What You Say
 “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.”  Ephesians 4.29
Her name was Mary. She came to our school when I was in sixth grade. She was such a nice person. Very quiet. Really smart. Everyone could have loved her, but they didn’t. You see, she didn’t look like the rest of us. Her hair was always ratty and a mess. Her clothes were never clean. Her fingernails were always dirty. She smelled. So the kids made fun of her. They called her names. They made fun of everything about her. I remember going home and telling my mama about her and what was happening. I just knew it had to hurt Mary very much. Mama suggested that I try to be her friend. She needs a friend, said mama. So, that’s what I did. Mary was only at the school one year. When we all moved up to junior high school, Mary wasn’t there when school started. They had moved.
         Now mind you, kids had been making jokes at my expense for a very long time. I was either trying to be a “teacher’s pet”, or thought I knew more than everyone else, or wasn’t as skinny as my younger sister, or…well, it was not fun. Gosh, they even made fun of my name!  I played the piano in the 5th and 6th grade band and I loved to sing. Did I mention I was also left-handed? Yeah. When I was a kid, that was a really big deal. I also lived in a very Italian-American, Polish-American community, and you guessed it. I wasn’t either one. My mom had beauty shop customers all through the neighborhood. They took it upon themselves to chastise me for every disagreement I had with mama, every task I didn’t do. Her shop was at the back of our house, so they heard everything. So, I knew about this bully business. I hated it. It was hurtful and mean and I cried – a lot. I have often wondered if Mary cried, too. She seemed so withdrawn, keeping her head down and only speaking when spoken to by a teacher.
       The children’s poem, “Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”? Friends, that is a lie. It is a horrible, damaging, awful lie. Words DO hurt. They hurt deeply and most often that hurt doesn’t go away. Kids like me play those tapes over and over again in their minds. The words lodge themselves deeply in their hearts. The result of all that nastiness? Depressed and insecure children who grown into depressed and insecure adults. Maybe they marry someone who bullies them. Maybe they don’t go on to college, because they believe they are worthless. Maybe they marry the first person who asks because they are grateful anyone wants them – and of course – that person is usually a bully as well. Maybe they get taken advantage of because they are too afraid to stand up for themselves. Maybe they lash out at others, like workmates, family, neighbors, store clerks, strangers. Maybe they become bullies themselves. Maybe they turn to alcohol or drugs to dull the ache. Maybe, as we are seeing all too frequently now, they simply end their lives so that the pain will finally stop.
We might try to defend our bullying by claiming we are just “teasing”. However, the truth is that if you are “just teasing” someone by attacking who they are, how they look,  or how they live? You are not teasing. You are a bully.
Christian folks seem to have a lot to say about who is in and who is out of the Kingdom. They are willing to berate and demean anyone who isn’t like them – in appearance or life. They are bullies. When a “Christian” tells another that they are disgusting in the sight of the Lord, or that they are condemned to eternal hell because of who they are, or who they love, or how they live? They are bullies. Their words simply reinforce the tapes playing in that individual’s heart. They force them away from community and from a belief in a good and loving God, who made each of us as we are and loves each of us as we are.  First John 4.7-8 admonishes us to “love one another, for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Bullying, ostracizing, demeaning, are not the way of God’s love. Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”
Many bullied people are so very good at hiding that truth. They smile, they laugh, they go on as though nothing is wrong. However, inside, they die a little bit more each day. Too many times I have met with families or read of a child/adult who ends their life, and the family is stunned because the child/adult never seemed to be anything but upbeat and fun. What they didn’t know was how many times the tears flowed in secret, how many times the heartache was soothed by unhealthy practices.
Bones heal. Scrapes and tussles are often forgotten. The things we say? They live on long after us in the hearts of those who heard them. We must examine our hearts. Have we bullied? Then it’s time to ask forgiveness from God and, if possible, from the ones we hurt. Have we been bullied? Then it’s time to admit to ourselves the hurt that we carry and ask God to help us heal. It’s time to call one another, in love, to account for their behaviors and their words. Name-calling, even nicknames, or mockery or demeaning comments about who someone is, who they love, what they wear, or anything about them? That’s bullying. It’s time to change. We need to be “woke” – and recognize that the way we live and the way we interact – may very well lead to a consequence we never intended. Change is needed. The language and actions of bullying surround us, especially in this country today. It's wrong, it is sin. We need to learn "a more excellent way"(1 Corinthians 12.31). May we learn the language of  love and acceptance. May we teach our children that language, so that all might live.

Do Not Be Afraid
And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear.  But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”  Matthew 14.25-27
 The ancient belief of the many people was that chaos lurked below the water, kept back by the hand of God. In that chaos (tohu wa bohu), people believed that all manner of evil and threatening resided. When God created (Genesis 1) there was only chaos. God brought forth the land and the chaos was contained in the waters. So, a figure walking on the water might well mean that evil had risen up to consume them. Imagine. You’ve had a rough night at sea and early in the morning you see something rising up on the horizon, headed your way. Poor fellows. Even when they hear Jesus’ voice, they aren’t sure who it is. In response to Peter’s request, Jesus tells Peter to get out of the boat and walk toward him, so that Peter can be assured that it is the Lord.  Peter jumps out of the boat and begins to walk toward Jesus. But then, Peter loses his focus. He begins to think of all that lurks beneath his feet. He panics and starts to sink. When he cries out to Jesus, he is lifted up by Jesus’ hands and all is well. Jesus remarks to Peter about the smallness of Peter’s faith. Peter had taken (as I once heard it preached) “his eyes off the prize”; he had begun to think about all the “what-ifs”, and faltered.
Peter truly is all of us, isn’t he? We are so often fearful people. Fear is perhaps the most common emotion that underlies our actions. There are things we want to do. Things we want to accomplish. Yet, we are afraid. Perhaps the fear is that we aren’t good enough, or that we will be mocked, or rebuffed, or fail. We step out, headed for the “prize”, eyes fixed on what we believe God has called us to do. But then…someone challenges or mocks us, unkind things are said, the waters get rough, the task grows more difficult. We begin to focus on the “what-ifs” and all the “chaos” that seems to lurk around us. Yep. Fear grabs us by the ankles and threatens to pull us under. All the goodness, all the affirmation, all that could keep us focused and moving? That stuff disappears, drowning in a sea of doubt or sorrow or worry or pain.
I don’t believe that God brings chaos into our lives. I believe that chaos lurks deeply within us and around us. It surfaces its ugliness and we surrender without fulfilling what we were sure God intended us to do all along. We take our focus from the One who loves us, and surrender to our own fears or biases. The good news is that God calls us not into but out of chaos. In those darkest and most hellish times, we can call out and know that God is with us and has not abandoned us to the deep fears of our lives. Of course, this is easier said than remembered. More good news, we have one another, the Body of Christ, to remind us and reach out when we flounder. In those times when we begin to surrender to fear and doubt, when we believe we might not be good enough or handsome enough, or smart enough, or any “enough” that might distract and weigh us down; the Holy One has given us one another so that Love may drown out fear. God hears our cries. We are enough for whatever lies before us. We need to keep our “eyes on the prize” – that Great Love beckoning us forward, and link arms together to remind one another we are never alone. Link arms, dear friends in Christ. The world is struggling, and so are many of the people within it. Let them see Jesus in you, refocus their lives, and live.

  What Are We To Do?
“Make your ways known to me, Lord; teach me your paths”          - Psalm 25.4
“This is why I speak to the crowds in parables: although they see, they don’t really see;
 and although    they hear, they don’t really hear or understand.”  - Matthew 13.13

    Recently I engaged in conversation with a young person who is terribly confused and feels lost. Childhood and youth were spent in the Church, yet this young person left the Church during his college years. He shared several places in Christianity where he was struggling to believe and embrace that faith practice. In the course of our conversation he said something that simply made my heart hurt. He’d never really read the Bible for himself. He relied on what authority figures told him was there. What really caused him to walk away was simple. All the years of hearing, “no!” and not the stories that would help form one’s own understanding of faith, meant rules and no Grace.

    I wanted to weep. You see, the Bible is just full of what Christians are to do; what God’s people are to practice in their lives. Christian education is more than simply learning what one is told. It is about using our intellect to draw out meaning and ways to apply that meaning in our own lives. We often believe that the task of education in the Church is to teach “morality”. Yes. That is one component. However, each of us must understand the “whys” of those moral teachings, if we are to successfully practice them in our lives. The stories we read are the best way to learn life lessons that we can apply always in our own lives. All ancient cultures taught through stories. Stories are the best way for us to remember a teaching!

    That’s why, in our faith formation classes for children, especially, we teach the stories from the Bible. Children begin their understanding by hearing those stories and being encouraged to think about and share what they heard in them. What lesson was learned by the people in that story? What lesson might we learn from that story? As we grow, in wisdom and understanding, we are encouraged in our faith formation, young teens through adults, to continue to revisit those stories. Is there anything new we hadn’t seen before? Do we still understand that story in the same way? How does the story both entertain AND inform? This is where “Faith Formation” is at its best. Helping people at all ages to “form” their beliefs and begin to live into them. Not to stay in the story as they heard it while children. Not to give staid answers to timeless questions, but to encourage us to think and discern for ourselves. We can explore those stories as people who have had life experiences that might mirror or augment the stories they have been told and learned.

    We can tell a child multiple times what to do and not do. They probably won’t remember and they certainly won’t really connect it with their own lives. We can tell a story and they remember. We can help to draw out their “aha” moment, and they will remember. Educators can continue to draw out understandings that shape and reshape those “aha” moments. Faith Formation at and for all ages is vital to our understanding and embracing our faith. Being in a class with fellow seekers and students, being in worship with others, those are ways to keep our faith alive and effective. It’s not about simply learning “morality”. It’s about, as we are seeing today in so many ways, how that “morality” impacts our lives and the lives of others because of us. Faith formation is for all of God’s children. “Tell me the stories of Jesus…one of his heralds yes I would sing. Loudest hosannas, Jesus is King!”  Forming and shaping faith. It’s a joyful task for all of us to encourage one another to do.

    If you are confused as to what you believe about God? You aren't alone. If you aren't even sure whether you believe in God? You are not alone. If you are struggling to make sense of all the "Jesus" talk and teachings? You are not alone. Seek answers. Seek companions. Find someone who doesn't profess to have all of the answers, so that together you may take the journey of faith forming. Know this. Whatever we may choose to believe; whatever we may choose to call "God", we are not alone. There is no one who truly knows all about "God". The "Holy One" is a mystery. "The Breath of the Universe" is sometimes felt, yet never fully known. The "Source of All, the One in Whom We Live and Move and Have our Being"remains unseen and yet available. Scientists, researchers of all there is to seek and find, help us to understand that there is still so very much in the universe - all of creation and all universes - that we don't yet know. That doesn't mean "I AM" isn't there. It just means that the scavenger hunt that humanity has undertaken keeps leading us onward. Every time, EVERY TIME, that someone believes they have "solved" the puzzle? Someone else comes along and says, "Yes, but what if...? That is when the Universe smiles, beckons, and cheers as we head off again!

The Loaf-Giver

                                                          The Loaf-Giver

"Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which[a] comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.    John 6.31-35

Bread is a prominent part of the Christian narrative, as it is in Judaism and Islam. Jesus breaks bread with the poor community. The Gospel of John gives us several ways to see Jesus as the “Bread of Life”.  Bread, or something akin to it, is a vital staple in every part of the world. 

When the Hebrew Scriptures and the Christian Testament were translated into English in 1611, the result was the King James Version. Many still use this translation today. A fascinating fact, to me at least, is the way that some words and passages got translated. Reading the KJV today highlights the way that the English language has changed over time – and continues to change. 

The word “lord” appears throughout the Bible. It is what was chosen as a translation for the Greek word, “Kyrie”. In my university studies of English language, I learned something really interesting about that word. The translators used the “lord” because the landowners who had governance over the people were called “lord”, sort of. It was the task of that individual to make certain that the people on his land had food to eat.  Remember how I said that English language changes over time? Well, the word “lord” originated in Old English as “hlaf werd”. It’s pronounced “laf werd”. Over time and use those two words melded into one word. If you say it several times at the normal speed one speaks, you will hear how it morphs (changes). 

The two words meant “loaf giver”! It made perfect sense to translate the Greek “kyrie” as “lord” because the One who provides bread for life – is the “hlaf werd”. I think of this when I come to the Table of the “Loaf-giver” for Holy Communion. The bread for us is life. That life is given to us by a God so great, so gracious, and so generous that we can never fully understand! Even more, we are not asked to “pay” the “Loaf-giver” for it, but instead to pass it on to others. In the Epistle of James 2.14-18, we read that faith without works is dead. We are told that we demonstrate our faith by what it is we do. The “Loaf-giver” has shared that we might also share. We are not saved by what we do, we are saved to do what Jesus modeled for us. 

Recently I spoke with a young man who admitted that he struggled with believing as a Christian. He said he had spent his childhood and youth being told repeatedly what it is that Christians don’t do. He wondered aloud what exactly it is that Christians do? It’s an intriguing question and I admit that my heart hurt to think that he, like so many others, had never truly heard the Good News. How would you answer his question? What do you understand that Christians DO, instead of what they DON’T?  The Lord, the “Loaf-giver”, has blessed us in order that we might be a blessing to everyone we encounter. The Bread of Heaven calls us to DO. How would you answer this young man’s question? What is the “Loaf-giver” calling you to share?

Spinning into Grace

       “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for                         them.?”          Psalm 8.3-4
 “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.  If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.  If I say, ‘Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,’ even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.”
                                                                                                        Psalm 139.7-12

                                                                         

        Years ago, we lived in a town that was out in the middle of not much else.  The night sky was clearly visible as were the stars, the planets, all the stuff that inhabits the night sky. It was amazing! Standing in our backyard and looking upward, it seemed as though you could see the night sky move; feel the earth moving beneath your feet. For me it was a fragile feeling. All that was holding me down from floating into that night sky was something called “gravity”, a “thing” I couldn’t see, smell, hear, or touch. In fact, I couldn’t even really feel it! Yet, gravity was the very invisible source I needed to trust, despite my blindness to it.
        Life often feels as though it’s spinning out of our control. We fear we are powerless to stop the spinning. Even groups of people, no matter how large or small that group, will find themselves struggling with the same feelings, the same fears. Our reactions may include anger, depression, frustration, and alienation. In our individual or collective desire to find that grounding we need, we may make impulsive decisions that are unhealthy for us – and perhaps – unhealthy for the group. We go looking for a place or group that appears grounded, leaders who we believe will rescue us from our unsettledness and “ground” us once again. The truth is, however, that even those new groups will eventually become unsettled by change.
         In Psalm 8 the psalmist asks the timeless question. Do we really matter? Does the Ultimate Force of the Universe notice us? Care about us?  In Psalm 139, the psalmist gives us a piece of the answers we seek. There is nowhere that we can be without God. Nowhere. Further, God who is everywhere cares so much for us that this Holy One hangs in there with us even while we go looking or doubt.
         There is a Force greater than us that keeps us on solid ground. All around us we see the evidence of that Ground of Our Being. The Bible stories tell us that swirling in a vortex of change and fear is not for us. We are able to breathe deeply and move through those uncertain times. We know that others throughout human history have done so, and it’s because the Author of the Universe, the Ground of Our Being, never leaves us. The truth is that no matter where we go to escape the unsettled feelings of change or fear, we will eventually experience the same feelings again. We need these Psalms, we need these Scriptures, we need one another so that even in the frightening times of loss or change or worry, we can remember. God never leaves us.
          One of my favorite hymns, “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” contains this reference to
1 Samuel 7.12: “Here I plant my Ebenezer”. The Hebrew word means “thus far the Lord has helped us”. That “Ebenezer” is our solid ground. It is the place wherein we remember that God has helped us thus far and will not abandon us. It is our statement that although changes come, we are grounded by God’s loving Presence. Gravity is the force that allows us to feel secure in the midst of a swirling, dancing universe that can make us dizzy or anxious. The Holy One is the force that allows us to feel secure in the midst of the swirling, dancing experience of change.  In life, change is inevitable. In lives, God’s love never changes. Trusting what we cannot see is acting upon our faith. Have you planted your Ebenezer deeply enough that you are anchored there? Coming together as Church is the way we deepen that Ebenezer. Life is filled with changes. We do not need to fear or walk away. Together we are able to cling to the Solid Rock and experience the joy of the journey.
           Whenever we feel that our world is spinning out of control, we need to run, not walk, to those who can ground us again. Those who can remind us that there is a force, a power greater than ourselves and that we are not alone. Church, may we be that place for others. May we be that place for ourselves.

Endless Song

I will sing to the Lord all my life;

    I will sing praise to my God as long as I live. Psalm 104.33

                Recently we watched the film, “Florence Foster Jenkins”. It is a great film, based upon a true story. The main character, Florence, loves music. Music is life for her. It’s New York City in the early 1940’s. The world is at war and she sees the music and dramatic arts as a way to uplift and enrich folks’ lives. Her first husband left her with syphilis. Husband number two knows this and adores her anyway. He knows that one day she will die and he does whatever he can to bring her happiness. Poor Florence. She’s extremely wealthy and incredibly tone deaf. She takes voice lessons, yet the money she pays keeps the truth from her. Her husband keeps the truth from her as well.  Florence decides to continue her voice lessons, give a recital at Carnegie Hall, and makes a record in advance. She also invites 1,000 military personnel because she wants to support and encourage them. What happens next is yours to discover.  

As I age, I realize that my music skills aren’t what they once might have been. I’m not as hampered as Florence, yet sometimes it feels as though I am. Many years ago, I heard a commercial on a religious radio station. There was a singer making the most awful sounds that one might ever hear. The voiceover was: “This is what the congregation heard.” Then there was the most beautiful singing perhaps one could ever hear. The voiceover was: “This is what God heard.”

 God doesn’t seek perfect pitch, technique, or intonation. We do. We do, because we listen through human ears and not through the ears of the Holy One who loves us. That’s our sin. Especially when we are in worship, we need to have our God ears working. Children, youth, adults, all struggle with imperfection. I continue to remind myself that when I sing I need my God ears, too. Psalm 98:4 tells us to make a joyful noise, not a perfect one! Imagine all the earth singing together in every different language and every different vocal sound. This summer, as I got up to sing for the first time in many years, I nearly sat down again. The psalms about music and singing began to fill my head and I remembered that I was singing to God, not critics. When the service ended, I was exhausted but I felt good. The Spirit had sent just what I needed and lifted me up when I was too afraid to lift up myself.

 I want to ask you. What are you afraid to do because you might not do it perfectly? What in your life would you like to try for the first time or do once again? Is it art? Cooking? Travel? Dancing? Crafting? Teaching? Visiting? Comforting? Talking? Listening? What is holding you back? Remember that the Source of all Life desires our praise and our faithfulness. The Holy One doesn’t look for perfection in us, but simply and completely loves us! My challenge to you is this. Step out. Take a risk. Do something without the worry of perfection. Do the best you are able to do. Use the gifts you haven’t used in a long time – or the gifts you have yet to explore and discover. Encourage one another and celebrate what each one of us brings! Connect with God’s ears and God’s heart, and rejoice!!