This Sunday is our Family Service and we are telling the story of the Ascension of our Lord Jesus. It is told in brief in Luke's first book, The Gospel, and then expanded in more detail in his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. Jesus is preparing the disciples for the work of creating Neighborhoods here on earth in the Kingdom of God in anticipation of the day when Jesus will return.
Pastor Pete
Blondie, Tuco, and Angel Eyes…anyone get that reference?
So this post is a little different. It is on the blog for all to see. But it is directly shared only with the
Session.
Our Session Meeting last night was essentially three meetings. Three significant points of discussion. And they slotted well with the title of this
post.
The Ugly was the Sexual Misconduct Policy. Not the policy itself (although eleven pages…)
but what it represents. It represents
what it means for a church to be serious about the safety of its church
community in regards to sexual misconduct.
That in a church setting, insult and exploitation and worse must be
taken seriously because even in our Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom, sin seeks to
invade.
It is one piece of a set of responses to the world of sin,
inclusive with our “Youth, Child, and Vulnerable Adult Protection Policy”, and
the Harassment and Anti-Racism policies that are yet ‘on deck’.
The Good was our discussion of “branding”. A good discussion of a term I dislike. Well, I dislike what it is, not what it could
be. I picture somebody who takes up 'branding' as someone who self-identifies as an ‘influencer’. I am old
fashioned enough to slot this "career choice" in the category of "Not A Real Job". Hello, my name is Peter and I...influence? It’s like justifying
doing whatever I want to get away with. When
I grew up…in the last century…when somebody acted like a jerk; acting out or bullying or whatever, they were called out on their behavior. People like this give 'branding' a bad name, like it is an excuse. “I’m a jerk (polite term for what I am really thinking) but it’s my BRAND."
But it is certainly not "new". Any MTV fans out there know the reference of "Puck" from The Real World?
But ‘brand’ as ‘who I am’ or ‘who I want to be’, when its
invested with authenticity and caring, when it can be identified as ‘love of
God’ and ‘love of Neighbor’ -in a world that does both crassly at best-that is
what Jesus brings. It is what we seek to
offer. The metaphor of Neighborhood, taking
off from the beautiful downtown that is Merchantville…
It answers a challenge, “How do I describe to people what
our church is like?” It provides a basis
of contrast, the blessings we have to offer against a world that feels like it
is full of cursings. It’s an organizing
idea. It draws together threads of our
church life and begins to weave it into something beautiful.
Which brought in the Bad.
Maybe this is not so much a third point of discussion as a counterpoint
to the Good. So big, too big, we don’t
have the people, the energy to achieve it now.
We have the ongoing work of Nominating.
We have questions of participation.
Great vision but hard reality.
Which in turn brought in the Graceful. Not a fourth discussion point, but the Spirit
at work in the hearts of a group of people at the center of the leadership and
love of this congregation. “Stewards of
the Mysteries of God” we are (no pressure there, eh?). For some
reason, I think that would be a very bad opener when seeking to nominate elders
to serve at this juncture. But one
mystery of God is to ask how we get from point A to point B.
Answered with three things, three ‘do now’s’, three next steps, action
items, whatever we want to call them.
But what is beautiful to me is that these are not just three more things
a church ‘ought to do’ or are points in a ‘growth strategy’, but they are three
things, deliberate things, that make us more intentioned to be the Neighborhood
in God’s Kingdom that we seek to be.
And typically, I’ve got two of them down in my notes…on
working more effectively with the new folks God sends to worship with us, on
the consideration of quarterly gatherings of our Committees, and…did someone
get the third?
Pastor Pete
To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,
This Sunday, our passage is John 14: 15-21, where Jesus speaks of the foundation of God that is laid down for the church:
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming
to you. 19 In a little while the world will no
longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. 20 On
that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in
you. 21 They who have my commandments and keep them
are those who love me, and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I
will love them and reveal myself to them.”
So,
let us connect a few things.
1. At the beginning
of John 14, Jesus says (and I am translating here), “In my Father’s community
there are many neighborhoods…I go to prepare a place for you…I will come back
to you.”
2. The image of this
new community is described in the book of Revelations as the New Jerusalem,
come down out of heaven.
3. We are called to
be imitators of God in Ephesians 5, and live a life of love, just as Christ
loved us and gave himself up for us.
Ergo (a cooler word than ‘therefore'), a Neighborhood is prepared for us in the Kingdom of God, so we prepare that Neighborhood in the here and now.
This Sunday is also Mother’s Day. That suddenly caused these verses to pop in a whole new way. Let me explain. In my experience, mom was the manager of the household. Dad worked and helped and did a lot, but day to day, it was mom who made the hundreds of decisions to keep the house running, the kids fed and out of trouble, the family as a unit.
Now, read these verses in the context of Jesus preparing to ascend and leaving plans in place for the founding of the church, for the creation of Neighborhoods here in God’s Kingdom. My first reading of all this was in the context of ‘Trinity’, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit, they are all brought together in these few verses.
But they are brought together for a purpose. In God and as God, Jesus is laying down the foundation of how, in the divine, this new thing-this church-is going to function. The household of faith is built on more than the promises of God, also the active participation and intervention of God.
This is especially touching where Jesus speaks of His ascension. The world will no longer see Him, but we will. This is the presence and the work of the Holy Spirit. The church is not left with an attitude on the part of Jesus that goes something like, “Okay, here you go, a Spirit, go play and I’ll see you at the second coming.”
No, Jesus is here, the literal “Emmanuel”, which means “God With Us”. Mom was always there, always managing things, always preparing, and (darn it) always right. It's kind of a tribute to mom that it takes God in Three Persons to replace her in the household of faith…
And
the connector through this all is love.
I didn’t always understand (or choose to understand, let me be real)
what mom asked of me, but it was always from love. For me personally, mom is not here
anymore. But, like my Lord Jesus,
neither is she really gone.
Jesus
builds our Neighborhood in God’s Kingdom on love as surely as mom build our home
on love.
Pastor Pete
So, I know I've talked about walking. One of the joys of walking is discovering hidden bits.
I walk for three main reasons. First is for my health. It is the only sustainable exercise program I have ever managed. It is also Outside, something we all need.
What follows is a Side Bar Rabbit Hole that took on a
life of its own. Enjoy or skip along to the main point.
This may sound nuts, but I actually found something useful
on Social Media about going outside. First thing
in the morning, I go outside (or stand on the porch and open the door if the
weather is averse). Now, at first glance I thought the FB post said something about cicadas being in rhythm with us when we do this, but
it is, in fact circadian rhythm.
Now, I thought “Circadians” were an order of nuns in the Roman Catholic
church from the Middle Ages, but apparently not.
I ALSO learned a Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious word in all this, 'suprachiasmatic nucleus'. It's like the gears of the clock in the human brain.
It is the internal clock God created us with to govern our
actions and life cycle in response to the First Day of Creation, when God said,
“Let there be light.” And then it was
evening, and the first day. We are
created in alignment with all of God’s creation, which is really cool.
I know it’s too late, but in an attempt to make a long story
short, a time outside first thing in the morning apparently aligns our internal
clocks to the day God created. And it
actually works for me.
Thus endeth the Side Bar Rabbit Hole, back to the main
point.
The second reason I walk is for the history and geography
laid out in the very ground beneath my feel.
That is where this hidden bit popped. If you go west on Maple from the church (toward
Rt. 130), and take the really tight right before going up on the Federal Street
Overpass, there is a short stretch of road (N. 43rd Street) up which
you can see the terminus of a railway bridge crossing Rt. 130.
I have seen the bridge as I’ve driven Rt. 130, and I know it
is overgrown, but I did not connect it to something even bigger. It is the extension of the west end of the
Merchantville Mile. I knew the
Merchantville Mile was built on a railway line.
I love the coffee drinks at the Station (and the Arts community it helps
support). But walk to the end of the
Mile westbound from Centre Street and it dead ends into some trees. But follow West Chestnut, on the south side of the Mile, and it turns into N 43rd Street at the Merchantville/Pennsauken border, and there's the bridge!
The third reason I walk is for my faith. It was supposed to be time to pray, but God had other plans.
Let me back up for a moment to talk about those plans. We have spoken in our church of Jesus’
summary of the law as our guidance for Christian living, to love God with
heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love our Neighbors as ourselves. We use that as a chart of a sort. Loving God with our soul is contemplative of
God’s love and grace and creation and all that is great and wonderful. Loving God with our mind is communicative, to
pray. Loving God with our strength is
our Stewardship, what of our abilities and possessions to we offer up in love
to do what God calls us to do.
To pray and to do, I know about those. The contemplative, not so much. The magical and mystical and simply resting
in the power of God, sounds amazing, but I have never been able to sit still
with any ease.
But to walk, that's where God was leading. Certain walks are not about the walk so much
about focus on the beauty of God’s creation in the trees and flowers. It was very powerful in the delayed spring we’ve
had after our first “real” winter in how long?
It is about the insights that Lord drops while out and about. A thought, a connection, a concern, a
possibility.
This past Sunday, firing up the reality that we are a Neighborhood
in the Kingdom of God set things up for today. We are in the
heart of Merchantville, Merchantville is the heart of a ring including
Pennsauken, Camden, and Cherry Hill; in turn in the heart of a ring including
Palmyra, Cinnaminson, Maple Shade, Mt Laurel, more Cherry Hill (there’s a LOT
of Cherry Hill), Haddonfield, Haddon, and Collingswood...and more Camden (LOTS of Camden too).
This is where the hidden bit popped. A bridge over Rt. 130. Merchantville comes very close to 130, but
doesn’t cross. But the Neighborhood
does. God has sent us out. How far then shall we go? A decommissioned railroad bridge served God’s
purpose to poke me, and now us, to think on that.
Pastor Pete
We seek to share the upcoming Scripture lesson each week to give folks an opportunity to listen to the word of God ahead, to meditate on it, and generally seek to integrate it into the activities of daily living before we come together in worship.
May God's Word bless you today.
Pastor Pete
Our passage this week is John 14: 15-21. We continue in the time after Jesus’ Resurrection, yet before His Ascension. The disciples will begin a new phase of their lives of Acting on their faith in the world. It begins with them and is a faith community that continues with us.
So, the Father, who is calling the Son home-the Son who will return again, will not leave the disciples 'in the lurch'. Another will come, the Holy Spirit, to dwell in their hearts. This is no less that Jesus coming to reside in their hearts. The rest of the world won’t get it, but we will understand. It is how the love of God will continue into this new phase of God’s plan. So, Jesus no longer in our lives, but, in our hearts, the power of God up close and personal.
This is the framework for understanding how we will act as Christians in the world:
John 14: 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him because he abides with you, and he will be in you.
18 “I will not leave you orphaned; I
am coming to you. 19 In a little while the world
will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will
live. 20 On that day you will know that I am in my
Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 They who
have my commandments and keep them are those who love me, and those who love me
will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”
So, how
then will the Devil get into the system to undermine what God does for us? How about making it more important to believe the right thing than to do the right thing?
According
to the Google, ‘doctrine’ “is a codification of beliefs, principles, or
instructions held by a group (in this case Christians) acting as a
framework for understanding and acting in the world.” As a framework for understanding and
acting in the world, I hope those verses are clear.
We
understand God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as a framework of understanding
how God has chosen to act in the world. In this case, we are speaking of the Doctrine of the Trinity.
HOWEVER-and
if you are NOT a fan of rabbit hole diving, stop reading here. HOWEVER, because this is so important, how will
the Devil seek to undermine it?
It could start with a close reading of the passage that ends up with something like this: ”So we
have God who is forever and all-powerful above us and surrounding us, invisible
yet all-embracing who is ALSO AT THE SAME TIME a human being who came to live
among us, tempted in every way and yet without sin who is ALSO AT THE SAME TIME
a Spirit, well, the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, God inhabiting our hearts.”
Some may consider
that seriously cool. Others may consider
that seriously confusing.
This was so
cool and confusing that the Whole church (of the time) got together in Nicaea
in 325 and in Constantinople in 381 and codified (made a Doctrine)
that God is Three in One. God is in
three ‘persons’ (Divine Persons, not human persons except…Jesus…) and it has
been labeled in history as the Doctrine of the Trinity.
Now, there’s
the key word, not Trinity, but Doctrine.
Something the church likes to do is to borrow ideas and concepts from the rest of the world to illustrate what we are trying to say. But we often use those ideas and concepts poorly. What I have in mind here is that we do not
just have a Doctrine of the Trinity, we have a Trinitarian Formula (borrowing
and messing up a basic principle of mathematics or maybe chemistry-but for Jesus). We use this at baptism, “In the name of the…1…
Father, and of the…2… Son, and of the…3… Holy Spirit”.
This is how
the numbers break out for our Scripture passage for Sunday:
Jesus is speaking here: 15 “If you
love Me(2), you will keep My(2) commandments. 16 And
I will ask the Father(1), and He(1) will give you another Advocate(3), to
be with you forever. 17 This is the Spirit(3) of
truth, whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees Him(3) nor knows Him(3).
You know Him(3) because He(3) abides with you, and (3)He will be in you.
18 “I(2) will not leave you orphaned;
I(2) am coming to you. 19 In a little while the
world will no longer see Me(2), but you will see me(2); because I(2) live, you
also will live. 20 On that day you will know that I(2)
am in my Father(1), and you in Me(2), and I(2) in you. 21 They
who have My(2) commandments and keep them are those who love Me(2), and those
who love Me(2) will be loved by my Father(1), and I(2) will love them and
reveal Myself(2) to them.”
SO…see how
easily this can draw the joy and power of these words of Christ? Like a freshman lecturer in college starting , "Allow me to bore you as we contemplate the
Godhead" (yes, Godhead is another name for the Trinity).
If we get
stuck here, the Devil wins. We lose out
on the deeper knowledge and understanding of how God acts in the world and how WE are to follow.
But if we choose to STOP here, the Devil wins even more. We
believe that God is in Three Persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
and you better get that down pat or else you aren’t doing your faith
right. Few people would say that
explicitly, but it is laced implicitly across our faith. Get this right or you don’t move on.
This is
when a Doctrine, an important piece of defining our faith, becomes an
Idol, when it takes on a life of its own, when its purpose is “getting it right”
and does NOT continue to its Real purpose, "doing it right", as a framework for acting in the
world.
When the Bible, or some part
of it, some set of verses, some proof text, when these become how we understand Jesus' words to “keep my commandments”, when we start somewhere else than Jesus' commandments to sum up the law, to Love God and Love Neighbor, then we’ve
been derailed from our faith.
Thus endeth the trip down the Rabbit Hole.
Pastor Pete
To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,
8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the
Father, and we will be satisfied.” 9 Jesus said to
him, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me?
Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the
Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the
Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on
my own, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, but if you do not, then believe because
of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you,
the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will
do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I
will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the
Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything,
I will do it.
Philip
is like, “Show us the Father and we will be satisfied.” According to their Bible, the bible of Jesus,
that would have killed them. Exodus
33:20, God’s warning to Moses on Mt. Sinai, “But you cannot see my face; for no
one shall see me and live.”
But
that’s not the part that struck me. What
is Philip following up on here? Well, “In my Father’s house, there are many
dwelling places…” So, maybe Philip is
seeing a dating metaphor? Jesus and the
disciples are at that point in their relationship where Philip is telling Jesus
to invite them home to meet this Dad that Jesus keeps going on about?
Is
this in anticipation of the marriage metaphor we get later in the New
Testament? Like in Revelation where the
church is the bride adorned for her husband in chapter 19? Paul talks about the marriage of Christ to
the church as the basis for how husbands and wives ought to be married. So, this is also a metaphoric ‘thing’… a
dating metaphor? Or maybe a formal
engagement?
Jesus
is going to prepare a place for us. In
His Father’s house are many dwelling places.
So…like…when we get married, the church will move in with Jesus’ family?
This
is not interpretation based on Biblical or theological language. This is interpretation based on how love
functions in relationships for people.
We date, we get married. It is no
less true than to explore the meanings of what it is that Jesus is ‘the way,
the truth, and the life’. But it does
add a dimension to human relationships beyond what we have in this life.
One
of the promises we make in the wedding ceremony is ‘till death do us
part’. And while, as an institution,
marriages all too often implode before they close to that, in Jesus, we have a
greater hope. Because of what Jesus has
done for us, by His death and resurrection, the marriage of the church to the
Lamb, to the Lord, is something that is no longer parted by death.
And
honestly, if we, the whole church, is (are?) to marry Jesus, it makes sense
when He says, “In my Father’s house there are MANY dwelling places.”
Pastor Pete.
