A Meditation for Good Friday

A Private Conversation

“Today you shall be with me in Paradise”

It is somewhat hard to believe that Jesus and the two criminals hanging next to him were able to carry on a conversation.  I mean to think that their crosses were that close that they could hear one another in a pained whisper, or that they had enough strength to call out if the crosses were farther apart is fairly remarkable.  It must have been chaos below as seen from their angle above and yet they were able to converse in the last moments of their lives about some serious issues and we are privy to hear this conversation between three dying men.

Hear now the account of this conversation from the Luke the 23^rd chapter…

One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

There is no time left.  Each one of these men’s lives are imminently ending.  For two of them death could be the final word, for Jesus, of course, we know it isn’t.  One of the criminals jumps on the bandwagon with the accusers and scoffs at Jesus.  ‘If you think you are so good, then save us all!’ he said mockingly. 

His choice for eternal damnation was already made whether he knew it or not.  He could not open his ears nor his heart to hear that his life didn’t have to end the way in which it did.  He blindly followed the others down that road to perdition.  He didn’t look back.

The other criminal saw differently.  And he tried.  He tried to bring some understanding to the first criminal of who Jesus was, of what Jesus is capable of.  He asks that Jesus remembers him, that is, Jesus forgive him for whatever he has done in his life, great or small and then accept him into the kingdom of heaven, eternal life, the ultimate presence of God that knows absolutely no end.  “Jesus, remember me, when you come into your kingdom.”          

This intimate scene shows us that we have a choice, even until the very end, the final hour of our lives.  We have a choice, we can choose life or we can choose death.  We can opt for redemption and come into the kingdom with Jesus, or we can foolishly deny and mock Jesus and the salvation that he offers rendering ourselves to eternal damnation.  The choice is ours. 

We have many choices today.  Too many choices!  From simple and mundane things like what kind of cover do I want for my Smartphone, and what I want on the top of my pizza to behavioral choices that effect your life and those around you.  What will you do with your life, how will you treat others, how will you live out your days however many days you have in this life?  

This scene on the cross shows us that it is never to late to repent and to turn your life around.  Even though the criminal was dying he would live eternally in the kingdom of God; it was in his very last moments that he understands and that Jesus prepares a place for him in paradise.  That’s comforting.

But why wait?  Why wait until we have no more days upon this earth?  Today, right now, in this moment we can make a choice for life and all of the goodness that God can give you.  Right here.  Right now.  Every action we take or word that comes from our mouth can be life giving if we so choose.  This is what Jesus’ words are all about.

‘Today, you shall be with me in paradise.’  

The choice seems fairly clear cut to me.   Jesus remembers those who merely ask to be with him in sincere repentance, acceptance and surrender.  Will you be one of them?

Amen.
Photo one taken at the start of the Via Dolorosa on Good Friday, 2008 in Jerusalem.
Photo two is of a mosaic in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  It is of Jesus being carried form the cross to his tomb.

A Meditation for Maundy Thursday

An Ominous Silence

John 13: 107, 31b-38

This night is a night of great transition.  For the disciples the milieu in Jerusalem shifts from a Passover celebration to the seriousness of an impending doom where Jesus hands himself over to the authorities who put him on trial, mock him and carry out his crucifixion. 

  

This is a night of darkness.  Shadows elongate and reveal a dirt pathway over ancient stones that lead to the upper room where Jesus gathered at table for what was to be his last meal with his disciples.  They carefully climb the stairs one or two stumble for the oil lamps had not yet been lit.  Across in the valley the donkey’s have stopped their grazing and are still, their eyes getting closer to sleep with each lengthening blink.  In the garden at Gethsemane only the full Paschal moon filters through the branches of the olive trees.  Otherwise it was dark.

This is a night of great confusion. Jesus seems to know what lies ahead but no one else does.  The betrayal, the denial, the final supper in which he shares are yet to come, but none of the disciples seem to know or understand the magnitude of the hour.  They are confused; how could any of them be disloyal to their Lord or renounce their relationship to him?  Only God and Jesus know that his hour has come.  This moment, this time, this place was the zenith of the meaning of his life. 

This is a night of selfless love.  As they were eating their meal Jesus quietly gets up from the table and wraps a soft towel around his waist.  An anxious hush falls over the room and the disciples begin to eat a little slower.  You can hear the wrestling of their robes as they turn towards Jesus when he comes to them and kneels at their feet.  The water splashes against the sides of the basin and he dips in the wash rag and wrings it out.  All of them, Simon Peter, even Judas Iscariot are cleansed.  Jesus leaves no one out.  And when he was finished he gave them a cup of wine and some bread and asks that they remember him.

This is a night about Christ, what he has done for us, and what he has yet to accomplish.  He comes to us in a lowly manger and then ministers to us through the leper, the blind man, and the prostitute.  He mounts a humble donkey and rides closer to his death.  He hands us a towel so that we might be cleansed.  He hands us some bread and wine in order for us to be refreshed.  He gives to us his life, freely and willingly for he could have gotten away.  How will you receive him?

This night is a night of ominous silence.  For in this hush is every person’s story.  Your story, my story and the story of Jesus’ miraculous love.  It is in the silence and between the lines that resides the acts of human misery and the reality of our lives, the questioning, the doubt, the fear.  In this silence we wrestle between good intentions and indifference, our yesterdays and today’s.  Yet, this quiet begets the fullest potential of who we can be and reveals to us the power of God’s love and forgiveness.

On this night, the night in which Jesus was betrayed he gives yet again, a new commandment, to love. Simply love. Deeply love.  Honestly love just as he loves us.  Unselfishly, with generous intent, and forever.  It is the very least that we can do for our Lord.

Amen.   Let it be so.

Photograph taken from St. Peter Galicantu in Jerusalem.  The crowd is descending the Kidron Valley from the Mount of Olives.

A New Thing

Isaiah 43: 16-21

How often, when you have been in unfamiliar situations, has someone asked you to consider alternatives?  To see something just a bit differently than you normally would.  To maybe drink from a different water source or to walk a path that is counter to the path you have always walked? 

It’s not easy to do so; in fact maybe it is impossible to see an alternative when we are swamped in the minutia of daily living or so bogged down with trying to keep things running the way they always have.

Our scripture, that the lectionary holds up for consideration does precisely that, from the book of the prophet Isaiah. It asks us to see anew.  And it is fitting to have a look at it during this Lenten season because the passage makes us think, it lifts our spirits in this long season of repentance, it can expand our imagination as to what could be, and has the potential to solidify our hope for a grand future[i].  It prepares us to see Christ’s death and his resurrection as a gateway into a hope filled future.

God enlists the prophet Isaiah to speak to the people of Israel in words of comfort about going home to yet another new reality, from the 43^rd chapter.

“Thus says the Lord,
who makes a way in the sea,
 a path in the mighty waters, 
who brings out chariot and horse,
army and warrior; 
 they lie down, they cannot rise, they are extinguished, quenched like a wick: Do not remember the former things, or consider the things of the old.  I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?  I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild animals will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise.”  

You see a prophet’s words, especially Isaiah’s, weren’t always gloom and doom that you might expect. Isaiah was quite the imaginative poet and his poetry are words of soothing comfort while he readies the people for something new.  They may not like it, they may not want it, but God does, so God is doing something new and Isaiah is the chosen one to relay that message.  

For so long the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. And then, after a good long time, God says to them, “OK folks, it’s time.  Pack up your camels, get some jugs of water, you’re on your way home.  Back to Judah you go!  Get a move on!  Don’t you get it?  Do you not perceive it?”  You’re getting a fresh start.  As you know, some did return, and some didn’t, but it was decidedly the start of something new thanks to the ever creating God that we believe in.  Water in the wilderness can only means really good things; renewal, rehydration, rejuvenation, rebirth. God spoke then to accomplish God’s purposes and God speaks today. 

Camels in the Sinai by Suzanne Wagner

There is a lot of newness in the air as one friend of mine pointed out to me.  The Israel of today, back in the promised land has just formed a new coalition government within its parliamentary democratic system, just in time for President Obama to visit Israel for the very first time.  They hope to increase security and to improve the quality of life for its citizens through this new government.  Let us hope and pray for peace in the Holy Land and in Jerusalem. 

Yet more newness, habemus papam!  We have a pope. The white smoke came billowing out of the Sistine Chapel chimney against a midnight blue sky ushering in a new pontiff, a younger (somewhat) pontiff, a humbler pontiff who appears to be in touch with the people.  While it’s clear that he is a conservative like his predecessor he is also a champion for equality and is for the rights of marginalized people.  Perhaps he will bring around a renewal for the Roman Catholic Church which has been weighed down with it share of scandals, corruption, and abuse.   Pope Francis is a servant and a pilgrim like all of us, so he is someone we can all identity with even if we are not Catholic. 

So, there is a lot of newness in the air.  I guess God really is still speaking like the UCC moniker notes. In spite of human misunderstanding and over our beloved history, God continues to pull for us and create anew.  “Ever ancient, ever new” as Augustine of Hippo says.  God just keeps building upon what was in order to fashion something new, something in keeping with God’s vision for humanity, not necessarily ours.     

“I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”  Rivers in the desert, ways in the wilderness, jackals and ostriches will honor God who will tame them.  A new life for the people of Israel is springing forth; a new life for you is springing forth if you open yourselves up to perceive it. 

Christianity, that is the truth of the Gospel, not necessarily doctrine, since its inception, ask us to see differently.  Jesus want us to notice the woman caught in prostitution and embrace her.  He asks us to envision the blind beggars, who are on the same path as we, as fully sighted individuals, he encourages us to include and to embrace every body. The entire premise of Christian doctrine begs us to find life amidst the ashes of destruction and exclusion. A new thing, can you see it?

God asks us to be a safe haven for all and to accomplish much in order to perceive the new things that God might be trying to do with us.  New ways of being a gathered community of believers.  God asks us to speak honestly and openly about how we can be God’s vision of hope in Orange and beyond with each other not around each other.  God asks each one of us to be the harbinger of good news in a world that sometimes doesn’t seem to be so safe.  God asks us to relinquish self-interest and control for the good of the Gospel in the larger setting.  “I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”

Doing a new thing doesn’t mean that we give up our old ways necessarily or entirely but it does mean to amend them.  It means to examine that which does harm and let it go and that which builds up the body of Christ and develop it into something more.  When the people of Israel were finally released to go home they could take their belongings with them but I’m sure that they examined what they would take and what they would leave behind; what wasn’t worth packing up and taking along with them or what might even break the camel’s back!

This is a time of transition for OCC and we will have directed conversations that I will be hosting in the early fall.  You will receive a letter just after Easter outlining the process and a plan to head into the future.  We will examine all aspects of your congregational life and begin to formulate a vision for where you want to go as it relates to who God is calling you to be.  We will look at what type of pastor could help you realize your goals.  This is all part of the search process which actually has begun by tackling the deficit, getting your financial house in order.

Orange Congregational Church

Fall might seem like a ways out but nothing really solid and good is realized quickly.  In the meantime, talk to me about your hopes and dreams.  

God continues to call us forward to accomplish new things, to perceive loving kindness and justice and to enjoy this life.  Indeed God called you as a faith community into being and works with you to prepare the way for those who will follow.  Immerse yourself and watch, perceive all that God tosses your way.

May the One who causes peace to reign in the high heavens, have peace descend upon us this morning.  May the One who has sustained Orange Congregational Church for all of these Gospel filled years continue to strengthen, preserve, and bless you.

Amen. 

Reverend Suzanne E. Wagner

Orange Congregational Church

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[i] Idea from Weekly Seeds, Kate Huey, UCC.org.

Hungry? Thirsty? Then Come!

Isaiah 55: 1-9

The Israelites had adapted quite nicely to their exile in Babylon, in fact they laid down roots.  After so many generations they had forgotten about that good old promised land, that land of milk and honey that God had promised to Moses and their ancestors. 

Apparently the words of Psalm 137 “By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down and there we wept when we remember Zion.”  We hung our harps on the willows, “How could we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?”  (v. 1, 2a, 4), apparently those words weren’t so much in their hearts and minds anymore like they were when they first were exiled to Babylon and the longing to go home was great.

They had become accustomed to their life in Babylon.  They liked it.  It was good.  It was comfortable.  They prospered.  As one of the scholars say, “Eat royal bread, think royal thoughts.”   Even if they weren’t in their own land, life was good like a fine glass of port, why think about home now?

At least they thought they were mighty-fine until Isaiah asks them a question.  Why do you spend your money for bread that doesn’t satisfy you?  They might be comfortable in Babylon but were they really satisfied? 

Let us now hear the words of the Prophet Isaiah…

Ho, everyone who thirsts, 
come to the waters;
 and you that have no money,
   come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
 without money and without price. 
Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,
and your labor for that which does not satisfy?
 Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good,
   and delight yourselves in rich food.

Incline your ear, and come to me;  listen, so that you may live. 
I will make with you an everlasting covenant,
 my steadfast, sure love for David. 
See, I made him a witness to the peoples,  a leader and commander for the peoples. 
See, you shall call nations that you do not know,
 and nations that do not know you shall run to you,
 because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel,
 for he has glorified you.

Seek the Lord while he may be found,
 call upon him while he is near; 
let the wicked forsake their way,
   and the unrighteous their thoughts;
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
 and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 
For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
 nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your way and my thoughts than your thoughts.

The ancient marketplace in Babylon must have been a site.  The busy daily commerce of the merchants calling out to the consumers, “Fresh frankincense for sale”, “Spelt, we’ve got spelt on special today, only 5 scheckels for a homer.”, “Don’t run out of oil for your lamps”; the old weights and measures scales barely emptied one bunch of grapes and a container of pomegranates was right up there on the scale.  The aroma of the freshly baked pita loaves permeated the alley ways.  All of this activity, made for a very lavish economy for some.  

Can you see the women rushing from one keffiah headed vendor to the next in their long flowing gowns?  Or how about the old women sitting on the pavement sorting her fresh herbs and spices for sale?  Surely you might need some of her just picked hyssop.

People were buying.  People were selling.  And the poor people, the poor people where scavenging for peels and rinds in the piles of discarded, day old fruit. 

No wonder the Israelites had assimilated so beautifully into Babylonian culture after their exile from Judah.  What was there not to like?  Good food, great frankincense.  You can get pretty comfortable after a few generations.  

There was so much to buy, so much on which to spend your money.  As you’re leaving you see a large tray of brightly colored glass beads for sale, all different sizes.  Should you?  Can you splurge?  What’s the harm, a few new beads to go with that gorgeous Mecca-imported silk you’ve just finished sewing into a robe.  Or maybe that shiny anvil caught your eye, your husband could use a new anvil for his metal forging business. 

But those beads, did you really need to purchase new beads? Will those beads make any sort of difference in your life?  Will they satisfy your deepest desire for relationship, for self worth, for expression of what you really value in life?  Will those beads give you a deep and abiding sense of stability and ultimately grace?

 

Isaiah thinks not!  Folks the lure of materialism is an age-old problem.

Isaiah names and nails it. “Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” (55:2)

Isaiah’s formidable task was to tell them to abandon their ways, to stop buying this pagan, nutrient-absent, life-zapping bread.  They were too comfortable.  They were eating bread that won’t satisfy them in the long run.  Isaiah, spokesperson for God, names it and nails it. 

You know, being a prophet is not an easy profession, you don’t generally win the title of Ms. or Mr. Congeniality!  I had one professor in seminary that opened a lecture with “Be glad your daddy wasn’t a prophet!” Their news, though essential, was not easy to hear or heed.

Let’s cut to the chase.  We are not exempt from this consumer driven culture that we live in just like those Israelites in Babylonia.  Don’t think for a minute that the children of Israel are the only ones who are in need of ‘correction’.  We ALL are in need of finding our way back to God and renouncing all that which distracts us from healthy, God-focused living. Now this is not a rub on capitalism but it is a rub again consuming with the idea that it will satisfy and make your life complete.

It’s all too easy today to lose our way and to forget about what truly matters, what truly can fill us with satisfaction and love.  It’s much too easy to partake in the bread of secularism and the loaves of materialism because it’s lathered in a rich and creamy dressing which is an aphrodisiac to those who are empty; it is the opiate of our day.  Follow it and you’ll be fed for a time being.  Buy into to it and you’ll have lots of interesting and beautiful stuff but will you be satisfied?

What satisfies you?  How do you know when you are filled to capacity and needing no more? This a call to examine what it means to live a life giving, an energizing existence.  

The voice of Isaiah cries out, the ever present, all inclusive prophet speaks to all.  There is room for everyone here, it’s win win: those with means, don’t be lured by distractions and those with lesser or no means, please just come; YOU will be given what you need to endure life and to prosper when you follow the Lord.  This is ultimately a passage of invitation to a richer, grander and fuller life for each an every person.

For Christians Christ can satiate our emptiness.  Eat this bread…..and be filled with peace.  Drink this cup….your yearnings will cease.  Eat this bread…your hunger and emptiness will be assuaged.  Drink this cup….relax, be still, release your grip and just rest in the incredible presence of God. 

Come and never be hungry, trust and you will not thirst.

May this be our Lenten hope and prayer.

Amen.

Photographs taken by Suzanne.  Man and Women in Bethlehem marketplace.  Tray of beads found in the Old City of Jerusalem. 2007.

A Fox, A Hen, and Her Brood

Luke 13: 31-35

Perhaps Jesus was more of a country bumpkin than a city slicker coming in from the Galilee but he was not stupid.  When he caught sight of the big city of Jerusalem, a place that he had traveled to often for the Passover and other Jewish festivals, and when he thought of the havoc that the tyrannical Herod’s throughout the years had imposed on this tiny spit-spot in the vast Roman Empire, Jesus lamented greatly.

Jesus is well into his ministry by now and he is setting his face toward Jerusalem.  It’s that time. He has been up in the Galilee, primarily an agrarian culture where farming and fishing were the norm and his parables drew upon that context from which he grew.  He calmed storms and gathered thousands of people on the side of large and rolling hills and talked about flowers of the field and the birds in the air.  Now he is winding his way “through one town and village after another, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem.” (Luke 13:22)

This is where we find him in this morning’s reading from the Gospel of Luke, the 13^th chapter.

At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’

He said to them, ‘Go and tell that fox for me, “Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed away from Jerusalem.”

Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.” ’

The fox in literary history is rarely connected with warm and fuzzy roles.  In the world of the brothers Grimm and other fairy tales and fables they are usually depicted as unpredictable, cunning and sneaky red-coated critters that become involved in the story yet lurk in the margins waiting for the right time to pounce on their prey.  So it may (or may not) be a surprise that Herod Antipas, direct descendant of Herod the Great, aka Herod of the Nativity, and our Christmas pageants, was analogous to a fox prowling in the alleys of Jerusalem, waiting and watching to get Jesus.

And Jesus.  It’s hard to imagine Jesus name-calling, isn’t it?  I mean, really Jesus come on!  Name-calling?  And a fox?  Herod Antipas is still in charge of the Roman Empire and still the Herod’s have not reconciled their relationship between Jesus the King and the Herodian dynasty.  Still the Herod’s were out to best him, to outfox him at every juncture.

This is one uncomfortable text on several levels and Lent is the time for uncomfortable questions and hard truths and so we need to hear this text and make sense of it for our lives if we are to journey with Jesus into Jerusalem.  We were never promised an easy trip if we follow Jesus to this holy city.  Jesus never said to his disciples, come follow me down Easy Street to that glorious kingdom.      

Jerusalem is no ordinary city.  The moment you set foot within the boundaries of the city you know that you have entered a place where prophets, priests, and ordinary people compete for sacred space and that the presence of God is palpable around every corner built of golden Jerusalem stone.  It is thrilling, sacred, humbling and certifiably crazy to be and live in Jerusalem.

Not much has changed in this very ancient city, the axis mundi, the center of the world where heaven and earth meet.  Divinity and humanity at its best, and at its worst.  As Barbara Brown Taylor notes, “When Jerusalem obeys God, the world spins peacefully on its axis.  When Jerusalem ignores God, the whole planet wobbles.”[i]  Jerusalem is wobbling! And Jesus laments.

 ‘Go tell that fox, that sly guy Herod that I’m busy casting out demons and performing cures and on the third day I’m outta here!’  Jesus expresses his sorrow over the destructiveness of Jerusalem and their inability to repent and follow the teachings of God.  He also knows that in just another forty years the temple will be destroyed.  While we might want to wag our fingers at Jerusalem for not being faithful to God we need to think through this because who among us has been able to completely follow every teaching and command that God has issued?  Who among us has not fallen short of God’s expectations for our lives?

We, like Jerusalem have the ability to squander away the precious resources that God has bequeathed to us, depleting our warehouses of earth’s riches and goodness.  We, like Jerusalem don’t always listen to the call that God placed upon our lives as stewards of our time, our talents, and our treasures.  We, like Jerusalem sometimes just plain old forget that we are called because God wants us just as we are to advance God’s kingdom here on earth, that our mission is not ours, but God’s mission, that we exist for others just as much as we exist for ourselves.  That we as a church will implode if we are only self-focused and not other focused.

And when we loose sight of God, the foxes of power, of avarice, of hatred advance.

Gemutlichkeit:As A Hen Gathers Her Brood

Yet, there is so much redemption in this passage to find reassurance in.  The hen enters and it is her instinctive loving nature to gather her chicks, her brood no matter their behavior, in her protective care.  She outstretches her wings to expose her own vulnerability only to protect and preserve her young, her impressionable and vulnerable, her wayward.  The hen does all that she can to protect her brood, her beloved young from the fox.  No matter how far we may stray and cross paths with the fox, God is there with wings of mercy outstretched.

A fox, a hen and her brood.  It sort of sounds like a lewd joke or maybe the beginning of one of Grimm’s fairy tales.  But it is not a fairy tale.  It is a story of redemption.  It is a story of God’s love for us.  It shows us that when we sin God still loves us; that even though we fall short, God’s deepest desire is to protect us from harm and danger and unhealthy living.  The truth in this passage is that Jesus laments, intercedes, and grieves for us and in doing so God gathers us closely in forgiveness and grace.

May these words reassure and enrich your living as you journey into Jerusalem with Jesus during Lent.

Amen.

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[i] Barbara Brown Taylor, “As a Hen Gathers Her Brood”, The Christian Century, February 25, 1986.

The Anatomy of a Church

1 Corinthians 12: 12-26

One thing that you probably don’t know about me is that I’m a watercolorist. I take classes whenever I can so that I make time to paint.  When I signed up for the Bird painting class through the Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators I was deeply disappointed, at first, to discover that we had to learn about bird anatomy before drawing and then painting a bird.

‘Why do we have to learn about the inside structure of a bird on order to paint it?’ That’s what I wanted to know and the teacher just sort of said, ‘Well you need to know what’s going on in the inside of a bird in order to make the form of the bird correct’. You need to understand how the skeletal structure connects with the structure of a wing. How the feathers are so delicately designed and laid out are as essential to your painting just as the color variations.

Well, of course she was right. Once I understood the anatomy of a bird my paintings and drawing were much more realistic.  What I grasped on a deeper level is that a bird wing is nothing short of a miracle intricately designed by a loving and creating God and it is essential that all of the feathers are aligned and working together.  This is how a bird can soar the heights with unlimited possibility.

Tufted Titmouse by Suzanne E. Wagner

Anatomy is the science of the shape and structure of organisms and it not only extends to birds and mammals but to organizations and dare I even say churches also.  The Apostle Paul knew that, he knew all to well that if the anatomy of the early church were off, there would be problems.

Paul writes his letter to the people at Corinth, a bustling urban community that was ethnically, culturally, and religiously diverse. Corinth was the heart of Roman Imperial culture in Greece and it is more than likely that this small fledgling church population mirrored the larger community.  So you can imagine that there were clashes because of this diversity and also because of Rome. 

At this point he is writing as a mediator between the members.  Hear the words of the Apostle Paul in the 12^th chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians.

Indeed, the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body.

And if the ear were to say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body’, that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole body were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?

But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many members, yet one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’

On the contrary, the members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and those members of the body that we think less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this.

But God has so arranged the body, giving the greater honor to the inferior member, that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together with it; if one member is honored, all rejoice together with it.

As only Paul can do, he illustrates his point in many ways.  In fact he just hammers that point in over and over again like a jackhammer on stone.  This passage sounds like Church Anatomy 101 doesn’t it?  The church body at Corinth was not working out so well, so he uses the metaphor of the body to illustrate how the body of Christ really should work.  They were a fractured church community and Paul tries very hard to bolster their confidence and remind them what being the body of Christ is all about especially when the culture around them was less than decent and who worshipped Greek gods.

Each foot, each hand, each eye, each ear is essential.  Not one part is superfluous.  One body, one spirit.  They all work in harmony with one another yet each maintains its special function within the body.  Every member is significant and every member is responsible for the workings of the church.  Every member has responsibility to tell his or her story of God’s love in their life.  Every member is dependent upon the other.  Every member brings gifts and resources that the body needs to be about the work of Christ.  A bird can’t fly without its wing and a church can’t be a worshipping community without each person and the gifts they bring.

And what binds this conglomeration of people together?  For Paul it is critical for the people to know that their baptism in Christ binds them together, it is their shared story of love and pain, joy and sorrow, laughter and tears that they hold in common.  And yet they are free to express their unique and diverse gifts for the good of the common weal.  I don’t think it gets any better than that.  'Unity and diversity are not incompatible; they are interdependent on one another'.[i]    

We, as a congregation, are embarking on a path that will take us over many types of terrain.  We will pose questions for discussion and see what ‘aha’ moments there will be.  We will reach a consensus that utilizes unique gifts and that ultimately will strengthen this church. 

Each board and committee has its area of expertise, its special interests and individuals bring their distinctive gifts and talents to each group, and that’s good.  We are all responsible together for the growth that will occur if we remember our baptismal ties in Christ and that we are all gifted by the same God. When Christ is the focus of all we do then we experience grace, acceptance, and love.  Then we can make decisions that are fiscally responsible, mutually nurturing, and Gospel focused.

The church exists for the world, not vice versa.  And it can because each one of us, with our quirks and our affinities, brings to the take a wealth of unsurpassed talent.  Talent that can be utilized for the good of the whole.

I am much more attuned to birds now than I have ever been; their beauty, their little habits, their unique color gradations, their feistiness, and their gracefulness.  But I mostly marvel at their wings.  There are so many feathers and each one has a purpose, not one is dispensable.

Blue Jay

Amen.

---

[i] 'Rethinking Interim Ministry', Anthony B. Robinson.  Congregations Issue 4, 2012.

You Are Cordially Invited

John 2: 1-12

Wedding disasters!  I’m sure that you have witnessed at least one in your lifetime.  The bride slips on the runner walking down the aisle and lands on her bottom, the maid of honor becomes so inebriated at the reception that she weeps uncontrollably at the mic when she gives her toast to the bride and groom, or maybe the baker forgets to put the antique cake topper on the wedding cake that had been on the bride’s mother’s cake forty years prior, or the top tier gets dropped.  These disasters remain etched in your mind like an engraved silver frame.

Cake Topper*

The very first wedding that I performed began two hours late because the bride was taking her good old time getting ready at home.  And the groom had had immigration issues one week before the wedding, and so the entire wedding ended up without an actual change in martial status for the couple, but because she had her Vera Wang dress, and people were coming from out of the country so they wanted to go through the motions.  Oh yes, I’ve learned a lot since then and have tightened up on my instructions to the wedding party considerably.  PS: this couple did come back in a private ceremony about a year later when all of the paperwork had gone through and were, at that point, actually married.     

But none of these wedding disasters can compare with the one that happened that day in the sleepy little town of Cana in the northern Galil where the sunflowers bend over from the heat of the sun.  Imagine being invited to a wedding and you mosey up to the bar keep only to find out that he has run out of your favorite whistle whetter!  Oh the miscalculation of libations on the part of the host was grave calling for a miracle of epic proportions.

Sada Watanabe, The Wedding at Cana

Let us listen once again to the beloved story of the wedding at Cana, where Jesus’ first public miracle was performed as recorded only in the Gospel of John.

On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus and his disciples had also been invited to the wedding. When the wine gave out, the mother of Jesus said to him, ‘They have no wine.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, what concern is that to you and to me? My hour has not yet come.’ His mother said to the servants, ‘Do whatever he tells you.’

Now standing there were six stone water-jars for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to them, ‘Fill the jars with water.’ And they filled them up to the brim. He said to them, ‘Now draw some out, and take it to the chief steward.’ So they took it.

When the steward tasted the water that had become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the steward called the bridegroom and said to him, ‘Everyone serves the good wine first, and then the inferior wine after the guests have become drunk. But you have kept the good wine until now.’

Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.

After this he went down to Capernaum with his mother, his brothers, and his disciples; and they remained there for a few days.

Running out of wine was a very large error on the part of the host; he should have known better to stock up. You see hospitality was a very large part of the first century culture and weddings in that time and place lasted for at least a week where the merrymaking traveled from house to house and the food and the drink was abundant.  And we fret over a three-hour reception!  He really should have been prepared.  But he wasn’t.  Lucky for the host, or maybe as ‘providence’ would have it, Jesus, Mary and the disciples were among the invited guests.

When the vats of wine had been emptied and the guests got wind of this disastrous news Mary calls Jesus over.  ‘Psst, Jesus. Do something!’  Now their interaction was not so warm and fuzzy as you recall, it was not a ‘love your neighbor’ moment, yet Jesus obeys his mother and performs a miracle.  He takes six large jars that would have been used in a ritual of purification, fills them with water and tells the steward to pour out a glass. 

And when he did it poured out like rich, full bodied, aged to perfection wine.  Somehow, by the command or deep thought of Jesus, the water was changed into wine and even better wine than what was had before.  And with this miracle his power and compassion were revealed.  

He took the reception up to a different level!  But that’s what Jesus does, he kicks it up a notch so that water becomes wine, so that your life can be top shelf, haute couture, the best that you can possibly be.

Miracles are not occurrences that can be explained away.  They are only to be witnessed in awe and wonder and to bring you ever more closer to the God of power and love.  Jesus cordially invites us into his power of transformative love wherein the ordinary becomes extraordinary because you have a new lens in which to live your life.

Sometimes all you need is a fresh and innovative lens in which to view the world.  The old lens gets foggy or scratched and while you can still see out of it your vision becomes distorted; you just can’t see as well as you once did. When that happens you are in need of a Cana miracle. Cana miracles happen all of the time.  You just have to be open to the possibilities before you.

In the next few months we will be looking at things together as a gathered congregation.  We will look through the old lenses and try on some new ones to see what might give you clearer vision.  I understand that there are some deep issues that you would like to address during this interim time and we will.   

We will carefully, and prayerfully consider all aspects of these issues and make decisions that are in harmony with the vision and mission of Orange Congregational Church.  We will build consensus.  After all, your theme, as written in your worship bulletin reads, “Together, striving to know the will of God and to walk the way of Christ.”  Emphasis on the ‘together’ part.     

Let us, together, see what abundance lies hidden within your sacred walls and age old traditions.  Who do you want to be six months from now? Six years from now?  Who do you want to be in all areas: spiritually, missionally, worshipfully, and financially?  What do you perceive as water, that with a Cana miracle, could be transformed into wine? These are the deep questions that we will explore and you will be pleasantly surprised where you will end up. This is the work of discernment.

It’ll take some time to work through it all, remember we are not the miracle-worker, only Jesus is that!

Jesus was and still is today all about transformation.  His miracles, his healings, his death and resurrection speak of making the old, new; the dull, shiny; the sick, healthy; and lavish life from fallow fields.  When Mary pushed Jesus that day at the reception to reveal his gift she unleashed his power of transformation for us all to drink up.   

Let him transform your life from water to wine.  Allow him to work miracles in your midst where all might be fed and given fine wine to drink.  

Amen!
*This cake topper was used on the wedding cake of my mother and father, Richard and Loretta Warner c. 1938.  It was to be on top of my wedding cake in 1976 however the baker indeed DID forget to put it on.  Since then the ceramic bride and groom have stood on top of the wedding cake for my daughter, Christine and her husband Nick in 2009, and most recently at the wedding of my son John and Danielle Wagner last November 2012.  The veil on the bride was replaced in 2009 with tooling from my wedding veil.  Mazel Tov!