Have Hope - God's Realm is Near! Sermon for Advent 1, Nov. 29, 2015.

“Have Hope - God’s Realm Is Near!”
Sermon, Year C, Advent 1, November 29, 2015
Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI
©2015 Rev. David J. Huber
Focus Scripture: Jeremiah 33:14-16  Luke 21:25-36

Listen to the sermon:

Listen to the entire worship service:





This is Advent. The first day of the new year io the church calendar. We begin our church year with Advent, which is a time for waiting, for keeping alert, for staying awake, for watching, of being prepared. But for what? And for how long? How will we know when the time has come?

Jesus said, you’ll know it by the times!

He said,

“There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves.”

That sounds like today, doesn’t it? Nations at war, the roaring of the sea and the waves. Sea levels are going up. Tsunamis and hurricanes and typhoons. Sounds like today. Was Jesus predicting today? Was Jesus talking about 2015? “That will be the day, you will know it, in 2015.”

There are other places in the gospels, too, that Jesus does some foreboding about how we will witness nation in uproar against nation, distress, wars, famines, and natural disasters, and etc. etc. etc.

But I don’t think he’s saying that these things will only happen in some far off time, and be one particular moment in the trajectory of history. That there will be some date in the future in which all of this will be a specific happening. I don’t think he’s saying that at all. He’s not predicting a future.

And I’ll say here that this is what some of the “Biblical prophecy” folks get mixed up - taking words like these and trying to fit them into some contemporary situation. To say, “Oh! He’s talking about the attacks in Paris, or he’s talking about climate change, or he’s talking about the oil crisis back in the ‘70s, and whatnot.”

Jesus is not talking specifically about 2015, or any other time.

I’ve been interested for a long in these kinds of “biblical prophecy” books since the 70s when I as a kid. You may have read the books or seen them on TV. There was Hal Lindsey’s “The Late, Great Planet Earth.” This kind of biblical interpretation caught on in the early 1800s in the U.S. and England. But it seemed that in the 70s, when I was a kid, there was an awful lot of these kinds of biblical prophecy talk: TV preachers and Lindsey and Tim Lehaye and others saying things like, “the prophet Isaiah is predicting the oil crisis” or “Jeremiah is predicting Russia, the evil empire” and so on. It’s a misrepresentation of the prophetic words of the Old Testament to make them talk about something that they were not, and misusing the texts in a way that they were never meant to be used. They try to make the OT prophets talking about something contemporary, usually to stir people into a state of fear and trembling.

As a kid, I thought this stuff was pretty cool that there were people who had the “secret code” to figure out the Bible. I also thought it was cool that the Bible would contain a secret code that only a few special people would ever be able to understand. I really enjoyed fantasy and science fiction as a kid, and this is a trope that shows up a lot: that the universe contains secrets to its unfolding that only a few people know or understand.

I’ve been following along since then with the end-times predictors, those who want to say that “Jesus was talking about this specific time and event” or “Isaiah predicted 9-11” or whatever they come up with. I find it fascinating still, but from a psychological and intellectual viewpoint. Because you know what? They’re never right. They’ve never been right. They have been constantly forced to re-evaluate what they think Isaiah or Jesus or Ezekiel were talking about, because they (the biblical prophecy folk) are always wrong, events pass and nothing happens, and then they have to adjust their theology. They’ve been doing this at least since the early 1800s when this sort of biblical interpretation first started gaining traction, and they’re never right. They never will be, except perhaps entirely accidentally.

Jesus was not talking about a specific time, I believe, but was talking about all times in which humans live. The human condition from the beginning, at least since we first started organizing in tribes and groups, has been a time of nations at war. Famine. Natural disasters. Terrorist attacks. Mass shootings. Refugees. Climate in turmoil. And on and on.

That’s every moment in human history in one way or another. I’ve not been alive for all of human history, but so far as I can tell we have never had a moment in time that did not fit these descriptions. So to say that what’s happening is somehow more specific to some biblical prophecy is to make a mistake in how to read scripture, or to mis-hear what Jesus is saying. He’s talking, really, about all time. As though to say, “When these bad things are happening, that is when the kingdom is near. Don’t think that God is absent just because the world is in turmoil. That’s when God closest, when God is most present.”

Jesus then goes into the parable of the fig tree, in which he says,

“Look at the fig tree and all the trees; as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.” 

These things are always taking place, and so the kingdom is always near. Or the commonwealth of God, the realm of God, whatever term you life. I think that what Jesus is saying (and part of the message for this first Sunday of Advent) to the people around him is that we aren’t waiting for the kingdom to be near, because it is already near, it is here, and it is within you. I think by saying that to the people around, he is implying a phrase that shows up constantly in the Bible, which is the words “Don’t be afraid.” Or variants like “Do not fear.” God says it, Jesus says it, prophets say it, angels say it. Do not be afraid! When you see these signs you will know that the kingdom of God is near. We have always been seeing those signs, and until some time in the future we will continue to see those signs.

But Jesus has said at other times, the Kingdom is near. The Kingdom of God is within you.

Which is to say that when everything looks like it’s out of control, when it is scary, when the world is fearful, when your life is in turmoil, when your life is filled with anxiety or fear, remember this: the realm of God is near. It is at hand. These things are not happening without God being present. These things are not happening because God absent. We are not waiting for some future time when God will be present again. It is to say that God is present through all of this. These happen not because GOd is absent. But that when these things happen, we can be sure that God is present now. When countries are at war. When things are blowing up. When sea levels are rising. When people are fighting over whether refugees deserve basic human compassion or if we ought to write a law to say that they are not welcome here because we can’t let go of a culture of fear.

God is present. Be not afraid.

Don’t be afraid. God is here. God’s realm is here. And we are part of God’s realm. We are all God’s sons and daughters. So do not be looking only to the future for some great grand time of God finally getting involved and doing something. Now, it does seem, from the scriptural witness, that there IS something extraordinary on the horizon, when the kingdom of God will be fulfilled and heaven and earth will be united… but until then, the kingdom - the realm, the commonwealth, the gathering of God’s people - is here and now and near. It surrounds us, it is in us, it can even flow through us.

As I say this I feel I sound like Yoda or Obi Wan talking about The Force: but that is what the Holy Spirit is like. Jesus is talking about something that God is doing, being present in the world. Especially in the midst of the chaos as a presence of love, a Spirit of hope and comfort, of some relief from the pain and anxiety. A presence of healing. Not to take all the chaos and the bad stuff away, but to be a loving presence with us.

So Jesus is talking about something that God is doing. He’s also talking about something that we can be doing. We don’t just wait for God to do something, because we are God’s agents. We can live as though we believe that God’s realm is here.

We lit the candle of Hope this morning. Have hope! To say “Do not fear” is also to say “Have hope!” The realm of God is near, have hope! God is with us, have hope! Things are not how God wants them, but have hope, that it will change because we can change it, we can change ourselves, we can change the way we interact with other people and the world. We can be about the business of the realm of God by having hope, and trusting in the Holy Spirit. Trusting in the candle that we lit here today.

The hope that says we CAN welcome a stranger among us. The hope that drives us to be out on the street doing ministry with and for our neighbors who are homeless, cold, hungry, alone. The hope that can drive us to make quilts for families that become homeless. The hope that leads us to donate money or clothing and so on to those who are in need. The hope that says “I have enough to give away.” The hope that drives us to change the social systems that lead to poverty, violence, homelessness, hopelessness. The hope of the many nations who are gathering in Paris this week for the UN summit on climate change.

Have hope! There are signs that the kingdom is near. Nations are at war, and the world is in turmoil, but there are people fulfilling God’s vision by being God’s agents. Just as we are fulfilling God’s vision here at Plymouth in Eau Claire.

The hope that says it’s okay to get out of bed in the morning and go through another day, even though there is bad stuff happening in the world. To get out of bed and face the world is an act of hope. To say that I will not fall into despair or let fear have control over me. The hope that compels doctors to go off and offer aid to people in violent areas, or places that suffered disaster. To put themselves at risk to help others. Or any rescue workers who go in to help others. That is a sign of hope! The hope that says let’s have a child, even though the world is what it is. Or that says let’s get married, let’s make a commitment. The hope that says let’s get a 30-year mortgage: that’s a sign of hope. That’s investing 30 years ahead. To make any kind of long-term commitment is a sign of hope. The hope that says let’s build a church, or let’s revitalize a church, or let’s go seek and help our neighbors. These are all signs of hope. You may not think it, but just in our everyday normal lives we are doing acts of hope. That’s what the church does. Trusting in God’s realm.

The hope of God is the hope that says, “Do not fear.” Go forward in hope, even when there is a little fear. I often, even though God says not to be afraid, have moments of fear when venturing into new realms. I’m not going to feel guilty for feeling the fear, for disobeying God’s command not to be afraid. But there is trust in God that, even with the fear, I can go ahead in hope and do some of these acts. To say “no” to evil, to overcome and defeat evil by having hope. By taking the light into the darkness. Only one light is needed to dispel the darkness. Evil wants us to be hopeless so that we won’t act. Evil wants us to live in fear so that we won’t have hope. So having hope is a way of saying “no” to evil. To say, “No! Because I follow Jesus, and I trust his words when he says that God’s realm is near and present. God is here.”

I will say no because I follow Jesus. I will say no to fear and hopelessness because I follow Jesus, who said “Don’t be afraid” because the realm of God is here, and the realm of God is love, and hope, and joy and peace, the other candles we will light during Advent.

And so, during this Advent time, in the coming four weeks before Christmas, rejoice because the realm of God is here. Have hope because the realm is at hand.

Amen.

Citizens Called to Climate Action - an article that three of us wrote

The following is an article that Kate, Jim, and I wrote for the Leader-Telegram "Matter of Faith" column on the day before the U.N. Paris Climate Talks are set to begin. Kate and Jim are co-leaders of our local chapter of the Citizen's Climate Lobby. Kate was a professor of English at UWEC and Jim is currently Prof. of Chemistry at UWEC.

We have just celebrated a day set aside to offer thanks for and to enjoy earth’s bounty, autumn’s harvest. Thanksgiving is a day that believers and non-believers alike celebrate, sharing life on earth. This Sunday, Christians will mark the beginning of Advent, a period of waiting and watching for good news which is to come.

 Tomorrow also begins another time of waiting and watching: world leaders will arrive in Paris for COP21—the 21st ‘Conference of the Parties’ at which the desperately needed global response to climate change will be discussed. The question at hand: will humans of any or no spiritual tradition allow the earth’s climate to change beyond humanity’s capacity to adapt? After many failed attempts over too many years, the nations of the world are poised to reach an agreement to reduce emissions of the heat-trapping gases that threaten to make large parts of the earth unlivable. For the next two weeks, concerned global citizens will watch and wait for some good news, for word that humans are at last ready to act in defense of God’s creation: our planet we share with 7 billion other human beings, a vast community united by the great arc that curves beneath our feet, the wind that moves across its surface, and the atmosphere that has made life here possible.

 The issue of climate change is not only scientific but also moral. For we who follow Jesus, this is an important matter of faith. We are charged by God to take care of our planet, not to dominate or carelessly use it to extinction. We are also commanded by Jesus to love our neighbors as we love ourselves. Addressing climate change has become an essential part of living that love. 

 We ask readers to consider why, as we celebrate the bounty of God’s great earth, we would refuse to be good stewards of it. Why would we stand by while our elected officials (and even some of our religious leaders) defy scientific consensus and work actively against earth’s, and therefore our, health?  Why, caring for creation and for our brothers and sisters, would we allow the rolling back of hard-won pollution regulations and deny the overwhelming evidence that global warming is already affecting humanity—indeed, all life on the planet? Why would we not fight to address this threat with all due speed, with all of our considerable resources?

 Many of us are perhaps fearful of the changes to the earth and to our way of life. I suggest that we ought not fear this change, but welcome it. Almost 400 times in the Bible one divine being or another says, "Don't be afraid," including—as we will hear this Advent—the archangel Gabriel to Mary. Like Mary, we need to ponder this change in our hearts. We need to look, unafraid, at the truth that our choices are negatively affecting our climate; we need to be willing to change our hearts about how we live on and use our planet’s resources.

 Like all things mortal, the Paris accord will be a work in progress; nations will need to periodically revise their commitments to be more ambitious—we are in uncharted territory, but our moral obligation is clear.

 You can begin to take action on climate change tomorrow (11/29). While government leaders are gathering in Paris, concerned citizens will be rallying around our precious globe to express their support for climate action. The cumulative impact of these rallies with be illustrated with group photos taken all over the world, to be posted on-line. You can be part of the Chippewa Valley gathering at 2:00 pm at the  Chippewa Valley Technical College’s Energy Education Center  4000 Campus Rd., Eau Claire (west side). For more information, contact any of us, or see the Citizen’s Climate Lobby-Eau Claire Facebook page,

-- Rev. David J. Huber, Pastor at Plymouth United Church of Christ; Dr. Kate Hale Wilson and Dr. Jim Boulter, Prof. of Atmospheric Chemistry, co-leaders of Citizens’ Climate Lobby-Eau Claire chapter. 

Christmas Tree adventure, 2013, a photo essay (a funny one)

Back in 2013, I bought a new, smaller Christmas tree because I was tired of putting up and taking down my giant tree in which every branch has to be placed separately. It's ten levels high, and has about 100 of the dang things. So, bought this tree that was all one piece and quick to go up. However, soon after putting it up - and thankfully, when I only had two ornaments on it - the cheap construction of the base caused it to lose a leg and the tree went down. Then, I discovered, the tree came with a non-standard diameter shaft, so I could not a new tree stand ti fit it. I did the best I could. But, anyway, after the tree went down I was so angry I left on the floor for a few days with the caution tape and army men (as you will see), and then I did the rest of the photo essay when I was ready to deal with it again. I posted it over on facebook.

Daily Gratitudinousness as we come into Thanksgiving

I did this two years ago when I first heard about the "during November, post a gratitude every day through Thanksgiving". I did it just on Facebook, and not in this blog. This year, I thought I would do so in my blog. I will update this entry each day with a new gratitude. Of course, I didn't get the idea to do this on my blog until I was six days into November... so this first one will have all that I have done so far (done only on facebook again).

What are you thankful for? What are your gratitudes?

Here are mine:


Gratitude Day 1: medicine and medical care and the scientific method that develops meds and methods that work. And health insurance.

Gratitude Day 2: numbers/mathematics. I often say that God's first language is mathematics. (Second, of course, is German. Even Frank Zappa said that). And God said, "image below", and there was light.

Gratitude Day 3: for living in a home that faces and gives me such a great view of the sunrises, and to watch God's wonderful wildlife - deer, fox, possum, raccoons, rabbits, squirrels, turkey, and so many song birds, woodpeckers, crows, and a hawk that has claimed this area. I am very blessed to have this specific apartment.

Gratitude Day 4: YukiYukiYukiYukiYukiYuki!

Gratitude Day 5: that I've been getting out and about in Eau Claire and meeting people, and such a fascinating and incredible bunch of very interesting and talented people passionate about art, politics, social justice, homelessness, poverty, music, theater, parks, ecology, and so on. Lots of pretty awesome people in this city, and lots of compelling and important things happening here.

Gratitude Day 6: Computers and the Internet. Especially the developments in the past few years with cloud computing, developments in WiFi, mobile computing, and the way that so many apps and programs and devices work together in ways we only dreamed of - or didn't even dare to dream of, it seemed so impossible - a decade or more ago (such as I can control a lot of my lights by voice or from my phone or my Kindle, and that due to the magic of computers, my lights will turn off automatically if my phone gets more than a block away, and turn on if the phone comes within a block - that's cool! Or that my lights will flash if someone mentions me on twitter - that's cool!). And to look back at some of the tech even in a show as recent as ST:TNG and see how the designers and writers didn't dream big enough about what interfaces could look like, and what computers could do, and how some of their super-futuristic tech has been passed at warp speed. (transporters, though? Could we? Please??!)

Gratitude Day 7: For my family. I recently changed my Facebook cover photo to a photo of my dad's family that was taken in the 70s, with my grandma and 15 of her children (including my dad). There should be 16 children in the photo, but one is missing. They are lined up by age, youngest to the left (as one looks at the photo). As I've been looking at the photo for the past day or two, I've had so many good memories of time spent with these wonderful aunts and uncles, and how I miss the six who have died, including my dad, and also my grandma, Ella, who was the only grandparent I really ever knew.

I remember amazing weeks spent on her farm as a kid, and the family reunions, and the 40-whatever cousins that were an ever-present circle of friends in my life. I remember growing up just assuming that this was normal, until I was in high school a friend mentioned to me that his "entire family" were gathering at a grandparents' for a holiday. I asked how many would be there, and he said something like eight or ten or some small number like that. I felt so sorry for him! I thought wow, at our family gatherings, we could have eight people disappear and it would be a few hours before anyone noticed.
Our Christmas and Thanksgiving meals for many years had 30 or more people, and that was just with some of Huber family in Janesville. As my generation grew up and got married and ha their own kids, those extended family gatherings became fewer and fewer because it was just too many people, and I miss those days. But we still have great family reunions, and I still love them all. Considering the hundreds in the family, on mom and dad's sides, there aren't any I don't enjoy being with, and being back at the farm is always a joy. I've had the great pleasure to do weddings for a number of cousins, and been blessed to officiate the funerals of a couple of my uncles, and that's a unique connection and blessing that people with a normal job don't get to do.

Ah, memories of shooting guns out the upstairs bedroom window at grandma's house, and grandma just yelling up "stop that" or something non-chalant like "go outside if you're going to do that"; lighting smoke bombs in the bedroom with my cousin Paul and grandma yelling up "Are you boys playing with matches?" - "No, grandma, not matches." - "Ok"; and a few years ago, as I was coming back to the farm after a funeral and pulled in to the yard to park, cousin Debbie waving and yelling to me with pistol in hand, "No, you can't park there. We're shooting there." I have a great family. grin emoticon

My mom was also from a large family. with seven kids (and giving me 15 cousins on that side), and her side is also great. I guess I was just thinking more the Huber side because that's the photo I posted.

Gratitude Day 8: Language, oral and written and symbolic. The ability to communicate with one another, to store knowledge to share with others and to share with later generations, to entertain, to offer new ways of thinking, to trade ideas… In English, we have 26 symbols to denote certain sounds, and with those and some punctuation we can communicate anything we can think of.

Gratitude Day 9: For the wisdom of mentors, teachers, elders, peers, youngers…. anyone who has taught me anything. Thank you! Many of you I’m thinking of are on Facebook - so if you are one of them, thank you! If you aren't, I bet you are to someone else!

Gratitude Day 10: The noösphere. Not sure about the Omega Point, but definitely the noösphere.

Gratitude Day 11: Journalists who are true to the vocation of journalism, and the employers of those journalists who allow them to be so.

Gratitude Day 12: Ducks. I've always enjoyed seeing ducks in the wild, watching them fly overhead, listening to their quacking. When I'd walk through Riverside Park, I loved walking along the Hudson and watching the ducks swimming around. And of course there's Donald Duck and Daffy, and Carl Barks' incredible run on the Donald Duck comic book. The Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup" - hilarious! But mostly, I like to eat them. Mmmmm.... it feels kind of weird to give a gratitude for an animal I like to eat, but I really like duck. Definitely my favorite bird, and possibly my favorite meat. Duck. [My friend Roger later reminded me that I missed Howard the Duck; I was never a fan of it like Roger was a superfan, but still, I should have thought of it…]

Gratitude Day 13: Feeling gratitude that my mom taught me how to find my way in the kitchen and how to bake, and that Mary Salter taught me to do it on an industrial scale. grin emoticon Thinking of this as I cranked out four loaves of bread and forty-eight scones tonight. I am ever-thankful that I was taught how to cook and bake (and that I had the smarts to be interested in it at an early age).Baking is a special kind of joy and relaxation. Though living alone, I bake for myself pretty much just once a year when the rhubarb first comes out, and some peanut butter kisses at Christmas, though do make the occasional loaf of bread as well. Thanks, chemistry, for making baking possible.

Gratitude Day 14: For the ability to laugh and find things funny, or to find the humor even in things that are not, themselves, funny. Whether it be slapstick or wordplay, topical or just inane, dark humor, stand up comedy, gallows humor, laughing at people who take themselves or their religion too seriously, or (especially!) sitting around a table with friends having a great laugh over whatever we're talking about... thank you, God, for humor and a sense of laughter, because the universe is sometimes too scary not to laugh at it, and sometimes it's so joyful one must laugh.

Gratitude Day 15: Star Trek. The vision of humanity’s future that Roddenberry offered us was one in which poverty and many forms of intolerance had been left behind; exploration just for the sake of exploration and not for capital exploitation was the norm; that the combined brainpower of human beings and the other species were capable of overcoming problems; and one in which not only the earth was united, but united with many other planets and species under the United Federation of Planets. It was hopeful without being utopian or nostalgic, because as good as it was, Roddenberry also showed that even the best systems require vigilance and monitoring by good-minded people. It said that if we put our minds to it, if we work together, if we support one another, and give up our biases and prejudices, and give up our fear, we can make a better world. In fact, we can make a better galaxy!

Gratitude Day 16: Paper and pens and crayons and markers. The blank page, full of possibility, ready to accept whatever our imagination or determination need to be put on it. Paper that becomes a letter to a friend, a painting, a musical score, a doodle, a sermon or a novel or the beginning of a social or theological movement, a book, a newspaper, a medical transcript, a concert poster or the final bill from the hospital after a child’s birth, a blank sheet that becomes a screenplay that is nothing more than a recipe to tell talented people how to its turn ink stains into sounds and visuals that can be sent around the world to touch the hearts of their fellow humans and those yet unborn. Billions of pieces of paper churned out every day by machines or made by hand, billions of creative possibilities just waiting to happening as the universe holds its breath in anticipation of what each will become. Paper.

Gratitude Day 17: Today I am feeling gratitude that God gave us the ability to comprehend.

Gratitude Day 18: surprise gifts from friends. Received some Kona coffee and a jar of jelly from a Hawaii friend today that came totally out of the blue. smile emoticon I'll include in this the surprise email or phone call from friends I've not heard from in ages.

Gratitude Day 19: the birds and squirrels and other animals that come to my bird feeders. They sure are fun to watch! And most of the time they are quite peaceful, but every now and again the birds get into a squabble (squawkle?). Also fun to watch, when I'm sitting outside, as certain birds fly around the fence to come to the feeder, then see me, and in about dt seconds retreat rather hilariously and impressively. Wish I could turn like that.

Gratitude Day 20: For an awful lot of talented, passionate, wise, hard-working, life-giving, and spirit-driven clergy peers in the UCC and in Eau Claire. Thank you all!!

Gratitude Day 21: For the joy of silliness and physical comedy and sharing laughter with good friends and an almost sold-out theater full of people. Nothing quite like laughing at something with a few hundred other people. After a week of painful news and terrible things happening, that was a joy for which I am very thankful. And there was also the laughter and humor in the car ride there and back as well.

Gratitude Day 22: On this "Christ the King" Sunday (or call it "Jesus is Lord" Sunday or "Realm of God Sunday" ...) thinking I am grateful that God is willing to take on the role of being God so I don't have to. With the reminder that I also shouldn't try to. grin emoticon Thanks, God, for holding the universe in Divine Hands of Love and arcing our history toward justice and grace.

Gratitude Day 22 update: totally forgot to mention in worship and offer in prayer that Friday was the transgender day of remembrance - and so i offer a second gratitude today for what I have learned from my transgender friends and acquaintances about struggles and pain, how to reframe my language, how to be more inclusive and sensitive, how to enlarge my worldview about the full potential and range of human expression of love, gender, biology, psychology... and for those who have been courageous enough to be public, even knowing that there are people out there who would rather kill them or hurt them with words/actions than accept the full range of God's creative love.

Gratitude Day 23: For my fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity and B-Section Kettering Lambda Chi Alpha local chapter, for all the good things they do in the world and on college campuses, and for lifelong friendships with a special kind of bond that is unlike other friendships. I know folks like to poo-poo on the fraternal system because there are some bad eggs, my experience was really really good, and has been a great joy in my life even lo these many years after college. Like any organizations, most are functional and some are dys. Don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. And a special shout out to house mom Carol Sue, one of the greats and a truly special woman, who didn't see her role as employee but as boss and mom to a house of 50 young men, and in a very good way. grin emoticon Thanks, Choppers!

"Humility, not Humiliation" - sermon 10/18/2015 on confession and forgiveness

“Humility, Not Humiliation”
Sermon, Year B, Proper 24, October 18, 2015
Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI
©2015 Rev. David J. Huber
Focus Scripture: Hebrews 5:1-10


I mentioned before that I am going to talk a bit about confession. The spiritual discipline of confession. And I know that there are some, and I feel the same way as well sometimes, that there can be a fear reaction or a sense of not liking confession because sometimes it can be done in a scolding, not-helpful way. In a commanding and demeaning way that leads more to humiliation than it leads to spiritual growth. The confession can feel that you are being scolded, or that you ought to feel bad. But I don’t think that is the intent. I don’t think the Bible says that, nor remotely similar to what Jesus said about how we should and can approach God. It’s not about feeling bad, feeling miserable, or that we’re terrible people that God doesn’t like. God loves us! Always loves us!

I see confession more as an act of humility. Not of humiliation, but of humility. It is an act of self-critique. It’s our way to look at our lives and our faith journey. To look at it seriously and find those places that we’ve missed the mark, where we’ve made some mistakes. The word “sin” in Hebrew means, “to miss the mark.” To make, in a sense, an archery mistake. So we can ask, “How was I not faithful? What did I do this week that was not as faithful as it could have been, or as it should have been?”

Also, because being a Christian, being a follower of Jesus, is a communal act, then we as a community can also confess. To ask, “What did we as a community do that was not faithful?” Whether as a church, or a city, or a nation.

That’s all that confession is: it’s a looking within, to find the places where we missed the mark, and then admitting to them so that we can change our behavior and correct it. By admitting them, then we become less susceptible to falling prey to them again. I think another benefit of confession, in admitting that we are not perfect, from knowing and being aware of the type of mistakes and errors that one makes, one can also find compassion for accepting and understanding and making allowance for the mistakes in others. If I make a mistake, and if I understand this is the type of mistake I make, how can I be judgmental toward others for making the same or similar mistake? How can I be judgmental toward them for any mistake they make? Through understanding my own limitations I become compassionate toward the limitations of others. Because we all make mistakes and mess things up. We all hurt people and do things we wish we hadn’t. We’re all that way. So if we can see that within us, we’ll have more compassion toward others. Less judgmentalism, more communion with one another. More community.

Confession is never about trying to make God less angry. Unfortunately, it can come across that way. That we are trying to appease God’s wrath by trashing ourselves. I don’t think that’s what confession is. It’s not about making GOd less angry, but trusting God’s love for us. Recognition that we don’t have to pretend to be something other than who we are. That we don’t have to earn God’s love, don’t have to live in fear. Confession is the way of saying that I’ve made mistakes, but I know that God loves me and that I am right with God and everything is okay.

As the writer of Hebrews says, "5:1 Every high priest chosen from among mortals is put in charge of things pertaining to God on their behalf, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is subject to weakness; and because of this he must offer sacrifice for his own sins as well as for those of the people. And one does not presume to take this honor, but takes it only when called by God, just as Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, "

In this passage the writer is talking about the human priests that would make the sacrifices on behalf of others. But I think the writer is also, by claiming Jesus as the high priest, and Jesus being Emmanuel - God with us - the sense that God understands what it is to be human. That’s why God loves us. Our God understands.

There is also in the act of forgiveness and confession the act of atonement or penitence. The beauty of Jesus, though, is that the only act of penitence or atonement needed is simply to confess - which means simply that one needs to aware enough to see that one did something against God’s will. And quite honestly, at least as far as I can tell from reading scripture and just thinking about it, even that isn’t necessary to have God’s forgiveness.

I see confession as an act of humility, not humiliation. That’s why we have confession at the beginning of worship. It allows us to worship by getting the confession out of the way so that we can move on, and not spend the rest of worship worrying about how horrible we are. Confession leads straight into the Assurance of Pardon so we know that we are loved and forgiven, and that we can let go of the guilt and anxiety and come into the rest of worship knowing that we’re okay with God. That we are not here to prove our worthiness, but to celebrate the love that God has for us. The grace that has already been bestowed on us. We get rid of that anxiety and fear, and come into this holy time in this holy space knowing that we’re loved because God knows that we need it, and because God can’t do anything but to love us.

That is what confession ought to be. A self-corrective looking within oneself, or a community looking at itself, admitting to mistakes, asking for God’s help to do better in the future, and to trust in God’s love and move forward.

I had an experience this past spring when Jens Nielsen and I went down to Madison to hear a Lutheran pastor, Nadia Bolz-Weber, who you may have heard of. She’s been gaining fame the past couple years, and has a couple books out. She pastors a church in Denver called “House for All Sinners and Saints.” Nadia had a long life of addictions and other issues and came out of that, and then felt the call to ministry, especially to serve as pastor to people who are in the life she had or have come out of it. She has a lot of tattoos, wears a vest over her clergy shirt, not what you’d think of when you think “Lutheran pastor”. She serves people who have been pushed away from other churches, or felt that they are not allowed to be at a church, people who have been made to feel bad about who they are. That’s who she has been reaching out to, so a lot of addicts, homeless people, people on the margin. At the end of her presentation that day she opened up for questions, and the topic of confession came out. After she talked about it a bit, a woman in the audience asked of Nadia a question that was something like, “I’ve been going to church years” (and maybe she was in her thirties) “and every Sunday we do the prayer of confession and have the assurance of forgiveness, and I’ve talked sometimes to the minister, but I’ve done some things in my past that I don’t think God can forgive.” She was having a very serious existential crisis here, anxious about feeling that God forgives, sure, but not the stuff she did. Nadia gave her a great answer which was that there is no simple answer in a large group setting like this because it needs a lot more time to talk about it, but I can to you that I don’t know who you are, or what you’ve done, but I believe in a God who forgives and I say with confidence “As a called and ordained minister of the church of Christ, and by his authority, I therefore declare to you the entire forgiveness of all of your sins.” [That might not be exact, but that is one of the Lutheran formulas, and it’s very close] And there was a hush over all the church. I hope that the woman was able to believe it.

I hope you trust those words as well, the words that I say in our Assurance of Pardon. I say those words because I truly believe that they are true, that we are forgiven. I think we’re forgiven even before we make the confession. Even before we’re aware that we’ve done something that we need to confess, we are forgiven.

That is one of the great messages of the church, though used incorrectly can make us feel bad instead of liberated. There is so much guilt in the world, so much guilt pushed on people, and unfortunately the church has been part of that. But even just in the culture in general is a tendency to want to define people by their sins. We love tearing people down, especially celebrities and other famous people. We offer forgiveness so rarely. We tear them down and blow them away. Let their sin define who they are. But I think the message of the church is the exact opposite of that. We are not the carriers of the message “you are a sinner!” we are the carriers of the message “you are forgiven and loved!” Recognizing we are sinners is helpful; recognizing that we are forgiven is far more important. Humility, not humiliation.

I’ve met people over the years who say they no longer go to church because they aren’t good enough. The people in the church or the pastors or both had given off the message that the church was only for “perfect” people like them, or that have it all together. What a horrible message to send to people. Church is for everyone.

I talk to people who have stopped going because they were tired of being judged by the other members, or the pastors, or even by the liturgy, made to feel always guilty. Or people who are afraid to go to a church because they know they have had a sinful past, or maybe are living a sinful life in the present, and so they feel that they are not worthy to enter a church. Wow.

There is a message “out there” in the culture that people outside the church hear about churches: that sanctimonious self-righteous gathering of people who think they’re perfect.

But of course, the church is a gathering of saints and sinners. Everyone ought to be welcome in a church. None of us are good enough, but we are all loved enough by God.

So confession is good to remind us who we are, but it’s essential to move past the confession into the pardon to know we are forgiven and go into the Gloris to give praise to God for God’s active presence and love in our lives. We don’t stay in the place of guilt, but move on. Let it go, throw it away, and enter the life that God wants us to live. Dwelling on our sinfulness, making people feel guilty, is abusive. The Gospel message is not “you’re terrible” it’s “God loves you, however messy or good your life is. You’re forgiven, so move on, go love your neighbor, be in relationship with God and other people and be God’s light to the world.”

God doesn’t keep score, doesn’t keep track of our sins or failures, doesn’t hold them against us. Seriously, I can’t, with any intellectual or spiritual integrity, believe that God holds our sins against us. I think that is unbiblical, it’s not the Gospel, and that wouldn’t be a god worth following anyway.

Let it all go. You’re forgiven. Jesus’ entire lifetime of preaching and teaching points exactly to a god opposite any thinking of a god of shame or guilt or that wants us to wallow in our self-loathing. As I read the Gospels, what I hear in Jesus’ words is what I say when people ask me, “What do you think Jesus’ core message was?” I say that I think what Jesus was saying the most was, “Look, people, stop being afraid of God. It’s not about making the right sacrifices, or saying the right words in a prayer, or doing some ritual in the right way. Stop thinking that you must spend every second being anxious about doing something wrong and being smited. God wants you to know that you are free. That you are forgiven, that you need not fear God’s wrath because there is none because God cares about you, God cares about your neighbor, God loves all of us. The point of being alive isn’t to spend our lives worrying if we’re doing the right thing to get into heaven. That’s already taken care of, so stop worry about it. And you religious leaders, stop pushing this on your people. The point of being alive is to spend your time living; and God would like you to live in a way that is loving and just and that furthers the agenda of your neighbor, that chooses peace over violence, hope over fear, love over apathy, doing what is right over what is easy, but also knowing that we’re all going to make mistakes, all going to miss the mark, and that’s okay. God won’t hold it against us. You’re forgiven, always. Don’t be so worried about making mistakes that you don’t live as God would have you live. You are forgiven so that it doesn’t weigh on your heart or make you anxious. Forgiven so that you can spend your time being alive. Spend your time following me.”

I believe that was the main point of Jesus’ message. To stop worrying about our relationship with God, or of losing God’s love. We can’t lose it. We have it always. So go, live, share that love with others so that all may hear and know that message of the good news that we are all God’s sons and daughters, beloved by God. I hope that’s a message that you all hear when you come to Plymouth, and that you live in your lives outside these walls with the people you interact with. That’s the core message of the church. To say to all people of the world, You are God’s people, we are all connected through God, and God loves you. Don’t be afraid, don’t worry, don’t be anxious. There are enough other things to worry and be anxious about, don’t worry or be anxious about whether God loves you, because God does.

Amen.

It’s All About the Shoes - sermon 8/23/2015 on the armor of God and Jesus' difficult teaching

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“It’s All About the Shoes”
Sermon, Year B, Proper 16, August 23, 2015
Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI
©2015 Rev. David J. Huber
Focus Scripture: Ephesians 6:10-20, John 6:56-69

Let’s go with the lesson from Ephesians today. There is some fashion advice here, found in the New Testament about what to wear.

Put on the whole armor of God: the belt of truth around your waist, the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace - I don’t know if Prada makes those kind of shoes, but maybe. The shield of faith. The helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

Interesting here that the writer, who might have been Paul, attributed to him but scholars think it was someone later writing in Paul’s name, but we aren’t sure - but what is interesting is that the writer links items to specific kinds of armor: belt of truth, breastplate of righteousness, shield, sword, helmet.

Except for the shoes. He doesn’t link anything to the shoes. He does not say to put on the shoes of peace, or the shoes of proclamation, he just says to put on the shoes that will allow you to proclaim the gospel of peace.

It always comes down to the shoes, doesn’t it? No ensemble works unless the shoes work. The shoes make the man, as they say. Or the woman. The shoes have to fit the rest of the clothing. And shoes are so important, because they are what we stand on and walk on. The shoes are there to support us.

Even the writer is using all these war terms, such as breastplate and shield and helmet, the shoes are to be whatever makes you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. So I imagine them as being comfy. Wear comfortable shoes. Shoes that offer good support. Put on shoes that don’t make you cranky. If one’s shoes are tight, uncomfortable, putting blisters on your flesh, it’s difficult to be peaceful. If you are suffering because of your shoes.

A couple years ago before one of my trips to Japan, I thought I’d take a new pair of shoes. A pair of deck shoes. I thought they’d be nice because there is a lot of taking off of shoes in Japan, entering homes, temples, spas, castles, even some stores and other public areas… so I thought the deck shoes would be nice because they are easy to slip in and out of. But I didn’t think, in fact I didn’t know, that deck shoes are a kind of shoes that need to be broken in first. What do I know of shoes? Well, I learned that lesson very painfully. After about half a day walking around Tokyo, the first place we went to, I was very unpeaceful by the afternoon. By the time we got to the hotel late that night, I was like “Hulk smash!” ready for war. So many blisters on my feet. It was so painful. I had no idea I had to break them in first.

I probably also should have worn socks with them as well, too, but the fashionistas say “Och, you don’t wear socks with deck shoes! You wear socks, people will look at you funny.”

Never trust a fashionista. And don’t care so much about what other people think.

Be comfortable.

While I was suffering that day from the shoes, we had thought, Yuki suggested that maybe we could go buy a new pair of shoes. I wasn’t sure if that would be helpful, since I already had the blisters. But also, finding shoes in my size in Japan is not easy. Finding anything in my size is not easy. When I bought my more formal Yukata - which is a casual robe similar to, but not as fussy as, a kimono [ed. note: see here some beautiful Kyoto-style kimonos worn by Geiko and Maiko], the one that I’ve worn here for World Communion Sunday - we went to a really nice store in Kyoto, with Kyoto being the place in Japan for fabrics and traditional clothing,  for it that would have a good selection and likely have something in my size. The saleswoman was very, very helpful. This is Japan, salespeople are always very, very helpful, whether it’s a 7-11 or a clothing store. The woman that helped us out probably imagined when we came in that Yuki was the one looking for something. But we said that I was looking for something. She wasn’t so sure at first when we said we were looking for me and sized me up. She got the Japanese face that shows concern, that I can’t really do, that look that is thinking inside “I’m going to be put in a position of having to say ‘no’” which is not an easy thing in Japan. Don’t like to say no. But they had some that fit me, she was relieved, I was excited to have this new outfit. We found an obi, the belt, that was long enough to wrap around me a sufficient amount of times, and beautiful. After we get me all fitted up, I thought, “You know, if I’m going to go with this traditional outfit, let’s go all the way. I should also get the geta, the wooden shoes (sandals, really) that are traditional to wear with the yukata.” And I don’t know if the salesperson had grown more comfortable with us because we’d been there for a while, but when I asked her if she had geta for these (pointing at my feet) she just laughed. "No, we don’t. Not even worth looking in the back." [ed. note: more on Kyoto, one of my favorite cities in the world]

So finding shoes, even non-geta shoes, not so easy and I didn’t want to waste the time while we were in Tokyo, so I toughed it out with the deck shoes. It was a couple of painful days, but you know, in a day or two the shoes were fine. It was about a week before my feet healed and felt fine, but the shoes were okay to wear.

There is something with certain kinds of shoes, like dress shoes, work boots, hiking boots, and as I recently learned, deck shoes, they need some time for our feet to get familiar with them and for them to get familiar with our feet. You don’t buy a pair of hiking boots the day before you hit the Appalachian trail. You wear them for a number of days, and work into them. You also don’t want to buy cheap shoes. I’ve also found that it’s worth spending good coin to get a good pair of shoes. A quality pair, well made. They are not only better for the back, knees, skeleton and the foot itself. Bad pairs of shoes can lead to body complications later in life if you are not supported properly. It’s cheaper, actually, in the long run to spend money on good shoes than to buy a series of cheap ones. I have dress shoes - like these - that are almost 15 years old. All my dress shoes are almost 15 years old. I’d have older ones, but I lost all those in the WTC attacks. I kept my dress shoes at work. A good pair will last for a long time with occasional repairs and loving care. I like to say that I spend good money on my shoes because I’m so cheap: I’d rather just buy a couple I like and never have to buy any again.

With those shoes was that difficult time of fitting into the new shoes.

I’ve found that learning new things can be like getting new shoes. Learning new habits, learning new ways of doing things, can be like getting a new pair of shoes. Very uncomfortable at first. Can feel like it’s not worth it. Can feel like the goal for which the shoe was designed - dress up, hiking, working - will never be achieved. It’s so painful at first. It can be so painful at first, to make you feel like giving up or throw the shoe away. I was so angry at those deck shoes for what they did to my feet.

But, I stuck with it. And those shoes started to fit. If I’d taken the time to break in the deck shoes, I wouldn’t have such unpeaceful feelings about them. I wouldn’t have had those days of foot pain.

But give it a little time, and then suddenly, wow!, now they are broken in, now they are comfortable, and there you are with a new pair of deliciously comfortable and usable shoes.

Comfortable enough that one is at peace within, so that one may be at peace without, and preach the Gospel of peace to the world.

Churches, too, occasionally need to break in new pair shoes. Times change, cultures change, contexts of the church changes. We need to learn new ways of doing things. The message doesn’t change. It’s still the message of God’s love. God’s unstoppable infinite love. That message never changes. The message of grace, and the beauty of being in fellowship with other people, united to the cause of peace and justice, to be relieving the pain of suffering, preaching release to prisoners. That message doesn’t change. But the way we deliver the message changes. Learning to share the message in new ways can be difficult. But that process can be uncomfortable. It is uncomfortable.

The benefits of the shoe don’t change, but the styles do. Breaking in a new style, that takes some time. When it comes to the church, that can take a lot of time, counted not in hours but in years.

We have been in a time of learning for the church. Not just for Plymouth, but the Church all over, and especially in the United States. It’s a new time for the church as the culture has changed around us, and we’ve not been so good to adjust to that culture. I think of it as the benefits of wearing the shoe does not change, but the style of the shoe changes.

Breaking in a new style takes some times. When it comes to the church, it’s not measured in hours or days, but months or years, even decades. We’ve been breaking in some new shoes here at Plymouth. Learning new ways of being the Church. New ways to organize ourselves to be more efficient, more quick at making decisions and take advantage of opportunities. Also learning new ways of being present in the city of Eau Claire. Being present in our neighborhood and community that we live in. And especially learning the shoes of invitation, reaching out and inviting people to come in. That is a very new learning. Probably for most of us, it is the shoes of invitation that are the most difficult and daunting, and maybe the most frustrating. We have many wonderful shoes in the collection of the Church, but the shoes of invitation are shoes that the church has scarcely worn, if at all, for a couple generations. Particularly for the UCC, the Methodists, the Presbyterians, and others for whom attendance and membership has gone down over the generations. It’s like we’ve forgotten how to be invitational.

I’ve mentioned a few times about where I was a year ago, when I first started working with my church growth coach and learning this new skill set of how to be out in the community, how to be invitational, how to meet people and build relationships. It was always so, well, terrifying to me before then because I didn’t want to be “that evangelical guy” who screams at people and throws the Bible in peoples’ face. I know a lot of us are afraid of looking like that, so we don’t say anything. That’s not a helpful solution.

But, I started learning that a year ago. It was really difficult. It was a time of challenge for me. It was a whole new skill set. There were a number of times that I was ready to throw the shoes in the garbage. It was painful, like those deck shoes in Tokyo, and it seemed like it never got easier. It was months of process of trying to learn how to do this and become comfortable with it. I couldn’t seem to get past the blistering stage. I had soul blisters. And they weren’t healing. It was difficult for me. It was all so new. I was taking in so much information, learning new ways to be the Church, learning new ways to be a pastor, adjusting and taking all the things I was learning and hearing and trying to make them fit the context of Plymouth. To make it work for this congregation, in this city, in this culture and community. There is more learning on my part to be done, and more learning on the church’s part. I’ve been talking about it a lot, and some of you are part of the process.

But I can sense some of that fear, the same fear and dread here at Plymouth, about that new shoe of being invitational. It is daunting. It does feel weird. Especially I feel it when I issue a challenge to you to go connect with someone, invite someone, do an elbow activity, bring a friend with you, and so on. I know it’s difficult and scary. It was for me when I first started doing this. I was so afraid of someone yelling at me, or saying a loud shouty “no” to me, or a “how dare you ask me to your church”. But you know what? I have encountered none of that. I’ve had people say, “No, not interested.” But always in a kind way. Never had anyone explode at me, or do anything nasty. Facing that fear, facing the fear of rejection or the fear of doing something new, is just part of the process I was there a year ago. But as I have said many times, I will not ask you to do something that I am not willing to do, or that I have not already done. Because I went through that process of learning how to be comfortable with inviting, and then I started offering the challenge to you and talking about it in sermons. Especially about connecting with others. That is so important. And it’s not difficult. The first couple times felt difficult, but quite honestly, the fear was only in here (pointing to my head) and in here (pointing to my heart), and not in reality.

I connected with people this week, as I strive to do every week, to connect with some new people every week. Some of them have come here. Some are in process. Some will never come. But that’s how you grow a church. That’s how you grow a church. Those invitations, connecting with people and asking them to come in. But I understand the difficulty. You even see that even with Jesus’ disciples when he is giving this new teaching. They say to him, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

Any new teaching can be difficult. It feels that way, doesn’t it? “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”

But it does get easier. It can be done. Taking that first step can be a real struggle. But take that first step, because then the next step is a little easier, and the one after that is easier, and eventually it becomes a comfortable clothing. Like a good pair of shoes. It is a skill that is worth having. I don’t even want to call it a skill. It’s not just a skill, it is part of being a follower of Jesus. It is part of our discipleship. It’s a faith practice to be invitational and to bring people in to share the good news and spread the word of peace, to invite people in to share in that good news, to invite people in to share in the fellowship of the church, and to know that you have the Spirit with you. You have God with you.

It’s not just a wacky new thing to do, it’s how the church has existed for 2000 years. It’s how the Church grew from that ragtag group of people who were hanging around Jesus. It’s how that ragtag group of people around Jesus became a movement that has spread around the world.

All that struggle I had with those deck shoes, by the end of the trip they fit just fine. They felt just fine. They caused no problems, and they were a comfortable and enjoyable pair of shoes to wear that lasted beyond the vacation.

Amen.

Make the Most of the Time - 8/16/15 sermon

“Make the Most of the Time”
Sermon, Year B, Proper 15, August 16, 2015
Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI
©2015 Rev. David J. Huber
Focus Scripture: Ephesians 5:15-20, John 6:51-58

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Last Sunday we had the beginning of this passage, with Jesus saying “I am the Bread of Life” and my sermon explored what the Bread of Life might mean. I won’t say a lot more just on that, so I offer if you weren’t here, the sermons are on our church website, facebook page, on my blog (and here is a link to that sermon), on my soundcloud, and they are also printed out and available on the table in the entryway. If you weren’t here, or if you want to revisit it, I suggest that you do so. Partly because in the middle of the sermon I asked from you who were here for some of your images of bread. Things that you think of when you hear the word “bread”. So feel free to revisit that sermon.

But I do want to talk a bit more about Jesus as the Bread of Life. Partly because today’s Gospel reading is, well, there is something creepy and uncomfortable about “eat my body” and “eat me” and “drink my blood”. Eat my flesh. It’s a very uncomfortable passage to hear. At least it is for me. I don’t know if you reacted that way, but I get a kind of icky feeling reading it.

But as I mentioned last week, Jesus isn’t saying that he is literally a loaf of bread. Nor is Jesus asking us to cannibalize his body. This is all metaphor. It’s all symbolic. Kind of bloody metaphors, maybe not the ones we would use today, but he is using bread as something that everyone would understand and know. Bread as the source of life. And so Jesus is saying he is the course of life, and that the Bread of Life here is also The Way of Jesus. The Bread of Life is a way of life. To eat the bread of life is to participate in Jesus’ Way. To say that I am eating the body of Jesus, or eating the Bread of Jesus, is to say that I am following in his ways, and doing what Jesus would like us to do. It is to follow his path, which is living in love and compassion. It is the way that says that the hungry deserve to be fed, so let us feed them. It is the Way that says the sick deserve to be visited and to have access to healthcare. So let’s make sure that no one goes without access to healthcare. It is a Way that says workers deserve a living wage. That we all need forgiveness. That we all need to forgive. It is the Way that says all people deserve dignity, and deserve to have their dignity recognized. It is the Way that hangs out with the wrong people and goes to the wrong places, because that’s where God’s people are. It is to go wherever God’s people are, to connect with God’s people and thus to God. To connect with all of God’s realm, and not just the part of the world that is comfortable or familiar to us.

Following Jesus is to partake of the Bread of Life. And to partake in the Bread of Life is to follow Jesus, which is the Way to eternal life. But note that eternal life is not something that God dangles in front of us like a carrot in front of a mule, with promise of some reward at the very end. That’s an abusive kind of god. Eternal life is the journey itself. It is the following itself. To follow Jesus is the eternal life. The fullness of life. To live fully as Jesus would have us live. To be aligned with Jesus, to be aligned with God, is to live in the eternal now, already. It is to accept the eternal life that we already have.

There is the bread that we eat in Communion, that is an actual loaf of bread that we eat and consume symbolically reminding us that we are the Body of Christ, reminding us of our connection to God, reminding us that it is God who feeds us and who provides. I’ve mentioned before, that in all our technological cleverness, humanity cannot make anything grow. We can help the conditions, but we can’t make anything grow.

THere is also the symbolic Bread of Life that is Jesus’ Way. It is the sum total of Jesus’ teachings, his examples of living, his commands -- and there are only two of them: to love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves. The Bread of Life is the sum total of all of Jesus’ teachings, his path of love and mercy, his Way of connecting with people, especially the outcast and the marginalized.

We are talking this summer about connection, as part of our discipleship plan that we’re talking about over the next year of Connect → Grow → Love. We are in the period of talking about connection. The BRead of Life is the path of relation with other people. To connect with other of God’s people. Not just to invite them to church, though that is a good thing to do, but really inviting people to understand and know their own right to dignity. To invite them into forgiveness. To invite them into grace. To invite them into the eternal life they already have, but which they maybe don’t know they have. That’s the connection we’re trying to make with people. The message we are trying to spread in our neighborhood, and in Eau Claire, and which the church spreads around the whole world, is to invite them into the eternal life they already have but maybe don’t know that they have. Maybe have not heard about yet, or just aren’t sure. We could also say, taking the words from Ephesians, to make the most of their time.

I like that first sentence in Ephesians that we read: “Be careful how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time, because the days are evil.” Making the most of the time.

I think Jesus would say that the way to make the most of the time is to follow the Way he showed us. That is the way of eternal life. Making the most of the time. Another way that this letter could have been phrased is to say, “Because there is so much evil, only do good.” Let your good be the prophetic message against the evil in the world. Because evil does a good enough job on its own. It doesn’t need our help. It seems to do just fine. Imagine doing good. Don’t be tempted by evil’s agenda of immediate gains, or power, or wealth, or whatever sparkly thing that evil is putting in front of you that we all find so tempting, but make the most of the time by eating only from the Bread of Life.

Maybe another way to say that is to ask the question, “What kind of legacy do you want to leave behind?” What kind of effect do you want to have in the world? How do you want to be remembered?

The other side of the coin of eternal life is how you live on in others’ memories. We always live on with God, but how do we live on in other people’s memories? What kind of relationships did you have? How did you connect with other people? Did you make a positive difference in the world? Go out and make the world a more loving world. Let that be the use of your time: to make the world a more loving world. Connect with people. Build relationships. Live the Way of the Bread of Life making the most of the time.

Last week at the end of the sermon I challenged you all to connect with someone new, and I hope that you all did. I suggested to go meet a neighbor you haven’t met yet. Or go find out someone new that is around you. Make some kind of connection with someone during the week. And I hope that you did.

I offered that challenge, and I’ve offered a few others this year, not because I enjoy giving commands or because I like hearing my own voice telling people what to do. I offer them because these are practices and exercises to build your faith. These are exercises and practices that will make you a better disciple. That will make us all better disciples, better followers of Jesus, to do some of these things. So I hope that you connected with someone this last week that you have not met before. I did.

I’ve told you many times before that I will not ask you to do something that I am not willing to do. So I connected with some new people. Doing that is important. So I challenge you to connect with someone new this week. I challenge you to do it again. As I mentioned earlier in today’s service, we’ll be going out to hang door hanger invitations after worship to the homes in our neighborhood. That’s one way to connect, because you might meet or encounter someone outside. But it is also a way to extend an invitation. Invite someone to the songs and s’mores on Wednesday night. That’s a good way for all of us to connect with new people: if everyone who is planning to come that also brings someone new with you, there will be a bunch of people around the circle that we don’t know. That will give you all a chance to connect with someone new, to hear their story, to talk with them, to build some relationships.

It is a good thing to connect with others. It is the vocation of the church, to spread the Good News, and inviting people in to God’s fellowship. To invite them in to feed and be nourished on the Bread of Life.

Make the most of the time connecting with the people around you.

Let us pray: Life-giving God, Bread of Life, as we are in process of connecting with others, of expanding our community, of being the Bread of Life for others and making the most of the time, give us your Spirit of hope and love to keep moving forward, to keep growing in faith, and growing in our discipleship. Give us your Spirit of courage to be invitational. To connect with the stranger. Give us your Spirit of care to what to enlarge this fellowship of friendship and love that is Plymouth UCC, so that more and more people will know your love and know your grace. Amen.