It’s hard to know where to begin with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, better known as Romans. On one hand, it is his most sophisticated articulation of his theology, written late in his ministry after refining his message with years of active missionary work. It also probably influenced the Protestant Reformation more than any other single book of the Bible with its emphasis on salvation by faith alone.

On the other hand, Romans can be a daunting read as Paul takes a deep dive into human sinfulness and the nuances of faith with somewhat esoteric arguments based on assumptions we might not have. Further, anyone who has been a victim of anti-gay teaching and preaching in the church may know that just a bit further on in this same first chapter of Romans, we find a passage that has been and is still used repeatedly to bludgeon, shame, and exclude LGBTQ people. And though we can accurately state that Paul did not have a modern understanding of sexual orientation or knowledge of same-gender romantic relationships that were based on love, it is also probably fair to say that even if he had that knowledge, he would have come to the same conclusions as he did. In fact, that particular passage from Romans 1 is one of the passages that led me in my own journey to conclude there are some things in the Bible that do not reflect God’s will for us today, but instead reflect the biases and prejudices of the flawed, sinful people God used to write the Bible. And though the line between the author’s prejudice and God’s will is not always clear, we as modern people of faith have the responsibility to try to figure out which is which.

So that’s all in Romans: inspiring, soaring theology, obscure biblical arguments, painfully prejudice texts and so much more. Today we get the first chapter. The Apostle Paul is writing to the churches in Rome hoping to introduce himself in preparation for his upcoming visit. He knows that there is great acrimony in the Roman church between the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians, and he writes Romans in an effort to help the two sides find unity. So, he presents his understanding of the Gospel in a way that is firmly grounded in the Old Testament but is lavishly inclusive of Gentiles.

In our reading this morning we find a couple verses which I think summarize the entire letter. They are verses 16 and 17: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, ‘The one who is righteous will live by faith.’”

In these verses that I want to focus on this morning, there are four words that need some unpacking. salvation, righteousness, faith, and Gospel.

I won’t spend a lot of time on salvation, but I do want to suggest a different way of thinking about this very traditional word. A Pastor I know believes that whenever we see the word “salvation” in the Bible we should read it as “liberation.” He says that the word salvation in our day has accumulated so much baggage that it can no longer be heard as the good news that it was originally intended to communicate. Anyone who had been accosted by a street evangelist asking if we have been saved or insisting that our salvation is not the right kind of salvation will be familiar with this baggage. “Being saved” for some just means being right and there is nothing else required for salvation but saying some magic words about Jesus as Lord and Savior and everything is forever, literally forever, taken care of. Alternatively, liberation suggests that we are set free from things that hold us back. Where salvation emphasizes the end of the process, liberation emphasizes the beginning. We are liberated so that we can live. We are liberated so that we can celebrate the freedom of a life with God. We are liberated so that we can serve God starting today and forever.

With that in mind, verses 16 becomes “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for liberation,”

Two other words in the passage can be handled quickly: faith and righteousness. Again I won’t go into detail here because I want to spend most of my time with the word gospel. But righteousness or righteous really means being in right or good relationship. It is less about being on a moral pedestal and more about being reconciled with God and with all people. So when you hear about a person being righteous, think about a person who has right or good relationships with God and right and good relationships with others.

Faith is about more than just believing God exists or believing the right things about Jesus. Faith is about trusting God. In the face of powerful reasons to doubt or question, trusting that God can and will help us change ourselves and change the world. Trusting God leads us to righteousness because it leads us to right and good relationships with God and others.

 So going back to verses 16 and 17 we might read something like, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for liberation for everyone who trusts God, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in the Gospel good relationships with God and others are revealed. Through faith for faith; (or we might translate that to say “everything comes down to trusting God”) as it is written, “Trusting in God leads us to a good relationship with God and people.”

So now our last word to unpack is gospel. In some ways the simplest to translate and in other ways the most profound. The Greek word translated gospel simply means good news. Just ordinary good news. It could be the good news of your team winning the game or the good news of a baby being born. It could be the good news that you got a new job or that you just retired. But, when it is used in the Bible it often specifically refers to good news about God and sometimes more specifically about Jesus.

However, Jesus used the word gospel to describe not himself but the Kingdom of Heaven, that is God’s will being done on earth or the world as it should be. He said he was proclaiming the gospel or the good news about the Kingdom of Heaven, about the world as it should be. He begins his ministry in Luke by reading a passage from the prophet Isaiah, “God has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor, and release to the captives, to let the oppressed go free.” Notice here also the emphasis on liberation more than salvation.

So Jesus has his own idea about the word gospel, but our friend Paul has perhaps the most expansive view of the gospel which he lays out right here in the passage. “I am not ashamed of the gospel,” the good news. What is it? He says, “It is the power of God.”

When candidate Barack Obama was on the campaign trail the slogan or chant, “Yes we can” became popular. He used it in stump speeches. People would chant those words at his rallies. The slogan appeared on bumper stickers. It was a simple message that captured people’s hope that the country could be better while emphasizing each person’s responsibility to make it better; that it wouldn’t just get better on its own. “Yes, we can” is a powerful idea that invites us to believe we can do more than we thought possible. That whatever doubt or despair we may face can be overcome. We can do that which we thought we could not do.

That slogan “Yes we can” is so powerful because in many ways it is a summary of the Gospel, except that the Gospel brings God into the equation. That through faith, through trusting in God, being guided and empowered by a power greater than ourselves we can accomplish what we thought was impossible.

We hear a lot of bad news today. From gun violence to climate change to women’s rights being rolled back. It is easy to despair for the future. But, the Gospel is good news. The Gospel is the power of God. The Gospel invites us to believe and have faith that we can change things for the better.

It’s true that for some people the Gospel is just about believing in Jesus, but remember that Jesus himself was proclaiming the Gospel and it was not about him, it was about the Kingdom of Heaven being near, the world as it should be being so near that it was in our hands. He was calling us to live into the Kingdom of Heaven today.

The Gospel is the power of God available to us through faith, through trust, through good and just relationships with others and God. Believing the Gospel or believing the good news means we live like we believe we can change the world because we know that the power of God can work through us to do just that. We don’t live in despair. We live in hope.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can be the people God is calling us to be, living in a world God is ready to create through us.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can find reconciliation and peace in our most difficult personal relationships. The gospel is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.  

Through faith in the Gospel, we can live according to our means and give to others according to our most generous inclinations. The Gospel is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can create safe, thriving neighborhoods in our inner cities and small towns. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, addicts can find real, long term recovery. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can end gun violence in America. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can make America a place that welcomes all immigrants to share in our abundance. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can dismantle institutional racism at every level. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can end police brutality. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can give every girl the same opportunities as every boy. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can make a safe, free world for all women. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can protect LGBTQ people from violence and teach all children that love is love. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

Through faith in the Gospel, we can eliminate CO2 emissions, eliminate plastic waste, regrow our forests, save species from extinction, and reverse climate change. It is the power of God to accomplish what we thought was impossible.

That might all sound fanciful or pollyannaish, but remember what the Gospel is not. It is not a belief in a set of doctrines. It is not magic words that we recite to receive an eternal prize. The Gospel is the power of God able to liberate us from the bondage of self and self-destruction.

Now please be clear, I am not saying that God will do all this for us if we just believe, but through faith in the power of God, we can do what we could not do on our own.

I am not ashamed of this good news. I am not ashamed of the Gospel. It is the power of God to liberate anyone and everyone. For in it, God’s good relationship with us and our good relationships with others are revealed and we can live into those good relationships every day.

Those who trust in God and believe the good news will overcome doubt and despair. Those who trust in God and believe the good news will live into that good news every day and so change the world for the better.  

Do not be ashamed to have hope even in these difficult times. Do not be ashamed to have faith. Do not be ashamed to trust God. For through faith in the power of God the Kingdom of Heaven is in our hands. We can live in it together. We can change. We can make it real. Yes, we can.

Until today, as we have been reading from Matthew’s gospel, we have managed to avoid people being thrown “into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” But, we can avoid it no longer. Matthew is actually very fond of this concept. He uses the phrase six times in his Gospel. By comparison, Luke uses it once. Mark and John don’t use it at all.

The Gospel of Matthew is known for its emphasis on divine judgment and punishment and we have now entered into a section of the Gospel where it comes up more often.

Next week there is more weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Parable of the Unprepared Bridesmaids. In a couple weeks we will read the quintessential judgment passage from Matthew where at the end of time Jesus separates people like a shepherd separates sheep and goats. It is the famous passage, “whatever you did to the least of these, you did to [Christ].” In that passage, the punishment is not weeping and gnashing of teeth, but getting thrown into “eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”

So let’s talk about divine judgment. First, in life, the concept of divine judgment is most often used by people who feel oppressed, victimized, and powerless. These are people who feel like there is no justice available to them in this world and so they put their hope in the next world where people will receive a divine justice from God. They look around and see their oppressors literally getting away with murder, so they hope and believe that if there is a God and that God is just, then those who have harmed them and the people they love in this life will be held accountable in the next.

Note that people can turn to these ideas of divine judgment not just when they are oppressed but sometimes when they perceive they are oppressed. For instance, if people have experienced privilege for a long time and society starts to change in the direction of greater equality, the privileged can start to feel oppressed. That’s how you get Westboro Baptist Church: white, heterosexual, middle-class people who feel threatened by equality for gay people. The members of Westboro Baptist are not oppressed, but losing their privileged status makes them feel that way. There might be some mental illness involved too.

The point is that hope in divine vengeance is understandable, but not always reasonable. At some point, we have to evaluate it. We have to decide if people are being reasonable in their appeal to divine justice. Are they really victims of oppression or do they feel that way because their privilege is being challenged? And another question, as we will see is, “Are they wishing God’s divine justice on the appropriate people?”

So when we examine Matthew’s interest in people getting cast into the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth we have to consider his context. What we know is that all the Gospels were written after the destruction of the Jewish Temple by the Romans. So Jews were conquered subjects of the Roman Empire. Israel and the city of Jerusalem were militarily occupied by Rome. Just think about how that would feel. Imagine soldier from another country marching through the streets of Baltimore harassing our citizens. Anyone who challenged Roman authority was tortured and executed often by crucifixion. After a series of especially corrupt Roman governors of the land, the Jews revolted in the year 67 and took control of Jerusalem. Not long after that, Rome arrived with reinforcements and retook Jerusalem in what is described by an eyewitness as a complete slaughter of the people of the city: men, women and children, blood running in the streets, sacking the temple of all its holy treasurers, and then burning the temple and the city. So the Jews of Matthew’s time were legitimately oppressed and had very little hope of any real justice without God’s intervention. It seems like they would be justified in hoping for some reckoning from God.

Further, Matthew was writing in particular to Jews who had become Christians and who were either expelled from the synagogues or they were about to be expelled, they could see the writing on the wall. So for those Jewish Christians of the Roman Empire, they were doubly discriminated against. They were Jews who after an unsuccessful violent revolt had to continue living under Roman domination and then they were being expelled from their synagogues which were the only social safety net they knew in a hostile empire.

In other words, their desire for divine justice seems pretty reasonable. They had suffered at the hands of others in ways that would never be righted in their lifetimes. But, what seems unreasonable is that Matthew reserves the outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, not for the Romans, and not even for the Jews who expelled his community from the synagogues. The person in the parable who gets the worst of the divine justice is a Christian who was not living up to Christian community expectations.

So now let’s turn to our parable and see what I’m talking about. A great wedding feast has been prepared by a king. This is the feast of the Kingdom of Heaven, however, you define that as spiritual, material, or in this world or the next, the parable suggests God has prepared a feast and sent servants out to invite the Jews to enjoy it as God’s chosen people. Yet, according to Matthew, the Jews reject the invitation. They have other priorities. But, Matthew is actually least concerned with those who had other things to do. In this parable, the only consequence they experience is they don’t get to enjoy the feast.

But, there is one group of invitees who “seized God servants, mistreated them and killed them.” God’s servants here are almost certainly the prophets and Jesus. Those who killed the prophets and Jesus are the Jewish leaders of Jerusalem. Matthew envisions a harsh divine justice against those people. He says, “The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.” It is very likely that Matthew here is envisioning the burning of Jerusalem as divine justice administered by the Roman Empire.

Right here we see that one problem with the human wish for divine justice may be that we wish it on the wrong people. We blame the wrong people for our suffering. Jews were suffering because of Roman military occupation, but Matthew is more concerned about the misbehavior of his fellow Jews, and even the people of his own Christian community, and is wishing God’s vengeance upon them instead of Rome.

Well, things take a nicer turn in the parable at least briefly. The king now wants to invite everyone to the banquet, not just the Jews. These new folks probably represent either Jews who are somewhat non-compliant with Jewish law or Gentiles who want to be part of the Jewish vision of God’s feast.

In the parable, “The king says, “The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. So go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, the bad as well as the good, and the wedding hall was filled with guests.”

That’s nice. We probably wish the story would just end there.

But then things get really dark, wacky turn. There is one guest at the banquet who does not have a wedding robe. And this is the poor guy singled out by the king to be cast into the outer darkness where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth. The guy who responds to the surprise invitation, but doesn’t wear the right clothes received the harshest punishment.

OK, first, some people hear this part of the parable and protest that this is not fair because this guy was just brought in off the street so how can he be expected to have a wedding robe? However, that objection doesn’t really stand up to the assumptions of the story. Everyone there had just been brought in and were not expecting to be at the banquet and yet they all apparently had wedding robes. Only one person does not. So what is it that this guy should have been wearing but wasn’t. In other words, what the heck does the wedding robe symbolize? What is Matthew saying will get us cast out of the feast and into the outer darkness? Seems like an important thing for us to figure out.

Fortunately, there is an answer. Most likely wearing a wedding robe is a symbol of living an ethical, moral life. Whatever your life was like before you arrived at the banquet, now that you are at the wedding banquet you are expected to live a better life. Two passages in the epistles make reference to this. In Romans 13:14 Paul writes, “clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ and do not think about gratifying the desires of the flesh.” And then from Colossians 3:14 “Above all clothe yourselves with love, which binds us all together in perfect harmony.” So this was probably a known metaphor in the early church: the idea that living a life devoted to helping others was like clothing you wear every day.

But we still have the problem that the person who receives the harshest punishment is the one who tries to come to the wedding banquet and doesn’t live up to the expectations. Which has horrible implications for all of us here. Because this guy is us. As Christians, we have shown up to God’s banquet and we may not be living up to our calling to love our neighbor and love God as we should.

So let’s take a step back and recap how we might think about this concept of divine justice. First, hoping for divine justice is a reasonable thing. The fact is there are people today who are being violently oppressed. People who are being killed and imprisoned because of the color of their skin, or nationality, or religion or other kinds of superficial reasons, people who are seeking safety from violence only to have their children taken from them, people who are having their homes overrun and burned, people whose homeland is being used to enrich the wealthy, people who are being held captive and raped, and none of those people are getting justice in this world. And even if they would dedicate their lives to fighting for justice they would not see in their lifetime. And there are people responsible for the suffering. There are people who are preying on weak and the vulnerable for personal gain. If we believe God is just, and this world is so filled with injustice, then there has to be some kind of reckoning. There has to be another world to balance this one where the wrongs of this world are set right.

I know we want to believe in a God who forgives everyone in the end. I know I do. But, it is also somewhat arrogant, privileged, and unfeeling of people who have not been the victims of the horror of oppression and violence to blithely say God will just let the perpetrators off the hook. I’d like to believe everyone gets off the hook, but as a privileged, white, middle class, heterosexual, American man, my hope in a God who even forgives the oppressor may be biased by self-interest.

All that is to say that hoping, believing, and wishing for divine justice, and even retribution is reasonable.

Unfortunately or maybe fortunately, we are terrible at figuring who deserves it and who doesn’t. I mean in my evaluation, Matthew’s parable should have the Romans as the primary recipients of God’s divine justice. The oppressor, the violent, military empire, the one doing the crucifying should be the primary recipients of God’s divine justice, but in Matthew’s scheme, they aren’t just off the hook but become the instruments of divine justice.

Then if we are settling grudges, the Jewish leaders who killed God’s prophets and ultimately expelled Jesus-followers from the social safety of the synagogues deserve some kind of justice. And last of all the person who tries to make their life better by coming to the banquet and fails doesn’t really deserve any divine justice at all but deserves a second chance. Give the guy a robe. Teach him how to put it on.

But, I could be entirely wrong in that evaluation because ultimately we are completely ignorant of who really deserve divine justice and who deserves mercy. Our perspective on that is entirely skewed by our limited perspective, our self-interest, our hurt feelings, and our prejudices.

There is one more danger to consider regarding this topic of divine justice and then I will wrap this up. Sometimes we can give up on the work of making this world more just because we decide that the only real justice will come in the next. And Matthew’s version of this parable basically supports our temptation to give up. Our job in Matthew’s parable seems to be to get ourselves to the banquet, make sure we are wearing our robe, and leave everything else up to God the king who will kill people, and cast people out as he sees fit.

We must avoid that interpretation. And our only hope of avoiding it may be found in the folds of that mysterious wedding robe. If putting on a wedding robe is about living a good, ethical, Christian life, then that includes working for justice for the victims of injustice and standing with the vulnerable. That includes inviting and including more and more people in the banquet. That includes helping people at the banquet live a life devoted to neighbor and love for all people.

So in summary, hopefully, there is divine justice. Hopefully, we all get what we deserve for behavior that harms others. Hopefully, there is abundant mercy, because everyone is going to need some. But, we are terrible at guessing who deserves justice and who deserves mercy.

We do know we have been invited to the banquet. But if you respond to the invitation to this banquet, for God’s sake put on the robe. Wearing the robe means we dedicate our lives to love of neighbor and justice for all people, we work to include everyone in the banquet, and we teach everyone what it means to wear the clothing of love.

There is an expression attributed to ancient Celtic culture that has become fairly popular in the spiritual/faith circles of our day. The expression is “thin places.” The saying goes that heaven and earth are always only three feet apart, but in thin places, they are even closer. Thin places are physical places or even moments in time when the veil between the material and spiritual is pulled away or becomes transparent. Thin places can be ancient holy sites or particularly moving experiences of nature, or profound events in life such as the birth of a child or the death of a loved one. In all such times and places, we might think that God is coming closer to us, or the barrier that seems to exists between the Heaven and Earth crumbles. But, I wonder if that is really what is happening in those thin places.

Is the barrier changing? Is the veil changing? Or are we changing? Are we changing so that we become more able to see what is always there? That change may be the result of a gift from God so that we are somehow given the ability to see the divine and the holy even though it is always there. And/or the ability to see, feel, and know the presence of God may be something we can practice and cultivate.

In our reading today, the disciples and Jesus experience a thin place on the mountain top. They experienced a time and place where the veil of the material, physical nature of Jesus was pulled away so that his dark brown skin began to radiate light. Even his clothes dazzled. Even the veil between present and past was pulled away as visions of Moses and Elijah appeared living and walking and talking with Jesus. A cloud overshadowed them and a voice from heaven was heard. But, I wonder did all of that change, or did the disciples change so they could suddenly see what was always there? Was Jesus always brilliant, and always in communion with his spiritual ancestors, and always hearing the affirming voice of God, and then in that moment on that mountain top did something change in the disciples so they became able to perceive it.

As we read this story, even this strange and fantastic story we should ask the question we always ask of Bible stories, “What does it mean for us today?” There are at least two answers to that question. One answer certainly has to do with our understanding of Jesus and who he was. Matthew is telling us, as do Mark and Luke that Jesus is like Moses and like Elijah, the great spiritual icons of Judaism who appear with him, and that he is even greater than these. Moses and Elijah never got a voice from heaven saying, “This is my Son, my chosen, listen to him.” Matthew wants us to see Jesus as a new Moses and even more than Moses.

But, beyond that theological statement about Jesus what else can we do with this strange, otherworldly, fantastic text. The second answer to the question what does it mean for us is that it invites us to always be more open to and aware of the presence of God all around us, all the time, in our daily lives. Jesus did not change in this story, the disciples did. The disciples became able to see a dimension of reality in Jesus that they previously could not see or hear. I suggest this story invites us to keep our eyes and hearts open for this kind of truth and reality everywhere.

In the movie Pulp Fiction, which is a great movie and also violent and awful, so if you haven’t seen it be warned. But, in that movie a hit man named Jules played by Samuel L. Jackson has a near-death experience where someone jumps out of a closet and tries to shoot him in the head and misses every shot. As a result, Jules begins to reflect on his life choices and there is a great scene in a diner where Jules is talking to his partner Vincent played by John Travolta. I wish I could show the scene but it has a bunch of language that would be offensive. But, Jules tells Vincent that he believes what happened was a miracle. Vincent says it was not a miracle it was just a freak occurrence. They debate this some and then Jules says, “Vincent you are looking at this the wrong way. It could be the God stopped the bullet, or changed Coke to Pepsi or found my car keys. You don’t judge stuff like this based on merit. Now whether what we witnessed was an according to Hoyle miracle is insignificant, but what is significant is that I felt the touch of God. God got involved.” The transfiguration story is inviting us to see all the ways God gets involved in our daily lives.

There is that old saying is we should not make a mountain out of a molehill. That is we should not make little problems into big problems. But, maybe when it comes to seeing thin places or opening eyes to the divine, maybe when it comes to feeling the touch of God, to recognizing when God gets involved, maybe we should not require molehills to be mountains. Maybe thin places are appearing on molehills everywhere. Everywhere we turn God is involved. Every person we see is shining with the light of God. Our spiritual ancestors always walk with us, beside us, and within us. Every sound we hear is the voice of God calling to us and affirming us as beloved.

I can share a few times when I have seen God in molehills. In other words, these are not times when I had to go to extraordinary lengths, but were God was clearly getting involved in everyday experiences.

Last Monday morning when we had all that powerful wind blowing, I sat in my favorite chair with my dog laying on his back in my lap and I rubbed his chest and watched out our front window the wind blow as the sun rose over my suburban street. In that moment, God was opening my eyes to see the divine and holy right there in Lutherville.

One time, driving my son, Oscar home from the airport on his first winter break from college, having to get off 695 because of traffic and driving through West Baltimore listening to his playlist of obscure bands playing familiar covers. That’s about as close as Oscar and I get to intimacy most of the time.

God fairly consistently opens my eyes when I’m in the kitchen preparing food, listening to music and drinking red wine. Maybe the wine has something to do with the process.
Worshipping in the evenings at Kay Papa Nou in the darkness as the girls move from kneeling on wooden benches and praying aloud to loud enthusiastic singing praises to God by heart.

Laughing hysterically at the dinner table when it is a joke the only my daughter and I think is funny. And Sasha and my mother just look at us like we are crazy.

Sunday mornings, singing together in church or in a small group where the voices blend and unify.

The veil between heaven and earth is always thin. It is not only that way on mountain tops, but heaven and earth touch on molehills everywhere. I don’t think they are ever three feet apart.

Sometimes we don’t realize we experience the holy until it is over and we look back on them.

Soren Kierkegaard said, “Life can only be understood backward but it must be lived forward”

But sometimes we do know that it’s happening and we do see it, feel it, hear it. Then we are like Peter who wants to preserve the experience. And we can lose it by wanting to hold on to it. Right in the middle of the vision, Peter says, “Lord let us build three tabernacles one for you, one for Elijah and one for Moses. Let’s us contain. Let us hold onto this moment of beauty and clarity.

Matthew is unique among the Gospel by the way the voice of God does not just come after Peter gives his idea, the voice of God literally interrupted Peter, “As Peter was speaking a voice “This is my son, my beloved, listen to him.”

Which brings us back to that core tenant of the Christian faith, that we can reliably see God, hear God, know God by listening to Jesus, by studying his life and example, so that when we lose the ability to see the Kingdom of heaven in our everyday life we can turn to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus and know we are seeing God.

When the transfiguration was all over, the cloud had disappeared, Moses and Elijah were gone, the voice from heaven stopped speaking, the disciples were left with just Jesus, ordinary flesh and blood, dirty clothes Jesus standing there. But, there is no way they would ever look at him the same way again. Knowing that just beneath the veil of his flesh was his divinity. That perhaps even his flesh was divine.

Hopefully, they would never look at anything the same, knowing that the kingdom of heaven is less three feet from every person, every situation, every moment.

So ask God for the eyes to see it, the ears to hear, and the heart to feel. If for some reason God does not provide that gifts at that moment, just look to Jesus.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke are the only ones that tell the story of Jesus’ conception and birth. Mark begins with Jesus as an adult. John begins with the beginning of time and then skips ahead to Jesus as an adult. In the Gospel of Luke we get lots of stories including a story about the miraculous conception of John the Baptist, the story of the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary and announcing the conception of Jesus, Mary’s visit to her cousin Elizabeth (and John the Baptist’s mom) where John leaps in his mother’s womb at the sound of Mary’s voice. We get the Song of Mary beginning, “My soul magnifies the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,  for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant, Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed” Which by the way is where we get the words to The Canticle of the Turning, “My soul cries out with a joyful shout that the God of my heart is great, and my spirit sings of the wondrous things that you bring to the ones who wait.” Then after Mary sings we are told of the birth of John the Baptist, and we get a song from his dad. Then finally in Luke, Jesus is born complete with the manger, the swaddling cloth, the shepherds keeping watch over their flock, and the heavenly host. That is all in Luke.

Matthew handles things more expediently.

He gives a 42 generation genealogy of Jesus. Then we get the story of the announcement of Jesus’ conception and the story of his birth, all in less than 300 words. After this the magi appear with their gold, frankincense and myrrh, and the holy family has to flee to Egypt to escape persecution.

Our reading today is that succinct story of the conception and birth of Jesus as told by Matthew, so let’s take a closer look at how he handles the material. The first thing we might notice is the story is told from the perspective of Joseph. In Luke, Gabriel comes to Mary and it is Mary’s story. In Matthew an unnamed angel comes to Joseph and it is really Joseph’s story. Mary and Joseph are engaged but have not slept together. So when Mary discovers she is pregnant, Joseph believes she has been with another man. There is nothing wrong with him thinking that. It is the only logical conclusion. What makes Joseph special at this point is his response. We are told he is a righteous man and therefore he does not want to expose her to public disgrace.

Think about that for a moment. There are different ways to think about righteousness. A person can be righteous by meticulously, strictly following an ethical or moral law. If Joseph had meticulously followed the religious law of his day he could have called for Mary to be executed or at least publicly shamed in some way. That could have been seen as the righteous thing to do, following the letter of the law. But, Joseph is not that kind or righteous. There is another kind of righteousness that involves not strict adherence to religious laws but instead involves being merciful and kind, and having a generous spirit. There is a kind of righteousness that involves having compassion for another person’s imperfections and a willingness to bend religious law when applying that law would be cruel in a given situation. That is the kind of righteousness Joseph displays here. He wants to handle this situation, what he believed to be Mary’s unfaithfulness, quietly and let Mary perhaps being able to pursue a relationship with the father of the baby, or at least continue to live with her mother’s family, minimizing public embarrassment,   and have the baby in a way that she and her family see fit. I think many people would agree that this is a more righteous solution that having her executed or shamed.

But, of course, the story doesn’t end there. Joseph has a dream. He dreams that an angel tells him that he should still marry her, that Mary has not been unfaithful but that her pregnancy is miraculous and from the Holy Spirit, that the child to be born will be a savior to the people. In response to this dream, Joseph follows these instructions and he does marry her and when the baby is born they name him Jesus just as the dream directed.

So this is perhaps a third kind of righteousness, and it is a righteousness that is completely inspired by God, a righteousness that is beyond what an ordinary person could be expected to do. It is a righteousness that is only possible when we fully trust in the will and guidance and power of God.

We are in our last of the Advent sermon series entitled “Prepare”, using the word Prepare as an acrostic to stand for some things we can do in our lives to prepare our souls for a deeper relationship with God. So far we have considered, finding a slower pace, practising the spiritual discipline of returning again and again to the object or our devotion, examining our own ethical and devotional lives using St. Ignatius’ practice of Examen, staying connected to our purpose of loving God and loving neighbour every day, and last Sunday with music we considered the importance of appreciating angels as messengers of God’s love and opportunities to share that love with others. Today we talk about reconciliation and enjoyment.

Reconciliation means restoring a broken or damaged relationship. We all have broken or damaged relationships in our lives and we all have some reconciliation work to do. Reconciliation is exactly what Joseph and Mary do in this story. The damage is basically all Joseph’s fault since Mary never actually did anything wrong, but still, there is serious damage to the relationship based on Joseph’s reasonable assumption that Mary was unfaithful. Without God’s intervention, Joseph would have treated Mary in a kind and generous way considering what his alternatives were, but their relationship would never have been reconciled. With God’s intervention and guidance, Joseph was able to swallow his pride, see and acknowledge that he was wrong, and repair the damage done by recommitting himself to Mary. In so doing he demonstrates that third kind of righteousness that can only happen in our lives by when we believe in and trust in the Grace of God.

So here is a question for us, “What is a damaged relationship we need to repair? Do we have relationships where the brokenness of the relationship is a righteous brokenness? Where we are completely justified in our position whatever it may be, but that justification keeps the relationship from being repaired? Have we decided to withhold forgiveness and withhold the grace God has given to us, because we are too proud, or perhaps still feeling too vulnerable?”

If we do have such a broken relationship there is only one way it can be restored, and that it by the grace of God. Only by connecting to God’s love, a love the is far greater than we are able to summon with our own resources, and only by being inspired by that divine love, only by seeking God’s will over our own will, can we hope to achieve reconciliation in the most stubbornly broken relationships. But here is the good news of the gospel this morning, “God can and will provide the love and grace we need and God can and will help us reconcile even the most broken relationships.

The last way we might consider preparing ourselves for a deeper relationship with God is through simple enjoyment. I got this app on my phone recently called WeCroak and it is inspired by a Bhutanese saying that true happiness comes when we reflect on our own death five times a day. So this app sends me notifications 5 times a day reminding me that I’m going to die. It does this by sharing quotes about death. Now I don’t see all the notification, but I see several a day, and it really does work, because whatever silliness I am stressed about at any given moment, a little quote about death really does put things in perspective.

When we consider enjoyment as a practice to help us prepare ourselves for a deeper relationship with God, we might think of physical enjoyment, like taking a nice bath, or a short walk outside, or to savour some good food. But, enjoying our relationships with people is critical to enjoying this short life we have been given. Enjoying time with our loved ones is key. Enjoying any person we might encounter by seeing them as a child of God worthy of our love. But, the holy grail of this process of enjoying relationships is reconciliation with those with whom we have broken relationships. Learning to enjoy through compassion and understanding and grace, even the people we currently resent.

Can we through the grace and love of God learn to love and enjoy even our enemies? I think Jesus said something about this. If that seems like a bridge too far. If you would rather, dismiss the relationship queitly, you might still be considered a righteous person, but perhaps just try to ask God for help.

In fact, let’s do that now. I invite you to take a moment to think about someone with whom you have a broken relationship. Someone who hurt you, or offended you in some way. And like Joseph you may be entirely justified in your dislike of this person and what they did. But, we are all going to die, and do we want to take our hatred or resentment or bitterness to the grave? So let’s pray, “Holy God, come to us, inspire us, help us to reconcile with this person. We cannot do it by ourselves. Give us some insight or information the way you gave Joseph information or insight about Mary. Help us see this person as a child who was hurt and continues to hurt others. Help us find compassion. Help us see the error of our own ways. When we are unable by our own resources to repair this relationship, give us the strength and grace we need to do what we have not been able to do on our own. Help us find reconciliation and enjoyment of every relationship in our life, even this one that is, for now, painful and difficult. Amen.”

Just a quick recap of the story of Esther: Esther is the young Queen of Persia. The King has recently married her and does not know she is Jewish. Haman is an advisor to the King who convinces the king to order the slaughter of all the Jewish people in the Empire. Mordecai is Esther uncle and challenges her to stand up for her people and use her new influence as Queen to save them. Yet, Esther knows that even as Queen she will be risking her life to confront the King. In his appeal to Esther, Mordecai utters these somewhat famous words, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape the slaughter. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to your royal position for such a time as this?”

In the midterm elections this year, more than ever we had women running for office. This was true both at the national level where a record number of women from diverse backgrounds were elected to Congress. It was also true at the state and local levels where more than ever women sought and were elected. In fact, today we have one such woman with us. Anne Allen Dandy’s granddaughter, Robyn Vining is here and was just elected to her first term in the Wisconsin State Assembly. We can’t be sure exactly why a record number of women ran and were elected but it seems likely it had something to do with the very anti-woman rhetoric from the current administration, combined with the MeToo movement where thousands of women have spoken out against their mistreatment at the hands of powerful men. Perhaps on an even larger scale, it has to do with the mess that men in power have made of the world on a planetary scale. And women are increasingly taking that power away from those men. They have heard Mordecai’s call to Esther, perhaps it is for just such a time as this that you have been placed in your particular position, with your particular gifts and passions.

Today as we continue in the Advent Season and consider ways we can prepare ourselves for a deeper relationship with God, we turn to the 3rd and 4th letter in our acrostic of the word PREPARE. Last Sunday we talked about P and R from the Word Prepare which stood for Pace and Return. This Sunday we look at E for Examine and another P this time for Purpose.

The practice of honestly and regularly examining our own spiritual and ethical lives is critical for preparing ourselves for a deeper relationship with God. Without examination of our own lives, or perhaps we could say evaluation, we really can’t expect to grow in our faith. Any practice or skill involves examination and evaluation in order to improve and the spiritual life is not different. We might wonder what spiritual self-examination looks like or how we are supposed to do it. Fortunately, we have simple, clear, instructions on the subject from none other than St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order and the namesake of our local University.

In his classic spiritual text, “The Spiritual Exercises” written in the 1520s Ignatius lays out a five-step process that we can practice every day or even twice a day as a fruitful and productive way to examine our own spiritual lives. There are numerous versions of this, but the one I will share is based on actual quotes from “The Spiritual Exercises”.

“The first point is to give thanks to God our Lord for the gifts received.”
In other words, Ignatius suggests we look back on our day. This can be done at any time, but the idea is to look back to the moment we woke up or to the last time during the day we did the examination. And as we look back we give thanks to God for the things that happened that day. Everything from the food we ate, to the people we encountered, to blessing we received, even giving thanks for the challenges we faced. We look back on the day with gratitude.
“The second point is to ask for the grace to know my sins and to root them out.”
Now this language might not be helpful to you, but the idea is to ask God to help us see where we fell short, or where we did not live by our highest values. And that does often take some divine help because we tend to not see our own faults. We are much better at identifying the fault of others. But, if we are to grow in faith, if we are to remove the obstacles in our path to a deeper relationship with God, we need to get brutally honest about our own shortcomings and failures and stop worrying so much about the failures of others.
“The third point is to demand an account of my soul from the moment of rising to that of the present examination, hour by hour or period by period. The thoughts should be examined first, then the words, and finally the actions.”
At this point, some teachers suggest we focus on one thought, word or action; that we pick one. One particular place where we fell short, one interaction, and we pray about that. Some suggest we pay particular attention to our emotions here. In fact, that we use our emotions to lead us to those things that need the most attention. Did something make us particularly angry, that is what we should pray about? Did we feel especially hurt or sad when we interacted with someone? Pray about that. Strong emotions especially negative emotions are signs that we may be trying to take control of a situation in a way that is not helpful. So when things don’t go our way we get upset. So we find the place with intense emotions in the day and we see what we were thinking or words we said or actions we took that may have been involved with those feelings. Then we pray about them. We ask God to show us where we fell short, how we could have acted differently, how we could live closer to our highest values.
“The fourth point is to ask pardon of God our Lord for my faults.”
Pretty simple, though not always easy, we ask God to forgive us for our faults and we receive that forgiveness because we cannot really move forward if we are holding onto regrets or guilt from the past.
“The fifth point is to resolve to amend with the help of God’s grace. Close with the Lord’s Prayer.”
This is, of course, critical for growth. But notice what it does not say. It does not say we just resolve to do things differently next time or to try harder next time. It says to resolve to amend the harm that was done. We may need to go back and apologize if that is in order. Or perhaps make restitution if we harmed someone. Or it could, in fact, involve acting differently in the future if the most appropriate way to make amends is to just stop doing any more harm.

So that is one great spiritual teacher’s suggestions for how to examine ourselves spiritually and he suggests we work through that process at least daily. Again the points are 1. Give thanks. 2. Ask God to help us see where we fall short. 3. Review our emotions, thoughts, words and action throughout the day. 4. Ask for God’s forgiveness when we have failed. 5. Make amends.

The second letter in our acrostic is P which stands for purpose. That might seem to be connected to examination because we might think that through deep self-examination we can determine our purpose in life. But, actually, examination and purpose are not really connected that way. Partly because we don’t need a thorough self-examination or even deep introspection to know our purpose. It really isn’t that hard to know and we all have the same purpose. We can express in different ways, but the most basic way our purpose is expressed is by Jesus when he is asked what are the greatest two commandments. He answers, “Love God and Love your neighbour.” That is our purpose. As his followers or his disciples, that’s it. We don’t need days or months or years of pondering and searching for our purpose. It has been handed to us. We can express it other ways. “Be helpful to others. Serve those in need. Seek the common good.” But, it all comes back to love of God and love of neighbour. That’s why we are here. That’s why we are supposed to be getting up in the morning. We could add another teaching of Jesus to give a little more direction to that process. At one point he says, “If you want to be my disciples you must take up your cross daily and follow me for those who want to save their life must lose it.” By “taking up our cross” he is telling us that we must allow our ego and our self-centeredness to die so that we can live so that we can love God and love neighbour more fully. Our egos will always interfere with our purpose of loving others.

Now we might all have different ways we love God and neighbour. We might have different gifts and abilities, as a good listener, or a good teacher, or a good writer, or even engineer. And those are all questions of purpose too. But those are questions about how we are to live out our most fundamental purpose on this planet, the one we all share which is to love God and love neighbour.

I said that examination and purpose are not connected in that we don’t need to go through a lot of self-examination to determine our purpose. However, they are connected the other way around. It is helpful to know our purpose on this earth when we are conducting a spiritual and ethical examination. When we review our day, our emotion, thoughts, words, and actions, the standard by which we are evaluating them is the standard of love for God and love of neighbour. Were we helpful today? Were we compassionate today? Were we kind? Were we focused more on self-preservation and self-gratification or were we focused on helping others and seeking the common good.

Esther knew her purpose. It was to put the welfare of her own people ahead of her own self-preservation. She looked at her own actions of staying silent in the face of evil and decided that if she was going to seek the common good she would need to put herself at risk and speak up, so she made amends for her silence by speaking up and advocating for her people.

So many of the women (and men) who have sought public office this year, are seeking to be of service, to help others, to further the common good. They would do well as they go along, to examine their emotions, thoughts, word and action on a regular basis, to be sure that they are growing and living by the standard to love for God and love for neighbour.

And so should all of us, whether we hold an office in Congress or are trying to be a good mom or dad, or friend, or neighbour. Our purpose is clear and simple. Love God and love neighbour. But, that doesn’t just happen. Each day we must examine how we are doing, how we can amend the mistakes we have made and how we can love others better tomorrow.

If you were here last Sunday you know that due to technical difficulties with a couple videos I had planned to show, I ended up not just talking about Jeremiah chapter 1 as planned but adding some reflection on Jeremiah 7 which were not planned. Chapter 7 has to do with the idea that we all have the power to prepare ourselves for a relationship with God. Yes, God is always with us and always loves us no matter what we do, but we do things that block us from having a more meaningful, joyful, empowering relationship with God. And we can choose to live in a way that removes those blocks.

After preaching somewhat briefly about that idea, it occurred to me that it is really the whole meaning of the Advent season. Advent in the Christian year is always a season of preparation. We are preparing ourselves for Christ to be born anew into our lives.

One of the most quoted verses during Advent is from the prophet Isaiah and from the Gospels where John the Baptist is quoting Isaiah, “Prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low, the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain.” The idea expressed here is that valleys and mountains and rough ground and rugged places are the things that hinder our relationship with God, so those things must be straightened and levelled in order to allow God’s Spirit to flow through us and into us with maximum power.

Well, then I thought since it is really a central theme of Advent, why not do a series on this idea of preparing ourselves for a deeper relationship with God. And perhaps make an acrostic from the word “Prepare”. So that’s what happened. You can see it in the bulletin announcements.
Pace
Return
Examine
Purpose
Angels
Reconciliation
Enjoyment

And all of that (getting to that point) makes me wonder if maybe God had a hand in the technical difficulties I experienced last Sunday. Maybe those technical difficulties were all part of an elaborate divine plan to get me to change my plan and instead talk about preparation, which helps us deepen our relationship with God, but also might have been helpful in avoiding my technical difficulties last Sunday.

So today we will do two letters: P and R. Standing for Pace and Return.

Pace could have just as easily been persistence or even patience, they all fit with our passage today from Habakkuk. In that passage, the prophet is complaining to God about the violence and injustice in the world. He says “devastation and violence are before me, there is strife, and conflicts abound.” He says, “How long is this going to go on?” Habakkuk is in a hurry for the world to be the way he thinks it should be. He is rushing things. He sounds like he is thinking of giving up.

God responds, “Don’t despair. There is a vision of justice for the future. Hold on to the vision. It is good vision. It will come at the right time.” Verse 3b says, “If it delays, wait for it; for surely it is coming; it will not be late.”

In other words Habakkuk, “Slow down. Hold the vision. Share the vision. Proclaim the vision. Keeping working for it. Be patient and persist.”

Important words for our society today, locally, nationally and internationally. Perhaps these are important words for our personal lives too. Are you despairing that God’s vision for you will come true? Are you rushing it? Or are you thinking of giving up? Slow down. Hold the vision. Proclaim the vision. Keeping working. Be patient and persist.

I ended up choosing Pace as the word instead of persistence or patience because I was thinking about how we can prepare ourselves for a deeper relationship with God. And I think that slowing down our pace really is critical. It is especially true this time of year, but it is really true all year, we run and run, we are frantic with business. We are perpetually grasping for something more than what we have. And when we run ourselves at that pace we leave little room for God.

One of the most helpful concepts for me when it comes to pace, and I have to remind myself of this regularly because I really do rush around a lot, is the concept of allowing wide margins our life. It is the idea of not scheduling every free moment, or when we have free moments not filling them up with activity. Smartphones are especially tempting for us when we have downtime, because we can always turn to them for mental activity. In any free, slow moment, we check e-mail, or texts of social media or news or just play a game.

Instead of living this way, having wide margins suggests we schedule things for more time than they might actually take. Discipline yourself to be less productive. And when downtime does come, use it to breathe and not surf online. Business really does block us from a deeper relationship with God. Slow down. Wait for it. Allow God to fill up the empty spaces. Hold on to the vision of something better and trust that with slow, patience, persistence it will come.

The second letter and word is R for Return. God tells Habakkuk to return to his vision. Return to his purpose. He has gotten off track with his worry and anxiety and he needs to come back to what is important. How many of us get off track and need to return to what is important. This is a very important concept for meditation and prayer. When we are trying to meditate or pray and focus our attention either on the present moment or bodies or God, we all get distracted. Our minds drift to 1000 different things. And so many of the ancient spiritual teachers tell us to then gently and loving notice that our attention has drifted and return back to our the object our concentration. And to do that over and over and over again without scolding ourselves or getting frustrated, but in fact it is the noticing and returning that is just as important as the awareness of the object. The practice of return is just as important as successfully staying focused on the object of our devotion.

Communion, the Lord’s Supper is also a way we practice returning. We return to this table month after month. We focus our attention on the bread and the cup, we focus our attention on Christ’s suffering and sacrifice, death and resurrection, then we go out in the world and usually forget about all that. We also forget about our connections to each other in the community of faith. But, then Communion comes around again and we return back to Table. Part of the practice of communion is the returning.

We prepare ourselves for a deeper relationship with God when we practice gentle loving returning to the object our devotion.

God is always with us. God always loves us. But, we do have the power to resist God’s love, the block God’s Spirit, to deny a deeper relationship. We also have the power to remove these obstacles that we put up and clear away the debris and make a path for God in our lives. Let this Advent season, be a time to slow down and make space for God to fill, let it be a time of returning to God, let it be a time of preparing the way of the Lord.

Raise your hand if you get along great with all your family members. And I mean, brothers and sisters, parents and kids, aunt and uncles and cousins, and in-laws. Do you get along great with everyone? Now raise your hand if there is at least one family member whose close proximity to you is stressful.

Many people this Thursday will get together with family. Some of us will have family staying in our homes. And for some this will be a pleasant experience. For some it will be stressful. For most there will probably be a mixture feelings.

There is something about getting a bunch of family together that increases the probability of a fight. For some families it is politics. Republicans and Democrats. For some families it is issues about race or gender or immigration. For some it has nothing to do with the issues of the day, but old emotional wounds that have never really healed get easily re-injured in the presence of the person who created them. And yes, maybe you are fortunate and none of this happens at your family gatherings or maybe some people have stopped coming to your family gatherings because they are done fighting – so what looks like peace is actually voluntary segregation.

Well in our passage this morning from Isaiah we have a couple guys who are not at a family gathering, but they are coming together and itching for a fight. The guy from the Assyrian Emperor comes to the gates of Jerusalem and declares that everything in the media is fake news. He says that people should only believe the Emperor Assyria. He says, “Don’t listen to King Hezekiah who says you are safe, but listen to Assyria’s king who says, “Surrender to me and come out Then each of you will eat from your own vine and fig tree and drink water from your own land.” He says “King Hezekiah is lying to your about your situation.”

Apparently this really pushes King Hezekiah’s buttons because he tears his clothes and went off to pray. Kind of like when Uncle Joe gets up from an argument at the table and goes outside to smoke a cigarette.

Then Hezekiah sends his servants to ask the prophet Isaiah what should be done about the Assyrians and Isaiah says, “Don’t believe the Emperor of Assyria, believe me! God is on our side and is going cut down all the Assyrian armies with the sword!”

So Assyrians says, “I’m right. I’m powerful. Everyone listen to me.” And Isaiah says, “No. I’m right. God is powerful and on our side. So everyone listen to me.” Just typical Thanksgiving dinner conversation.

But, then our lectionary text does something a little screwy. It sends us back 34 chapter to Isaiah chapter 2. And offers another perspective on all this squabbling. Isaiah 2 quote the prophet saying that God is still going to dominate the world, but this time not by might or by force, but by offering irresistible instruction and inspiration to all the earth. People will seek out God on their own accord. That in the presence of God disputes will be settled and relationships reconciled. Then we get the wonderful passage, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nations, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

A plowshare by the way is the metal part of the plow. So here is the question for us as we prepare to meet with family this Thanksgiving, “Are you going to show up to dinner with swords or with plowshares?” Are you going to show up ready for battle? Are you going to show up with your arguments honed? Are you coming in with a strategy to win the fight? Are you coming with a sword? Swords are a lot more fun by the way. They are pointy. They are sharp. You can swing them around. You can chop things in pieces. You can pierce people deeply. And most importantly you poke people with them. Many of us many never intend to chop or stab, but we are looking forward to some serious poking.

Or are you going to show up with plowshares? Are you going to come ready to listen to others? Are you going to try to understand their perspective rather than clearly articulate yours? Are you going to come ready to do the hard work of helping someone else express themselves? Are you willing to go deep even if the deep dark places are scary and filled with rotting manure? And yeah, plowing a field is not fun. Plows are heavy. They require a lot of effort to operate. And it is really hard to poke anyone with a plow. But, they do important work that ultimately makes things better for everyone. Plows are broad and when you operate a plow you have to be open to turning up some surprising things. Plows go deep like swords but by bringing deeper things to light plows make new growth possible. And there is a profound joy in a freshly plowed field. And yes they can be messy. But, do we want the mess of a massacre or do we want the mess of freshly turned earth.

So which will it be swords or plowshares?

As Christians the right answer here should be obvious. We should go into any situation seeking understanding and reconciliation. We should be trying to follow the Prayer of St. Francis.

“Where there is hatred let me sow love
Where there is injury, pardon…
May I not so much seek to be consoled as to console
to be understood as to understand
To be loved as to love
For it is in giving that we receive
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned
And it’s in dying that we are born to eternal life”

Christians should be armed with plowshares. If you are not there yet its OK. One person asked me if they could at least bring a shield to their gathering. Yes, that is fine. Bring a shield and a plowshare, but not swords. Our goal as Christians is to address our problems without swords. That is where we are going. Our orders are to beat our swords into plowshares. So ask God to help you if you are not ready to do it alone. “God help me beat this sword into a plowshare.” And if that prayer is too hard, ask God to help you be ready to do it or to want to do it. “God help me want to let go of this sword. Help me want to beat this sward into a plowshare.”

This Thanksgiving and beyond thanksgiving in all our relationships, is it more important to be right and to win or is it more important to understand someone and find compassion and peace?

People often bring a dish to Thanksgiving Dinner. You might bring green bean casserole or candied sweet potatoes. You might bring turkey or a vegan alternative. Or that critical question of pumpkin or sweet potato pie. But, the most important choice we make is whether to show up to any relationship with a sword or a plowshare.

With Communion and All Saints Day Observance I want to keep the sermon very short and to the point today. Fortunately, the story of Naaman has at least one pretty straight forward message. That message is our healing and our wholeness often come through very simple, boring, repetitive practices.

In the story Naaman is a powerful man who has been rendered powerless by leprosy. He goes to see the prophet Elisha who has a reputation as a healer. But, Elisha does not even come out of his house to talk to Naaman, but sends a servant to instruct him to wash in the Jordan River seven times. Naaman is furious and believes first that because he is such a powerful man, Elisha should have come out to speak to him personally. And second that Elisha should have done some sort of magical or spectacular healing to take away his leprosy.

But, Naaman’s servant persuades him with the excellent argument, if the prophet told you to do something hard, you would have done it. If he had told you to go slay a lion and you would be healed, you would have attempted that. So if he tells to wash 7 times in the Jordan why not just give it a try? Naaman listens to this advice and iit and it works. He is healed.

In the same way there are very basic repetitive things we can do to be made whole as people. I’m not talking about miraculous healing from disease, thought I believe that does happen. I’m talking about being well. Being at peace, and happy, and purposeful, and hopeful. And probably being physically better as result of getting our spiritual and moral house in order. But, It is our relationship with our higher power, and with other people that sets the stage for all kinds of well being.

So what are the basic repetitive things we are invited to do to achieve that well being? Keeping with the idea of washing in the Jordan 7 times, here are 7 simple repetitive things we can do:

1. Attend worship services regularly. Prioritize Sunday worship. Come on Sunday whether you feel like it or not. Weekly worship is a time to devote to our relationship with God and our relationship with our faith community. We hear positive message. We seek the wellbeing of others. We sing our love of God and others. It is like taking a spiritual bath once a week. And just like regular bath, we should do it whether we need it or not.
2. It is stewardship season. We are in a pledge drive. But even if we weren’t, giving financially to the church is one of those basic, mundane, repetitive tasks. And I AM talking about financial giving. More about other giving in just a minute. But, sacrificing part of our income, and therefore part of who we are, to the church community is a practice that makes us whole. Please note I”m no saying give money and be healed of your disease. But, giving financially is one of several things we can do that lead us to greater well being as members of a faith community. It helps us be invest in what is happening and helps us be part of something that is greater than us.
3. Join a ministry of the church. Not everyone can do this for various reasons. But, a gotta tell you, if we are looking for boring, repetitive tasks, there is not much that is more mundane and repetitive than a church committee meeting. The basic, everyday work of the community gets done there. And you get to know people in the committees, and teams, work days of the church. That kind of work connects to each other.
4. Prayer. Pray every day. If you don’t know what to pray or how to pray, start with the Lord’s Prayer which is what Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him how they should pray. Pray that you can be of service to God that day. Pray that you can let go of resentments and trust in God to guide you.
5. Forgiveness. This might seem like it is too big to be on your list of daily, repetitive tasks. But, I promise everyday for the rest of your life people are going to do thoughtless, hurtful things. Let go of resentments. Let go of grudges. Try to move from condemnation of others, to compassion. Seek to understand that everyone is fighting a battle you know nothing about.
6. Read devotional material daily.  That can be the Bible, but it doesn’t have to be. I went through a long time in my own journey trying to read the Bible devotionally and being frustrated because there is so much challenging material in there that needs explanation and interpretation. There is a lot of great stuff in the Bible, but there is a lot of hard stuff too. So if not the Bible, there are lots of good devotional material out there.
7. Help someone in need each day. Show kindness. Reach out. That can be a phone. A text. A card. Even a prayer. But, get out of your self and invest some time each day in the helping someone else. The Apostle Paul says that in bearing one another’s burdens we fulfill the law of Christ.

Seven simple mundane repetitive practices like bathing 7 times I the Jordan. There are lots of others. But these are just 7 ideas to make the point. But, none are flashy, sensational things. It is the day in, day out work of living a faithful life. It is the stuff of healing and wholeness and well being. Namaan’s servant offers sage advice to all of us. If you were promised healing and wholeness by doing something difficult would you at least attempt it. Then why not do the simple things that lead us to be made well?