Pentecost 17C World Communion Sunday

Lamentations 1:1-6; 3:22-24

¹ How lonely sits the city
that once was full of people!
How like a widow she has become,
she that was great among the nations!
She that was a princess among the provinces
has become subject to forced labor.

² She weeps bitterly in the night,
with tears on her cheeks;
among all her lovers,
she has no one to comfort her;
all her friends have dealt treacherously with her;
they have become her enemies.

³ Judah has gone into exile with suffering
and hard servitude;
she lives now among the nations;
she finds no resting place;
her pursuers have all overtaken her
in the midst of her distress.

⁴ The roads to Zion mourn,
for no one comes to the festivals;
all her gates are desolate;
her priests groan;
her young girls grieve,
and her lot is bitter.

⁵ Her foes have become the masters;
her enemies prosper
because the Lord has made her suffer
for the multitude of her transgressions;
her children have gone away,
captives before the foe.

⁶ From daughter Zion has departed
all her majesty.
Her princes have become like stags
that find no pasture;
they fled without strength
before the pursuer.


Lamentations 3:22-24

²² The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
God's mercies never come to an end;
²³ they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
²⁴ "The Lord is my portion," says my soul,
"therefore I will hope in God."

Lamentations

Traditionally attributed to the prophet Jeremiah, who probably didn't write it, the book of Lamentations reflects the mood of the psalms of lament. Unlike the book of Jeremiah with its cautions, warnings, and hope, this poetry offers few solutions or explanations. The overall mood of Lamentations is similar to the psalms in their trust and intimacy with God in every aspect of life from hopelessness to celebration.

Other than from Holy Week liturgies at Resurrection ELCA in Boston and Northminster PCUSA in San Diego, I'm not familiar with Lamentations and don't recall if we even did a quick overview of the book in seminary even in the Old Testament survey.

However, long ago I bought and long since then discarded (because the recording quality was truly could not have been worse abysmal, though the performance was excellent) a vinyl LP of French baroque composer François Couperin's Leçons de ténèbres that musically interpret Lamentations 1:1-5, 6-9, 10-14 for tenebrae services in Holy Week. I may have mentioned I gave up linking to YouTube videos because they don't necessarily stay there forever. Have you noticed the YT message, "this video has been deleted" doesn't say what video it was? In any case, I strongly recommend you find and listen to Couperin's exquisite music, and YT has quite a few options.


World Communion Sunday

Every year on the first Sunday in October, many churches worldwide observe World Communion Sunday. Although Christians are a religious minority, rippling around the globe from one time zone to another, Jesus people from countless cultures and many styles of Christianity evoke the real presence of the crucified and risen Jesus Christ as they proclaim hope and trust in a future for the cosmos.


Grief Lament Hope

The poet who wrote these songs of sorrow wept over the devastation of Jerusalem. It probably didn't look very different from what we've been seeing from Ukraine. What do you lament today? Please remember, God cares about everything, from the cosmic macro to the individual micro.

What losses do you grieve? Do you fear your hopes for the future never will happen? If you're in the USA or UK, sorrow over political divisions? Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine? Effects of planetary neglect and plunder that hurricanes Fiona and Ian just now made glaringly apparent? Divisions in your family or marriage? Workplace discord? Random violence? Mass shootings?

What can local assemblies and the church catholic lament on World Communion Sunday? Even if you're quite recent to the church during the past decade, unless you joined within the past two years, the post-Covid church already is very different from the one that was there when suddenly The Church Left the Building in a way very different from the way it "always had done" after the sending charge on Sundays. The church's real work is in the world, but for a while we had no option to return to the building to be fed with Word and Sacrament even though Sundays continued their relentless return.

Whether via Zoom or video, hybrid worship isn't leaving. Because actions and words of the person presiding consecrate everything on the table, concerns about how far a communion table reaches during a Eucharistic liturgy have almost been resolved. More major is whether or not the (statistically very, very many!) long-time members and regular attenders who literally drifted away during covid will return because we had so many programs and activities that require more people than we have now and how do we reach more people and even how can we relate to those who've stayed along with anyone new?

What can local assemblies and the church catholic hope for on World Communion Sunday?

That's all for today. Join this blog next week at the same place, similar time. May your laments generate hope and bear fruit for world and church!

Pentecost 16C

Jeremiah 32:1-3a, 6-15

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of King Zedekiah of Judah, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadrezzar [of Babylon]. ² At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and the prophet Jeremiah was confined in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah, ³ where King Zedekiah of Judah had confined him.

⁶ Jeremiah said, "The word of the Lord came to me: ⁷ Hanamel son of your uncle Shallum is going to come to you and say, 'Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.'" ⁸ Then my cousin Hanamel came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, "Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself." Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.

⁹ And I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel and weighed out the silver to him, seventeen shekels of silver. ¹⁰ I signed the deed, sealed it, got witnesses, and weighed the silver on scales. ¹¹ Then I took the sealed deed of purchase containing the terms and conditions and the open copy, ¹² and I gave the deed of purchase to Baruch son of Neriah son of Mahseiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanamel, in the presence of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase, and in the presence of all the Judeans who were sitting in the court of the guard.

¹³ In their presence I charged Baruch, saying, ¹⁴ "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these deeds, both this sealed deed of purchase and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, in order that they may last for a long time. ¹⁵ For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be bought in this land."

Recently in Jeremiah

• From Pentecost 10, a little about Jeremiah.

• Jeremiah on Pentecost 12.

• Pentecost 13: Jeremiah at the Potter's House.

• Pentecost 15: – 911+21; un-creation; new creation.

• Pentecost 16: Balm in Gilead.


Today's Reading

One commentator cautioned, please don't read this passage as an entry in Jeremiah's journal! Contemporary scholars believe the book of Jeremiah and the five books of Moses that comprise the Pentateuch were compiled into the form we have today back in Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, probably during the era of Ezra and Nehemiah. Though this reading is about the historical Zedekiah, Jeremiah, Baruch, and others, and it places the narrative in measurable space and time, like all inspired scripture it's theology at least as much as history.

As chapter 32 begins, Jeremiah has been confined (basically imprisoned or under house arrest) to the palace courtyard, due to his telling King Zedekiah news the king didn't like. Most likely this is the second Babylonian siege of Jerusalem; armies surround the city walls, imprisoning the city. With Jerusalem surrounded and deportation from the Promised Land imminent, Jeremiah embodies hope for a future where houses, fields, and vineyards again will flourish in Judah.


Land

From first creation at the start of Genesis to the new creation at the end of Revelation, land anchors the people's relationship with God and with each other, Creation itself was God's first covenant.

And God said, "Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear." … Then God said, "Let the earth put forth vegetation: plants yielding seed and fruit trees of every kind on earth that bear fruit with the seed in it." And it was so. Genesis 1:9-11

God placed our first parents in a garden that properly tended would grow into a city. "Stuff happened," and with Sarai/Sara, Abram/Abraham set out in radical trust for a place God promised to show him. I often paraphrase Walter Brueggemann's "Justice is important, but food is essential." No land? No food. The future of the people and the future of the land are inextricably intertwined.


Hope

Judean leaders soon will be deported from the Land of Promise God trusted them to steward and care for. They can't see a future, probably can't imagine one (same as us when we're stuck). In a situation that looks and feels hopeless, Jeremiah embodies hope. Jeremiah shows them hope by signing a deed for a parcel of his family's land. BTW, two deeds were common in that time and place. The one in a sealed jar was an original "clean" copy for reference and safekeeping; the other could be changed or altered if necessary.

Some of the provisions for the year of Jubilee specified a way land could remain in a family in case the person who lived and farmed it couldn't afford to continue. This was possible because as the Jubilee text explains, land, earth, turf belongs to God; God is ultimate steward and caretaker—the final "sayer."

The land shall not be sold in perpetuity, for the land is mine; you are but aliens and sojourners with me. You shall grant redemption of all the land of your possession. Leviticus 25:23-24

God is the landowner, but all creation has high stakes in the land. Without the heaven underfoot of dirt and soil…? You may know about the kinsperson-redeemer from the book of Ruth.

If anyone of your kin falls into difficulty and sells a piece of property, then the next of kin shall come and redeem what the relative has sold. But if there are not sufficient means to recover it, what was sold shall remain with the purchaser until the year of Jubilee; in the Jubilee it shall be released, and the property shall be returned. Leviticus 25:25, 28

Jeremiah is Hanamel's next of kin with right and responsibility of go'el, protector or redeemer of land so it can stay in the family to keep them fed and sheltered. The right of redemption is possible because God owns the land and everything on the planet; therefore, land is inalienable.


A Future

In a symbolic act that's easy to interpret, Jeremiah signs the deed for property that will have fields and vineyards he likely won't live long enough to experience. Jeremiah brings the future into the present; he shows the future to everyone in the courtyard! You may remember Jeremiah is the one who famously counseled (mostly community leaders) exiled Judeans to seek the good of that strange to them place. To build houses, plant gardens, care for their neighbors. To create a literal "common wealth."

We think we know about resurrection out of ruins, new life from death, new creation from the ashes of the old, yet in the thick of loss and despair, we often cannot see it and therefore have trouble believing it.

Every time we assemble around word and sacrament, we bring a fully restored and redeemed future into our present, however broken it looks, however bleak some days may feel. Like Jeremiah with his signed property deed, in Holy Communion we see, feel, taste, hear – and sometimes smell – the reality of redemption. Jeremiah placed the deed in an earthenware jar because it needed to last a long time, into a far off future.

How about us? Do we trust God's new creation? In addition to celebrating Holy Communion, as we remember this planet's and the people's future belong to each other, what are some other ways we can embody the fullness of redemption to come, however far away it may feel and be?

Pentecost 15C

Jeremiah 8:18–9:1

¹⁸ My joy is gone; grief is upon me;
my heart is sick.
¹⁹ Listen! The cry of the daughter of my people
from far and wide in the land:
"Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?"
("Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?")
²⁰ "The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved."
²¹ For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken,
I mourn, and horror has seized me.

²² Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then has the health of the daughter of my people
not been restored?

9 ¹O that my head were a spring of water
and my eyes a fountain of tears,
so that I might weep day and night
for the slain of the daughter of my people!

Sorrow

The world wants me to be okay,
but my joy is gone

The world wants me to move on,
but grief is upon me

The world wants to avert its eyes from suffering,
but my heart is sick.

Joy will return when it returns
until that time, God, grant me
the courage to weep uncontrollably
a willingness to let my tears flow
an openness to feel deeply
and the freedom to grieve.

—AMEN

Prayer for Pentecost 15 by Bruce Reyes-Chow from his Weekly Word


Recently in Jeremiah

• From Pentecost 10, here's a little about Jeremiah.

• Jeremiah on Pentecost 12.

• Pentecost 13: Jeremiah at the Potter's House.

• Pentecost 15: – 911+21; un-creation; new creation.


Prophecy, Idolatry

This reading almost definitely originated before many citizens and leaders were exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon; we've mentioned kings and people chasing after other gods – idolatry – self-serving national leadership that led to overall neglect of God's covenant charge to especially care for immigrants (whether passing through, relocating for better opportunities, or seeking asylum from intolerable conditions), orphans, widows—Jesus' "least of these" who lack organic social and financial support. The prophets insist that to know God is to be acquainted with and then to do God's mercy, love, and justice.

As scripture makes clear, idolatry isn't always (usually isn't), making a physical object and then giving it tribute of time and money; the Golden Calf Event is one so transparently obvious we can't forget it! Idolatry is placing anything other than the God of the covenants, the God of Jesus Christ first in our lives. Contemporary idols of wealth, jobs, excessive sports, national supremacy sometimes begin as a relatively minor aspect or activity in our lives, and then expand to occupy too many resources, too much space and time.

Similar to people who imagine sitting in a church or synagogue pew for an hour or two every single week and doing whatever will benefit their own bottom line after they leave, God's people have been acting as if God were a magician. v. 19, "Is the Lord not in Zion? Is Zion's King not in her?" v. 20, "The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved." As if God's supposed residency in the temple on Mount Zion and the reign of the monarch (a king that was God's concession rather than God's preference) would be salvific. As if planting, growth and harvest always happen in spite of everything, because isn't there some kind of magic removed from human responsibility to steward the land with practices that care for creation rather than neglect it and wreck it? Well, actually, there is no such magic.


Lament, Balm

We trust prophets recorded God's words to a particular community in a specific season, and we affirm scripture as God's word to us, but always with interpretation that first acknowledges its original context.

You may have heard Jeremiah described as the "weeping prophet." The entire long book contains a whole lot of sorrow, much of it similar to psalms of lament. Every Jeremiah commentary I've looked at said it can be tough to discern whether God, Jeremiah, or the people are speaking at any given time throughout Jeremiah. Most commentators believe God almost definitely speaks in this passage of brokenness, sorrow and tears, as God becomes intimately involved in human activities, in the total, earthbound human condition. In a similar way, Luke 19:41-44 describes Jesus weeping over Jerusalem.

In the land distribution we read about in Joshua 13:8, 24-25, Reuben, Gad, and (half of) Manasseh inherit Gilead. Gilead is the scriptural name of the region east of the Jordan River—today's Transjordan. Gilead was renowned for a natural healing balm. I've read that balm was abundant and readily available; I've also read it was relatively rare and therefore precious. In the "Did You Know" category, biotech company Gilead Sciences aptly took its name from the biblical Gilead.

You've probably sung the African-American spiritual that assures us there is balm in Gilead. As Christians we interpret Jesus as our healing balm. I especially love the song's simplicity. When I accompany "Balm in Gilead" on the piano, I usually stretch out some of the chords with eight notes (four in each hand), but similar to "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," it needs only light, very minimal instrumental support without intricate rhythms, riffs, and chord changes. It easily sings itself!

Refrain: There is a balm in Gilead
to make the wounded whole,
there is a balm in Gilead
to heal the sin-sick soul.

1 Sometimes I feel discouraged
and think my work's in vain,
but then the Holy Spirit
revives my soul again. Refrain

2 If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
you can tell the love of Jesus
and say, "He died for all." Refrain

3 Don't ever feel discouraged,
for Jesus is your friend,
and if you lack for knowledge
He'll not refuse to lend. Refrain

Pentecost 14C

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28

¹¹ At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward the daughter of my people, not to winnow or cleanse, ¹² a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them.

²² "For my people are foolish;
they do not know me;
they are stupid children;
they have no understanding.
They are skilled in doing evil
but do not know how to do good."

²³ I looked on the earth, and it was complete chaos,
and to the heavens, and they had no light.
²⁴ I looked on the mountains, and they were quaking,
and all the hills moved to and fro.
²⁵ I looked, and there was no one at all,
and all the birds of the air had fled.
²⁶ I looked, and the fruitful land was a desert,
and all its cities were laid in ruins
before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

²⁷ For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end.

²⁸ Because of this the earth shall mourn
and the heavens above grow black,
for I have spoken; I have purposed;
I have not relented, nor will I turn back.

Recent Jeremiah Sundays

• From Pentecost 10, here's a little about Jeremiah.

• Jeremiah on Pentecost 12.

• Pentecost 13: Jeremiah at the Potter's House.


911

9/11/2001 + 21 = 2022

Twenty-one years later, where has the grief gone? Where have the memorial services gone?

This blog follows the Revised Common Lectionary; have you noticed that every so often the appointed scripture feels especially appropriate for the day at hand? Today's first reading is another reflection from the long, dense, book of Jeremiah; this week's saga of un-creation feels like the two decades ago reality of Ground Zero. It feels like the effects of human neglect of creation.

Thursday evening September 13, 2001, my Presbyterian Church (USA), the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America across the street and the one around the corner, a nearby Roman Catholic, that big United Methodist, and the United Church of Christ that bordered this neighborhood and the adjacent one gathered at the ELCA across the street and celebrated Eucharist. In the wake of unprecedented destruction on USA soil, yes, we offered thanks-giving! A glance into all creation healed and whole. A moment in the future God dreams of and calls us to help create.

Every now and then, people online still ask "where were you when you heard the news?" Monday evening 9/10/2001 I'd gotten back late from a seminar for the year-long Community Economic Development Certificate program I'd just started at San Diego State. Tireder than usual, I'd gotten up maybe an hour later than I typically did. By the time I turned on the morning news, the news had gone live. I watched the second plane hit the second tower.

Where were you?


Knowing God

Jeremiah 4:22 – God's people do not know God.

Especially for the prophets, to know God means acquaintance with God's ways of justice, righteousness, love, and mercy, and to do them. We recognize God's presence and learn to know God from the written words of scripture, in the preached word (as the Reformers insisted), in the sacraments, in creation, supremely in God's incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah was outraged at a series of wicked, bad, evil kings. You may remember even having a human monarch was God's concession to the people's desire to be "like other nations?" Self-interested, greedy national leadership and the threat of Babylon ultimately resulted in most of the elite being deported to Babylon and most of Jerusalem destroyed.

In classic prophetic style, Jeremiah spoke truth to power, probably while God's people still were in Judah; his word images evoke the creation narrative of Genesis played backwards into chaos and darkness, and cities "in ruin." With sizable populations, financial, political, religious, and educational institutions, their function as cultural and commercial crossroads, city has become a synonym for civilization.


Where We Live

"Dipping" into scripture to find a text that describes what we want to talk about, or to prove what we've already decided can be dangerous, naïve, and often results in bad theology. But doesn't "the whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end. Because of this the earth shall mourn," (4:27-28) sound like the un-creation of ecological devastation and climate change? Too much of creation's grief is the result of human carelessness, corporate and national greed, of not "knowing God" in the prophetic sense of doing justice, righteousness, mercy, and love.

God's promise through Jeremiah, "Yet I will not make a full end [of the land]" sounds like the earth care-creation justice many of God's people have become passionate about, as we pray, study, work, and hope toward the fullness of the new creation.

In the meantime, in spite of the status quo, because of the future God dreams of and we hope for, we keep gathering to make eucharist, the feast of life and reconciliation of all creation, for all creation.

Pentecost 13C

Jeremiah 18:1-11

¹ The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² "Come, go down to the potter's house, and there I will let you hear my words." ³ So I went down to the potter's house, and there he was working at his wheel. ⁴ The vessel he was making of clay was spoiled in the potter's hand, and he reworked it into another vessel, as seemed good to him.

⁵ Then the word of the Lord came to me:

⁶ Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. ⁷ At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, ⁸ but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. ⁹ And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, ¹⁰ but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it.

¹¹ Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: "Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings."

The Potter's House

• From Pentecost 10, here's a little about Jeremiah.

• Jeremiah on Pentecost 12 last week.

This passage opens with God instructing Jeremiah to go to a potter's house because the pottery-making process will be a great illustration of God's words through Jeremiah to Judah. Whether your creativity tends toward artisanal with woodworking, cooking, baking, gardening, or knitting, or maybe you're artistic with words, paint, music, weaving, sculpture… oh, artisan and artist overlap and can't be separated, and you totally get how material you work has its own mind and pleasure, you understand disappointment when things don't go as expected, the joy of a good outcome.

• How can any of the creativity you enjoy be an analogy for God's work and our ministries in the world?


Potter and Clay

An English language instructor could explain the differences with examples, but for today's purposes, metaphor, simile, analogy, likeness, comparison, allegory, parallel, and allusion all are literary devices that help us understand an event or situation in light of another object or happening. Then there's sign and symbol—different topics for another, extended conversation.

Pastor James Howell, whose preaching notions lectionary blog is one of my favorites, posted a video of a visit he made to a Potter's House to help him prepare for preaching this passage. (By the way, I've quit linking to videos because they're here today, gone tomorrow. And isn't it annoying that you don't know which one "This Video Has Been Removed" refers to?)

A condensed version of what Pastor James says about pottery:

Potters use theologically suggestive terminology. Clay gets spoiled, so the potter reworks it. If it's wonky, the potter has to redeem it. The clay talks back to the potter. The clay is passive – but has its own life and nature that can resist the potter!

The potter opens up the clay. Keeping the clay centered is key and requires two hands to shape, reshape, begin again, refine. Hard clay is a challenge, so the potter adds water (so can we think tears? Baptism?). The clay gets exhausted and gets set aside.


Analogy and Reality

We talk about comparison, analogy, metaphor, yet Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit is Living Water. Water is the literal womb of earth's creation and of our creation as individual humans. After we first see light of day, waters of baptism rebirth us in so many senses. Waterways are the planet's circulatory system.

Scripture frequently images the Spirit of God as wind or breeze. When Adam received the divine breath, he came to life. The breath of forests, trees, and other plants are this planet's lungs.

• What additional biblical and other examples can you think of?


Where We Live

God's promises carry the condition of obedience, the necessity of keeping covenant with all creation. In classic truth-to-power prophetic style Jeremiah lines out if-then alternatives. Sometimes for better, other times for worse: "if you do this, that will happen." Our behaviors have consequences, and often we have no choice but to live with the results of other's actions.

Jeremiah's God "plucks up and pulls down, destroys and overthrows, builds, and plants." God calls Jeremiah (over nations!), "to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant." God calls us to those same ministries.

To quote James Howell again, "Pottery is frustrating – and Jeremiah pinpoints that moment the potter (God) wants to start over and make the clay [the southern kingdom Judah in this case] into something new and different. Israel is wonky, needing redemption. Israel and all of us need to interiorize Augustine's famous thought: 'O Lord, you have made us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they find rest in you.' Not just as individuals either! – but as a people, as the family of God."

As a "professional creative" who often goes a bit crazy (wonky?) trying to get a design or a project both technically correct and lookin' good, I really LOVE knowing tearing down, ripping up, starting again from ground zero is good theology even for what's really the minutiae of everyday life.

• How about you?

Jeremiah's short essay doesn't mention firing or glazing that "finish" a plate, cup, jar, or bowl so it can't be further altered expect by breaking it. I have the strong impression God usually leaves many of our surfaces unfinished to rework later for another purpose.

• What's your experience?

Pentecost 12C

Jeremiah 2:1-13

¹ The word of the Lord came to me, saying: ² Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord:

I remember the devotion of your youth,
your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
in a land not sown.

³ Israel was holy to the Lord,
the first fruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it were held guilty;
disaster came upon them,
says the Lord.

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. ⁵ Thus says the Lord:

What wrong did your ancestors find in me
that they went far from me
and went after worthless things and became worthless themselves?

⁶ They did not say, "Where is the Lord,
who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
in a land that no one passes through,
where no one lives?"

⁷ I brought you into a plentiful land
to eat its fruits and its good things.
But when you entered you defiled my land
and made my heritage an abomination.

⁸ The priests did not say, "Where is the Lord?"
Those who handle the law did not know me;
the rulers transgressed against me;
the prophets prophesied by Baal
and went after things that do not profit.

⁹ Therefore once more I accuse you,
says the Lord,
and I accuse your children's children.

¹⁰ Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look;
send to Kedar and examine with care;
see if there has ever been such a thing.

¹¹ Has a nation changed its gods,
even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
for something that does not profit.

¹² Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
be shocked; be utterly desolate,
says the Lord,

¹³ for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living water,
and dug out cisterns for themselves,
cracked cisterns
that can hold no water.

Jeremiah

Last week the lectionary began six weeks of major prophet Jeremiah for the alternate first reading. Unless events derail me, I'll blog five weeks in a row of Jeremiah. The first week, Jeremiah 1:4-10, (I wrote about Isaiah) narrated youthful Jeremiah's famous call to uproot and to build; this week features his first words recorded in the book that carries his name.

From my blog two weeks ago, here's a little about Jeremiah.


This Week's Scripture

…is often considered a legal "oracle of judgment" with God's plea and indictment of Judah for overall faithlessness and especially idolatry. God recalls Israel's devotion through the wilderness wandering—in Brennan Manning's words, "in the desert Yahweh and Israel rendezvoused." God describes God's people back then as Holy to the Lord first fruits, the best of the harvest, splendid quality worthy to offer back to God.

God wonders what the ancestors could have found so despicable about God because they "went after worthless things and became worthless themselves." Scripture describes stuff in the category of the word for worthless as vapor, vain, vanity, mist, emptiness, "the nothing."

We are what we eat. Body of Christ, given for you, Amen?! Fresh greens from the backyard garden? We are what we worship! Worship the holy God of love, justice, mercy, and resurrection and become holy as God is holy!

Didn't I recently mention John Calvin's conviction that humans are idol-makers? The Ten Words of the Sinai Covenant begin with no gods other than the true God who brought us out of Egypt. Martin Luther begins his Small Catechism – traditional preparation for First Holy Communion – with the commandments. As Luther pointed out, we really only need one commandment, the first one, but the other nine clarify the first.


God. gods.

Neither the ancestors nor the religious leaders even asked, "Where is the Lord?" Not some miscellaneous random deity, but the real God Yahweh who rescued us from slavery to empire, led us through deserts, pits, drought, darkness, and desolation —(but! during those forty years God also fed us with water from the rock, manna from the sky), brought us into a good land of plenty and increase.

God still rescues us from misplaced allegiance to things, entities, and ideas that cannot save, objects that often deal death rather than offer life.

What idolatries relate to our current international, national, and local contexts? Small-g gods include consumerism; sports, politics (all sides); self, nation; success, church, family, technology. These all are good values, but not ultimate ones.


Water – Word – Water

One commentary observed that cisterns to hold water year round but especially during the dry warmer seasons were products of recent iron age technology, and logically, leaking containers can't hold water. We need water for life. Technology definitely occupies huge pieces of many lives, sometimes even makes inroads into hearts and affections. What are some contemporary parallels to leaky cisterns that don't hold water? Can't provide life?

God first spoke through Jeremiah to people of Jerusalem about to be exiled; later on God's people back in Jerusalem would have read this text written down or heard it being read in public. During those post-exilic years of reconstructing everything, the Pentateuch (first five books of the Hebrew Bible), other parts of our Hebrew Bible, and the book called Jeremiah all were assembled and codified. God still speaks via Jeremiah to us in the twenty-first century church and synagogue.

Just as the sacraments connect us with God's people in every place and every time – past, present, and future – scripture is a Word for everyone everywhere, all the time. We often talk about permeable, porous, or hard national-international borders. In God's world, borders between times and places all are permeable.

On the last day of the festival [Sukkot–feast of booths or tabernacles], the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out, "Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, 'Out of the believer's heart shall flow rivers of living water.'" John 7:37-38

Pentecost 11C

Isaiah 58:10-14

¹⁰If you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.

¹¹The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water, whose waters never fail.

¹²Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.

¹³If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you call the sabbath a delight
and the holy day of the Lord honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
¹⁴then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth;

I will feed you with the heritage of your ancestor Jacob,
for the mouth of the Lord has spoken…

Isaiah

The 66 chapters of Isaiah divide into three sections that are distinctive in content and in style:

• 1st Isaiah, mostly writings from Isaiah of Jerusalem, prior to Babylon exile: chapters 1-39

• 2nd Isaiah, during exile in Babylon: chapters 40-55. Includes "Comfort ye – every valley" from Handel's Messiah and other memorably poetic passages.

• 3rd Isaiah, after the exile: chapters 56-66. Back in town trying to rebuild physical, communal, and religious structures; attempts to restore meaning.


Historical Notes

Everyone didn't leave Jerusalem and Judah for Babylon; some stayed in Babylon instead of going back to Judah; following God's advice via Jeremiah, they continued to be good neighbors, to create sustainable living conditions that could carry people and land into the future.

Those who returned to Judah found themselves colonials of yet another empire: Persia this time.

For close to a hundred years after the exiles returned, Jerusalem mostly remained in ruins. As restoration began, rebuilding the temple especially concerned Haggai and Zechariah; Nehemiah focused on rebuilding city walls; Ezra's passion was restoring worship. In addition to definable structural concerns, they needed to reconcile social, economic, political, and religious divisions. During those years God's people "rediscovered" Torah (the first five books of the Old Testament that form the Pentateuch); as they read, studied, and lived by the counsel of the inspired texts, they became a People of the Book.


Today's Reading

Many post-exilic scriptures provide examples and models we can follow. This first reading from Third Isaiah outlines hope-filled, shalom-full urban renewal.

Last week Jeremiah reminded us God is God of exodus; God liberates us from slaveries of every kind and settles us in land that yields crops and community. As Jeremiah pointed out, God also is God of homecoming who gathers people from exile and dispersion (any of many literal or figurative diasporas) into safe settled places.

Isaiah 58:10a "If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted…" echoes last week when again we talked about Jeremiah and his emphasis on especially distributive justice, on social and economic equality, on making sure everyone has adequate food and housing.

Isaiah 58:12 "Then your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in."

Back in Jerusalem the temple was gone, the city was in disrepair, almost no one trusted much of anyone. They needed to rebuild physical infrastructure that would include streets, roads, meeting places, markets for sales and exchange; they needed to rebuild reliable human substructure that would include neighborhoods of real community and hope.

How many times have I mentioned God gave Israel the Ten Words or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant after they'd been freed from slavery in Egypt? The commandments provide guidelines for staying free, starting with the overarching proclamation "No gods other than Yahweh," the God of love, hope, liberation, and justice. Like much of Jeremiah, Deuteronomy, and Luke, this scripture is neighborology where people trust God and one another.

Notice the map for rebuilding shalom includes faithful Sabbath observance.


Sabbath

Situations of coercion such as a job you detest that's the only real option, etc., offer almost no choice in what you do and how you act. Especially since the industrial revolution when even more output became mechanized, rationalized, automated and "means of production" became a buzzword, the planet literally never has stopped humming along, never quit turning out "stuff," some of it essential to existence, some of it non-essential or even superfluous.

If you refrain from trampling the sabbath,
from pursuing your own interests on my holy day;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
serving your own interests, or pursuing your own affairs;
then you shall take delight in the Lord,
and I will make you ride upon the heights of the earth.

Where We Live: Sabbath

Many post-exilic scriptures provide ideas we can use; restoration, hope, and homecoming are themes we need every day.

We know a whole lot about cities and communities that need rebuilding.

COVID and its ongoing fallout has made everyone aware of how fragile mental, emotional, and social well-being can be.

COVID has revealed even more, even deeper cracks along with great possibilities in a church we'd long known needed another re-formation.

Does God's advice through Isaiah offer helpful counsel and hope for our futures?

Observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. … Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Deuteronomy 5:12,15

By the way, the actual Sabbath never changed from Saturday, the seventh day of the week, the final day of the original old creation [Exodus 20:1-17; Genesis 2:2-3]. The early church started a tradition of worship on Sunday the day of resurrection, first day of the week, start of the new creation.

With prohibitions on doing (working at!) something as simple as flipping a light switch – you even light the candles that usher in Shabbat before the resting day itself – "Sabbath" is a necessary time out, a literal ceasing from producing, counting, working, but not a time of laziness and shiftlessness. If you work in a fire, police, hospital, transportation, or other facility that needs to be open 24/7, you can designate and keep another time of sabbath. Please don't use your day off to go shopping, do that yard work, or cook in order to stockpile the freezer!

In the Spirit of the Exodus out of imperial slavery, sabbath is an opportunity to receive life as gift, to recognize existence as graced. In the shadow of a world consumed more and more by incessant production, purchasing, and using rather than thankful living… God commands us to slow down, to stop, and to keep sabbath.

Pentecost 10C

Jeremiah 23:23-29

²³Am I a God near by, says the Lord, and not a God far off? ²⁴Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.

²⁵I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in my name, saying, "I have dreamed, I have dreamed!" ²⁶How long? Will the hearts of the prophets ever turn back—those who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart? ²⁷They plan to make my people forget my name by their dreams that they tell one another, just as their ancestors forgot my name for Baal.

²⁸Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. What has straw in common with wheat? says the Lord. ²⁹Is not my word like fire, says the Lord, and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?

Overview

The Tenth Sunday after the Feast of Pentecost! "Ordinary" time will continue over three more months until Reign of Christ / Christ the King Sunday that celebrates the sovereignty of the risen and crucified Jesus Christ. Then we'll enter a new year with the first Sunday of Advent.

Our Old Testament/Hebrew Bible reading today is from the prophet Jeremiah. A very quick overview of OT structure and content:

Torah, sometimes called the five books of Moses, not because Moses wrote them, but because Moses is a central character and their general content reflects his leadership: Genesis – Exodus – Leviticus – Numbers – Deuteronomy.

Prophets, with "former prophets" of historical bent: Joshua; Judges; 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel; 1 Kings, 2 Kings. "Major or Writing Prophets" 1, 2, and 3 Isaiah; Ezekiel; Jeremiah; Book of the Twelve, sometimes called "Minor Prophets" because of their length, not because of lack of importance.

Writings, a truly miscellaneous collection that doesn't have the same canonical content everywhere. Writings include the vital to the church Psalms; plus Job, Proverbs, Chronicles, Esther, Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, Song of Songs; Ecclesiastes. I've probably omitted a few.


Jeremiah

Jeremiah was a priest from the Benjaminite tradition. Saul/Paul of Tarsus also came from the tribe of Benjamin!

Jeremiah is very much within the classical tradition of Hebrew/Israelite prophecy that brings us a Word from the Lord. The popular sense of "prophet" refers to someone who foretells future events. However, scripture distinguishes between prophet or nabi, who speaks truth to power, lining out alternatives (the reigning monarch most characteristically being that power), and seer or roeh, who peers into the future and predicts what will happen, also frequently based upon the logical outcome of behaviors and events. Later in the history of Israel the roles became somewhat conflated.

As he responds to "Is there a Word from the Lord," Jeremiah is The Classic Prophet. Jeremiah also is very much within the covenantal tradition of Deuteronomy with its charge to care for the neighbor, to look after society's marginalized. This especially may include immigrants, whether refugee, asylum seeker, intentional migrant, or any of our current categories of outsiders. Like Jesus' mother Mary and Jesus himself, Jeremiah is another example of someone who had memorized and internalized scripture so he could quote and live that Word of Life.

This is Luke's lectionary year. Luke's gospel has a similar political, cultural, religious, social, and economic perspective as Deuteronomy and Jeremiah.


Jeremiah 22

Immediately before today's short reading, chapter 22 is one of Jeremiah's most famous. Jeremiah addresses Josiah, who was one of the only good kings of Israel. Known as The Boy King because he assumed leadership at age 8, Josiah took care of powerless widows, orphans, strangers, sojourners. In short, Josiah literally did justice and righteousness as God calls every one of us created in the divine image to do.

Jeremiah 22 also reminds us Israel's God is not only God of liberation (rescue-redemption} from bondage, slavery, and death, with the subsequent gift of a Promised Land; God also gathers the people together and enacts homecoming (restoration) from exile and estrangement.


Where We Live

Am I a God near by, says the Lord, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. 23:23-24

Unlike the Ba'als and other assorted gods connected to a particular place and that required sacrifice, tribute, and other displays of loyalty, Israel's God filled the cosmos, yet was as close to each person as their own heart. Yahweh-God's only loyalty test was love of God, neighbor, and self. Distinguishing false "prophets" and true speakers of God's Word is one of the primary concerns this passage brings us. Jeremiah's ministry bridged times before the Babylonian exile, during the exile, and after some of the exiles returned home, started rebuilding city and temple and "rediscovered" Torah. You may recall during this era they found themselves colonists of yet another empire—Persia.

This late-pre-exilic caution reminds us people in all kinds of leadership sometimes (often?) do and say what they believe the people want to hear for whatever reason. They well may want to keep their jobs or get re-elected; at times they're honest and moral yet inaccurately believe maintaining an unworkable status-quo for a short while or short-term inaction won't be harmful, and for sure it will save taxpayers a whole lot.

Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream, but let the one who has my word speak my word faithfully. 23:28

These words surprised me! Scripture brings us many examples of God speaking through dreams; God probably has revealed quite a bit to you via dreams, or at least opened your heart to possibilities you hadn't imagined during the day. But just as with anything we hear anywhere, we need to prayerfully and patiently run everything past God's criteria of love, justice, non-violence, and hope. As Christians, Jesus is our ultimate example.

Pentecost 9C

Luke 12:32-38

³²"Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. ³³Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. ³⁴For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

³⁵"Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit; ³⁶be like those who are waiting for their master to return from the wedding banquet, so that they may open the door for him as soon as he comes and knocks. ³⁷Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. ³⁸If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.

Luke

Distinctives of Luke, the featured gospel for lectionary year C include prayer, women, marginalized (decentralized?) individuals and communities, table fellowship, the word about the neighbor—neighborology. Since the first verse of Genesis, the Holy Spirit has been prominent throughout scripture's witness, but Luke-Acts of the Apostles brings a particular fulfillment of God's reign in the Spirit. In the traditions of Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, in Luke the Spirit's presence and action inverts the status quo to create a common-wealth where everyone has enough, no one has too much or too little—an Upside-Down Kingdom, in the title of Donald Kraybill's classic book.

Luke is solidly set in measurable time and space. Stories only in Luke include the absolutely essential Christmas Eve Bethlehem Nativity account with shepherds, flocks of sheep, and angels, Good Samaritan, and Prodigal Son. Resurrection evening's Emmaus Road takes us back to Luke's many accounts of Jesus' table fellowship with all comers, to the upper room of Maundy Thursday, then forward to places, people, and occasions God is preparing for us.


Intro to Today

Two-thirds through the year, after four Sundays studying Colossians, we're back to Luke. Uniquely recorded in Luke's gospel and not in the other synoptics Mark and Matthew, today's reading opens with Jesus' command not to fear and why! Jesus then announces the reign of heaven is a gift, a given, not something we need to earn or even beg God for. Grace, love, and mercy among us is not a transaction or an exchange. Gifting us brings God delight and pleasure!


Alms and Hearts

After Jesus tells us not to fear because God is near, "Sell your possessions and give alms" (verse 33a) isn't about making a guilt-propelled contribution so you'll feel better about owning more than many others have; it's a concrete action that redistributes money and property, stuff, things to help create an evened-out society. It's wonderful to donate time, skills, money, household items (clothing, cars, etc.) for a favorite or urgent cause, and though most of us love to respond generously to specific appeals, alms-giving is a way of life for Jesus people. The Greek here is eleemosynary, a word I'd completely forgotten and then had to look up to spell the English version correctly.

Unlike the contemporary Western default, "heart" in the bible is not a warm-fuzzy-sentimental-romantic-lacy-floral-bouquet. In Hebrew biology, our willful intent resides in our heart. Jesus begins with treasure (thesaurus, our familiar word for a book of word synonyms and antonyms) and then goes on to heart. Similar to legislation often transforming attitudes, what we do with our treasures of money, time, and belongings actually changes our perspectives or hearts. However, related to feeling good, you've probably seen love in action or responded to a need and then felt your physical bodily heart skip a beat or race a little?!


Ready. Lamps Lit.

Middle-eastern born and raised new testament expert, the late Ken Bailey helps contextualize verses 35–40 to help us own it. I was surprised to learn the wedding party almost definitely was in a different section of the master's house, rather than elsewhere in the 'hood or a more distant location. You may have seen pictures or the real thing of those small clay lamps they used? The flame wouldn't last long; you needed to stay alert so it would't go out and so the lamp would stay upright.

Because if the servants are ready?


Banquets and Bounty

In John 2:1-11, Jesus' first act of public ministry (IPO/initial public offering) is a wedding party.

Early in Luke when Mary finds out she's pregnant, Mary sings the prayer of praise we call the Magnificat, "My soul magnifies the Lord; God has put down the mighty from their thrones and lifted up the lowly…" [Luke 1:46-55]. Based upon Hannah's words [1 Samuel 2:1-10] and promises of scripture she'd likely memorized from a lifetime of hearing, Mary announces the birth of her baby will mean prominent humans losing their positions of arbitrary, coercive power; it will lead to sidelined "little people" getting enough all-around bounty – food, shelter, community – to live their Best Lives. Jesus' IPO in Luke also announces justice and plenty for all—the arrival of jubilee [Luke 4:16-21]. Sidenote: we're talking distributive justice in terms of who gets what, when, and how as well as the retributive justice of a day in court that holds perpetrators accountable and compensates victims.

Those who wait for the master will recline as he serves them! Reclining while dining was a posture for the wealthy who didn't need to be constantly ready in case of danger or a summons to work. These slaves were willing to work, but Ken Bailey suggests as the least skilled or experienced, they probably wouldn't be asked to serve at a wedding.

Regarding danger, you may remember instructions in Exodus 12:11 to eat the seder in haste ready to go with "a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand." Since that first fast food seder on the way out of Egyptian slavery, Jews now recline to enjoy the passover seder because they are free people who don't need to constantly look out for enemies.

The master as deacon (the Greek "servant" word) serving his slaves ("slaves" in Greek, though scripture tends to use servant and slave interchangeably) is very within Luke's themes of feasting and dining togetherness; it signals the Magnificat's economic / social leveling with its reversal of conventional roles to form a world that inverts the expected. It coincides with Jesus identifying himself in the image of the servant God as "one who serves."

Do we expect God or one of God's messengers to stop by with a solution to our worries, or with a party?


Bringing it Together

This weeks reading starts with, "Do not fear, little flock (flock of birds? flock of sheep?), it is the Father's pleasure to give you the kingdom." Don't be afraid.

By the end of the reading we've met a householder so generous he doesn't invite everyone (y'all y'all come) to the extravagant party—he takes the party to them and serves everyone himself. "Truly I tell you, the master will fasten up his belt and have the slaves recline to eat, and he will come and serve them."

What a picture of the God who enjoys gifting us with life-giving water from the rock, free lunches from the sky, community that considers everyone a neighbor. I love the idea of trying to duplicate this event, especially with so many immigrants in this area as well as across the country. But currently newcomers from other countries, and a whole lot of people who've been here a very long time that Covid has displaced.

This master's gracious generosity isn't an occasional special event. It's his lifestyle and God calls us to the same outrageous hospitality.

How about us? How can we follow the example of the divine universe owner and serve our neighbors? Equally, let's not neglect our own already in-house family and church communities?!

Pentecost 8C

Colossians 3:1-17

¹Because you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. ²Set your minds on the things that are above, not on the things that are on earth, ³for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. ⁴When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

⁵Put to death, therefore, whatever in you is earthly: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (which is idolatry). ⁶On account of these the wrath of God is coming on those who are disobedient. ⁷These are the ways you also once followed, when you were living among such people. ⁸But now you must get rid of all such things: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and abusive language from your mouth. ⁹Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have stripped off the old self with its practices

¹⁰and have clothed yourselves with the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of its creator. ¹¹In that renewal there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!

¹²Therefore, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. ¹³Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. ¹⁴Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.

¹⁵And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. ¹⁷And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Colossians, Week 4

• More about Colossians from Pentecost 5

• More about Colossians from Pentecost 6

• More about Colossians from Pentecost 7


Broad Overview

Textual and other evidence shows Saul/Paul of Tarsus almost definitely didn't write this fairly early NT letter. Part of its message relates to how people in the house church at Colossae had gotten involved in activities that contradicted the sufficiency of Jesus Christ—"Christ Alone" as the Reformers would express it. Colossian congregants had dabbled in spiritual practices minimally unnecessary for Christians, maximally harmful to their own well-being and that of their neighbors.

The last part of Colossians that's not part of this lectionary series includes an example of "household codes," a type of instruction common in those days and found elsewhere in scripture. Household codes typically outline proper behavior for relationships that can include slaves, masters, children, husbands, wives, servants. They require serious study of the historical and anthropological background and in general are not suitable for reading or interpreting during worship.


Colossians Chapter 3

Today's passage advises against any spoken or bodily activities that separate us from each other. Don't misinterpret words or actions, don't be angry without cause, don't slander anyone. Doesn't most slander and libel happen because the individual thinks making someone else look worse will make them (the speaker or writer) look better? Avoid sexual activities that objectify others, which would include viewing or reading pornography.

Verse 11 parallels Galatians 3:28 and affirms our essential unity in Jesus Christ: "…there is no longer Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, enslaved and free, but Christ is all and in all!" God loves healthy diversity of all kinds; of course distinctions remain and we value them, but don't place any characteristic, ethnicity, or ability above another, don't celebrate anything as more important than each individual's – and the community's – identity in Jesus Christ.

For some reason the lectionary suggested only verses 1 through 11, leaving out verses 12 through 17 that answer "if we're not supposed to engage in those things, then how are we supposed to act?" Engage in behaviors that bring us together! If you've been online recently you may have noticed, "If you can be anything, be kind. Kindness always is possible."


Empire and Grace

We began this Colossians series by noting members of the church at Colossae were colonials amongst the inescapable reality of Roman imperialism. Like every empire from Egypt through Babylon and Persia, to Spain, Russia, Royal Dutch Shell (that maybe believed changing its name to simply Shell a few months ago softened its corporate image), Amazon, and Toyota, Rome dealt death by making production and profits primary, always at the cost of life.

Empire literally is restless, never ever slows down or rests. Empire never takes a time out.

We can help fulfill our baptismal vows to work for justice, in current parlance to "resist" death and empire with life-generating behaviors. Be kind. Love each other. Care for creation. Keep a time of sabbath at least once a week! Cease from work, quit that busyness, welcome life as gift. Acknowledge existence as graced.

As an individual who sometimes feels powerless, I still do my best to live locally, buying food, household items, etc., that have been grown and manufactured in ways that don't exploit workers, that don't cause more environmental degradation in making and transporting them. Only China manufactures KN-95 masks I still wear everyday, though in time I hope to revert to standard masks I've bought from small entrepreneurs. Near-constant congestion at the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach helps keep me super aware.

What else can we do? 3:16 "…with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God."

Pentecost 7C

Colossians 2:5-15

⁵For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, and I rejoice to see your orderly conduct and the firmness of your faith in Christ.

⁶As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, continue to walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

⁸Watch out that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental principles or spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. ⁹For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, ¹⁰and you have come to fullness in him, who is the head of every ruler and authority. ¹¹In him also you were circumcised with a spiritual circumcision, by the removal of the sins of the flesh in the circumcision of Christ;

¹²when you were buried with Christ in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, ¹⁴erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. ¹⁵He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.

Colossians Continues

• More about Colossians from Pentecost 5

• More about Colossians from Pentecost 6

The second lesson this week is third in a series of four from the letter or epistle to the house church at Colossae. Today's scripture again affirms the sufficiency of Jesus Christ. Jesus is sufficient or "enough" for everything there is, for everything that happens, because he has reconciled everything on earth to heaven, has annihilated all death-dealing powers on the cross, and reigns with merciful loving justice. Jesus' ascension means Christ is sovereign over all creation—not only over earth and its inhabitants. This cosmic Christ fills creation to the extent of humanly unknown galaxies, yet inhabits individual humans.

Although the apostle Saul/Paul of Tarsus almost definitely didn't write Colossians, the author addresses his readers with affectionate language very similar to Paul's in his seven undisputed letters. We don't know who planted the church or who their pastors might have been, but Epaphras was their pastor and teacher at the time of this epistle.


Today's Reading

Scholars believe and textual evidence shows the Colossian parishioners had been experimenting with spiritual ideas and practices other than Christianity. Verse 8 mentions "philosophy and empty deceit." They may have denied the goodness of created matter—including human bodies. As a result, the church at Colossae leaned into ideas that viewed bodies as not essential, as lesser-than "spirit," yet at the same time they thought the way people treated their bodies didn't matter. They may have engaged in what we'd call New Age type activities. From our perspective some of those are a bit crazy, and many are harmless, but as this author reminded their first readers and us as well, Christ and Christianity are complete in themselves and don't need add-ons.

Just as with last week, today's scripture affirms Jesus as completely divine, elegantly proclaiming "in him the whole fullness of divinity dwells bodily." Jesus of Nazareth embodies God! Remember Christ is the image of the invisible God… how do you picture, image, or portray something that can't be seen?


Living Locally

As twenty-first century Christians in a culture far different from that of the early church, much different from many twenty-first century countries, we need to remember Christianity by definition is incarnational, literally clothed in realities and artifacts of human endeavor. Jesus spoke the same language as his contemporaries, wore the same type of clothing, enjoyed the same kind of cuisine. As Christians in our communities, we speak a version of the local language or languages (or are in process of learning it if we immigrated from a place that spoke a different one), dress in similar ways, prepare almost identical meals. We baptize in plain ordinary water. We use everyday bread and fruit of the vine for holy communion. Christianity is a global way of life, but its expression always is local.


Baptism and Empire

Most scholars think "spiritual circumcision" in verse 11 refers to baptism; verse 12 says we've been buried with Christ in baptism, and already resurrected with him. In Romans 6 Paul seems to reserve our resurrection from death (our second birth) for when Jesus returns, although he clearly says the baptized "walk in newness of life."

Written amidst Roman imperialism and colonialism, Colossians emphasizes resisting empire. Today we hear about Jesus disarming the "rulers and authorities" after erasing all debts, sins, legal violations, and transgressions on the cross. I remember one bible translation says Jesus "made hash of the powers and principalities." That sounds like Eugene Peterson's The Message, but when I looked to confirm it, it wasn't. Jesus completed the work and reality of salvation in his death, resurrection, and ascension, yet in some senses it remains unfinished. God calls us in our baptism to resist empire and to work for justice, to do everything possible to "make hash" of agents of death and destruction.

Stay tuned for the fourth and last in this series of four readings from Colossians.

Pentecost 6C

Colossians 1:15-20

¹⁵Christ is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; ¹⁶for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

¹⁸He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. ¹⁹For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, ²⁰and through him God was pleased to reconcile to Godself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.

Colossians

This is the second of four weeks that the second reading comes from the epistle to the Colossian church. Last week's blog gives some background on the church at Colossae and the letter to the Colossians.

Probably written by a ministry companion, friend, student, or younger brother (my favorite speculation) of Paul/Saul of Tarsus about three decades after Jesus' death and resurrection, in Colossians we find theology (the word about the divine), Christology (words about the Christ), and cosmology (words about the scope and reach of all creation) that anticipates the worldview of John's gospel close to a half century later. In the seven epistles he definitely wrote, the apostle Paul is about outward from Jerusalem to the ends of the earth; the cosmic Christ of Colossians moves beyond planet earth into immeasurable time and space.


Authority Sovereignty Rule

God gifted Israel with the Ten Words – decalogue – or Commandments of the Sinai Covenant after their rescue from imperial Egyptian slavery, before their crossed the river into the land God promised Abraham. The commandments are life-giving words that help us remain free as we honor our neighbors (whose neighbor we become) amidst temptations to idolatry and frivolity.

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth." Deuteronomy 5:6-8

"I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below." Exodus 20:2-4

Reformer John Calvin insisted human brains are idol factories.


Sedition – Resistance

Last week I recommended Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire by Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat. I got a "like new" copy on eBay for $6.56 that included shipping, but then the price escalated to $127 (yes, $127.00). It looks as if I wasn't the only one who noticed the commentaries on Working Preacher and on Center for Excellence in Preaching that referenced it and as a result, many many knew they had to own the book.

Over the past couple months in the January 6th Congressional Hearings, "sedition" and "seditious" have emerged as buzzwords. Sedition is speech or activity that subverts and intends to overthrow the authority and presence of established government.

For the past couple years I've been fairly active on twitter; among politically blue tweeps, resist, resistance, and resister are trending hashtags.

Resistance means acting directly against as well as doing nothing (passivity) to stop agents of death and violence. Some of those actors are governments like those of the Russian Federation, North Korea, and Hungary; purveyors of death include transnational corporations that exploit workers and disproportionately reward top level executives. Treating employees as subhuman in order to price output competitively low, leads to transporting what they produce ("products") to destinations where consumers live, which leads to excessive use of finite natural resources, environmental degradation, etc. Those are starkly obvious ones. You probably can name dozens more.


gods God Images

Imperial Rome and its colonies were full of coins stamped with the emperor's image. The Roman Caesar supposedly was the son of a god, bestowing on him a slice of divinity. Formal church history well may (it does) locate the confession of Jesus as fully human and fully divine in the Definition of Chalcedon from the ecumenical council that convened in the year 451, but this pastoral letter to Colossae declares Jesus divine four centuries earlier. A couple thousand years ago it was commonplace that you'd be talking or walking with a person who was half human and half divine. In Jesus Christ we meet a Savior who is fully human and fully divine.

Today's reading that describes Jesus as God's authoritative presence and the actual ikon / icon / image of the invisible God is so relevant to our contemporary political and economic concerns! How do you picture something that's invisible, that can't be seen? Do you remember Genesis 1:27 tells us God created humanity (us!) in the divine image—imago Dei? Over the centuries, theologians and philosophers have had diverse ideas about what aspects of humanity are divine.

Early Christians perceived – "saw, viewed" – Jesus as fully imprinted with God. In terms of the first century's (and this twenty-first's) status quo, these words from Colossians are seditious and subversive! They proclaim the person, power, and rule of Jesus Christ in terms that only are supposed to belong to the emperor. If Jesus is supreme, then caesar isn't.

If – because! – Jesus rules the cosmos and us as individuals, then Samsung, BP, and Shell don't. If Jesus is our ultimate authority, then the Russian Federation and the United States government aren't. Because Jesus is Lord, national flags and corporate logos aren't our central symbols. The cross of Calvary is.

I had a lot more notes I wanted to develop, but even using less than half the lectionary reading I'm out of space and out of time. I'll try to include my ideas over the next two Sundays.

Pentecost 5C

Prayer for Transformation and New Life

Everlasting God, you build up and tear down. We confess that we have erected idols that need to be demolished in our time. We embrace complacency and comfort over following your vision of beloved community and liberation. We measure ourselves not against your precepts but by the standards of this world. We close our ears to voices we do not want to hear and our eyes to sights too painful to see. Tear down the fear of discomfort within us and rebuild us with the pillars of holy love, compassionate care, and Spirit-led action. In your mercy, make us new. Amen.

By Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology, United Church of Christ.
Copyright 2022 Faith INFO Ministry Team, 700 Prospect Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44115-1100

Colossians 1:1-14

¹Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother,

²To the saints and faithful brothers and sisters in Christ in Colossae:

Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

³In our prayers for you we always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, ⁴for we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love that you have for all the saints, ⁵because of the hope laid up for you in heaven. You have heard of this hope before in the word of the truth, the gospel ⁶that has come to you. Just as it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world, so it has been bearing fruit among yourselves from the day you heard it and truly comprehended the grace of God. ⁷This you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow servant. He is a faithful minister of Christ on our behalf, ⁸and he has made known to us your love in the Spirit.

⁹For this reason, since the day we heard it, we have not ceased praying for you and asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of God's will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, ¹⁰so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.

¹¹May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from God's glorious power, so that you may have all endurance and patience, joyfully ¹²giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light. ¹³God has rescued [exodus, a new deliverance, a new freedom from slavery] us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the beloved Son, ¹⁴in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians

Four Sundays in a row the second lection will come from Colossians. The apostle Paul almost definitely didn't write the epistle to the Christians who assembled at Colossae. Despite the greeting referencing Paul and his ministry sidekick Timothy, its grammar, syntax, vocabulary, and sentence structure depart from the style of Paul/Saul of Tarsus' seven undisputed letters, although Colossian's overall theology and especially its cosmic Christ go in directions Paul likely would have traveled. Could God have inspired this poetry and these proclamations in one of Paul's ministry companions, students, or a slightly younger sibling?

Even in translation, Colossians' poetic splendor takes Paul up a few notches. It's as if original Paul was super-concerned about carefully articulating formal theology, and Colossian's author already has all that down and feels confident to riff and gloss on those basics. This is the Christ who embraces and rules all creation, yet affects individuals at their core.

Scholars date this letter from 60CE to as late as 75CE, about three decades after Jesus' death and resurrection, predating the gospels. Colossae was in current western Turkey, 120 miles inland from the Aegean Sea.

The letter itself doesn't clearly describe the Colossian church beyond indicating Epaphras was their pastor and teacher. However, in Colossians Remixed: Subverting the Empire, Brian J. Walsh and Sylvia C. Keesmaat tell us this church met in the home of Philemon, Apphia and Archippus, from which the slave Onesimus had run away. They strongly advise, "Read Colossians with [the book of] Philemon and Onesimus in mind." I was almost literally ecstatic to discover Colossians Remixed, though given how much the world has changed since the 2004 publication date I'd love a revision or at least an additional chapter related to global events since then.


Today's Reading

After a classic Pauline-style salutation and greeting, this week's reading reveals the author's prayer-filled hope for the Colossians' future in Christ as it affirms the fruitfulness that has resulted from their comprehending or grasping grace. Future weeks will refer to the social and religious location that had the Colossian church pretty heavily involved in a syncretism that sounds a whole lot like some recent New Age religious smorgasbords, potlucks, and buffets. Apparently they were on the edge of heresy, so all along the letter affirms the sufficiency, authority, power, and divinity of Jesus Christ, in constant contrast with the supposed authority and divinity of the Roman Caesar.

All along the letter reminds its recipients of their position and transformation in Christ. As in Paul's authentic letters, Colossians are "in Christ," rather than followers or disciples the way the gospels describe Jesus' people. As with all of the New Testament, when we read Colossians we need to stay aware of the overall Roman imperial context as well as assorted deities, and practices of non-Jewish neighbors.

We live baptized into Christ, yet we necessarily also live in a particular earthbound geographical location. Because of that reality, it's necessary to contextualize and adapt Christianity in ways that make sense to where we are.

The end of today's selection, verses 13-14, God has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. is basic gospeled Good News that especially echoes Paul's theology and that of Luke, who's mentioned in 4:14, "Luke, the beloved physician, sends you his greetings."

Pentecost 4C

Luke 10:1-11, 16

¹After this the Lord appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. ²He said to them, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. ³Go on your way; I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves. ⁴Carry no purse, no bag, no sandals, and greet no one on the road. ⁵Whatever house you enter, first say, 'Peace to this house!' ⁶And if a person of peace is there, your peace will rest on that person, but if not, it will return to you.

⁷"Remain in the same house, eating and drinking whatever they provide, for the laborer deserves to be paid. Do not move about from house to house. ⁸Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; ⁹cure the sick who are there, and say to them, 'The kingdom of God has come near to you.' ¹⁰But whenever you enter a town and they do not welcome you, go out into its streets and say, ¹¹'Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet, we wipe off in protest against you. Yet know this: the kingdom of God has come near.'

¹⁶"Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me."

The Original Setting

"After this" in 10:1 refers back to events reported in chapter 9 that include feeding 5,000+ people with five loaves and two fish, Peter's confession of Jesus as Messiah, Jesus' Transfiguration (reported in 9:31 "They spoke about Jesus' departure or exodus, which he was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem"), casting out a demon, Jesus' exceptionally radical call to discipleship that excludes expected human activities of burying the dead, saying goodbye before leaving.

As the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven (ascendancy, authority, Lordship), Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Luke 9:51

Particularly in Luke's and Mark's gospels, Jesus' journey to Jerusalem is relentless and incessant. Jesus mostly grew up and lived in small town Nazareth in semi-remote Galilee; Jerusalem was the center of religious power and the seat of Roman imperial control. Jews considered the J-Temple the axis mundi or conduit between heaven and earth.


Where We Live

The Lord sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go. Luke 10:1

I definitely need to consult a few more commentaries and opinions about this verse because most of scripture reveals God already has been at work there before God leads us to a particular situation—God has been to our future! In addition, I've heard many many real-life (contemporary) testimonies of that fact, as likely you have, too.

In a very similar way to what Luke 9:1-6 reports when he sent out the original twelve, Jesus gives instructions for going into the world as itinerant missionaries. We all need this direction because like Jesus and his first followers, all of us itinerate from one place to another, from one ministry to another.

Paralleling Moses and the seventy elders, Luke's Jesus picks up on the number 70. Seventy combines seven, the number of perfection and ten, the number of completion in Hebrew numerology. He wisely advises everyone to travel in pairs, which has become the way to go for anyone anywhere.


Comments and Questions

Travel light! Why? Always? Is that a good idea for us today? Why does he say "Greet no one on the road"? Are these guidelines only for humanitarian and proselytizing missionaries in less-developed countries or remote rural communities? Maybe for short-term high school and college mission trips to nearby places (Habitat for Humanity Houses, for example) or across the international border? Or can they apply elsewhere?

The very first thing is to speak Shalom, the fullness of God's loving, merciful, presence to everyone they meet. How can we do that in words and in actions? Church-speak and Christianese are foreign languages to a lot of people.

Accept the hospitality and act as guests of households we visit. Eat whatever people give you! Local cuisine helps us learn about our hosts. "You are what you eat" – "we are what we eat" As we enjoy their hospitality and their food, we become our hosts. This scripture presents food and lodging as compensation. What's your opinion of pay-your-own-way ministries versus ones that pay in dollars and cents and/or housing and vehicle allowance?

If the people don't welcome and receive us? Shake the dust of that place off your feet! Get rid of the evidence. Try to shake off memories of them? Or maybe not? What's your experience?

We go everywhere as Jesus' own presence. Whoever listens to you listens to me, and whoever rejects you rejects me, and whoever rejects me rejects the one who sent me. Luke 10:16

One of the very helpful outcomes of prayer can be discerning when to quit trying to engage an individual, a family, or a group; figuring out when to move on to the next place.

After spending some time with this passage, I don't know if I want a live discussion of the questions I've asked, or if it's time to move on to next week.