"Waiting and Anticipating", article from Leader Telegram Dec. 17, 2016

It's been a while since I posted something to this blog. The past few months have been busy - my church's building burned down in late September, so we've been in the process of recovery and dealing with that which has kept me busy, and there has also been the grief, sadness, and mourning of the process as well. The weeks have been too busy to find the time to transcribe my sermons and post them here, but at some point, I will post them. I was asked by the local newspaper, the Leader Telegram, to write an article for their "Faith Walk" supplement, so I did that - and here it is. They had too much material for the supplement, so my article was in today's newspaper. It is not available on-line, so I post it here:


Christians the world over are in a time of waiting and anticipation that we call Advent. Advent is four-weeks of staying awake for the possibilities that lie ahead, and staying alert to the present things that God is doing. Advent symbolizes the numerous period of waiting that God’s people went through. The hundreds of years of slavery, waiting for emancipation. The 40 years of wilderness wandering after their freedom. The long period between the promises made of a coming savior and the coming of that savior after Israel was conquered and sent into exile and the temple, God’s home, was destroyed. Each time, God sent prophets to bring a healing balm of hope to a people who were deep in existential angst and despair for their future. “Do we have a future?” the people lamented in psalms and songs. Against their despair, the prophets spoke words of hope that Israel’s pain and suffering would come to an end.

The congregation that I am blessed to serve, Plymouth United Church of Christ, is in a time of waiting for an additional reason: fire destroyed our building in September. Like the Israelites of old, we are in exile. Our place of exile at Grace ELCA church, however, is very welcoming, comfortable, homey, and has allowed us a space in which to heal and consider our future as God’s ministers in the Chippewa Valley.

As I write this, the burnt shell of our building remains, with no roof, its windows blown out, completely missing desks and books and paraments and artwork because it all burned up. While we wait for demolition day it sits there, a taunting Christmas angel announcing not a miraculous birth but a wordless physical manifestation of the abstraction of time reminding us we, too, are impermanent and that the universe runs at its own pace.

There has been a lot of waiting in this process. Insurance is slow, permits are slow, the fire inspections were slow. But that slowness is a teacher. We first-worlders have made unholy idols out of productivity and speed, and we must learn to slow down. We who demand grieving family members be back at work a few days after a funeral need to stop fearing the healing power of grief and mourning. “Take a sabbath,” God says. Our busy-ness, our rush for resolution, is so often an attempt to claim God’s power, but in its constricting claws we have no space to breathe God in and connect with the holy.

Our slow in-between time gives us space for mourning, grief, sharing stories, for holding one another in love, and allowing ourselves to be held in love. Many congregations here and around the world have sent messages and prayed for us. We received lovely support from Temple Shalom and the Islamic Society Of Northern Wisconsin Altoona Masjid, our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters reaching out in love to their neighbors to offer us space for worship and gathering. Those invitations are very special blessings, especially in this time of anti-Muslim rhetoric by the fear-mongers who say we should not live together or cooperate.

Our quilters have received copious donations. Sister churches have sent us replacement hymnals. Local organizations, churches, and individuals have donated money. Local media, like WEAU, WQOW, and the Leader-Telegram have been incredibly supportive. Good Shepherd Lutheran Church stepped up right away to offer space for “Stand in the Light”, the choir for people with dementia. The outpouring of support has been truly uplifting and healing.

The tremendous ecumenical and interfaith reaching out to neighbors in need shows the best of the Chippewa Valley,and is a prophetic witness against those who preach a gospel of fear and enemy-making. What the Christmas story is all about is to end our fear and start loving one another. “Fear not!” the angels constantly say. That’s what Christmas is all about. It’s not about how Starbucks designs its holiday cups, or if clerks say “happy holidays,” or if cities display nativities downtown. Who cares? These poutrages are irrelevant to Jesus’ message and a distraction from the vocation of love to which we are called. We have seen such love in the support we have received from a number of churches, the temple, and the mosque, and from secular organizations.

So we are in the in-between time, and that’s okay. We know that it will end, that we will have a new building (it will be our fifth in our 132 year history!), and our ministry continues in the present and will do so in the future, so long as there are people who need to experience the Good News of healing, being fed, being clothed, who need to lifted up, who demand justice, and who need to know that they are loved.

Living Jesus Languages - 5/24/2015 sermon for Pentecost.

Before going into the sermon, watch this video called "Pentecost in 2 Minutes" (the link will take you to YouTube, though the video comes from somewhere within the Catholic Church). I played it before preaching, and I make some references to it in the sermon.

“Living Jesus Languages”

Sermon, Year B, Pentecost Sunday, May 24, 2015

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

©2015 Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: Acts 2:1-21

[You may also listen to the sermon]

“Enkindle in us the power of your love.” That's some powerful praying right there. “Fill the hearts of your faithful and enkindle in us the fire of your love.” [in case you skipped watching the above video, these words are the final words of the video]

If you pray for nothing else, at least pray to be filled with the spirit of love. Because it's all about love. I've said that many times before. That it’s all about love. That to be a follower of Jesus is to live a life of love, and to trust in God’s love for us. I’ve said that many times. But one thing I haven't said enough is to give credit to the Holy Spirit for that. We don't, I don't, talk about the Spirit. That’s more my fault than anyone else’s. But we should, because it is the Spirit, as the video said, that gives us strength. That helps us. The Spirit is part of God’s power born through us. We can rely on the strength of the Spirit. I like the part in this video where it says, “Sometimes it can be really difficult to be a Christian.” That’s so true. We’re called to make sacrifices, to live in a way that is not always easy or natural or expected by the people around us. So it can be difficult. But the Spirit is there to help.

It was the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that came down on Pentecost with flames like tongues of fire, lighting on peoples’ heads and gave them the power to speak other languages, or to comprehend other languages, so they could understand one another. It brought the people together. It was a communion of all these different people who were there. There were many languages being spoken in Jerusalem during that week, as the Jewish people came to celebrate Pentecost, a holiday which goes back a thousand years or more before Jesus. It was a celebration of the time that God gave Moses the law on the mountaintop. Since then, the Jewish people had moved all over the middle east and the Mediterranean. Of course they then spoke whatever language was common in the countries they were living in. And now they were in Jerusalem to celebrate the Pentecost festival. The day that we now call the birth of the church.

So people of all sorts of different languages are gathered there in Jerusalem. Yes, they are all Jewish, but still their languages and their cultures are different. But with the Spirit coming upon them, they understand one another. The Spirit brings them into a community. As I have been thinking of Pentecost, and this scripture, a moment has stood out for me in this text. it’s the part about them being able to understand each other. Understanding each others’ languages that stuck out for me.

I was thinking about language. How we communicate with one another. And wondering in that, What is the language of the Church? What is the language of Jesus?

I think also of how many languages we have in the world. Thousands of them spoken by people all over the world. Think of how many languages we have lost, that no one speaks any more. Plus the languages that are close to coming extinct. Some languages of Pacific islanders are being lost. We almost lost the Hawaiian language. Many of the Native American languages are dwindling and dying. Some European languages, spoken by previously secluded groups, are being lost as we become more mobile and fewer places are as secluded any more.

I had these thoughts about language as I went to the farmer’s market yesterday. That might sound like a terrible or odd segue, but stay with me. It’ll work out. I had an encounter at the farmers market yesterday. If you haven't had a chance to get down there yet this year, you might not know there's a new baker that comes from Elk Mound [this link goes to their facebook page]. He has incredible breads and cookies. I bought a rye bread a couple weeks ago and it was amazing. Also tried a cookie, an oatmeal caramel raisin or cranberry that was delicious.

So I went back to the guy because I wanted another loaf. I got there about 11 o’clock or so, and he was already almost out of everything. Just a couple loaves left. So I asked him, “Do you have a rye bread left?” And he said yes, handed me the loaf, and said “Have a good day.” That was it. I must have looked puzzled, because he said, “That’s for you. Have a good day.”

Because I'm a Christian, a pastor, a follower of Jesus, I'm interested in acts of generosity. Why is this guy giving me the bread? So I asked him this incredibly coherent and beautiful question about generosity I looked at him and said, “Wha... huh?” He said I follow the loaves and fishes model of Jesus who had the five loaves and two fish and fed thousands of people with them. [I didn't know then, but found out as I searched for the above link, that the name of his bakery is, in fact, "5 Loaves and 2 Fish Bakery" <-- same link to their facebook page as above, for your convenience]

Because of that, he said, “I always give away the last five loaves. So that one is for you.”

Then I told him I am a pastor, and we had a good conversation about faith and life.

“I always give away the last five loaves.”

And I can't remember if he said it was a gift back to God, or his neighbors, or the world. Doesn't really matter. But I was so struck by someone so willing to take their faith outside the walls of the church. To take his faith outside the walls of the church, and especially that he would take his faith with him into his career, into his business. Take his being a follower of Jesus into a lot of his life. THAT is listening to the Holy Spirit and allowing the Spirit to work through you!

As a pastor, that really warms my heart and it excites me whenever I see someone doing things outside these walls, simply because of our faith. “I do this because Jesus asks me to do it” or “because Jesus modeled it for me.” To take the experiences they have at church, and what they have read in scripture, and make that kind of application to their life outside that one hour of worship. That's exciting! That’s what makes pastors smile!

So there is a language there. This is the link in that terrible segue. The link between Spirit and language. The Holy Spirit here has empowered this man to be willing to give away some of what he has made because he knows life is more than just profit. It is sharing and generosity.

What it said to me about language came to me after he’d done this. That is that there is a shared language to humanity. We have our spoken ones, French and German and English and etc., but we have a shared language as well that is not words, but action. The language of kindness, the language of generosity. the language of compassion. These are the only languages that everyone in the world can understand.

I thought of how much of Jesus's ministry was done through that language. He spoke Aramaic more than likely, maybe he knew Greek, maybe not. He definitely used words to teach. But most of his ministry was done through the language of compassion, and caring, and listening to people. Kindness.  I think one could imagine Jesus’ ministry, his three years or so of ministry, being done in silence. Because it was so action-based. Not just dumping words on people to tell who they should be or what they should, but listening to them say who they are, and offering them acts of generosity and kindness. All without needing recourse to words.

On Pentecost they all understood each other. No matter where they came from, they all understood each other.

And there's no reason that couldn’t happen again. Because we humans have this common language that we understand that is not of words, but that is the language of sharing. The language of being in relationship with one another.

When I was in Japan a couple years ago in Matsuyama. It was a very hot and humid day. Yuki had gone to work, and I went out in the afternoon to walk around. I was taking a little break on a bench [this bench, in front of a music store; google street view is amazing], probably reading a book. As I sat, an older Japanese woman walked by me. She looked at me, and we made eye contact, smiled. There’s a shared language! A smile and eye contact. To recognize each other. Then she went on, and I went back to reading. A couple minutes later, she came back with a kind of popsicle with her. A refreshing, frozen, cold popsicle. I don’t speak Japanese other than to say “Thank you” and be somewhat gracious. There was no way I could have asked her why she did this or what it was for. But I could tell in her actions, and in her face, she gave this to me because she saw me and thought, “Wow, he looks hot.” Not beautiful hot, but temperature hot. And she probably thought, “This guy could use this icy little treat.” So she gave it to me. A shared language of sharing. We had no words we could say to each other except thank you. But we connected. There was a human connection there.

I think of that baker yesterday who could have told me about Jesus until he was blue in the face. Using his words to talk about Jesus for hours and he never would have said as much about who Jesus is, or what this man’s faith means to him, as he did when he handed me the loaf of bread.

Don’t tell me about Jesus, be Jesus. Be Jesus for me. Be Jesus for others.

The baker I encountered could have told me about Jesus six ways to Sunday, till the cows came home, till he was blue in the face, choose whatever homespun   colloquialism you like, and he you never would have said as much about Jesus, or cited as well, as he did when he handed me a loaf of bread. Don't tell me about Jesus, be Jesus for me.

In our street ministry, we don't go down there to tell people about Jesus. They don’t need to hear from us about Jesus. That’s not helpful to them. It’s even obnoxious. So we don’t go there to tell them about Jesus, we go there to be Jesus for them. And to allow them to be Jesus for us. That’s important, that power equality, that we are Jesus for each other. They don’t need to listen to us, we need to listen to them. Their spirituality is already way up. We have much to learn from them.

Which means not going there with an agenda to fix them, or pile our baggage on them, but to allow the Holy Spirit to move between us. And as it moves between us, in the human language, the godly language, of compassion, of listening to one another, of sharing with one another, we make room for that holy moment when the Spirit comes and we understand each other and become one. Powerful moments, when we get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit build community.

I was down outside Sojourners Friday night with some others working the street ministry. A woman had come early on and mentioned that she wanted a cigarette, and was hoping some others would come soon so she could get one. Then she left, and later on when a larger group was there she came back. She walked up to a woman, probably had bought a cigarette from her before, and asked if she could buy a cigarette off her. The other woman didn't have any. She did have some tobacco for handrolling, though she had no papers. Another woman heard and said, “I have some rolling papers, but no tobacco” The first woman says, “I don't know how to roll a cigarette.” The other two said, “We'll show you.” So they sat down on the pavement on the parking lot there, these three women. They formed a circle, an intimate circle, a trinity of women, as opened the pouch of tobacco, the other opened up the rolling papers, and as they taught the first woman how to roll a cigarette. Then they sat there, in communion with one another, for a few minutes sharing of one another and sharing a moment. Don’t need bread and wine for communion, just kindness and love toward one another.

They formed this beautiful little community, right there, in a parking lot outside a homeless shelter sharing a time to smoke. It just doesn't get any more Pentecostal than that. That’s the moment. They all understood each others’ language because they were speaking the language of grace. The language of kindness. The language of generosity. The language of love.

Amen.

Don't Worry - God Loves You! (sermon from March 2, 2014)

“Don’t Worry – God Loves You!”

Sermon, Year A Epiphany 8, March 2, 2014

Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI

© Rev. David J. Huber

Focus Scripture: Matthew 6:24-34

This is the last week that we will be reading from the Sermon on the Mount and we’re only about halfway through. Jesus is giving many ethical ideas about life here. One thing that Jesus is laying out throughout the whole Sermon on the Mount is this vision of what the Kingdom of Heaven looks like. Or call it the Kingdom of God, the Realm of Heaven, the Commonwealth of God (that’s a term I like), the the Realm of God... whichever term you prefer. He’s talking about a vision of that and what it looks like. This concept of Commonwealth of God is what we will be exploring in our Soup and Scripture on Wednesdays during Lent. We’ll discuss a) what do we want to call it from that list I offered? and b) What does it mean? What does it look like? What does it mean to us, today, as followers of Jesus?

One thing that Jesus is laying out in this sermon is this vision of a new Way of living. And in this sermon, in Matthew’s version, it covers chapters 5, 6, and 7. So it happens early in the Gospel. Early in Jesus’ career. In Matthew’s Gospel, this is really the first time we hear Jesus teaching and preaching. There has been mention of Jesus going out and teaching, and Matthew records him saying to “repent”, but this is the first record of what Jesus’ actually said. And what Jesus is doing is laying out is what the Commonwealth of God looks like. He’s saying, “If we live this way, then it (the Commonwealth) will be more fully present and we will be more fully in it by living this way.” And by it being more present, and us being more fully in it, we and God will be more and more in alignment. More and more going the same direction, working toward the same goal, the same end. We will be closer and closer to God.

From last week’s reading to this week’s reading we skipped part of chapter 5, which includes the parts where Jesus teaches the Lord’s Prayer, talks about not being an obnoxiously public pray-er that draws attention to one’s faithfulness (Jesus says, “Don’t be that guy!”), don’t store up treasures on earth but store up treasures in heaven. Then we get to the passage we read today that begins, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” That can be hard for us to hear sometimes as capitalist Americans. You cannot serve God and wealth. Money is a god that is never satisfied. It is a god that you will never really truly make happy. You can’t make that god fully happy and satisfied, and trying to do so can lead to worry. Wanting to hoard, to keep, to hold on, afraid that you might lose it. You have to lock it up, protect it.

Oddly enough, as a percentage of income, it is the people at the bottom of the economic ladder that give a greater percentage of their income than the wealthy. The wealthy give more in absolute dollars, but as a percentage of income it is the people at the bottom who give more. They do not so tightly hold on to that. Jesus continues to speak, and he doesn’t talk about money after that, but he is talking about the sense of wanting to hoard, keep things for ourselves, to hold on to things, as related to worry about tomorrow, worry about the future. Some of that worry is legitimate: I think of people who went through the Depression or other economic hard times, they know the very real fear of trying to live through hard times and want to protect themselves to their best ability. So I don’t think Jesus is speaking against taking some precautions and being sensible in preparing for the future.

But he is talking about not getting so fixated on that. Not so worried about it that we forget that we live in God’s world.

Today we are celebrating Communion. The last couple days I have been thinking of these two things together. Jesus’ words about “ Don’t worry about tomorrow, look at how God clothes the lilies! Look at how God feeds the birds! They don’t store up, they don’t toil, the food is just there for them.” And if we think of Communion as a ritual of Divine self-sharing – “This is my body, this is my blood, given for you” – God sharing part of God with us. But it is also an act of sharing with one another. We serve one another the bread and the cup. We pass around the trays of bread and wine. Or as we will do on Ash Wednesday, we come up and circle the table and truly serve one another the bread and cup.

It is a sacrament to nourish us for our spiritual journey, but it is also a model of how Jesus imagines that we ought to be living together. Living together in a way in which everyone is invited, everyone is fed. We will be talking about some of the parables of the Commonwealth of God during our Wednesday Lent Soup and Scripture gatherings at noon and 6 pm. Parables that Jesus spoke. But Jesus also gave us physical parables. We can think of what Jesus did at the Last Supper as a parable. Gathered with his disciples at the end to say, in a sense, “This is what it should look like. Feeding one another. This, too, is a parable. Contemplate and meditate on this.”

I don’t think Jesus is talking here so much about God just magically providing bread and clothing for all of us. Though I have heard and read sermons and people talking that way, that say, “Well, if you just have enough faith, God will make sure you have plenty of food and plenty of clothing.” I think all one needs to do is look around or read a newspaper, or go out with us some night on our street ministry, to know that this simply is not true. It is not because they lack faith, it is just the way it is. God is not a magical vending machine and if you have enough faith everything will be provided. I think what Jesus is saying is, “I invite you into this new way that I am imagining. A way in which your brothers and sisters, your neighbors or community, your fellowship, us, will so embody my message of love that they will make sure you don’t go without. They will embody my message and will share. And you, too, will provide for those in need when you have an abundance. So stop fighting each other for resources. Don’t worry about not having enough. There is enough for everyone.”

God does provide in the sense that God makes the plants and animals grow. For all of our wonderful technology, for as powerful as we are, we can’t make food. That comes only from God, through the earth. God provides by making plants and animals grow. Then it is up to us as God’s hands and feet to be the generous ones making sure it goes where it needs to go. So Jesus’ words could be, “Don’t worry so much that you hoard your abundance.” We have an abundance. God has provided an abundance. More than enough food is grown every year to feed the world. The problem is that too few have too much of it. It’s a problem of distribution and sharing, not a problem of production.

So what if Jesus’ words aren’t just a kind of feel-good platitudes to say and then go home to a nice family dinner knowing that most of us don’t worry about whether we will eat tomorrow, but worry more about what we are going to eat.

Some of you know Bryan Sirchio, a musician and minister here in the Wisconsin Conference. He does a lot of mission work in Haiti, and he tells a story of having a conversation with a man there. The man asked Bryan, “Are you rich?” Bryan wasn’t sure how to respond to that question. The man then asked him, “Do you eat every day?” Bryan said that yes, he does eat every day. To which the man said, “Then you are rich.” His definition of being rich was being in a position of not having to worry if you will eat tomorrow.

We come as equals in God’s eyes to enjoy a table that is laden with bread and wine, sufficient for all, equally available to all. Imagine this table encompassing the world, enough for all. If we can feed the clothe, then we can clothe the world, heal the world, and fill the world with Christ’s light and love and be the salt of the earth. We don’t need to worry or fear or be anxious about such things.

Jesus is also saying these words to a people who likely were anxious and worried, and is saying it today to a people who are anxious and who worry. He’s saying it to us. Across two millennia, things have not changed a whole lot. We still worry. We’re still anxious. We are in troubled economic times, there are still wars and poverty and disasters. Jesus is saying to us, “Worrying gains you nothing. You cannot add a day to your life by worrying. In fact, it will cost you some of your life energy. It is not healthy, and it is not helpful. Don’t worry. Don’t worry.”

So let us get our minds off worrisome things and play some tunes. I have a song that I want to play for you, which you may recognize. Perhaps all of you know it already, it’s been played in commercials and shows up every now and again. It is Bobby McFerrin “Don’t Worry, Be Happy”. I invite you to close your eyes if you want, listen to the words, enjoy the music. It is a nice toe-tapper to lift the spirits, especially when it’s 30 below outside. A nice way to pretend your somewhere else for a few minutes. Listen to these words.

[We then played “Don’t Worry, BeHappy”]

Don’t worry. I love that line in there, “Here is my phone number, if you worry, give me a call.” Jesus says that to us. If you get worried, give Jesus a call: pray. Offer it up in prayer. Offer it to Jesus, who listens. Don’t worry.

I admit, it is much easier to say “Don’t worry” than to live it. But one way to start is to trust in Jesus. That no matter what happens – and we have no guarantees that nothing bad will ever happen to us – but whatever is happening, whatever is going on, you don’t need to worry about God’s love for you. Whatever happens, we are loved. We are freed from guilt and shame. We are accepted. We are known. We are called “Beloved”. If nothing else, we have that. And in that sense we have nothing to worry about.

Let’s pray: Thank you, God, for providing in this world an abundance and for being with us. For inscribing our names on your palms. For loving us. Accepting us. Knowing us. Inviting us to your table to be fed and nourished. May we always have trust and faith in you and in your providence. That whatever happens in our lives, you are always, always with us. Always present. Always available to listen and to comfort and to love. Amen.