Autumnal Equinox

The first day of fall is tomorrow. (Bye, summer - you were fun, but I'll take cool and crisp over hot and humid any day!) We've had a few fall-ish days already this year, so the transition has begun. Soon we'll be thinking of hay bales and mums and pumpkins and (as Lutherans) Reformation Day (which other folk call Halloween).

And of course, being New Englanders, we'll discuss the foliage. As amateurs ("Boy, would you just look at that maple--have you ever seen anything so vibrantly beautiful?"), and as professionals ("Yes, Jim, the Whites are at 97.6% right now and the Valleys are at full peak!") Leaves are big business as well as a free show for those who live here.

But did you know (of course you did, unless you're from away--and that's okay--I am too), did you know that the leaves don't actually change from green to gold, or red, or yellow. No, the green chlorophyll blocks the true colors of the foliage, and it's only when the tree stops making that greenish chemical that it slowly recedes and those true colors come shining through.

Easter is most often associated with the season of spring, but in light of the above, I think it has a firm connection with fall as well. Sin, manufactured by us deep in our roots, effectively coats us with its taint--effecting how we are viewed and how we view others. Jesus dies (on a tree!) and takes away the consequence of that sin, catching up all our 'green-ness' in himself. And then our true colors shine through--the authentic humanity with which we were created, bursts through again--free, and looking to light up the world with God's love and beauty. We who once were over come by a tree--our sin by a tree has been overcome!

As the trees change this year, think about how your true colors can be seen by others and so glorify your Father in heaven. Gold--like treasure--your tithe to the less fortunate and to Christ's mission through the church. Red--the color of blood--your giving of yourself as a disciple of Christ. Orange--as in the sunrise--each day dawning is another day to enjoy and care for this creation with whcih we are entrusted! Your true colors are humbleness, generosity, steadfastness, and all those fruits of the spirit--the spirit given us a baptism.

Happy Fall One and All!
Pastor Tom

PS As the air grows chill, Lisa and I head out fro Bermuda for our special "Lisa's Christmas Present, but Not For Our Twenty-fifth Anniversary or Tom's Birthday--Even Though Those Are Definitely Associated with It" Cruise. See you in a week! PT

Where are you, Pastor Tom?

Miss me? I'm on vacation and trying to enjoy some relaxation, do some long delayed chores, do some geocaching, and re-create a little. So I'll post today and tomorrow and then not again for a week or more.

What will you do with your time? Try "By the Way's" devotional blog www.bythewaynashua.blogspot.com That's what I'm going to do. (If you don't know what BTW is , this will be the opportunity to find out.

More a little later....

Pastor Tom

The Holy Cross

Today on the church calendar is Holy Cross day, a commemoration not for physical thing that was the implement of execution for Jesus, but for the meaning of that death. What does the cross mean for our modern world, our modern lives? Does what happened on the cross change anything?

The answer is a resounding YES! God used the cross event to purge sin and death from the end of the story of God and us. Jesus is crucified on the cross, but he takes sin down with him (and then God raises him up--but that's the empty tomb's story)


I like to think of the cross as an intersection between the heavenly and the earthly--because God acted through it to redeem us from sin. There are still spots and situations in our world where the cross is seen then--wherever God acts to end the power of sin and death--wherever the divine intersects with the earthly. In the work of relief workers in Africa. In the
sacrificial love of a parent for a child. In the golden hues of a setting sun, bathing the ugliness of the inner city with a godly glow.

Be on the lookout for the cross today. You may be surprised where you see it!

Washed Clean as Snow

We're having a baptism at Messiah this Sunday. They're always festive occasions. And they are also a time to reflect on our own baptisms. Not to recall the details (as most of us were but wee pups). But to recall it's power--the power to mark you as God's own, the power to free you from all sin-past and present and future. To be washed purer than the snow, says the psalmist in Sunday's reading.
Baptism is a powerful thing because it comes from God--I don't do it, certainly the baby doesn't do it (and an adult being baptized doesn't either), the parents don't do it. God initiates and carries out this great act! That's why it need only be done once--what God does, he does right the first time!
What does baptism do? Forgives sin, saves from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation says good old Marty Luther. Once and for always--this is most certainly true! Daily it does as the psalmist says later on in #51: create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit with in me. It makes us fresh and new as the morning newspaper each day. (maybe that's not so fresh--you get the picture).

Sunday we'll welcome Carter into God's family and into Messiah's fellowship. We pray that he grows in Christ and in faith, and we pledge ourselves to assisting him and his parents when we can. Rejoice, for we are baptized!
Pastor Tom

Runs With Scissors

Runs With Scissors

Now that school's back in the first report card can't be too far behind. Back in my day excellence was appraised with an “E” and “G” was good, “S” satisfactory, “U” was the dreaded unsatisfactory. Get one or two of them, you were scared to hand it over to Dad to sign (better to give it to Mom). Now they have the ABC of marking and I find it not so quaint. They even have it in the kindergarten, believe it or not. In the good old days you get a check mark besides good or needs improvement in such milestones of education as “plays well with others,” and “follows instructions.” That and the obligatory comments—truncated notes from the harried teacher. Things like, “A joy!” or, “So nice!” Or on the other half of the spectrum, “Doesn't share well,” or the quintessential remark—“Runs with scissors.” Sure it's dangerous, but is that the best they could come up with, runs with scissors? Is it worth putting on someone's permanent record? I mean really!

In this week's gospel the Pharisees are grumbling and murmuring about Jesus' performance. They didn't like his unorthodox methods—his coloring outside the religious lines. And yet he heals people, casts out demons, teaches like a pro, and the people love him. He even got the tax collectors to come to listen—and you all know how they were! The Pharisees have to say something, so they grasp at straws, marking Jesus with an “Eats with Sinners” in bright red pen. This Jesus eats with sinners—and not the regular kind like you or me—sinners who everybody knows are sinners. He eats with them.

“There, that oughta do it,” think the Pharisees.

But no, even though, like running with scissors, eating with sinners is risky (even in today's society you definitely won't get on Page Six for eating with a homeless guy), still people can't see holding this against Jesus. Somehow it only endears him to them! He doesn't shun the sinful, he doesn't call fire down on their heads—he honors them by sharing a meal with them. He welcomes them as expected guests—like he had been looking for them. If he loves those guys he can certainly love me—and maybe we can love those guys too!

“Curses, foiled again!” say the Pharisees as they slink off to plot some more.

What about you? Is your life “plays well with classmates” - safe, controlled, and segregated from “others?” Or do you run with scissors—taking chances by eating with sinners—getting to know them as people? And by sinners I don't mean people badder than us, per se. I mean those men on your block who wash the car Sunday morning instead of worshiping God. I mean those teens who think they're immortal until one gets pregnant. Sinners like you and I (for in God's eyes all sin is the same.) Are you getting to know them? So they can get to know Jesus through you? That's the mission.

Eats with sinners. Sure it's risky. And it might even go on your permanent record. But if you need some support Jesus is still eating with sinners every week at Messiah. He welcomes all to his table, and he shares well with others. Gives his body and blood for you. A sinner. And that's just E for excellent!

Sermon draft -Sept 9th

Duh-cisonal Theology

Pentecost 15 C 9/9/07

Deut. 30:15-20, Luke 14: 25-33

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from Christ Jesus, our Lord and Savior.

Some things just go without saying. And yet, invariably somebody says them anyway. Annoying. Like when you're hammering a nail into a board and you miss and hit your thumb. And while you're sucking on it and trying not to cuss, some genius comes out with, “That's gotta hurt!” No, duh! Or you're opening your new can of deodorant and you notice the warning on the label. “Don't spray in eyes!” Well, duh! Or—hard to believe but true—someone actually says, “Pizza's the best food ever!” Well duh, Einstein!

Related to those examples of stating the obvious are those choices that are really no brain-ers—but some people still have trouble with. For example: Should I go to the Red Sox game, or should I go to that church committee meeting? Duh! Church committee, of course. Or, do I choose brownies or ice cream for dessert? Duh, both! And this classic choice: sink or swim? Well, duh? It’s not called a sinking pool is it?

Sometimes things are real obvious, and sometimes choices are quite clear. But sometimes they aren’t. And sometimes they just seem to be that way. The obvious becomes clouded and choked with plausible alternatives, the choice that once seemed so very straight-forward instead becomes multivalent and complicated, and the “black and white-ness” of the situation fades to gray. Duh becomes d’oh!

Take the statement “God is good.” On the surface that’s readily agreeable. But in certain situations, a person might be hard pressed to affirm that as obvious. For instance, at the sudden and senseless loss of a loved one those words may stick in your throat—at least initially.

And as to choices? Try this one on for size: When I went to seminary I initially enrolled to earn a two year degree and jump right back into outdoor ministry. But at the beginning of my second year God presented me with a choice—do that, or—here’s a idea—serve me as an ordained pastor. Lots of pros and cons on both sides. Either was a good choice, though. This was definitely not a no-brainer.

Why couldn’t God give me a simple choice, like the one he gave Israel in today’s first lesson? God says to Israel, “Folks, now make a choice: you can either be cursed and have adversity and perish—or you can be blessed and prosperous and live. What do you say now, ay?” That’s a no-brainer. Duh! Choose prosperity! Choose blessing! Choose life! Choose God!

That’s clear, right? Apparently not. At least not to the people of Israel. It seems the way God envisioned them choosing life was by them obeying God (uh-huh), and following God’s commandments, decrees and ordinances (right)—oh, and not making a golden calf and worshipping it! (Uh-oh!) Not so clear-cut as first considered!

A golden calf. You know, you gotta wonder what decision making process these people used there. “Okay, let’s not worship Yahweh—let’s not worship the god who visited Egypt with plagues, the god whose angel of death passed over our first born children, the god who split the Red Sea and destroyed Pharaoh’s army, who gave us water to drink out of a rock, and food to eat from the sky—let’s not worship that god—instead let’s make a cow out of all our gold and bow down to it.” Yeah, that makes sense!

Well, it did to them. And I think I can tell you why. Because they could see the golden calf—they could touch it. They could go right up to it and rap on its bottom round and—yep!—he’s here, he’s real. It wasn’t a burning bush, or a cloud, or fire, or anything nebulous like this Yahweh—who you couldn’t look at lest you turn to dust or some such thing. It was good old Elsie the Cow—familiar, innocuous, and best yet—unambiguous. There was no thinking involved in golden calf worship. You didn’t have to say to yourself: “Okay, I need to keep the commandments, but what are they again? And I think this situation breaks one of them, but maybe not—it depends on how you interpret the law. And what do the other scriptures say—and why does scripture say two wildly different things about this? And what would Moses do? But then again—this teacher says this and that teacher says that.” What a headache! That God’s way was puzzling and difficult. With the alternative, you only had to give up your gold and then dance around Bessie once in awhile.

People like their obvious to be obvious. Red is red and blue is blue—no periwinkle. And they like their choices to be black or white, wrong or right. No blurring of the lines. No gray areas, no vagueness. Do you want fries with that—yes or no? And just one choice of fries at that—no curly fries, steak fries, or spicy jalapeno poppers!!

Now, don’t get me wrong—I’m not faulting anyone for this—it’s cool. But I will say that I’m of the opinion that applying this logic to theology leads to some serious, serious angst. Because it can not take into account the ambiguity and the paradox that are inherent, I believe, in any discussion about God or God’s ways. Meaning, basically, that it is arrogant of us to presume to know the mind of God, it is limiting God to presume that God can only act as it has been reveled to us as yet, and it is a sure road to madness to ignore that, with God, opposing truths are often held in tension.

So those who claim to know it all, who reduce everything down to black or white, tolerating no interpretation and dismissing any circumstance, are like horses with blinders, seeing only what’s in front of them, disregarding the beautiful, albeit sometimes scary, world around them. By claiming that there is no gray, they stamp out their awareness of God’s spirit moving in new directions.

That sounds sad, and it is, but that doesn’t deter people from seeking out this type of teaching in droves. Some prefer an unquestionable God who requires certain things of us, and who acts in certain, prescribed ways. Now that doesn’t seem to be a bad thing—you might even say, “Duh.”

But look again at what God puts before us, this “duh”cision that appears to merit an almost instinctive affirmative response. “Choose life,” pleads God, “follow me, obey me, love me!” Okay, God what does that mean? Does that mean I should follow all the codes and laws in the scriptures, including Leviticus 20:9 which says if anyone curses his mother or father, he must be put to death? With teenagers today, we'd surely wipe out the future generation. And how does that jibe with what Jesus says in today's gospel about hating mother and father? “Choose life,” says God—but we're only ten seconds into discussing this little smidgen of the law and already I'm ready to admit that I'm not so sure just exactly what choosing life looks like in this situation. It's just not as crystal clear as all that.

And it's a good thing that it's not—because a God who judges in lockstep with the law with no concern for the circumstances or the social and cultural evolution of his favorite creation, just isn't the merciful, generous, loving God revealed in Jesus Christ.

Does that let us off the hook when it comes to following God's commandments? By no means! In fact it commits us to the hard work of discerning God's pathway of life for us, and, as Jesus says, it costs us something. Yes, that's one of those opposing truths that we have to hold together, especially as Lutherans—free grace cost us something. It cost us our priorities. How many of you have ever said these words, “My family comes first”? Jesus says you follow him and they don't. That's what he means by” hating” family members.

And you know what else he says? Amazingly enough he says that the life that you worked hard to understand and finally choose from God? It doesn't make it to the top priority spot either. Jesus wants you to love him more than life itself. More than life itself!

Okay, line forms here to sign up to follow Jesus—no pushing, no shoving, and – oh yes – Jesus says you have to give up all your possessions. So leave the car keys on the altar, your house keys in the offering baskets, we'll send a truck over tomorrow for the big screen tv. Any takers? Anyone, anyone Beuhler?

Bet you thought following Jesus would be one of those no-brainers. Well, duh, it's not. Choosing life and choosing to follow Jesus are two of the toughest decisions you'll never make. I say “never “ make because sorry but you don't have it in you. God knew that about the Israelites, and he knew it about those Judeans gathered around Jesus that day as he spoke about discipleship, and thank god, he knows it about us too. God knows that left to our own devices we'll choose death and run pell mell from Jesus every time. And that's why God gave us the gift of the Holy Spirit to call gather and enlighten us, to give us god's good gifts, to show us the way to life, and to enable us to pick up a cross in this world and carry it for all to see despite the personal cost.

But most of all, that's why ours is a God of grace. A god of second chances. So when you blow it and choose wrongly, you don't get a one way ticket to perdition—you get a free pass to try again. And when you figure the cost of being a disciple wrong—maybe not figuring in the radical nature of what God sees as sharing—you don't get voted off the island. You pick yourself up, dust yourself off, remember your baptism and try discipling again. With the Spirit's help.

For as much as it just isn't that simple to choose life and to follow Jesus—it still is the only choice worth making. It's still the obvious choice. So, it is simple while being complex! While being simple. Confused? Well, hang in there. Because I like to think that when with the spirit's help you get it and it clicks for you—that God will look down on you and smile and say:, “Well, duh!”

Best Intentions

Busy week this week! Kept me from blogging as I wanted to.

I wanted to tell you about our new hobby--geocaching--and how it's like our quest for spiritual understanding.

I wanted to get your inout on decisions you've had to make that seemed clear, but were not when it came down to it.

I wanted to pick apart the gospel reading a bit and try to make sense of Jesus' surprising comments on "hating" one's family if they wished to follow him.

But...

time wasn't there this week. I'm leaving for Hammonassett (youth retreat) today at 3, and still need to work on the sermon. It's called Duh-cisional Theology, and it's about the choice God gives us and how it seems like a no brainer but it isn't, but it is. Get it? Well, you will when you hear it this Sunday. See you then!

Pastor Tom

Sermon draft - Touch the Screen!

Part of this manuscript (the end of the intro) was lost due to operator error.

Grace, peace and well-being to you—from God our Father and creator, from Christ our savior and healer, and from our advocate and guide, God’s Spirit. Amen.

Healing. As Lutherans we’re not used to seeing it here—live, in person, in the church, at worship. We’ve come into contact with this ministry of the church more through our television screens. So, just to line up with your expectations…

[Use a fake remote to turn on projected image. Video opens with a screen that says, “Pastor Tom’s Real Deal Heal” (next screen) “-ing” cheesy music plays. Then show begins…]

TVTom: Good morning brothers and sisters, praise Gawd-d that you could be here and worship me—ahem!—I mean worship with me today. You know today is a special day! A special day because we have a healing gospel this morning. And that makes it an especially good occasion to do some real deal healing. So brothers and sisters, get up out of your easy chairs, grab your crutches and go over the other side of the room and touch the screen. Just touch the screen, praise Gawd-d. The power of God! The power of God! The pow--

TT: Wait a minute, wait a minute!

TV: Why, what is it brother? What could be the matter? Do you wish a real deal heal-ing?

TT: I think a good majority of us out here do—but we don’t think we can because of guys like you.

TV: Why I am shocked! Just shocked! You must explain yourself, sir!

TT: I mean all the theatrics, the altar calls, the fainting and whatnot.

TV: So I give the crowd a little entertainment as well—who can fault me for that? It’s a multi-media society now, my friend—you gotta reach out in whatever ways you can to get the message across.

TT: and that message is?

TV: God’s healing power is available. Etc (LOST SECTION)

Well. That portrayal was over-exaggerated just a little bit—for effect. But I believe it illustrates the way we mainline Christians look at healing—our view is obscured by the activities of such practioners as the real deal healer. This, in turn, leads us to throw the baby out with the bath water, I think. To swerve too far to the other side of the road. To ignore the healing ministry rather than give any credence to faith healing..

But, as my altar ego told us, healing is biblical. Jesus commanded we do it, Paul recognized it as a gift of the Holy Spirit, and the pastoral epistles recommend that the sick be taken to the elders, and that they be prayed over and be anointed with oil. So, we can’t just ignore healing—we have to come to terms with it. Otherwise we’re not too far off from the synagogue leader in today’s gospel, who just couldn’t fit Jesus’ healing of the crippled woman into his frame of reference and world view. Jesus straightened him out. Perhaps he can straighten us out, too. Let’s look at the gospel…

The key, I believe, lies in one little Greek word in this text—it’s one of the first Greek words you learn in seminary. Luo—it means “to loose,” or “set free.” Jesus is teaching in the synagogue and a woman bent over with an infirmity that has lasted 18 long years, enters. And without her even asking for help, and ignoring the fact that waiting a scant few hours till Sabbath’s end would avoid any controversy, Jesus sees her and says, “You are set free from you’re ailment.” Now that’s an unusual term to use, don’t you think? You are set free from your ailment?

Well, it’s not. At least not if you are chronically ill, or suffer from a permanent disability, or perhaps a mental illness. From the outside, healthy and fit, we look in upon these infirmities and can truthfully feel at best only a sense of sympathy. But from the inside, the ones afflicted can definitely resonate with Jesus’ characterization of these kinds of illnesses. A long term illness or disability can make you feel trapped, bound up in a life that is not the life you envisioned, chained to a body that appears to be betraying you, ensnared by symptoms, pain, or by the very treatments and drugs that seek to ease your suffering.

Then you can understand luo. Then you know what Jesus means by “You are set free from your ailment!” Then you realize that freedom isn’t “just another word for nothing left to lose.” Freedom is the end product of faith in God—a lasting result that comes from a potent mixture of God’s grace and our helplessness. Freedom is healing.

Freedom is healing. You are set free from your ailment. Looking at healing in this way both honors the scriptural directive to “heal the sick” and opens up a much wider and truer understanding of healing.

If we are to understand healing to mean freedom, then healing could be experienced in many, many forms. First and most controversial is freedom from disease—a miraculous cure. Now, off the top of your heads you might think they are extremely rare. But each and every child now living who would have statistically been dead from a childhood disease like whooping cough, and every heart attack victim who is shocked back to life, and every person saved from what would have been certain death due to disease by modern medicine, a gift of God, all these offer ample evidence that miracles do happen everyday—if you but view the everyday through the lens of faith.

Healing can also be experienced as freedom from symptoms. Though not cured per se, the sick or disabled can lead adapted lives thanks to therapies, prosthetics, and medications that are, again, from God.

Freedom from guilt can play an important role in the healing of those who feel their infirmity was somehow their own fault. Jesus lays blame for the woman’s condition right at the feet of Satan—who personifies evil and the misdirection of God’s intended purposes for the creation. Decay and illness and death were not part of God’s plan—they were introduced along with sin. And Christ died to free us from the wages of sin. So even if a condition is caused by behavioral factors, such as improper diet or addiction, we are freed from the guilt through the cross of Christ. Grace = freedom = healing.

All that without any physical symptoms alleviated. Sounds strange doesn’t it? But since freedom is healing, a cure or relief from symptoms don’t have to really have any part in that healing. It sounds contradictory, but healing can be experienced even when the illness is irreversible—and even when there is no physical ailment at all! How?

The answer is faith. Not that you have to have a critical mass of faith in order to be healed. Not that a failure to be healed spotlights a lack of faith. But rather that you have faith in the promises of God—forgiveness, reconciliation, new life, and, one day—maybe not today, but one day—the removal of all suffering in the world.

“Successfully” living with infirmity or illness in this world reveals a strong faith in God. Not a lack thereof because there is no cure. And being cheerful and hopeful when cure is not an option is a freedom available only through faith. How does one get “enough” faith to do these things? From the Holy Spirit. And from fellow disciples who will believe for you when you feel too weak to do it on your own. Like Jesus, they won’t be stopped by social conventions, by the letter of the law, by petty jealousies, or by hopelessness.

Most of us here are in need of healing of one sort or another—mental, emotional, physical, or spiritual. There’s always something sick or broken in our lives it seems. Be it a broken relationship, deeply hidden sin, doubt, the burden of debt, or the shame of not being the person you hoped you would be, I hope you come forward for an individual prayer later on in the service. One thing old Real Deal Healing Pastor Tom was right about was that there is power there. Not in me, and not in Pastor Erica who will assist me. But in the promises of God. The healing power of God – you are mine, and you are free!

What I did on My Summer Vacation

The word vacation, according to dictionary.com, comes from the Latin vacares--to be free, to empty. Look close and you can see the word vacate in there--so there's an element of leaving in there too. Did you ever try to vacation at home? Or "bring a little work to catch up on?" Can't be done--either of them. To truly vacation you have to empty yourself and vamoose!

At camp we used to do an exercise to help people do just that. Everyone packs a suitcase or duffle, or backpack to come to camp. We encouraged them to "unpack their baggage" -- their routine life burdens--in the same way. Unpack the stress from work, put away the family dynamics, stow what you're dealing with emotionally. And leave them behind. Sounds easier than it really is.

In the movie What About Bob?, Bill Murray plays an agoraphobic soul whose therapist is leaving for two weeks at of all places Lake Winnipesaukee (where we went on vacation!)! Fearing the loss of his doctor's care, Murray freaks out. The therapist (played brilliantly by Richard Dreyfuss), encourages him not to view his problems as a whole, but to "take baby steps" towards his goals. Trite advice. But I think it really could in vacating.

For instance: when you take a day off--do you have your cell phone growing out of your hip? Shut it off--baby steps. Too much to do at home to have time away? The chores will be there when you get back. Baby steps. Holding a grudge against Uncle Joe that keeps you from a visit home? Let bygones be bygones. Baby steps. Setting aside anything heavy is a "step" in the right direction! So, by all means, try it! (But please don't just show up at the lake like Bob did!)

Another word for you, this one Greek and highly theological--kenosis. Much the same as vacares it means to empty. Jesus emptied himself in order that we might be filled with his love and goodness. In this sense, doing vacation right is so very important -- for to be filled, we must first be empty! Time away from the burdens and stresses of life makes room for us to rejuvenate our spirits, and feel the radical grace of God--a grace that validates our existence unconditionally. What a gift!!!

And you thought vacation was just for sleeping on the beach!

Back at work,
Pastor Tom

Wish You Were Here

I've been on vacation this past week, so took some time away from posting. I will post the draft of August 26th sermon--I closed without saving once in the beginning do there's some text missing. Don't have this Sunday' sermon available for post--sorry. But I have some things to talk about this week, reflecting on last week, and I'll get to them tomorrow and the rest of the week.

Have a great Labor Day!

Pastor Tom

P.S. I'd love to hear who's on your "list" of influences in your life--those authentically humble ones we talked about this morning in church. Email me or comment here! PT