On cries of injustice and His promise to make us fountains who never fail . . .

     One of the dangers of using a lectionary is that we are dependent upon the skills of the committee that produces the readings.  I don’t mean that, of course, as if their PhD’s do not prepare them to examine the texts and edit them.  I suppose my real gripe is with the editing and the breaking of texts in a parish setting.  When they put the lectionary together, it’s done rather academically, though I imagine covered in prayer.  Sometimes, readings will be grouped in ways that may make perfect sense to academics, but not to those of us living in messy parish life.  Other times, the groupings are clearly meant to introduce a concept, like sabbath this week, to a congregation, when what the congregation needs is something else from the readings.  Thankfully, our Anglican forebears have recognized this danger.  The celebrant, in our tradition, has been given wide latitude to add to the chosen readings in the interest of parish well-being, even when we used the BCP lectionary.  It being Rally Day, and an opportunity for folks to sign up for various ministries over in the Parish Hall before we descend like locusts on the potluck and hamburgers, it seemed a good time for us to consider our ministries, corporate and individual, in light of God’s accusations against His people.  So settle in, pay attention, and consider what God is saying to you in the readings and in the needs in your wildernesses.

     Way back in chapter 5 of Isaiah’s book, we read an interesting poem.  It is interesting for a variety of reasons, among them the word play and the fact that the song is actually a lament.  I know most everyone remembers the song from three years ago, the last time we read it, but we do have some newcomers among us, who have joined us within the last three years, and I’ll take a moment to catch them up.  In chapter 5, God describes Himself as a farmer.  In particular, He describes Himself as a Vintner, a grower of grapes.  He has chosen the best land.  He has selected the best grapes.  He has dug a wine press in the very center so that the workers will not have to haul the harvested grapes too far.  He has built a watchtower to protect the vineyard, and He has placed a wall around it to protect it.  What should He expect as a result?  What kind of fruit would you expect this vineyard to produce?

     Correct!  Great grapes.  The best for making wine, right?

     Instead, this vineyard has produced rancid grapes.  If you flip back in your Advent Bible it will probably say wild or sour grapes.  The Hebrew term used actually carries a rancid smell.  God describes the rancid grapes as producing injustice and cries of suffering.  In fact, in a really cool wordplay that the Psalms Bible Study groups would love, God expected His vineyard to produce mishpat and tsedaqah, justice and righteousness.  Instead, His vineyard produced mispakh and tse’aqah, bloodshed and cry.  In many ways, the song hinges on the interplay of those four words.  Add to the mispakh and tse’aqah the rancid smell and possibility that the grapes were red and we have an interesting metaphor regarding blood, don’t we?

     To this point, of course, it’s rather academic.  Ah, God is a Vintner.  He chooses great land.  He selects the best grapes.  He protects His vineyard and makes it function economically.  The real pastoral problem, of course, is that at the end of His self-description, God declares that Israel is the vineyard!  Whoa!  God’s people are producing rancid smelling grapes?  God’s people are producing bloodshed and cry?  That can’t be, can it?

     If we had more time today to delve into the image selected by God, tse’aqah is not just a cry of sadness.  It is the forlornness of misery.  It is the word used to describe the plight of God’s people in slavery in Egypt—I have heard the cries of My people---and the accusation against Sodom and Gomorrah—I must go down and see whether they have done altogether according to the outcry that has come to Me.  These are loaded terms.  God is effectively telling Israel, and us, that He gave them everything and they perverted His work, producing rancid smelling fruit in their lives!

     I see the squirms.  Yeah, how would you like to be on the receiving end of this pronouncement?  Can you imagine standing before God’s throne, Him saying He gave you the very best land and seeds, and you produced rancid injustice and suffering and bloodshed with His gifts?

     If it makes us squirm, that’s good!  At least we are beginning to see what God might have to say to His people today, right?  Our Collect today reminds us of part of our purpose, right?  God has gathered His Church together in unity by His Holy Spirit so that it may show forth His power among all peoples, to the glory of His Name, right?  I mean, when I said that Collect earlier, who hear did not think it was describing the modern Church?  Ok, let’s make it easier, who hear did not think it an apt description of the Church in the United States?  I mean it’s unfair for Him to think we can bridge national borders, isn’t it?  Ok, well at least it described us as a parish, right?  We are gathered in unity to show forth His power, right?  For those of you newer to the parish, that feeling as you considered those questions, and others related as prompted by the Holy Spirit, is what I mean by a spiritual wedgie.  We know what God expects and desires, and we also know we are falling short.  Sinning against Him.  That realization or recognition makes us uncomfortable, like a wedgie in junior high, just as God intends!

     And, unlike our Hebrew forebears, we have the Incarnation, Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ in full view.  To use the words of last week’s Collect, we see clearly the atonement for sin and pattern for holy living in the life and work of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah’s audience had none of that.  We really got God’s fullest and best, and what have we produced?  Ouch?  Unfair? 

     You and I live in a country where many claim to be Christian and where many claim that our laws are based on God’s torah.  Make no mistake, I love my country.  I am often thankful that I was born here and not any number of other countries around the world.  But do we REALLY want God thinking of us as His chosen nation?  We are fighting political battles over how to care for children; what quality of education our youth, especially poor urban youth, should get; whether certain types of guns and ammunition are needed for personal defense or sport; whether systemic injustices like the prison for profit business model should be tolerated or encouraged; whether individuals without homes should be tolerated in our communities; whether good medical care is an inalienable, never mind human, right.  And I have not gotten to the really fun fights in our society over the death penalty, abortion, trade, or any other of a host of really divisive issues.  Oooh.  And look at the squirms.  We worship together in a parish that calls itself a multigeneration family, and do we really want to tackle the hard questions?

     In truth, that uncomfortable feeling we are feeling at the prospect I might launch into a discussion on one or more of those societal debates ought to make us uncomfortable.  The accusation that God lays at the feet of His people in Isaiah can be levelled against us.  Are we using what He has given us to glorify Him in our lives?  In our communities?  In the wildernesses where we labor or play daily and weekly?  Are we using our position to nudge those around us to begin producing the sweet fruit that God desires, or are we content to hide behind our wealth or influence or other advantages, allow the rancid fruit to fill God’s nose, and then hope He passes over us?

     Some of you wrestling with God over this question, or maybe you think it’s me, may well be saying to yourself, what can I do, I’m only one person?  How many Scripture lessons do we read each week where the faith of one person saves others, even whole communities?!  We’ve spent some time with Abraham this summer, a man whose faith made the birth of Jesus ultimately possible.  If you need a New Testament example, look no further than Mary, whose “let it be as He desires” brought forth the Incarnation and the fulfillment of God’s plan of salvation.  If God can save the world through the work and faith of one or two people, what CAN’T He accomplish with your faith and your obedience?  Others of you wrestling may well be saying, Brian, I’m ok, I have Jesus.  Do you?  Can someone really have Jesus and not proclaim with their lives what they profess with their lips?  Ultimately, thankfully and mercifully, the guy who hung on the Cross has the final say.  But it’s that guy who hung on the Cross for each one of us who places these claims, these calls on our lives.  If we constantly reject His calls and claims, are we truly His?

     Make no mistake, I am not interested in evaluating your faith.  My job is NOT to tell you you are a good enough Christian or that you should be worried about your salvation today.  That’s God’s job.  That’s His Holy Spirit’s job, wrestling with each one of us, about 75 or 80 I’d say.  It’s also His Holy Spirit’s job to nudge us back toward God, right?  As we wrestle with His Word and the example of His Son, our consciences provoke us.  Am I doing what I am supposed to be doing?  Am I glorifying God in my life? 

     Isaiah, again, points to helpful self-examination.  Have we removed the yoke that exists between us?  Do we point fingers and claim that these fights should be the works of others, or do we recognize that God may well have called us into those fights.  Are you feeding the hungry?  Are you assisting the refugee and immigrant among you?  Are you meeting the needs of the afflicted around us?  Make no mistake, in the Parish Hall you may see ways that Adventers are doing these things that surprise you.  You may have never considered one of those ministries a need.  But God did!  And a fellow Adventer answered His call!  And now you each have an opportunity to follow God’s call more concretely.  Better still, maybe in your perusal this morning the Holy Spirit may prompt you with an idea.  Maybe you think the work of Good Neighbors is awesome, but there’s another need going unmet.  Share it with Leslie and others and with me.  You may be right!  And if you are, you can bet God may be calling others to that work, too!  Maybe you think the work of Body & Soul is wonderful, but something else should be done besides food, and clothes, and toiletries.  Again, you may be right!  Share that idea with Hilary or Nancy or a member of the Vestry or me.  Maybe your real gift is a gift of voice.  Maybe God is calling you to use that gift to speak the most valuable words to ever come out of human mouths and so nurture those who seek this sanctuary, this sabbath, before heading back into the world.  Maybe your gift is fervent prayer, grant writing, who knows what, I can promise you, God gave you at least one and wants you to use it to His glory in your life.

     And, that, naturally, is where the Gospel once again overwhelms and awes us.  Isaiah, speaking the words of God today, reminds us what happens when we satisfy the needs of the afflicted in our life.  Our light rises in the darkness and our gloom is like the noonday!  He satisfies our needs in the parched places and makes our bones strong.  Best of all, we become like a spring of water, whose waters never fail!  Can any of us hear that promise and not think of the woman at the well with Jesus?  When He tells her of that water, what does she ask?  Right!  Give me this water always.  Brothers and sisters, God is promising us, if we obey His call on our lives, we will be like fountains of that life-giving water.  The source, the spring, is Jesus; but you and I are promised that we will be like fountains to others in our life!

     I should film from the pulpit sometimes.  Y’all went from squirming and uncomfortable to wonder just like that.  I know.  It’s almost too wonderful for words to contemplate.  God is promising that those of us who meet the needs of the afflicted in our lives that we will be little fountains of His Son.

     If the Gospel ended there, it would be enough.  Such a promise from God would overwhelm us or cause us to blubber in awe.  Just give me heaven and I’ll be fine with that, Lord.  But He does not stop with that promise.  Some of these evils that we are called to fight are gigantic, systemic, deep-rooted.  There seems to be no chance that little ol’ me or little ol’ you can really do anything about them.  And in human perspective, we are correct.  We are not strong enough, smart enough, or whatever else enough.  Thankfully, God has a different perspective and power and wisdom.

     God will execute judgment on His people.  Y’all should know the story of the Exile as God keeping His promises made at Sinai and again on the banks of the Jordan.  Israel will experience the prophesy named in Isaiah 5.  Babylonians and Assyrians and any rogue bandit of the day will, in fact, plunder her, as evidence of her disloyalty.  But, one day in the future, another faithful saint will respond to God’s call.  Actually, a number of God’s people will respond to His call.  And all that was thrown down will be repaired.  Ezra, Nehemiah and others will be known as repairers of the breach the restorers of the streets.  And that same God, whose power working in you, can make of you a modern version of that!  If it is God calling you to be the destroyer of an unjust system, that’s just how you may be known!  If it is God calling you to be a rebuilder of something crumbled, that’s just how the world may perceive you!  And here’s the better news, even if the world does not recognize your work, even if the world misses your impact, those whom you served certainly will not!  And God, who is a God who is near—remember last week, He, too, will know who you are and vindicate you in the end!

     I know we came together this morning a bit disjointed expecting an opportunity to sign up for the same old ministries.  8 o’clockers have probably had a bit too much caffeine by now and 10:30 folks were still asleep at the beginning.  Heck, I only got one go at this sermon!  But we remind ourselves this day, this particular day, that the ministries we do at this place we call Advent, we do in His Name and to His glory, that others might be drawn into His saving embrace.  And for nothing more than a bit of faith and obedience on our part, he offers us, no, He promises us that He will make us ride upon the heights of the earth, that we will share in His glory, not for a few years, but for all eternity!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

On God, who is near and not far off . . .

     Last week, we spent a bit of time discussing the immanence and transcendence of God.  Specifically, we looked a bit more at the immanent and transcendent nature of Advent, as that was the focus last week.  Just to refresh your memories, or catch you up if you were on vacation, we reminded ourselves that God both takes care of the great big things in the cosmos and is attentive to us as individuals.  Often, that last bit is super comforting.  It is a cool thing to think that the Creator of all that is, seen and unseen, is attentive to our needs of provision or healing or even existence, is it not.  It is often a comforting thing to remind ourselves that, unless God is actively willing us to exist, we would cease to be.  But like Aslan in the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, we are well to remind ourselves that He is good, but not tame.  Jeremiah, the so -called weeping prophet, reminds us that God is always near, and that nearness may not always be perceived by us as a blessing.  What’s going on?

     Jeremiah, as I said, is called the weeping prophet.  If you spend time reading his book, you will no doubt figure out the reason for his nickname rather quickly.  Among the prophets of God, Jeremiah is unique in that he gets to prophesy to God’s people before a tragic event, during a tragic event, and after a tragic event.  We might say that Jeremiah is the only prophet who gets to see all sides of God’s judgment.  The other prophets are limited to either before, during, or after national tragedy, but not Jeremiah.

     What makes Jeremiah’s prophesying so much harder is the fact that Israel ignores him.  They KNOW he is God’s prophet.  There is absolutely no doubt.  But they toss him in a cistern for his criticism of their faith and life.  Those in power, and those who suck up to those in power, choose to listen to those who make them feel better about themselves, even when those words are outright lies.  So, as a consequence, Jeremiah gets the wonderful privilege of telling God’s people that they are failing to keep the covenant, that God views them as idolaters, and bear the punishment for his truth-telling.

     In modern language, Jeremiah was preaching the Gospel, even as the false prophets were preaching a prosperity, feel-good Gospel that preached no sin, no need for redemption, and certainly no need for a Cross.  Oh, is it too early for that?  Hit too close to home?  Good!

      We need to be wrestling with these questions.  Does God love us?  Absolutely!  Does God leave us where we are, with no expectation of transformation or sanctification?  Of course not.  Are we promised an easy life?  Again, hell no!  Does God use the suffering of His sons and daughters to reach those who do not know Him, those who knew Him but fell away, and those who have constantly rejected Him?  We better believe it, right?

     We live in a world, a country, that is every bit as convinced of its own righteousness as ancient Israel was of theirs.  Never mind the nonsense of God’s chosen nation, think of the dueling political parties in our midst.  I get my experience with politicians has made me cynical, but are any of us every truly surprised when a political scandal erupts?  Are we ever shocked any more to find out a politician has been grifting dollars from the system to benefit his or her family over our own?  Are we ever shocked to learn that our politicians proclaim one set of values while living another in the shadows?  Heck, Frank Underwood in the popular series House of Cards murders people to stay in power and most of us assume it goes on in real life, that the political fiction of the series is based on true events.  Am I nuts?  Am I exaggerating?  How many of you read posts or memes or saw gif’s that blamed prominent republicans or prominent democrats for the death of Epstein?  I’ve seen both among my friends on social media.  And as little surprised as we would be to learn that his death was not a suicide, how shocked will we be at his list of customers?  Minor girls and boys used by our rich and powerful for pleasure, and most of us will be unsurprised.

     The Gospel news, although we might not like to think of it as good news let alone Gospel, is that God is immanent.  Am I a God near by and not a God far off?  He knows!  He sees!  And He judges!  When we are the victims of injustice or unmerited suffering, we are thrilled to know He sees and promises vengeance.  But what of the times when we are the doers?  What of the times when we turn our deaf ears or blind eyes to the suffering around us?  Are we really glad He is near by to see our behavior?  No, much like ancients Israel, we prefer to think we can sneak one or more by Him.  Much like Ancient Israel, we hope He is slumbering and not noticing how our behavior, our tolerance, our indifference dishonors Him.

     No, indeed!  We prefer to cling to our false narratives.  We prefer to think we are better than others and that God is lucky we sometimes choose Him over money, over prestige, over sleeping in, over shopping, over any number of other Ba’als that the enemy uses to seduce us.  That why we read the Scriptures.  That’s why we suffer preaching.  Did anybody wake up this morning and think to themselves, “I sure hope Brian is focused on a spiritual wedgie today.  I’m a little too comfortable in my privilege as a resident and registered voter of Brentwood in the United States and he probably needs to change my focus a bit before I become a little too self-righteous?”  No?

     And, on those rare instances when we can admit to ourselves we need help, how many of us know right where to turn?  How many self-help guru’s are out there promoting feel good nonsense, and getting filthy rich off their efforts to help us delude ourselves?  How many “I’m not a theologian, but I’m going to pretend I am more woke than those theologians” and create a God in my image are out there getting rich and influential, than those who call us back to what God wants, what God desires, what God has revealed is good for us?  Prosperity gospellers get way more air-time than the Billy Graham’s of the modern age.

     In truth, there is nothing new under the sun.  We are far more like Ancient Israel than we would ever want to admit.  And if God judged Israel harshly, if the God who is near and not far off saw through all of Israel’s sacrifices into their hearts and judged them accordingly, what should we expect for ourselves?  Ought we not expect to be conquered?  Exiled?  Martyred?  Humiliated?  Should we not be driven to tears of mourning and sadness?

     Were that the last word of God, we no doubt should be weepers ourselves.  But even as we see and acknowledge the sins of the world around us and our complicity in them, still we have His last Word, His final Word.  Thankfully and mercifully, though Jeremiah does not have the perspective of God that you and I share, still Jeremiah captures God’s perspective.  You and I live on this side of the Incarnation.  Christ Himself came down, He condescended to dwell among us, to be an example for holy living, as our collect reminds us today, AND to be that sacrifice for sin.  People occasionally ask me if death was the appropriate punishment for all sins.  Which sins, corporately speaking this morning, aren’t really worth death?  Which sins, corporately speaking this morning, seem easily atoned for by a bit of suffering, by a scourging or two?  How about individually?  We might tolerate the white lie among ourselves, but what of the violations of the Ten Commandments?  What about our violations of the greatest and Second Great commandment, when we put God second or worse and treated others completely opposite of the way we wanted to be treated?

     The other question that flows why God made it so easy.  Again, I have to remind each one of us that it was only moderately easy for us.  As easy as it is to repent and try again, how many of us find that truly an easy task?  How many of us are quick to confess our sins and not argue with God or others?  But, our task is way easier than Jesus’ task.  He did the really heaving lifting.  He suffered the greatest humiliation.  He was the one who was God’s Son and rejected for claiming to be who He really was.  His work was the challenging part of our salvation!  And thankfully, mercifully, He did precisely what His Father, our Father, set before Him.  Though Satan tried hard to subvert Him and we rejected Him, still He kept His faith.  And by His faith we are saved.  Thankfully, and mercifully, we are saved by that God who is near by, who sees us, who knows us, who understands our hearts, and who sends His life giving word, that we might pierce the shadows that blind us, and show forth His redeeming glory to a world that has forgotten and rejected Him.

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

Be dressed and ready for action and have your lamps lit!

     As I have shared, often it is my conversations with Adventers or those in orbit of Advent that help me discern which text to preach.  This week, it was conversations with clergy colleagues.  In particular, one of my lady colleagues was lamenting that this was not Stewardship Sunday in her church and that she could not preach a stewardship sermon on any other day of the year.  I reminded her that most Vestries and many Finance committees would LOVE it if more clergy preached stewardship year round.  She decided that her parish was not one of those places, though she allowed that maybe she needed to preach stewardship in ways other than just financial giving.  Her other gripe, though, was that the Gospel sounded a lot like an Advent call to be ready.  Again, since it was not the season of Advent, she did not feel that was the right place for her to be preaching this week.

     Of course, I serve at an Episcopal Church of the Advent in Nashville.  We proudly call ourselves Adventers, and we recognize that Advent is a constant call to be prepared.  So my discernment pretty much ended there.  I had my sermon text.  That is not to say this will not be a great sermon.  Karen and I found ourselves hauling Nathan to school unexpectedly on Friday and Saturday.  As the only other driver in the house and own of that cute Miata, we have not really had to prepare to take Nathan to school.  And with Robbie choosing to go to school there, as well, we have been spoiled.  We just take what does not fit in the Miata when Robbie reports to school!  Life, naturally, got in the way of that.  Nathan needs some work done on his car but was unsure if the cost of the newest repairs would fix everything.  He was in that bind of facing the possibility of spending significant dollars on his car and not knowing if it would be totally repaired.  Those of you of a certain age in the pews would call that adulting.  Anyway, Karen and I spent 18 hours or so in the car Friday and yesterday, which means I may be a bit less focused than normal!

     Our Gospel reading from Luke takes place at a couple intersecting points in Jesus’ instruction of His disciples and Apostles.  In the grand story, Jesus has set His face toward Jerusalem.  No longer is Jesus exclusively ministering to folks in the outlying villages and towns of Judea.  He is now heading to Jerusalem to face His betrayal, torture, and death.  As His time among them grows shorter and shorter, Jesus’ teaching will become more and more focused and, in many respects, more difficult to accept or understand until after His Resurrection.

     The other intersecting point is the pull of the world on those who want to follow Jesus.  Those engaging with Jesus notice that following Him is hard.  They point it out.  And Jesus agrees!  Following Jesus is not for the faint of heart!  It is cross-bearing.  It is very much dying to one’s self.  And the crowds and disciples ask Jesus about it.  Things seem so hard in the world, how can He expect them to accept His teaching as true?

     Make no mistake, Jesus does not condemn their worries.  He simply reminds them that their priorities are out of whack.  During one of my private conversations with an Adventer this week, the Adventer remarked that the Scriptures were fine for those days in that part of the world, but observed that our problems were so much more challenging, so much more difficult to grasp, let alone fix.  I asked for an example and was given as an example institutional racism.  Naturally, I had a great belly laugh.  This Adventer was really mad at my laughter and then patiently explained to me that Jesus could not possibly understand what it was like for human beings to have to deal with institutions with bred racism.  How do we recognize it?  How do we remove it?  How do we change the training to make sure such racism is removed?  Jesus, so claimed the Adventer, had no grasp of such complex problems.

     Putting aside the understanding that Jesus is the Second Person of the Trinity, I asked if the Adventer understood that the Romans depended upon what we call institutional racism in order to keep the peace?  Apparently, I had failed to teach this Advnter that Rome generally assigned ethnic enemies to be the local soldiers.  In truth, our institutional racism comes up short by comparison, when compared to that of Rome.  When I state that cultural enemies got along like Alabama and Tennessee fans at a football game, it’s really a joke.  There’s some hatred and teasing expressed, maybe even some serious vitriol, but that stuff does not really define us as culturally different.  Both Alabama and Tennessee fans are generally citizens of this country.  Heck, we can well imagine another resident of middle Tennessee choosing to root for Alabama because of their recent ascendency in college football.  But I think all of us would be shocked if they physically attacked us, killed us, sold us into slavery and took all our stuff for themselves.

     Maybe a better analogy would be for you to have to imagine “those people” being your local cops.  What if our Governor assigned folks from Antioch or East Nashville to be the police in Brentwood?  What if our Governor assigned Brentwood folks to be the police in those neighborhoods which terrify you?  And again, there’s a limit to the uncomfortableness.  We would never expect someone from Antioch to hate us the way that some hated the Jews.  Rome, by contrast, stoked the ethnic hatred to preserve the peace.  As long as the officials turned in their taxes as scheduled, there was little that would draw the attention of the Emperor and Senate. 

     That’s just one little area, institutional racism in law enforcement.  Does anyone believe their treatment of the poor was exceptional by modern standards?  Anyone want to argue that slavery was not exploitative and served as the foundation of their economy?  Anyone want to claim that their health concerns were any different than ours?  How about their relationships?  No?  Good!

     Like some of us, those earlier followers of Jesus were concerned about provision in the midst of such seemingly overwhelming odds and brokenness.  Our reading today is part of an extended teaching on God’s provision.  Jesus has highlighted the sparrows and blades of grass and how we are of infinite value when compared to those, but the people have asked “really?  Are you sure about that?”  “Look around, Jesus.  Many of us are ravaged by poverty.  Some of us are struggling with disease.  Nearly all of us wonder from where our meal will come, to say nothing of the new sandals we need before school starts, and all those supplies.”  You’re chuckling, but you get the point.  Folks in Jesus’ audience 2000 years ago had many of the same concerns as people 6500 miles to the north and west and 2000 years later.  They may have expressed those concerns in less technical language to our ears, but the concerns we very much the same.  Except, of course, for that hostile squad of soldiers representing a foreign conqueror that we see on our streets daily.

     Jesus extends His teaching today by reminding His disciples and us that we must re-order our priorities.  It is your Father’s pleasure to give you the kingdom.  It is pleasing to God to give us those things we need.  He does not do it stingily.  He does not say, Well, I gave Susan and John and Wilma a nice house, I guess I’d better balance things out and give Joe a fixerupper and Louise one in a bad neighborhood.  It is not as if God has a limited supply of anything and that He can only give away so much.  No, Jesus reminds us that it is our Father’s pleasure to give us the kingdom.

     Jesus goes on to the stewardship application, right?  No.  I mean, we can use it like that, but is Jesus really teaching us how to be good stewards, or is He more concerned that we get our priorities correct, that we focus on God and trust that God will focus on what is important for us?  Money is an easy place to show both our priority and trust as well as the consequences of idolatry.  When we place anything as a priority over God, we are committing idolatry.  Well, Brian, we need money to pay our bills and to give to the church so that you and Tina and Lisa and Waldemar can pay your bills.  Of course you and we do.  The problem is not the money, though, it is the priority.  If your sole focus is on making money, how quickly does it dominate your life?  When do you ever have enough?  Too often we end up like the rich man who builds and then allows himself to relax and finds himself wanting when God appears.  Our neighborhoods are rife with people who chase the right house in the right neighborhood, the right car, the right school, the right club and so on.  They are so enslaved to the appearances that they cannot enjoy what they have.  Heck, those who have worked at Body & Soul have met a few of our neighbors who cannot have furniture in their “right house” or keep gasoline in their “right car.”  In their pursuit to keep up appearances or keep up with the Joneses, they have become slaves.  They cannot even enjoy what they have because there is always the next thing to be acquired in the pursuit to have it all.

     The great thing about God, well there are several great things about God, is that there is no next God!  He is it.  And He loves us!  Not because we give enough money to the church or because we go on enough mission trips or because we pray x number of hours each day or study Scripture x number of hours each week.  He loves us because He is our Father.  He made us.  Better than that, He made us in His image!  Those special bits of ourselves that endear us to others, how much more do you think they endear us to the One who created us with those special traits, that nepes, to use the Hebrew?  Wicked sense of humor?  He gave some human beings that!  Kind heart?  He gave human beings that.  Overwhelming desire not to break the rules?  Even that was stamped on some of us.  He gave you, He fashioned you into what makes you you!

     Jesus reminds us this morning that God loves us.  No, he will take our fallen nature and work amazing transformation in our lives, thanks to the work and person of His Son, but He loves us before we ever know we should love Him!  And it pleases Him to give us what we need.

     After teaching against the fears and worries that arise out of the cares and concerns of the world, Jesus turns to the Advent message.  Be dressed for action and have your lamps lit.  So often, we get caught up in the transcendence of God that we forget the immanence of God.  By that I mean we are great at being awed by the scope of God and His power, but we forget His attention to detail.  An easy example are the heavens.  If you look up at the sky tonight and the clouds cooperate, we have a few interesting cosmic events happening.  The moon is near full.  The bright star to the right is actually the planet Jupiter which, we are told, is no longer truly in conjunction, but is too far away for our human eyes to notice much a difference in magnitude from a few weeks ago.  To the left of the moon is another bright star, but this one is the planet Saturn.  And, if you are looking during the night, you may notice a meteorite shower.  It will peak later this week, but we are in the beginning of passing through the remnants of a comet.  Those grains of sand and small pebbles make for an amazing cosmic fireworks’ show.  And God organized all that!  He set all that in motion and caused it to appear to us as we see it.  And that’s just a few things in our sky!  How many stars can you see?  How many nebulae?  How many and varied galaxies?  He created and placed them all!

     You can accept that, right?  It makes sense.  If God fashioned everything, He made it work the way it works.  We have focused on His transcendence a lot.  God Himself reminded us of the truth of it when He challenged Job earlier this summer, right?  He leads behemoth like a puppy and plays with leviathan like a child might play with a bluegill or sunfish.  That aspect of God makes sense to us.  But heaven help us when we are reminded that that same Creator fashioned you and me!  Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Father.  God can make the heavens and the earth, but I’m a dumpster fire.  I have so many issues I have subscriptions.  Those are not God’s fault.  We are right, our sins are our fault.  But the who you are, the nepes that makes you you in the eyes of all of us worshiping God with you this morning, He stamped you with that.  He gave you that charisma.

     Advent has a same transcendent and immanent view, and we do a better job focusing on the former and not the latter.  For two weeks every year, we remind ourselves that Jesus will return.  We focus on the promise of the Second Coming and the accompanying judgment.  We long to be sheep and not goats.  In many ways, that is transcendent.  If we can accept the Resurrection, the Second Coming is a bit easier.  It speaks to the majesty and power and otherness of God.

     But what about this bit Be dressed for action and have your lamp lit?  Does that seem to be only a command about the scope and majesty of God?  Or is it, rather, more directed at individuals like ourselves?  All that we do at this parish, as far as I am concerned, is meant to prepare us for the work that God has given us to do.  The challenge for me as a pastor is to provide the training and preparation necessary for you to be ready, to be awake.  An easy example is worship.  Why do we worship?  To give thanks to God for what He has done.  To remind us of His promises.  Sure.  Sometimes we worship when we are sad to remind ourselves, or be reminded by others, that God will see us through the shadows of death.  Similarly, we worship when we are joyful both to give Him thanks and praise and to remind ourselves that these mountaintop experiences do not often last.  One day, when He returns, our existence will be mountain top like the transfiguration we celebrated this week, but this world is fallen.  We are sent back into the valleys and wildernesses to help draw others into His loving embrace.  We end every Eucharist with that prayer asking God to send us out into the world to do the work He has given us, each one of us, to do.  How do we do that?  It differs for each of us.

     Each of us is gifted with the story of our lives, our selves, and with God’s salvation history, both in the Scriptures and in our own lives.  We come to church; we read four passages each service; I generally preach and teach on one; in case I really made an uninspiring mess of things, we celebrate the Paschal mystery, reminding ourselves He came, He died, and He will come again; and then we head back out into the mission field, the world.  It’s there that Jesus calls us to be dressed for action and to have our lamps lit.  During the course of the week, we have however many opportunities to serve God in the world around us.  Some work in the feeding ministries at Advent and gather in the parish hall to work the pantry or in the kitchen on that Thursday to make casseroles.  Others are too busy because of work pressures or other life events, but they write the checks that make those ministries possible.  Others feel called to pray intentionally, either for these ministries and those engaged in them or for the parish at large.  Others are called to engage in the study of Scripture.  Some teach us, but all engage in it and should be talking about it.  I could go on and on and on, but this is where the corporate preparation occurs.

     You, of course, have your own specialized preparation.  The first part of that is life.  What made you who you are?  Your experiences and choices and the grace of God!  You are wonderfully prepared, as a result, for any ministry He gives you to do.  Who better to reach accountants with the Gospel than accountants?  Who better to reach the medical community with the Gospel than those who work in the medical professions?  Who better to reach the lost than those who were once lost themselves?  Who better to reach unrepentant sinners than those who were once themselves unrepentant?

     Now, I get it.  It is frightening to take on something as important as the salvation of another’s soul.  But the great news is that you and I are not responsible for their salvation!  Jesus is.  Our job, our calling, our vocation as His disciples is simply to be prepared and ready to share His love and His light in the world around us.  We point them to Him!  Folks will come in and complain that it is unreasonable for me or God to expect that they could ever be an evangelist.  This past week I had a doctor explain to me that they could not understand the intricacies of theology, that it was just too hard.  Really?  Really?  You can explain to me the plumbing and wiring and musculature and everything else in the human body, but you cannot understand that God loves you and others?  You want to try that again?  Y’all laugh, but it’s a laugh that recognizes the truth, right?  Each and every one of us refuses to believe that we can be used by God to spread His kingdom, to demonstrate His grace, to draw others into His saving embrace.

     Yet look around you.  Look at the people sitting beside or in front of or behind you.  Think back to yourself in the mirror before you left the house to come to church this morning.  How did we all get here?  How did we, modern, blessed Americans come to be here this warm, humid morning some 6500 miles and 2000 years removed from the story which we read this morning?  Somebody shared the Gospel with somebody who shared the Gospel with somebody who shared the Gospel, for two thousand years, across however many miles and cultures, in a winsome way, that caused you and I to believe in its truth.  It seems stupid.  It seems a ridiculous marketing plan.  How does such a plan survive the Roman empire?  How does such a plan survive the Dark Ages?  How does such a plan survive our culture?  How does such a plan survive the evil, the scariest “ism” in your mind, that existed between that fateful day in Judea about which we read this morning and today?  One prepared, one dressed for action disciple at a time!

     You see, as cool as these stories are, as important as these stories are about which we read week in and week out in church and Sunday school, what really impresses folks are our stories.  Over the course of time, as we wade through the vicissitudes and ism’s of life, people begin to notice us.  They wonder.  Why is she not destroyed by a loved one’s death?  Why does he always volunteer every week at St. Luke’s?  Why doesn’t she yell and scream at me like other bosses?  Why doesn’t he stab others in the back to climb this corporate ladder?  Why doesn’t he steal school supplies like the rest of us?  Why does she think prayer is such a good solution to every problem?

     They may not ask the questions that bluntly, but I promise you, if they are reaching out trying to understand what makes you you, they are looking for the source of the hope and joy that ultimately is within you.  And we need to be prepared and have our lamps lit, that we might hear the question hidden in their words and respond in the way that God wants us to respond.

     And so, Advent has a very immanent quality to it!  It is incredibly dependent upon relationships.  Yes, the Holy Spirit can come upon a crowd listening to a good sermon and cause 500 people to repent.  But God seems to delight more in that relational way of sharing the Gospel.  When people know you, when people come to respect you, when people come to see that you truly struggle to act and live with integrity, they want to learn what makes you tick, what shapes your worldview, what gives you hope.  And though you may think yourself ill-pre-pared for such wonderful work, God has been preparing you since the day of your baptism.  How many times have you partaken of the sacrament of the Church?  In how many Rites have you engaged?  How many times have you kept your oath at baptism or confirmation and repented to God, praying that He would forgive you and empower you to do His will?  And just as God used ready for action folks to get the Gospel to us across time and distance and cultures and professions, He will use us to bridge to the future, that generations yet unborn will know the saving grace of God!

     The truth is, my friends, you already have all that you need to point others to Him.  Your life and, perhaps, silent witness have caused you to be noticed.  Your attention to worthless and struggles to be thankful to God for all that you have have helped circumcised your heart.  All you need now is the opportunity.  And in the midst of that opportunity, God has promised to help you with what you need to say.  We truly need to have no reason to fear those opportunities because He loves us, He loves others, and He wants us all to choose to love Him.  And for those who do, it is His pleasure to give us the kingdom.

     One other note, I know I have gone long again, but this is really the Gospel of the day, the better than good or great part of the day.  What is your view of the next life?  Do you find yourself hoping you get wings and a harp and sit on a cloud somewhere?  Do you find yourself hoping for streets paved with gold and a big mansion?  Are you praying for a great worship service?  Are you intrigued by the idea of a great Wedding Feast?  Whatever it is, have you focused on the reward described by Jesus today?

     For those who are ready and have their lamps lit, what happens?  When the master returns, what happens?  He serves the servants and slaves.  Right!  In all your dreams, in all your fantasies about the next life, have you ever considered the teaching that God Himself, the maker of heaven and earth and all that is, seen and unseen, will serve you?  I wish you could see your faces.  We are laughing nervously because it seems so farfetched, so unreasonable, so ridiculous.  Yet here it is in Jesus’ teaching on provision.  In other Bibles these words would be in red letters and we all know what that means!  God loves you and me and everyone so much that He is willing to serve those of us who try to do what He asks and repent when we fall short.  You want to argue the truth of Jesus’ statement, don’t you?  But then it’s my job to remind you of the loving father in the prodigal son parable, of the Good Samaritan in that parable, and of the wonderful truth and mystery of the Incarnation, where God condescended to become human, that we might be saved.  And when you think on those and other wonderful stories in the Scriptures and in your individual lives, you begin to hear the truth in Jesus teaching today.  Don’t you?  Brothers and sisters, be dressed and ready for action and keep your lamps lit!  It is our Fathers pleasure to give us the kingdom and to serve each one of us in eternity!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

On the Feast of the Transfiguration . . .

     Well, we can see by the huge crowd that the Transfiguration has lost its importance in the most parts of the modern Church.  Let me just remind you that you may well have earned another jewel in the crown you will receive for the extra bit of worship this week.  Of course, you’ll be tossing that crown at the foot of Jesus, so the extra jewel will go unnoticed in the world to come.  The great thing about a small number is that we can be a bit more intimate and a bit more familiar in our worship.  So, while Liturgy & Worship and I might wish more Adventers were here, I do give thanks that you each took time out of your day and week to celebrate with us this feast day.

     Why is the Transfiguration important?  Why has the Church kept it as a day to observe these last 2000 years, even if we have not been particularly good at it here at Advent?  In truth, the Transfiguration is far more significant than we might well think, at first.  Understand, of course, we read about it twice during the regular season of the Church.  We generally focus on it both during the Season of Epiphany and during the Season of Lent, in addition to being called to remember it on its own special day in August.

     Like you probably tonight, I wondered why the Church selected August 6 as the date.  It was on this date in the 1400’s when the Pope received news that the invading Muslim horde was repelled in what is modern day Hungary, thereby saving Europe from invasion.  That day coincided with this feast, and so the Pope declared it a special day.  For the western Church, the day was as much political/military in the beginning, as it was theological.

     Apparently, the date had been selected and preserved in the Eastern traditions.  In fact, were we celebrating this feast in an eastern liturgy, the flowers on the altar would be replaced by sheaves of wheat and bunches of grapes.  Both of those would be offered to remind us of the harvest that was coming in our lives.  The green season after Pentecost, was a season of growth.  The faithful were expected to be showing some evidence of growth, fruit.  The wheat and grapes were offered as biblical reminders of the fruit which Christians were called to bear.  And, knowing that we will one day share in His eternal glory, this feast day marked a good opportunity for us to remind ourselves of the hope of our calling.

     Now, I recognize I have summed up a couple hours of reading and commentary in just a minute or two of explanation.  And I am by no means claiming to have caught all the nuances of the history and liturgies of the feast.  At best you are getting a cliff notes’ version that highlights how the western church ignored the day for many centuries and the eastern church continued its faithful observance.  World events, as much as anything, seem to have propelled it back into our traditional conscience, but the feast day has a long tradition in the Body we call the Church.

     But why?  What makes the day important?  Why do we get multiple lessons on the Transfiguration of Christ each year?  Why does it merit its own feast day?  It seems to me there are a couple important theological and pastoral reasons.  The feast of the Transfiguration reminds each of us of the supernatural attestations of the divinity of Jesus.  The world likes to claim falsely that the later Church made up the idea of the divinity of Jesus and the mystery of the Incarnation.  Many extreme ends of such thought like to argue that Jesus never claimed to be the Son of God, that He was simply a good teacher whose disciples went crazy.

     In fact, there are four supernatural pronouncements about Jesus’ divinity.  The angelic choir singing to the shepherds outside Bethlehem and the angels testifying to the women, Mary Magdalene in particular, at His Empty Tomb, are two of those.  Another is the Baptism of Jesus, where the Holy Spirit descends like a dove and the voice declaring Jesus His Son.  The last supernatural attestation, as you’ve no doubt deduced, is the Transfiguration.  Jesus, after leading the insiders of the Apostles up the mountain, is clothed in glorious raiment, whiter than anything that clothmakers could produce.  Moses and Elijah appear and are recognized by the Apostles.  The cloud descends upon them, and again the voice identifies Jesus as His Son and as His Christ and instructs the Apostles to listen to Him.

     The Church recognizes what the Apostles tried to describe.  And let’s face it, the fact that Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus in this event made it easier.  God’s glory, His shekinah, imprinted Moses to the extent that Moses’ face terrified Israel.  We read today that reminder, that the people in the camp asked Moses to cover his face when he was not speaking for God.

     Jesus’ glory is simply revealed to those who witness this event.  Meaning, unlike Moses who was imprinted by the glory of God due to His repeated interactions and receipt of instruction, Jesus is simply seen as Who He was, Who He is, and Who He will be, the Second Person of the Trinity.

     As cool as the story would be were it to end there, we know that it does not.  Part of why we remind ourselves of this manifestation of His majesty, to use Peter’s words tonight, in Lent is because Jesus story and glorification does not end there.  He takes the Apostles back down the mountain, sets His face on Jerusalem, and heads there to accomplish the salvation of humanity, just as He discussed with Moses and Elijah.  Put in simpler language, when Peter, John, and James reflect on all this after Jesus’ betrayal, Passion, death, Resurrection, and Ascension, they will have this visual and audible reminder that it was God, come down from heaven, who went to that Cross!  It was God Himself, who condescended to take on a mortal Body, who executed our salvation.  If God, full of majesty and glory and all those other wonderful attributes which we ascribe to Him, would do this, what ought they or us not do to help spread God’s kingdom, the Gospel, God’s love, or whatever language we prefer to use in describing our vocation?  Ya, it’s a cool reminder. 

     As always, there more.  As always, the Gospel reminds us that, although that’s a great story, there’s still a better one to be heard.  That better part is prefigured by Moses and promised us by Jesus, the Son of God, that when we’ve run this race or finished our earthly work, we will one glorious day be united with Him to reign in glory for ever and ever.  Put simply in the language of the day, one day, one glorious day when Christ returns and God recreates the world, you and I and all who call upon Him as Lord will experience our own Transfiguration.  One glorious Day, you and I will bask in the shekinah of God and be recreated, re-clothed if you will, that we might live full into the inheritance which He has in store for us.  That promise, my brothers and sisters, is worth revisiting and reminding ourselves every day of our lives.  That that same God who came down and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit will one day raise us by that same Holy Spirit and clothe us with His shekinah for all eternity!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†

On things hevel and eternal . . .

     If you came to church this morning grieving and hoping for a “let’s get rid of the Second Amendment” fiery sermon as evidence of my personal salvation, you will be sorely disappointed.  Like all of us, I share in the disbelief and sadness at unnecessary loss of life.  Unlike some of you, I know some folks now at ground zero of that tragedy.  The rector of St. Luke’s Launion is a chaplain to the police on the other side of that mountain in the television pictures we see, the rector’s wife is a dispatcher for EMT’s, and our brothers and sisters of the parish live and work and socialize in El Paso and with folks in EL Paso.  I’m sure for them, this will be more like 1 degree or zero degrees of separation, rather than the normal six, for this tragedy.

     I am also convinced that the problem is not immigration or guns or anything but sin, sin which leads to hate, which leads to the ability for one human being so to dehumanize another human being or group of human beings, and violently take their lives.  If only God had called a group of people to love and serve Him with everything they have.  If only God had called a group of people to love and serve others as they love themselves.  If only God had called a group of people to remember that everyone, every single person we meet in life, is created in His image.  No matter their language, no matter their color, no matter their affiliations, no matter smell, no matter their intelligence or stupidity, every single person is created in God’s image.  To be a bit more blunt, if the Church were more serious about being the Church, and growing God’s kingdom on earth, maybe, just maybe, some of these tragic events would decline.

     It is, in the end, my job, my calling, to teach you how to live in right relationship with God.  I cannot white knuckle you to righteousness.  I can, however, share the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that you might know you are deeply loved by God, as is all those whom you encounter in your daily life and work.  It is that understanding of being loved, of being shown grace, that we begin to undertake to work to change ourselves, or rather allow God through the Holy Spirit to begin to work in us.  It is my calling to teach you and to equip you so that, in your life and work, you help others begin to see that they are loved deeply by God as well, and might choose Him over these tragic solutions that, in the end, do not accomplish their goals.  Early reports seem to indicate the shooter wanted to scare undocumented immigrants from taking jobs from Americans.  He seems to have been really upset with robots, too.  He chose to act out his sick plan in a community that really does not have much violence (5 murders a year on average), that explained to me over and over again that the border was a fluid thing for most of them for all their lives—Mexican citizens come over the border to shop at specific stores just as American citizens cross the border to shop at specific Mexican stores without any headlines or tensions--, that was not his community nearly 10-12 hours to the north and east, and ended up targeting and wounding more citizens than the undocumented people he so despised.  And does anyone really think his act will change things?  Do those who think undocumented aliens are the greatest threat to our sovereignty really think this attack will stop the flow?  Do those of you who hate guns and think they should be outlawed really hold out hope that this event will be the tipping point in those discussions and legislative efforts?  And do any of us really believe we can legislate away hate?  Racism?  Sin?

     So, how do we engage the world in these discussions?  Thankfully, our readings this week speak against the simplicity which we want to believe but that experience teaches us is simply not true.  For those who pay attention to such things, this is the only time every six years that we get to read from a small portion of Ecclesiastes.  Some churches, those that do not alternate between Track 1 and Track II every three years will never read from this wonderful book.  And what a shame!  Because the questions that are dominating social media about this attack, and being discussed on the airwaves, reflect the truth observed by Qoheleth.

     Before launching into that truth, I should place the book in context.  Those of you who attended the Bible Project this summer can peruse the historical documents rather than listen to me.  We had just done Job when Tina asked if the wisdom literature in Scripture could be our focus this summer.  Now she knows why I excitedly agreed!  Ecclesiastes is part of the wisdom canon of Scripture.  It is often grouped with Proverbs, Job, and Song of Songs as an explanation of God’s wisdom, and rightly so.  The book is somewhat challenging for us to read because it is more akin to one of Plato’s dialogues than our modern textbooks.  Qoheleth is a character in the book; he is not the author.  The author wants us to hear the observations of the Teacher and then point us toward God’s wisdom, much as Plato may have used Socrates’ words to criticize leadership in his own city-state of Athens. 

     Proverbs, you know the book with all your favorite pithy statements that may not even really exist in the Bible, is like elementary school wisdom teaching.  Do what God says and you will be blessed.  Do what God says you should not do, and you will be cursed.  I see the nods.  Is Proverbs correct?

     I see some uncomfortable shifting in the pews.  Don’t tell me y’all have observed that God’s people sometimes seem to experience health concerns?  Financial concerns?  Relationship issues?  Death?  That does not happen to us, right?

     OK, will at least the corollary in untrue.  We never see evil folks getting ahead, right?  I mean, the folks who disobey God always walk around with a curse cloud over their heads, right?  They never get fame?  They never get fortunes?  The never seem to be healthy?  The don’t get the promotions or the Norman Rockwell families, do they?

     I’m guessing by the chuckling and murmuring, you have noticed the wisdom of Qoheleth.  Good for you for paying attention.  But think of how we present life to those outside the community of faith.  Choose Jesus and He will take care of all your problems!  Right?  We make those ridiculous claims, those unbiblical claims, and then we wonder why people fall away so easily.  We are not alone.  Qoheleth, which means one who gathers the people of God to teach them about God-like the best Sunday School Teacher you ever had-, notices that the pithy statements of Proverbs do not seem to be an accurate portrayal of the cause and effect relationship of faith in God and God’s treatment of His people.  Know any good Christians who suffer from disease?  Know any good Christians who suffer privation?  Know any good Christians who suffer broken relationships?  How about any Christians who suffer from depression?  Loneliness?  I see the nods.  I likely touched on one or more of your own Achilles Heels this morning.  Heck, suffering Christians are so ubiquitous that we pray specifically today in our Prayers of the People for those suffering in our midst, reminding them and us that God uses redemptive suffering to reach human beings.

     And I specifically mentioned Good Christians rather than just Christians.  We think it understandable if CEO Christians suffer, right?  I mean, that’s just God trying to get their attention that He is not a priority in their lives.  That’s our rationalization, at least.  The same goes for Christians who do not adhere to our identical values.  If only they were “better” Christians.  If only they understood God as well as we do.  Right?

     We hold it axiomatic that those whom God loves He blesses, and those whom He hates He curses.  We reduce God to some sort of cause and effect relationship even though Scripture teaches us that God is far, far above that kind of relationship.  Qoheleth rightly observes that the wisdom espoused in Proverbs is not entirely accurate.  God’s people, the righteous ones, suffer all kinds of evil.  What’s worse, those who rebel against God experience all kinds of blessings.  Those who are evil can stab us in the back to climb the corporate ladder faster, and God seems not to notice.  Those wealthy and evil can mock justice through the expense of a great lawyer, and God seems not to mind.  Those that reject God can do the exact opposite of what God taught in the torah and instructs us in the New Testament, and God seems not to notice or care.  And so the author reminds us that all is hevel.  And this is where Ecclesiastes becomes more like high school or college for us, compared to the elementary teaching of Proverbs.

     Hevel is one of those Hebrew words that we should simply know by its name, much as many of you now accept hesed, God’s love, in your own vocabularies.  How do we translate hevel?  Our translators today chose vanities.  Some of your Bibles at home will use meaningless.  Neither of those are particularly good translations.  They are fair, to be sure, in that they capture an aspect of hevel, a definition, but the author of Ecclesiastes does not want us to feel that all things are vain or meaningless.  There is more going on.  We might say hevel is more a concept than a simple aspect.

     As the teachers in the Bible Project point out, hevel has a wispish or fleeting shape form.  Think of a cloud.  If you looked up in the sky, say a perfect dinosaur or other animal and reached out to grab it, what would happen?  Ok, if you had big enough hands and long enough arms to grab a cloud you saw, what would happen to the cloud?  Right, your grasping would disturb its figure.  Right, it might break up into multiple little clouds.  You are doing great.  Was the shape there before you grasped it?  It was, right?  You recognized the shape.  What caused you to recognize the shape?  Ah, that’s a stumper, right?  How do you or I know what whales or dinosaurs or other figures look like?  Who said that?  Right, we are taught how things are.  To use the language of the Greek philosophers, we study whales to learn to identify the essences of whaleness.  We study dinosaur bones to learn the essence of what it is to be a dinosaur.

     Here’s the fun question of the day: Why do we study the Scripture?  Too hard?  To use my above language, Whose essence do we study when we read the Scriptures?  Right, certainly we learn about human essence.  Against Whose essence is human essence contrasted?  Right, God’s.  Scripture teaches us about God.  Scripture teaches us what God loves and what God hates, right?  Scripture also teaches us God promises and what we must do to become inheritors of those promises, right?  Believe in Jesus—great answer.  God also teaches us about challenging aspects of God’s character we would probably rather avoid.  Who here loves it that God is so patient?  His patience played a role in our own salvation but how much do we wish He would act quickly or come again sooner when it comes to the affect other sinners have on us?  Unfair?  Who here identifies too often with the ungrateful older brother when the loving father embraces the prodigal son? 

     To use the language of the Apostles and early Church Fathers, we see but through a dark glass, right?  Yes, we know a lot about God, more even than Qoheleth or the author of Ecclesiastes, but still we cannot see all of God’s inscrutable essence or actions.  To use the language of the graduate school book, Job, we cannot begin to fathom the power and might and wisdom that plays with leviathan and behemoth like little fish or puppy, who created all the stars and set their courses and gave them their songs, or who decided to create humankind in His image, or to know what is really going on when God seems not to be paying attention to His creation or to us.

     The author of the book, of course, will let us hear Qoheleth out.  Then, as we near the end of the book, the author will remind us of our choice.  I commend this book to you all, especially when your doubts or cynicism seem to be getting the best of you as you observe the world around you.  What follows, as several commentators pointed out, is a biblical carpe diem of sorts.  The problem, of course, is that the commentators mostly mistranslated carpe diem.  What’s more, the carpe diem is the attitude of Qoheleth and not the author of the book.  Carpe can mean seize, just as hevel can mean empty or vain.  Those are legit word choices.  But is that what is meant in that Latin phrase that captures much of Qoheleth’s teaching?  Of course not.

     Carpe diem is an idiom.  To be quick about it, the idiom literally says pluck the day.  Think of it in terms of flowers.  Those of us who love flowers, do we ever seize them?  Of course not.  Seizing affects violence on something we perceive as beautiful.  If we seize a flower, we risk tearing the stalk, knocking petals loose, dislodging the pistols and stamen from which we get the beautiful smells.  We pluck flowers to make it possible to preserve them as long as possible.  We like to enjoy their beauty, the vibrant colors, and their smells.  Seizing them puts our enjoyment of them at risk.

     Similarly, seizing a day suggests we can control or shape our day to serve us, that the day is somehow subject to our whims.  How often have you laid in bed on a cold wet day, seized it, and made it so, incurring no consequences from family or bosses or friends?  Not too often.  How many times have you seized the day to get rid of the humidity or warm temperatures or snow or cold?  I’m guessing, like me, you’ve had to suffer the day’s weather.

     Days, like flowers, are meant to be enjoyed, savored, and lived as if they are a gift from God.  And there is a huge difference.  You or I may hate snow, but who cannot appreciate the beauty, if one does not have to leave the house.  We may not like rain, but we sure like the flora and fauna that depend on rainfall for survival.  Our list could go on and on and on.  There are many things in the day which we might not choose ourselves, if we had the power to seize it.  But, in the end, we recognize that each and every day is a gift from God.  Were He not thinking of us, each of us, were He not so willing each of us to be, we would cease to exist.  Period.  And we trust that this world, this universe, will end the way He intends.  Better still, thanks to His revelation in Scripture, we trust that even when things are broken or running amok, He is redeeming all those things that have gone wrong, nudging and steering them back to His purposes.

     In the end, of course, Qoheleth’s observations and wisdom fall flat, and the author reminds us it is God whom we are called to trust.  But in that trust, our mindset shifts.  We begin to trust that whatever we experience is either good or full of redemptive value for God.  We give thanks to God for each day, no matter the weather, no matter the challenges, no matter how many times people ridicule or mock us, no matter our health, no matter our possessions, because we know the evil things are not from our loving Father and that our loving Father in heaven has promised He will redeem us, He will vindicate us, His Will will be done in the end.

     The wonderful advantage that you and I have on Qoheleth and the author of Ecclesiastes, naturally, is the work and person of Jesus Christ.  How can we trust that God can redeem all the suffering that we face?  How can we believe that God has the power to overcome the weather, to overcome privation in our life, to overcome all that seems to have run amok?  How can we trust that God will see that vengeance is served, that justice is executed, and that His love of us triumphs in the end?  Heck, how can we trust that God is always paying attention to us?  The answer, which was unavailable to the author and to Qoheleth, was that amazing mystery we call the Incarnation, the Death and Resurrection and Ascension of Jesus, and all the other attendant works of power.

     Unlike the author and Teacher in this book, you and I sit on the other side of that Empty Tomb.  We sit on the other side of Jesus’ teachings.  And because of His Resurrection, we learn His words are true and that God has all the power necessary to accomplish His will for each and every one of us!  And so we can face these circumstances which seem to fly in the face of proverbial wisdom.  We can face disease, trusting that, even if it leads ultimately to our deaths, God will redeem our death and use our suffering to glorify Himself in the eyes of others.  We can face privations, certain that, at the last day, we will share in that double portion of inheritance described by the prophets and Apostles and that, when we begin to experience that for eternity, our privations for this brief existence will cause not even a tear to be shed.  Our list could go on and on and on.  Each day we face is a gift.  Either it is a joyful day where we recognize God’s sovereign’s hand at work in our lives, or we recognize that He must be at work in our lives working to redeem the suffering we are experience.  Such is the promise of the covenant made at our baptisms!  And so we face the day knowing the gift of the day, and knowing that God is using us for His inscrutable purposes in the redemption of the world and those in it with us.  And knowing that, trusting that He is a God of His word, we can face the vicissitudes of life certain that, in the end, all of God’s promises will be true for each and every one of us who claim Him as Lord.

     The observation of Qoheleth is that all is hevel.  Neither hard work nor intelligence nor reputation nor anything else of human construct is true and lasting.  Some of those things we do rightly point to God, but none of them are truly lasting.  Qoheleth is right.  Few would have been surprised by his observations and pronouncements, just as few would be shocked by his cynicism today.  They might be shocked by the inclusion of his observations in Scripture, but not by his observations.  Yet, for those of us who study the Scripture, who work our way faithfully week in and week out, the inclusion ought not surprise us.  Even the great Temple of Jerusalem, for all its magnificence and glory and seeming permanence, was a mere copy of the eternal one in the heavens.  And like all human copies of the things divine, even it proved to be hevel, fleeting as a cloud or wisp of smoke.

  Ah, but the things of God—those are the permanent, the eternal things for which and to which we strive.  And we gain access to them, are promised them ultimately, through our Lord Christ!  Fame, fortune, health, reputation—all are hevel.  Only Christ is eternal, only Christ is solid.  And when we trust in faith that our Father will reveal Him in our lives, then we can be assured that one day we will be raised with Him in glory, to share in those wonderful blessings described in Proverbs not just for a lifetime, but for eternity!

In Christ’s Peace,

Brian†