Jesus eventually listened to himself – what if we did, too?

From Sunday, August 17 - continued fighting in Gaza, uproar in Missouri over the violent shooting death of an unarmed African-American youngster, and continued nastiness at the border between Mexico and the U.S. with the few tens of thousands of children who are hoping to reunited with families and, sadly, being abused - with some of those who are shouting and protesting and calling them names being self-avowed Christians. So in this story in which Jesus calls a Canaanite woman a dog, and she calls him on the carpet about it, we find some relation to today. And we find a Jesus who is also in process of learning, expanding his theology to be more generous and inclusive. At the end, I ask the question, "Who are the dogs of today?" Who do you think the dogs of today are?

“Jesus eventually listened to himself – what if we did, too?”

Sermon, Year A, Proper 15, August 17, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: Matthew15:21-28 

One wonders – I wonder, anyway – Does Jesus ever listen to himself when he speaks? Does he pay attention to what he’s saying, or does it just come out?

I’m reminded of the show Family Guy, which some of you know. It’s a very funny, hilarious, animated show in which the main character, Peter Griffin is, well, stupid. He doesn’t track information at all well, and spouts nonsense all the time. Crazy political stuff, social stuff, stuff about religion. Whatever the topic, he speaks in nonsense in all the time. In one episode, after Peter has offered a particularly silly and nonsensical screed, one of his friends asks him, “Do you ever listen to yourself?” And Peter responds, “Eh, I tune in and out.”

I wonder, does Jesus listen to himself here?

He calls this woman a dog. That’s after ignoring her. At first he doesn’t respond to her or even acknowledge her presence. Then, when he does finally choose to notice, he calls her a dog and he shows no concern for her daughter.

This is not the touchy-feely cuddly kind of Jesus that makes us feel comfortable. The kind of Jesus that we may have been taught about in Sunday school or in other churches in which he always kind and compassionate, he’s never reactive, always calm and in control of the situation and in control of himself. And he’s just, gosh, so swell and super nice all the time. That’s not always the Jesus that’s in the Gospels. Jesus is not always just a touchy-feely nice guy that never changes his mind, or never needs to learn anything, because he’s perfect. That’s not always who Jesus is. Sometimes he’s kind of rude, cranky, human. This is a very human Jesus, I think, that we get in the passage here. A very human Jesus who is very much a product of his culture and who carries with him some of those unquestioned uncritically accepted biases that the culture puts on its citizens.

Jesus is being mean here. But culturally, what he’s doing, might be kind of typical. Others might not look at him as being particularly mean.

But I wonder, Does he listen to himself?

His reaction here is particularly surprising because of what has just happened before this, which we did not read. But in the passage right before this, Jesus is having a disagreement with the Pharisees and the the Scribes. They have questioned him because he hasn’t washed his hands properly before eating, and may be eating unclean food and eating with the wrong people that makes him unclean. Jesus responds to them, “It is not what goes in the mouth that makes one unclean; it’s what comes out.”

It’s what you say. The words that you use that can make you unclean. Not the food that goes in, but what you say.

So Jesus has just said that. And then he goes to Tyre and Sidon, another area of Israel, and he tells this foreign woman that she’s nothing but a dog.

It’s what comes out, Jesus.

As though he had not listened to his previous self here at all. This woman is also called a Canaanite which brings back some memories of the Canaanite people who had originally lived in that area. Lived, in fact, in the entire region of the Promised Land that the Hebrew people had taken. Think of Moses and the Exodus, leading the people through the wilderness for 40 years, then coming into the Promised Land that God had given them. Well, there were already people there. The Canaanites were already there. So the Hebrews come in and displace the Canaanites – such displacement mostly being done by killing them – but they didn’t get rid of all the Canaanites. Then they took the land and it became Israel. Then in the 6^th century as Babylon was attacking to conquer Israel, it was the Jewish/Hebrew people in the Tyre and Sidon area who were basically traitors and in collusion with the Babylonians to conquer Israel. They were basically traitors to their country and helped Babylon take it over. So calling this woman a Canaanite here is a remembrance of the people who were displaced as the Hebrews took the Promised Land, and a reminder of the betrayal So the rest of Judaism had some bad blood toward these people, even in Jesus’ time.

And that’s a battle that continues today. The fighting between Israel and Palestine is a remnant of this Jewish people versus Canaanite people battle that has been going for 3000-3500 years, arguing over whose land it really is, who God really gave that land to. It continues.

But for Jesus, the woman in this story was basically a bad person because of her ancestry and because of where she lives. And so of course Jesus calls her a dog. Once he finally decides to acknowledge her existence and admit that she’s there. Of course he calls her a dog: her ancestors 500-600 years ago helped betray Israel. Obviously she must carry the guilt for that because we don’t forgive people for what their ancestors did, they carry that guilt with them. Right? Isn’t that how we do things? The disciples totally understand that as well. They insist that she goes away. They are products of their culture, just as much as Jesus was. They insist that she go away. “She’s nothing, Jesus, she’s just a foreign woman. She’s not like us. She’s not one of us. And if she’s not one of us, not like us, then we owe her nothing. So pay her no mind.”

But, by God, she’s a mother with a sick child. She knows who Jesus is. She calls him Lord and Son of David. She is a mother of a sick child and she’s not afraid to tell Jesus that he’s wrong. She embarrasses him. She shames him, even. Uses his language against him. Says, basically, “You think I’m a dog? You think I’m a dog? Fine. I’ll play that role. If that is the role I have to play in order to heal my daughter, I will play that role. Whatever it takes to make my daughter better. I’ll do whatever you want. If you want me to be the dog, I’ll be the dog. But I want you to remember one thing: even dogs get to eat crumbs. Are you telling me that you are so lofty, and I am so lowly, that you can’t even give me a crumb? Even the cruelest master feeds his dogs.”

Now, she wasn’t there when Jesus was talking about how it is not what goes in the mouth but what comes out. She wasn’t there. She didn’t hear him say that. She doesn’t know that he said it. But by her response, she makes him listen to himself. She makes him hear his own words. She forces him to live by his own words. That’s a powerful moment.

He’s transformed by her faith. He learns. He changes his mind about her, and about who she is. And probably about all her people. Changes his mind in the direction of love and compassion.

Who are the dogs today? Those we might not want to give even a crumb? Who are the dogs today? Who are the dogs in your life? The children at the border with Mexico? Gays, lesbians, transgendered people? Immigrants? Palestinians? Africans suffering from Ebola? Or the Africans suffering from hunger or war? The people who live on the streets? Unarmed young African-American men? The Michael Browns of the world? People on death row? People who are asking for nothing more than a little bit of dignity by having access to health care and food for their family, who are very much like this woman who wants nothing more than health for her daughter? Who are the dogs for today?

Jesus is forced to listen to himself. This woman forced him to listen to himself and he did and he changed his mind and he changed his mind in the direction of love. This radical, reckless, costly love. Jesus listened to himself and changed his mind toward love.

What would happen if we listened to Jesus as well?

Amen.  

Reflections on suicide after Robin Williams' death/suicide and depression

Intro: I wrote this originally for the local newspaper, back in July of 2013. Today, August 12 of 2014, I am thinking of suicide (and mental illness) again because of Robin Williams' death two days ago, which appears to be suicide driven by deep depression. Since I am thinking of this again, I thought I would share this article with you. It is not so much about depression, but about how to respond to the tragedy that is suicide, and I poke a hole in that terrible platitude "God never gives you more than you can handle."


Probably more of us than not have been touched by suicide, either by our own attempt or that of someone we know. Suicide is increasing, particularly by returning soldiers (especially those facing difficulty accepting or finding mental health care) and gay teenagers literally bullied to death by classmates and some religious communities. And yet, suicide remains a largely taboo subject. Remember how we used to refer to cancer in hushed whispers as “the c-word”, hid developmentally disabled children in the attic, or called the gay couple “roommates”? As though if we don’t speak it, it doesn’t exist. But silence only gives it more power. Just as cancer research received public support only once we were willing to reduce the shame by saying the word, and people with disabilities and our LGBT brothers and sisters started achieving social (and churchly) acceptance only when we started speaking openly, perhaps speaking about suicide can better help prevent and overcome its pain.

You may have heard an adage that as unhelpful as it is old: “God never gives you more than you
can handle.” Unhelpful because, firstly, God does not inflict us with suffering. What God gives is
goodness and blessings. Not life-numbing pain.

Secondly, the fact of suicide also very obviously shows that some people DO have (but are not "given”) more than they can handle. Suicide comes from a place of deep suffering (depression, PTSD from war or sexual abuse, bullying, etc.) that is often kept hidden from others, and which most of us will never experience nor comprehend.

But lack of comprehension does not mean we cannot empathize with the suffering of the committer, and the suffering of their loved ones left with a lifetime of anger, shame, and wondering, Why? or, Did I fail somehow?

The answers to those two questions, by the way, are: We cannot possibly ever know, and No.

Especially we people of faith ought express compassion to eliminate the stigma and shame. Suicide is not an unforgivable sin. Those left behind need not feel shame. They certainly ought not be shamed. Who wants to hear from a cleric that a spouse or child who commits suicide is in hell? Some traditions even refuse to do funerals (or have them in their sanctuary) for people who have committed suicide. Where’s the compassion in that? I can imagine gods of our own invention being that evil, but the God of the Bible is loving and consoling that I imagine greets the sufferer with open arms and releases their pain. Shame is a too-prevalent evil in this world, but only because we are so easily allured by its narrative of self-righteousness. Is there a balm in Gilead? With God, always.

I have known people who committed suicide, and their deaths diminished me and those they left behind. But the shame put on survivors, or survivors put on themselves, is just as crippling.

Maybe worse.

And they have few outlets for their pain and anger.

Suicide has long been considered just a theological problem: call it a sin and leave it at that. But
that is as unhelpful as the above adage. Easy answers are rarely faithful. Suicide is mostly a
psychological issue, but is economic and political. We need affordable shame-free access to
mental health care. We need more vigilance in ensuring all our children are safe from bullies.
Our religious institutions need to be less bullying from their pulpits and more willing to greet
The Other with love. There is much we must, and which we can, do. But only if we talk about it.

Street Ministry Journal: July 8, 2014

I've not blogged about this before, but my congregation has a street ministry that is out in the community every Tuesday and Friday nights providing water, clothing, snacks, candy, hygiene, and other items to people living on the streets. We also go into Chippewa Falls once a week or so to check out the homeless there as well, as they recently lost the only homeless shelter in that city. I go out twice a month usually, and leave it to the volunteers, who have the real expertise, to do this important ministry. Mike Henry is our leader - he has done street ministry in San Francisco, Chicago, places in Central America, and elsewhere. He has many decades of experience and great passion. He is the one who took the photo below. We keep a street journal that we who take part in the ministry occasional write stories for, of our thoughts and experiences. The following is my write up from last week Tuesday:

A beautiful night, weather-wise, and it became an even more beautiful night with a surprise encounter with a man with a silken baritone voice. Lilly, Dave, Sandy, Mike, and I were there to help the many visitors we had to the van. We were busy, but not so busy that we didn't stop for about ten minutes to listen to Wahya, recently arrived at Sojourners, sing us some serenades of 1970s-era blues rock tunes and even some country. He had been a singer in a band many years before, but circumstances led him out of that profession and eventually to where he is today. He has lost much, but not his voice or his passion for song. Mostly he sang alone, but I joined him to sing the beginning of Bob Seeger's "Turn the Page". A gentle man, mostly (perhaps all) Native American. He told us the story of how he received his name, a name that in his tradition can only be given as a gift for doing right things, never claimed for oneself. A fascinating man who I hope can find his way off the "long and lonesome highway" and back into the life that he knew and that he deserves.

Caption: Wahya singing in his rich baritone voice for Pastor David and others.

God's One-Sided Covenant - sermon from June 29, 2014

Sunday's sermon was on Jesus' summation of the law. When he was asked, "What is the greatest commandment?" he doesn't offer some kind of belief or doctrinal point, nor any of the 613 commandments (mitzvot) found in the Hebrew scriptures - he quotes the summation of all law and prophets that is found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy: Love God and love your neighbor and you love yourself. 

This sermon is a meditation on God's process of covenanting with various people and peoples, culminating in the covenant that is Jesus, and an exploration of what loving God and neighbor might look like if we lived by it in 21st century earth.

“A One-Sided Covenant”

Sermon, Year A, Proper 8, June 29, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture [from narrative lectionary, not RCL]: Exodus 20:1-17 and Matthew 22:34-40

Jesus does a nice summation of the covenant with God in his response to this question from these people who are probably trying to trick him, or who are, perhaps, generally curious about Jesus’ answer.

We are a people of the covenant – the covenant between God and us, a covenant we call Jesus. Jesus who said, “My blood is the blood of the new covenant, poured out for you.” But before Jesus, there was the covenant of The Law, which we read some of here with these ten commandments. This passage is the beginning of God giving Moses the Law from the mountaintop. They are part of a much longer set of laws that are written in Leviticus and Deuteronomy and elsewhere, ending up with a total of 613 commandments, according to traditional Jewish counting.

But these ten are the big ones. These are the ones that God gives to Moses first, and are the ones that Moses brought down on the tablets from the mountaintop. These are the beginning of the Law.

You may remember Charlton Heston as Moses in “The Ten Commandments”, holding the two tablets with his white hair and flowing beard and he’s backlit quite dramatically as he descends from the mountain top with this new law.

Or perhaps you remember Mel Brooks’ movie “The History of the World, Part 1”. The amazing Sid Caesar, who just died a month or two ago, played Moses in a similar scene to Heston’s, coming down the mountain with the same hair and beard but with three tablets, saying “I bring you these fifteen...” and then one tablet falls on the ground and shatters, “These ten, ten commandments!” 

These ten commandments are the basis of the covenant between God and the people that God had just rescued from slavery in Egypt. He’s brought them across the sea and into the wilderness, and one of the first things is to set up this covenant between God and the people. A covenant that says, “I will be your God, and you will be my people, and this is what that relationship will look like. This is how we will act together. You will do this, and I will do this.”

We talk about covenant in the church a lot, too. It’s more than just an agreement, in which, say, you and I agree to do something. And it is less than, or maybe more than, a legal contract which tends to be less about “let us trust one another to do right” and more about “I don’t trust you, so let’s put this into writing.” It’s a kind of agreement or contract, but which is based on trust. A marriage is a covenant. Our relation here as a congregation, our fellowship, is a covenant to agree with one another to be followers of Jesus. We don’t have a doctrine or specific belief that unites us, but we are united as followers of Jesus to help one another, challenge one another, be on the journey together. And this congregation is in covenant with almost 6000 other congregations to form the United Church of Christ that we are part of.

So we have this covenant this God makes with the people through Moses on the mountaintop. But God had made covenants before and after. There is the covenant with Noah after the flood when God sets the rainbow in the sky as the symbol of the covenant never to flood the world again. There is the covenant with Abraham to make a great nation out of him. We read last week the story of Ishmael and Hagar. Ishmael was Abraham’s first son, whom he had with Hagar, Sarah’s handmaiden, who was not Abraham’s wife, but whom Sarah had told Abraham to impregnate so that he would have a son. A few years after Sarah gave birth to Isaac, finally fulfilling God’s promise to her and Abraham that they would have a child, she had Abraham send Ishmael and Hagar into the desert because of Sarah’s fear that Ishmael might “steal” God’s promise to Abraham. As Ishmael is dying from dehydration in the desert, Hagar prays to God, and God responds with a promise (that is, makes a covenant) that Ishmael, too, shall inherit Abraham’s promise, and he also will be the father of a great nation, and he is saved.

Then the covenants continue with Isaac and Jacob. Then the covenant with the Hebrew people that Moses is mediator of. And other covenants that God makes throughout the Hebrew scriptures. Many covenants.

Then with Jesus, a new kind of covenant appears. God makes a new kind of covenant through Jesus. Previous covenants have been of the formula of God saying, “I will do this and you will do this; and if you do not do this, then I will do that...”

But the covenant that is Jesus is a new kind: it’s a totally one sided covenant. It is of the form of God saying, “I will do this.”

And that’s it.

No requirement for the other partner in the covenant. Nothing we have to do in this new covenant. God says, “I will do this. I will love you, will forgive you, will shower you with grace, will fill you with the Holy Spirit, will hold you, will comfort you, I will be – No! I *am* – your God! And you don’t need to do anything. This is my gift to you.”

Now it is all God’s action: “I will do this. My gift to you.”

No longer do we have to do things because we have to. We do things in response to God’s love, not to earn, or achieve, or be worthy of God’s love, but simply as a response to God’s love. God who says, “I love you unconditionally, and that’s it.”

So when Jesus is asked, “What is the greatest commandment?” he has these ten, and the other 603 commandments to choose from. He doesn’t say, “Well, you have to believe this...” nor does he say, “Well, the biggest one is don’t kill” or “Don’t eat shrimp” or “Don’t wear clothing of mixed fibers” or “Don’t associate with women”.

He doesn’t say any of those.

He quotes instead a variation of two passages from the Jewish scriptures from Deuteronomy and Leviticus: “Love God with all your strength, with all your heart, and with all your mind; and love your neighbor as yourself.”

That’s it.

That’s the law.

The rest, as they say, is commentary about how to live that out. That sums it all up. Just love God, who loves us already, and love our neighbor and love ourselves and love our neighbor as much as we love ourselves. Or more than we love ourselves. But there is also in there the command to love ourselves and not beat ourselves up. We are to love ourselves, our neighbor, and love God.

As I look at the world that is around us, and let me say that there is an awful lot of good and wonderful things that humans do. It can be too easy to focus on the negative and wallow in a kind of nostalgic sentimentalism about an age that never existed except in our minds. But, as I look around the world, I do see evil and injustice. There are political, economic, religious, and social systems that aren’t loving. That hurt people. That leave people behind. That don’t help the poor, or the immigrants, or the foreigners, or so many of our brothers and sisters. There are wars and violence, political maneuvering over resources, economic destruction foisted by one country or corporation on innocent people.

As I look on that world, I grow more and more convinced that trying to reduce Christian faith to a set of intellectual propositions has been incredibly harmful to the Church and harmful to the world. It has allowed us to forget that Jesus’ only command to his disciples and to us was to love another one another.

Think of people who live in areas without easy access to water or to clean water. Our camps this summer are raising money for an organization called DigDeep that helps to bring wells and clean water into places that don’t have either. There are places around the world in which communities are miles away from the wells. So women and children spend many hours a day walking to the source of water and then walking back with a few jugs of water, and going back and forth to have enough to cook with, drink, do laundry, and so on. And because they spend so much time dealing with getting water, they don’t have the time needed to get an education, or have a job, or start a business, or do whatever might lift them out of their poverty.

When I think of people in situations like that, I think that what they don’t need is a Bible. They don’t need people coming in and telling them what to believe. They need water. They need a well in the middle of their community, or in their homes. They need water purifiers. They need something to help free up their time so they can be more than living day by day and therefore take better care of their families and their communities.

People who are hungry don’t need Bibles, they need food. Not that Bibles are bad, but they need food first. And sometimes they need a better government, or to end the wars or violence around that causes constant struggle and destruction of fields or pollution of water or otherwise keeps them from living fully.

Think of our street ministry here. We don’t go out with Bibles to proselytize them. Though if they ask for a Bible, we’ll give them one. We’ll pray with them, bring them to church, give them devotionals if they ask for them. But what they need is a sleeping bag, food, water. Someone to remember their name. Someone to listen to their story. To offer them dignity. They don’t need to be told, “Believe in the Trinity or you will go to hell!” They’re already in hell. They know what hell is like. We need to listen to them.

And so often they are not in this hell because they failed to believe – many are very spiritual – they are in hell because we, the rest of us, have too often failed to love as fully and sufficiently as we are called to.

And that is really all God wants from us. It sounds very simple to say, “That’s all God wants from us!” It is an awful lot to ask, really, and yet it is a very small request, too. What God wants is for us to love one another, and to love one another because God loves us. God has loved us first, and God loves us always and will always love us, unconditionally. Even when we act in unlovable ways. That’s the Good News of Jesus! We are loved, and free to live without fear so that we are free to love recklessly and dangerously.

“I am your God and I love you. You don’t have to do anything. But I do ask that you love one another to the best you are able.”

Think of the ways we at Plymouth are loving one another through our quilts, our offerings for St. Francis, our street ministry, the way that we treat each other.

“I am your God and I love you. You don’t have to do anything. But I do ask that you love one another.”

And that is a mission that we can live out.

Amen.

--------end of sermon--------

How do you live out "Love God, love your neighbor as yourself?" What would you like to say in response to to Jesus' words, or my words? How might we as followers of Jesus do a better job of living this way, or how might we as a nation or a world do a better job? Or are we doing enough? 

Please post your responses, questions, comments, agreements, retorts, whatever here. Thank you, and God bless.

Simple, But Dangerous - a sermon on Matthew 10:24-39

My sermon from June 22 on the Matthew text in which Jesus says, "Those who love mother or father more than me are not worthy of me" and "I have come to bring a sword". Challgening words.

“Simple, but Dangerous”

Sermon, Year A, Proper 7, June 22, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: Matthew 10:24-39

These are some rather harsh sounding words from Jesus. Words that we might often offer in public discourse. Not that they are mean words, or vindictive, or insulting. But they are certainly challenging words. “Whoever loves mother or father more than me is not worthy of me,” and so on. “And I have come to set a man against father, to set a daughter against mother,” and so on.

Challenging words. And seemingly harsh words. They sound almost anti-family values. As though we are not supposed to like or love our family members. But I don’t think that is quite what Jesus is saying. I don’t think he is saying “Don’t love them”, and I don’t think he is saying, “My sole intent in coming to you is to cause disruption and division and once I’ve turned the world into chaos, then my job is finished.” That is not his intent, to disrupt and cause division. I think what he’s getting at here is just to offer some sense of reality. He is saying, “My message of love, my message of radical inclusion of others, of the outsiders, of the least of these... my message of love, if you live that out, if you follow my way, that will cause some tension and division in your families and in your community because not everyone is going to want to do that. It will be challenging to some people.”

And those early Christians, those early followers of Jesus before they were called Christians – they were called Followers of the Way or Jesus Followers – there was division in families and in the community. What they were doing did cause disruption and some stress. Those first followers of Jesus, and Jesus himself, were all Jewish. They came out of the Jewish tradition. And later on down the line, non-Jewish people started coming into the movement and being Jesus Followers as well. But those first ones were all Jewish. They came out of Judaism, and for the first 50-60 years or so after the resurrection, they were still worshiping in the synagogues with their Jewish brothers and sisters and families as well as gathering on Sundays for a meal and to remember the resurrection and talk about Jesus. But they had stayed in the synagogues for quite a while.

And that caused some tension. They weren’t really sure, “Are we Jewish, not Jewish? If Gentiles come in, do they need to become Jewish first and then become followers of Jesus?” And those that weren’t following Jesus at all were getting annoyed by the Jesus Followers coming into the synagogue. So it caused some tension. We know also that it caused tension in individual families in which some members became Jesus Followers while others did not. So there was the regular tension that one gets with family members holding to differing religious beliefs. There was also persecution happening of followers of Jesus, coming from Rome and also from some in the Jewish leadership. So there was some tension also just around safety issues. Family members saying, “We want you stop with this Jesus thing, because you are in danger. We don’t want you to have problems.”

So there was religious tension, tension about safety for the Jesus Followers, and caused tension in that wider community of the Jewish family. Especially once the Jesus Followers started bringing in Gentiles. Around the time that Matthew’s Gospel was written, around the year 80 which is about 50 years after the resurrection, is also about the time that the Jesus Movement started moving out of the synagogues and the split between Judaism and Christianity started to happen. The Gospel here is also reflecting some of that movement. That movement out of the synagogues also caused rifts and tensions in the families.

So at some level, Jesus is simply being realistic by warning that by following in his way, some people will be annoyed, challenged, or others from one’s family and community that don’t want one to do that.

It will cause some disruption. Not that disruption is the intent, but a side effect. For whatever reason, that message of “Love your neighbor” bothers some people. It will bother, and it does bother, some people. Still does today.

I think also in these words about loving mother or father or whoever more than Jesus not being worthy of Jesus, is a larger message. Not to not-love the family, but a warning about loving family more than one loves Jesus. Jesus will say later in Matthew’s Gospel, “Whatever you do to the least of these, you do to me.” We are to see Jesus in each other. Some of what Jesus is saying here, then, is, “If you love your father or mother more than you love the other people around you, then you are not showing love to me. You are to love all people as much as you love those in your family, or your tribe, or your friends.”

That is a challenging message to a culture in which one’s first duty was to the family. Take care of your family first, then maybe your tribe, and then work up and out from there, eventually getting to neighbors. The commitment was to biological family first. So it was a challenging message that your non-biological neighbors are just as important.

Think of how God, in the Genesis story we read about Hagar and Ishmael being cast out out of the community. They were cast out by Abraham and Sarah, and yet God still includes them in the circle of of God’s promise and God’s family. They are still part of God’s world, even though others cast them out. Where is God? With the cast out and cast off just as much as anyone else.

We have as much responsibility to our neighbors as we do to our biological families. So love your mom and dad, aunts and uncles, brothers and sisters. But also love Jesus just as much, and show your love for Jesus by loving your neighbors: the outsiders and all people. That’s how we show our love for Jesus, by how we love others. Include ALL in this Realm of God, that we’ve talked about a lot this year, especially during Lent. What is the Realm of God? What is God’s vision? One vision is a world in which all people are loved and respected.

I just spent a week at camp, and when I think of “What does God’s realm look like?” To me it looks a lot like a week of camp. The way that our camp is set up, the culture and community we create. A community in which we are respectful of one another. For the camp we had last week, we have had a couple girls with Downs Syndrome who have been part of the camp for a number of years as participants. And whenever we have group time, they are included. And when they speak, even though sometimes they are difficult to understand or might say something not related to what is going on (and they are not the only ones who often say things not related to what is happening), I am really impressed at how the other kids and adults listen to what they have to say. No one talks over them or tells them to be quiet, but they are listened to just as much as anyone else. That’s a God’s Realm kind of way of living. Or the way the older kids, in this camp with third through twelfth grade, invite the younger kids to sit at table with them at meals, or invite them to play games, take them on a canoe ride, be their buddy for swimming... the older and younger mixing together so well. That, I think, is what God envisions for us.

The camp is also a Music, Arts, Dance, and Drama camp, so lots of performances and art happening. And whenever someone performed, no matter how shaky or imperfect, or how well done, whenever someone performed they received a full round of applause and support and encouraged. A wonderful experience of inclusion. There is no reason that life could not be like that outside of camp or outside of church!

That is part of what Jesus is talking about here.

Loving one another. Love your family, and love everyone else just as much. Love your neighbor as you love yourself, or as you love those who are your friends or your family. Take the love for family and friends and expand that out beyond the confines of biology or similarity or geography or whatever we invent to separate. Expand it to include all of God’s creation.

Love Jesus by following in his way. Follow in his way by loving his people.

I think it really is as simple as that.

Amen.

Now that you have read the sermon, I offer you a chance to respond: how do you hear Jesus' words about not loving mother or father more than him? Or his other words from that passage? And what do you think of the final phrase, "it really is as simple as that."? Please comment!

July article for Plymouth's "Good News" newsletter

Dear friends and family of Plymouth,

I have just returned from a week of directing one of our summer camps, the Music Art Dance and Drama camp at Moon Beach. Four of our young people were also there, and we had a magnificent time! We are so blessed to have two amazing year-long camps/retreat-centers in our Conference. Thousands of youth and adults come closer to God and to one another at the many camps, retreats, workshops, and other gatherings that take place at Moon Beach and Pilgrim Center. Take a look at their offerings at http://www.ucci.org - you might find something that would interest you, with activities for children like summer camp, but also family camps for families of any size and ages (children not required); and activities year-round for adults like golfing, quilting, cooking, Wild Women, song writing, health and wellness, and retreats for those over 60. Part of Our Church's Wider Mission donations goes to support our camps, and through the Conference's generosity over the years we have updated them to be modern in amenities while maintaining a spiritual sense of peace and calm. 

I was also at our Conference's Annual Meeting, which is always a fun family reunion of a few hundred people from around the state. We voted for the Conference to be Open and Affirming, which was more a validation of how we have operated for the past 20 or so years than anything new. We also celebrated 20 years of our Lay Academy and the 200+ graduates, some of whom are now serving churches as licensed pastors, and most of whom are serving their congregations as dedicated and educated lay leaders. We heard reports from our search committees about thier processes in finding a permanent Conference Minister and two Associate Conference Ministers, which searches are ongoing, hopefully to be filled by next summer. And we had our usual excellent worship services, some other business (like passing a budget), and a lot of fellowship time as the gathered church. 

Here at Plymouth, we continue to work on our evangelism and outreach, with some new members to be added in the coming weeks. Our street ministry has been very busy, especially helping a few new mothers through their pregnancies and births, and also the many others of our brothers and sisters living on the streets who need food, water, clothing, rides to job interviews or help with finding work, and so on. We are doing some powerful ministry here in Eau Claire, thanks to our dedicated volunteers and many of you who have provided food, clothing, and money donations. We can always use extra money for gas - or better yet, gas cards, which will help Plymouth twice: our income from the scrip, plus the help to our street ministry.

Good things are going on for Plymouth and our denomination. You probably know someone who would love to join in on what we are doing - invite them! Lots of people are not in churches on Sundays, and a recent statistic I saw said that one reason they aren't there is because most of them have never been invited. 

Many blessings,

My response to local paper's question about the overturning of Wisconsin's anti-gay amendment

The question was "What are your thoughts on a judge's ruling effectively legalizing gay marriage in Wisconsin?"

I wrote: 

This ruling is a beautiful move for justice and equality. News of it came during the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ, the denomination I am in. Our leaders interrupted a speaker to tell us. There was much rejoicing and joyful spontaneous singing of the Doxology! One of our Milwaukee pastors married his partner within minutes of the ruling and sent us pictures. We saw two happy grooms, whose relationship has lasted longer than many 'traditional' marriages, finally allowed the legal and social benefits of having their relationship validated by the state. My denomination has ordained, married, celebrated, and fought for rights of our LGBT brothers and sisters for decades. I am overjoyed that Wisconsin is moving FOWARD, joining other states (and my church) in recognizing basic human dignity by celebrating love, not putting unjust and hateful limits on it. May full legalization come soon!