and experience. Why wouldn't we, who are filled with GOD DNA, find ourselves divided.

All that talk of oneness sometimes has us denying our differences rather than hearing it as a goal of finding a better way between two ways found to be so good by their own adherents and so not good by those in another camp.

Is it true that my good isn't good enough yet because it hasn't adequately taken your good into account?

Wesley White

Isaiah 9:1-4

From a PBS program on the holocaust last night we hear this advice to the young:

Try not to be a perpetrator
Try not to be a bystander
Try not to be a victim

This is a great light that allows us no gloom in the midst of anguishing situations. How are you doing?

There is no political or economic party or theory that will get us out of our humanness and what it is we can do to one another. There are still genocides going on in the world around us. Some are in one country or another, against one people or another, and some are global (think of the children who starved to death today). In USofA politics it is an incipient genocide on the poor that we must deal with. How in this setting is it possible to not be a perpetrator and keep a standard of living we have become addicted to? How are we anything but bystanders as pro forma confirmation hearings and sneaking of nasty things into must-pass legislation go on and on? How can we keep what goes around from coming around so that all become victims, not just currently identified victims?

May you receive the light you need to not perpetrate evil by standing by as victims multiply.

May you be light to those so caught to lead them from death to life.

Wesley White

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Again and again I run into people who are surprised at the amount of politics in a congregation and the number of subsets that are able to cause dissension. It is as though we have sold ourselves a false myth that having God on our side in the midst of other folks of the same tradition will mean that we will get along famously and work every difference out on the first try.

We wouldn't have the Pauline corpus were it not for the ongoing issues between people regardless of their faith in one expression of God or one party of a nation.

It may be that our quarrels are a better measure of our connection with one another than anything else. Are we quarreling well or not? Fighting fair or not? If we are doing either of those well we are well on the way to wellness. if we are not, we are not on that upward trail.

Quarrels that we might usually associate with a devolution of our common life can actually help us evolve. And, yes, you can apply that to the ongoing evolution of our understanding of evolution.

So here is an exercise to warm your heart and move you along to wellness — participate in one good quarrel this next week. By that we are not talking about ranting with like-minded folks, but elevating your relationship by getting down to the basics which will include differences. See if you don't feel much better about yourself and others if you can quarrel well

Wesley White

Matthew 4:12-23

Galilee — a land God gave to the Israelites is now under the control of Rome. It is a land marked by darkness and death, taxes and control of occupation and poverty. Isaiah experienced Galilee occupied by Assyria; Jesus experienced it occupied by Rome.

The people who sat in darkness, who lived invisible and poor, have seen a great light dawn. Will that light grow or flicker?

America can hardly be called a poor nation, but it is ruled in such a way that the poor are becoming more invisible, more responsible for their plight.

A call went forth for disciples of Jesus to follow the hope of Isaiah. That call is continuing to go forth today. If you would like to hear one of those calls, follow this link to hear Jim Wallis on Fresh Air.

Will we follow this call to fulfill Isaiah in our time? in our place? in the places our place influences?

January 30, 2005 - Year A - Epiphany 4

Wesley White

January 30, 2005

Micah 6:1-8
Psalm 15
1 Corinthians 1:18-31
Matthew 5:1-12

A week to consider your call, your purpose, your intention -- various spelling of the same arc of living.

What has it been? Is that to continue being affirmed or modified? Is it to be put down?

What do you sense it is becoming? How might that be clarified and supported?

Wesley White

Matthew 5:1-12

This Sermon on the Mount illustrates the kind of world God's presence can bring forth. It is an alternative to and disruptive of the primary commitments of Rome's, or any, culture, including our own.

In parallel with Moses going up the mountain to receive Commandments that will shape a community, Jesus goes up a mountain and shares his way of living his commission and Blessings that shape a church. In like manner, Jesus follows Isaiah 61 for this prophetic agenda. In some sense this is our charter or constitution.

Dave Stratton

I wonder what a list would look like, if we would start out with "To be pitied are the ...? The proud, the know it all, the wealthy, the popular, the powerful? Maybe all these do not work with the Opposites of the Beatitudes, but it is something to consider?

Wesley White

From the TextWeek Weblog by Jenee Woodard (well worth time browsing regularly) comes the following. It is helpful about the issue of "blessed" and "pitiful".

Matthew 5:1-12 - Epiphany 4A

Don't miss K.C. Hanson's How Honorable! How Shameful! A Cultural Analysis of Matthew's Makarisms and Reproaches. In this article, Hanson explores the Beatitudes in the terms of honor and shame cultural models. From Hanson's conclusion:

"1) Makarisms and reproaches are thematically related to formal blessings and curses, but linguistically and contextually distinct from them. Consequently, makarisms should not be translated "blessed." The translations of "happy" or "enviable" for the makarisms are also inappropriate since they do not refer to either human emotion or the evil eye. 2) Makarisms and reproaches are value judgments, which can be uttered by sages, prophets, or anyone in the community. They should be translated in keeping with value judgments: the makarisms with "O how honorable" or "How honored"; and the reproaches with "O how shameful" or "Shame on." 3) Makarisms and reproaches are comprehensible only in terms of Mediterranean honor/shame values and the challenge-riposte transactions. Thus they describe and challenge values, but also call for a response. 4) Matt 5:3-12 provides the introduction to Jesus' public ministry and Matt 23:13-31 its conclusion. Consequently they form an honor/shame inclusio around Jesus public teaching. Furthermore, the evangelist has not only employed them as formal and semantic antitheses, but has paralleled key-words throughout their formulations."

Wesley White

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

"For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom." Every culture has its own standards that have to be met to count in its eyes.

As you think about the standards of your family, your community, your congregation, your denomination, your nation, your class, your . . . . - - what do you use to validate opportunities to change direction?

How do those standards operate when they are in conflict with one another - - your family standards don't match your class standards? your congregational standards don't match your denominational standards?

Do you have a standard separate from any of these specifics that holds you in good stead whether you are at a family gathering, a town meeting, a worship service, a doctrinal debate, a political gathering?

For Paul, a standard that informs him in any given situation is the metaphor of Cross and Crucifixion. How do you see Paul using that standard? Do you use that metaphor for yourself? If so, how do you use it? If not, what do you use?

Whatever standard you use probably has some way to reveal and deal with the hypocrisy of our lives that periodically raises its head and leads us to avoiding, in some situations, the very standard we espouse. Does your standard assist you in these questions: When given a choice, which direction requires the least hypocrisy? which asks the greatest amount of cognitive dissonance? which presents a position requiring the fewest sound-bite phrases?

To pay attention to such as these is to be foolish in the world's eye. The world's unfoolish use common sense adages to paper over rough edges that snag the poor, every time.

Court jesters, Arise! Joy and Pun are at hand. These are our tools for taking down standards of death by surprise*. Enjoy.


* lyric from Bob Franke's Alleluia, The Great Storm is Over

Wesley White

Psalm 15

Keeping with the "honor" motif, we can ask who and what we are paying attention to during our everyday life when the little things count as much as the big things.

To be honorable, through and through, means living from and to the heart -from our heart to the heart of another (whether that be GOD or Neighbor). So how are we doing?

Blessed are those who . . .
walk blamelessly (who are poor in spirit)
speak truth from their heart (who mourn)
do no evil to friends (who are meek)
do not reproach neighbors (who hunger and thirst for righteousness)
stand by their oath (who are merciful)
do not lend money at interest (who are pure in heart)
do not take a bribe against the innocent (who are peacemakers)
shall not be moved (who are persecuted)

In so doing we honor the hope of our creation - caretakers and co-creators.

Wesley White

Micah 6:1-8

Nature acts as judge on our behavior. When Gaea experiences abuse the judgment is that it must be stopped, no matter what. The consequences of bad/mad environmental policy directed at profit will come back to haunt subsequent generations. The worse the infraction, the longer the penalty.

Presuming that GOD and CREATION have a significant case to bring against the way in which we do business with nature and one another, we have to ask how we will plea bargain when caught red-handed. Do we make a payment of restitution? If so where do we begin and how far will we go? If we start with a burnt calf can we end anywhere else but at our beloved grandchildren.

When we finally catch on that there is no avoiding the consequence of cause and effect we may figure out that an eye for an eye, abuse for abuse, rape for rape, sacrifice for sacrifice has not and does not stop those who measure life by its profit to them. What is needed is a new relationship with GOD, CREATION, and NEIGHBORS. This new picture calls for a transformation of our ability to take, just because we can, into justice. Our frailty with justice then needs tempering lest it become self-righteous in its application. Thus the call for mercy/kindness. This mercy is not an overly simple and blanketing "that's ok" but a very rigorous and intentional walking in the cool of every evening with GOD, CREATION, and NEIGHBORS.

Justice with Mercy, leads to Community that is sustainable and joyful.

How does that differ from Peace with Justice or Peace and Justice? Do you have a bias toward starting with Justice or Peace? And your preference for the catalyst or operational element in the formula being Mercy or Justice?

Wesley White

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

When was the last time you talked about GOD's foolishness? This puts a new light on being "a fool for Christ."

When was the last time you talked about GOD's weakness?

Are these character flaws? Do we so desire unchanging solidity that we insist that GOD be immutable, unchanging, omnipotent, omnipresent, etc. even when GOD's own witness about repentance and mind-changing and bringing a new heaven and earth just don't compute with us?

Might these be exactly the character virtues needed for creation? Without them we wait for some static perfection that will last and last and be devoid of growth in meaning. Here we are open to not only considering the foolishness and weakness of GOD, but reveling in it. When we hear we are made in the image of GOD this begins to make sense to us. The humility this takes stands us in good stead. We don't need to make up things about the future or to speculate on GOD's judgment and what heaven/hell looks like, imagining there is a heaven or a hell.

Now it is before us. Do we pay attention to GOD's foolishness or will we show our denseness by denying it? Do we pay attention to GOD's weakness or will we show how out of touch we are by denying it?

It takes a great deal of wisdom and strength to attend to fools and weaklings, whether that of GOD or Neighbor. It takes a great deal of foolishness and weakness to attend to such as you and me.

Wesley White

Matthew 5:1-12

Thou shalt : Thou shalt not !

Blessed, honored, happy, fortunate art thou !

There is a world of difference between the strict boundary setting that defines the limits of evil and the openness of grace that encourages the boundarylessness of blessing.

Being who we are, we tend toward the Commandments rather than the Beatitudes. We argue about posting the commandments but when was the last time you heard a debate about posting the beatitudes. Kurt Vonnegut points this out well in his article Cold Turkey.

In many ways the Beatitudes are antinomian energy. Our rule making tends, over time, to run amok. Simply note the expansion of legislation over time measured in shelf-feet. Finer and finer details and loopholes for previous legislation abound.

By this time we all have heard the rules against the GLBTQ community and individuals therein. How many have heard the blessings of the GLBTQ community and individuals?

The beatitudes were radical in their day and remain so today. The beatitudes had a short shelf life when it came to living them. The same is true today. One of the most radically graceful actions always available to us is to choose the beatitudes over the commandments.