23rd Psalm

For a beautiful singing of the 23rd Psalm click on the link below to hear Bobby McFerrin.  It's one of my favorites.

http://youtu.be/mgbvHM03dMs

I'm too late to log into Robert's Weekly Psalm Challenge at City Athens Daily Photo...so sorry.  I'll try to get it out on Sunday the day it's supposed to be posted.

Interpreters Wanted

Acts 2: 1-21

Recently I sat through an orientation at St. Raphael’s Hospital put on by the Patient Care office.  They introduced us to several different phones and systems whereby a patient who is deaf, hard of hearing or a non-English speaker can access their medical information through interpretation.  On the door of their office is a bumper sticker that said, “Medical Interpreters Save Lives in Other Languages”.  It sure does.  I wish I had that service a few years back when I was in Israel and I found myself in Shaare Zedek, translated, the Gates of Righteous, Hospital.

A hospitalization of four days was not one of the experiences I had hoped to have but there I was in need of medical care and was zoomed off by Hasidic paramedics in an ambulance.  Life is of utmost importance in Judaism. I got the best of attention and the worst of food.  You see Israel is on the cutting edge of technological advances in medicine so I knew that I would get extraordinary care.  And I did.  And, the food was kosher and while I’ve had some delicious kosher food, this was not by any stroke of the imagination even recognizable. 

But the food was not the problem, I can always stand to loose a few pounds.  The problem was, everyone from housecleaning, to the technicians to the doctors were Hebrew speakers.  I am not.  I had learned to read and speak (and I use read and speak very loosely) Hebrew in preparation for my year in Israel but gave it up quickly after I told someone over there that I had thirty children instead of three.  All of Israel was laughing at me, I heard them.  Language, is not my gift.

I knew that I was in God’s hands when on the third day the cardiologist and a team of 10 other doctors and residents did rounds.  There I was in bed, hooked up to monitors, not quite sure what the next step was going to be save for a few short, broken English translated phrases about drips and medications.  The empathetic patient in the bed next to me was able to translate a bit of important information like diagnosis, which I already knew-afib, and treatment. And when I was released they gave me some meds, a bill, which was nothing compared to US medical healthcare costs, and a five page medical report, you guessed it, in Hebrew!  I needed an interpreter.

It’s frustrating not being able to understand what is happening especially when you need vital information such as a medical diagnosis and your treatment options and plan.  I think that’s what God already knew that day when the disciples were gathered once again in that very familiar and safe upper room.  For what good is a plan if others can’t understand it?

The beginning of the Book of Acts is very a critical juncture for the disciples and Jesus and for the life of the early Christian community.  By now Jesus has ascended.  Their confidante, their rabbi, their beloved was gone and they would see him no more.  Before he left he makes a promise and then he gives them a charge.  He promises that the Holy Spirit will come to the apostles; that they will receive the power.  And he charges them to witness throughout Jerusalem, Judaea, Samaria and in fact, to the farthest corners of the earth.  How the Holy Spirit comes to them and how they are to be witnesses is what we find in today's scripture. 

You see they were hole up in that upper room in Jerusalem. Maybe they were sitting near or in the open windows just to catch a cool breeze after the hot blazing sun of the day. By now many of the pilgrims who had converged on Jerusalem for Passover had gone back home but many of them stayed and made Jerusalem their home.  It had been 50 long days since Jesus’ resurrection, the apostles were probably tired, maybe sad and confused too.

Then, without warning, a great wind filled the house and what appeared to be flames lighted on their heads.  The Holy Spirit had taken control and when the Holy Spirit takes control…watch out!   They began to speak.  Each one of them had their own story to tell of how they had experienced Jesus, of how he had called them from their fishing nets or their almond tree groves, of how he helped them along the way. 

Each one of them could witness in whatever languages needed to be heard that day in Jerusalem.  They were not speaking in tongues, their witness was not jibberish or slurred, they were not some sorry drunkards from the farmlands of the Galil.  They spoke intelligible languages, it was Parthian, and Phyrigian, Hellenstic Greek and Aramaic, it was Cappadocian and Elamite however the people needed to hear the apostles stories, they were given the ability to tell it.

So Jesus’ promise of the Holy Spirit and his charge to be witnesses came true on that Shavuot, that Pentecost day way back.  But there is one catch.  The apostles had to expose themselves, they had to leave that safe upper room haven. Had they stayed in that room how would we know those old, old stories?   If you stay inside this church how will others know about how God has impacted your life, how the grace of God has been gifted to you through Jesus Christ?  We each have our own story to tell and we each have been given the ability, the voice, the gift to tell it. 

Next week we will bless and say farewell for a week to the youth and adults who are going on mission to the Bahamas to rebuild lives.  They will carry with them the message of love and dignity that God so wants for our lives and for all people.  They will tell that story simply through hammers and nails.  If you don’t think you have a voice, think again. 

Earlier when our scripture was read, we heard the same message but in different languages all at once.  What they read was a poignant passage from 1 Corinthians where Paul is encouraging the people at Corinth to use the gifts that they have been given to tell their story and to bear witness to the Gospel message, he says,

 

God's various gifts are handed out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various ministries are carried out everywhere; but they all originate in God's Spirit. God's various expressions of power are in action everywhere; but God [himself] is behind it all. Each person is given something to do that shows who God is: Everyone gets in on it, everyone benefits. All kinds of things are handed out by the Spirit, and to all kinds of people!          1 Corinthians 12: 4-7               from  The Message by Eugene Peterson

All kinds of things to all kinds of people and everyone benefits.  That is the power of the Holy Spirit. 

What is your story to tell and how can you tell it?  How have you been picked up from the valley of depression?  How have you been cured from illness or have made it through the night at the bedside of a child or a spouse or a parent?  How has God helped you through cycles of addiction?  When did you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that you were completely and totally blessed?  When did you know that you are loved?  When has Christ shined the brightest for you?   These are our stories and interpreters are wanted to interpret the great good news of Jesus Christ. (A MUST SEE VIDEO below)

Amen.

In the Meantime

A Sermon based on Acts 1: 1-11

Salvador Dali, Ascension, 1958

Two weeks ago I was the on-call chaplain at Yale New Haven Hospital.  I was at the East Pavilion 9 nurses station writing some notes and I heard a voice say, “Hey chaplain isn’t the world supposed to end today?”  I looked at the Doctor who said this and he was smiling at me. I smiled back.  I had been thinking about that since it just happened to be May 21 the day that was predicted that, you know, ‘all heck was going to break lose’ and the world would come to a screeching halt. 

One of the residents who was standing also at the station said (seriously), “Yeah, I ate ice cream for dinner last night, just in case”.  Then I burst out laughing (very pastorally of course) and said, “You guys have got it wrong!  You need to hone your research skills.  I went to the source, website shown on the billboards.  Clearly is says today is judgment day NOT the end of the world.  This is the beginning of the apocalypse.  The end of the world comes on October 21, 2011 according to Harold Camping and the Family Radio.  You’ve got five more months that you can eat ice cream for dinner.  Any flavor, Baskin Robbins, Ben and Jerry’s, Hagen Daz they will love you.” 

As we know, May 22 came and then May 23 and so on.  No rapture. Not even one pebble of brimstone was found up here in the Northeast.  Unfortunately however, there were a lot of dashed dreams and hopes the day after from people who believed, with all their heart and faith that the world would end.  There were a lot of financial pockets drained, property sold and money given away, there were a lot of people who risked everything leaving nothing, having nothing on May 22 all because they put their heart and soul and their dreams on the line just to be ready for their Jesus.

Rapture predictions are nothing new; they’ve been around for a very long time.  The Left Behind Series by Tim LeHaye and Jerry Jenkins tickled our fancy, the Y2K scare ushering in the new millennium.  Edgar Whisenant, active in the 1980’s particularly 1988 predicted that the rapture would happen in September during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.  Even Sir Isaac Newton figured out that the rapture would come no sooner than 2060.  People read the Bible and crunch the numbers and develop a date when the end of the world will come. Some of them are really convincing, enough so that other people believe them hook, line, and sinker.

Many of these predictions are based on scriptural references but, as a friend of mine who works in the news broadcast field once said after I was complaining about a weather prediction that went horribly askew, ‘they don’t call them predictions for nothing.’  Fair enough!  Ultimately Harold Camping, and Edgar Whisenant and all the others predicted but they were wrong. 

I guess that the Book of Acts, Chapter 1 Verse 7 just slipped their minds.  “He (Jesus) replied, It is not for you to know the times or periods that the Father has set by his own authority.”  Jesus, of course is answering the disciples question of ‘when’?

The disciples are gathered in Jerusalem.  It’s been forty days after the resurrection and Jesus has been with them during that time.  Jerusalem is getting back to normal after the Passover and the pilgrims that had come to the Temple have migrated back home.  Jerusalem is still occupied by the Romans but yet it was a juicy time for upheaval.  The seeds of a new religious community, one who follows this itinerant, this Jesus were planted and so, as with any new endeavors there are a lot of questions and uncertainty.

The disciples aren’t quite sure what is happening so they found themselves gathered quite often.  And even after three years of close companionship, and following their rabbi from the hills of the Galil to the Judean desert town of Bethany, they aren’t clear about what Jesus is saying to them.  Restoration?  Kingdom?  Huh, what? 

They ask, “Is this the time that you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”  That’s a politically loaded question for Jews even though they were Christ followers of the first century.  They want Israel restored to its pre-Roman occupation, pre-Assyrian and Babylonian exile.  They want the glory days.  That’s what God has promised them.  And what does Jesus say?  “It is simply not for you to know what God has in mind here.”  In essence, none of your bee’s wax!  God will do what God wants to do in God’s own time – which – as we all know – is not our time.

But, in the meantime here’s what I’m going to do for you, Jesus says.  And then he gives them a promise and a charge.  You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes to you and with that power I want you to be my witnesses to the ends of the earth.  In other words, I want you to make my work known to other people.    

So in the meantime, let’s face it, has become a long time.  Two thousand years plus of meantime.  That’s quite an extended interval of time.  It is the creative tension between seeing Jesus, touching Jesus, smelling Jesus like the disciples were able to do, and seeing him when the kingdom will be restored.   Restoration of the kingdom is one of the foundational tenets of our Christian faith but we’ve got a whole lot of living and a whole lot of witnessing to do in the meantime. 

That others have witnessed before us is how we got here; that we witness to others, those who come after us is fulfilling Christ’s charge to be his witnesses to the ends of the earth.  How we do it and what aspect of our faith we witness, well that he leaves up to us.  Hallelujah!  I love creativity and a challenge especially where the Spirit is concerned. 

My mother witnessed to me each and every week as I watched her prepare her lessons to teach in Sunday School.  Her love for telling stories about Jesus rubbed off because I love a good Bible story! 

Martin Luther King Jr. has witnessed to me of justice and equality through his writings and his life when he said, “The true neighbor will risk his position, his prestige, and even his life for the welfare of others”.[i]  His witness touched me deeply to strive for justice so that each person can live a dignified life with food on their table and a roof over their head.

A patient at the VA recently witnessed to me of deep faith as he laid there riddled with pain both physically and emotionally.  A Viet Nam vet, he derived great comfort from the 23^rd Psalm because when he was over there, at one of his platoon’s most dire moments, someone began praying the 23^rd Psalm out loud, over and over again.  I learned from his witness that I too, can be in a metaphorical trench and still feel the strength of God and the power of God’s promise to love and keep me safe.

I could go on and on telling you about people who have witnessed to me.  I pray that I have been that witness to others.  Witness is important; it is the lifeblood of how our faith in Christ and the promises of Jesus are passed on.  Witness is loving God enough so as to tell others about how God has forgiven you, graced you, loved you, brought you through life’s messy and dark alleys and has provided extraordinary views from a mountaintop.  Witness is what we do in the meantime because we can and we must.  This is what we do in the meantime.

Predictions come, predictions go.  And before Christ ascended into heaven he promised to come again. The kingdom will be restored.  Don’t try to figure it out when, it’s just not for us to know.  But, in the meantime let’s live our faith fully, let’s tell those old, old stories, let’s engage in justice and peace, let’s witness to other people of the love of God through Jesus Christ.

Amen.

---

[i] Martin Luther King Jr. ‘On being a good neighbor’, from “Strength to Love” 1963.

Psalm 21

The king rejoices in your strength, LORD.
   How great is his joy in the victories you give!

 You have granted him his heart’s desire
   and have not withheld the request of his lips.
You came to greet him with rich blessings
   and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
He asked you for life, and you gave it to him—
   length of days, for ever and ever.
Through the victories you gave, his glory is great;
   you have bestowed on him splendor and majesty.
Surely you have granted him unending blessings
   and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
For the king trusts in the LORD;
   through the unfailing love of the Most High
   he will not be shaken.

 Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies;
   your right hand will seize your foes.
When you appear for battle,
   you will burn them up as in a blazing furnace.
The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath,
   and his fire will consume them.
You will destroy their descendants from the earth,
   their posterity from mankind.
Though they plot evil against you
   and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed.
You will make them turn their backs
   when you aim at them with drawn bow.

 Be exalted in your strength, LORD;
   we will sing and praise your might.

Psalm Challenge is courtesy of Robert at City Athens Daily Photo. 

Have a click to see how others have illustrated Psalm 21.

Above photo:  'Crown Top'  Java c. 650-1000

Psalm 20

 I pray that the LORD

   will listen when you

   are in trouble,

   and that the God of Jacob

   will keep you safe.

    May the LORD send help

   from his temple

   and come to your rescue

   from Mount Zion.

    May he remember your gifts

   and be pleased

   with what you bring.

    May God do what you want most

   and let all go well for you.

    Then you will win victories,

   and we will celebrate,

   while raising our banners

   in the name of our God.

   May the LORD answer

   all of your prayers!

    I am certain, LORD,

   that you will help your chosen king.

  You will answer my prayers

   from your holy place in heaven,

   and you will save me

   with your mighty arm.

    Some people trust the power

   of chariots or horses,

   but we trust you, LORD God.

    Others will stumble and fall,

   but we will be strong and stand firm.

    Give the king victory, LORD,

   and answer our prayers. 

Please visit Robert at Athen's Daily Photo for other photo thoughts on Psalm 20.
Photos above:  Woman praying at the side of the Sepulchre at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem; Man singing the Shema at the Kotel in Jerusalem; and Man taking a break from
sidewalk cleaning in Jerusalem.

Psalm 17

Prayer for Deliverance from Persecutors

A Prayer of David.

My steps have held fast to your paths;
   my feet have not slipped.

Hear a just cause, O Lord; attend to my cry;
   give ear to my prayer from lips free of deceit.
From you let my vindication come;
   let your eyes see the right.
If you try my heart, if you visit me by night,
   if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me;
   my mouth does not transgress.
As for what others do, by the word of your lips
   I have avoided the ways of the violent.
My steps have held fast to your paths;
   my feet have not slipped.
I call upon you, for you will answer me, O God;
   incline your ear to me, hear my words.
Wondrously show your steadfast love,
   O saviour of those who seek refuge
   from their adversaries at your right hand.
Guard me as the apple of the eye;
   hide me in the shadow of your wings,

from the wicked who despoil me,
   my deadly enemies who surround me.
They close their hearts to pity;
   with their mouths they speak arrogantly.
They track me down; now they surround me;
   they set their eyes to cast me to the ground.
They are like a lion eager to tear,
   like a young lion lurking in ambush.
Rise up, O Lord, confront them, overthrow them!
   By your sword deliver my life from the wicked, 
from mortals—by your hand, O Lord—
   from mortals whose portion in life is in this world.
May their bellies be filled with what you have stored up for them;
   may their children have more than enough;
   may they leave something over to their little ones.
As for me, I shall behold your face in righteousness;
   when I awake I shall be satisfied, beholding your likeness.

There are many other entries for Psalm 17 if you head over to Robert's Daily Athens.  The photo above was taken in the Sinai at the Gulf of Aqaba.

Got Doubts?

John 20: 19-31

A Bold Bluff by Cassius Marcellus Coolidge

Do you remember the card game “I Doubt It?”  It goes like this although I know there are probably many variations on a theme. 

You have four players and a deck of cards are shuffled and dealt.  Someone begins play by facing a card, or up to three cards down and announcing “Aces”.  Everyone else has the option to believe or not believe. The next person in the circle has to play the next denomination, announcing “Two or Twos” depending on how many cards he or she puts down.  Once again everyone else has the option to believe or not believe their fellow player. 

If someone thinks that the player is fibbing he or she can call their bluff and say, “I doubt it!” making the player prove, by turning the card up, that indeed it was true (or not).  The goal of the game is to get rid of all your cards so a fair amount of fibbing happens.  If the fibber is caught fibbing then, well, you guessed it, he has to pick up all the cards that have already been put down.

Calling their bluff.  That’s what Thomas did when he finally made his way over to the upper room join his fellow Jesus followers.  “You say you saw Jesus?  I doubt it!, says Thomas.  Show me your cards!  Unless I see his nail ridden hands I won’t believe.” 

Many people call him doubting Thomas but really, he just wanted to see for himself his Lord and his God.  Jerusalem was already back to the normal hustling, pre-Passover Jerusalem.  People were starting to go back home but the leaders were still out and about looking to hassle some people.    

 

The Doubt of St. Thomas by He Qi

Let us now hear about Thomas and Jesus from the Gospel of John:

When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors of the house where the disciples had met were locked for fear of the people, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
 After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, "Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I send you."When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit.   If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained."
 But Thomas (who was called the Twin), one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

 So the other disciples told him, "We have seen the Lord." But he said to them, "Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe."
 A week later his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. Although the doors were shut, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you."
Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here and see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it in my side. Do not doubt but believe."   Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
 Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe."
 Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book.  But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name.

This is the second of Jesus’ appearances after his resurrection.  First he appeared to Mary Magdalene at the empty tomb so early that morning.  She had mistaken him for the gardner until he called her by name, “Mary”.  Then and only then did she recognize Jesus and she runs to tell the disciples of her miraculous interaction with her risen Lord. 

So I’m guessing that the day was one probably infused with uncertainty, fear and anxiousness.  That is often the case after someone that we know and loved has died and we are left to pick up the pieces of our own lives.  The first few days are a blur; we just go through the motions.  How fresh the emptiness and wounds of grief must have been for all of them too.  It had been a mere three days since Jesus had died.  

But this day was different.  Mary had seen Jesus.  Now it was their turn.

The disciples were stunned, I’m sure, when Jesus sought them out in their upper room sanctuary. You see Jesus came to them to calm their fears, relieve their anxieties, and to help their unbelief in what they had been told by Mary.  He came as living proof that death did not have the last word, life did; he showed them his wounds, no better proof than that. 

But Thomas wasn’t there the poor guy.  He just wanted to see for himself what the other disciples had seen, and who can blame him?  His human nature, his rational, reasoned old self arrived on the scene and so he doubted their word.  Don’t we all just need to see for ourselves every now and then?  Haven’t we all asked God for a sign that we can hang our belief on?  Haven’t we all doubted at one time or another?

We often think that having doubts, particularly about our faith and God’s involvement in our lives, is a mark of weakness.  That, somehow we aren’t ‘good Christians’ because we have some serious questions, or that we need some concrete proof that God exists, or that God indeed listens to us.  Not true.  Having the courage to ask these difficult questions, the courage to question the meaning of our lives, the courage to ask for signs to lessen our doubt, the courage to live in and through the messy trenches is an indication of strength.

Most believers have doubts and have struggled mightily with their faith.  Let us not forget Martin Luther who was wracked with self doubt about his own salvation and his ability to fulfill God’s commands upon his life.  And Mother Theresa, her diaries, opened after her death, revealed her struggle with uncertainty and faith, so even this icon of servant hood and blessedness struggled and had doubts.  That’s because doubt is our companion on our journey of faith, not to be ashamed of or hidden.  Doubt serves the purpose of our remarkable ability to stay engaged with God.

We remember Jacob from the Hebrew Bible, Genesis Chapter 32 (22-32).  He engaged with God and was blessed.  Jacob gets up in the middle of the night with his family and crosses the Jabbok River.  He returns and spent the rest of the night alone.  A man comes, some say and angel, and begins to tussle with Jacob.  They wrestled so hard, all night long, that Jacob’s hip was thrown out of joint. 

Jacob Wrestles The Angel by Mel Pekarsky

Then, when daybreak had come, Jacob says to the man, “I will not let you go until you bless me”.  The man asked Jacob his name and then said to Jacob, “You no longer will be called Jacob for you have wrestled with God and with Angels, and you have won.  Now your name will be Israel meaning, one who wrestles with God.”  Human struggle is never easy and you can be certain that struggle with God is not either.  Jacob asked for a blessing and was given one.  Like Jacob we may wrestle all night with our questions and they may not be answered but neither are we overwhelmed by them.  We are blessed.

In her book, ‘Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith’, Anne Lamott says, “…the opposite of faith is not doubt, but certainty.  Certainty is missing the point entirely” she says, “Faith includes noticing the mess, the emptiness and discomfort, and letting it be there until some light returns.”

Our doubts and the ability to live with them are a mark of an active faith and of a God who can, and will actively engage with us through it all.  Got doubts?  Don’t give up.  You’ll see the wounds like Thomas.  Light will return like it did for Jacob.  A different identity will emerge for you and a path will be set before you.  You are blessed.

Amen.