Sunday, January 29, 2012

Grocery Lists


Think about your grocery list.
I won’t often encourage you to do that during the sermon, but think about it now, really.

What will you eat this week?  What do you need to buy? 

Do you have it firmly in mind?
Good.  Because it’s a spiritual document.
Your shopping list, lunch plans and dinner menu are expressions of your faith, a way that you live in relationship to God. Though I expect that many of us are not thinking specifically about that at the deli counter or in the cereal aisle.

But Paul’s thinking about it.
His friends in the church at Corinth have written to him about the arguments and questions that are causing conflict in their congregation, and grocery shopping is right up there on the list.

You may already know that the Corinthians weren’t shopping at Jewel or Aldi.  Instead, in the market square there were different vendors for vegetables, baked goods, dairy, and whatever else you needed.  And most of the meat vendors were working out the back doors of the temples of Aphrodite, Poseidon, Apollo and others, selling meat from the animals sacrificed in worship and prayer to the Greek and Roman gods. 
Most residents of the city understood that to eat Apollo’s meat, purchased from his temple, was to honor Apollo.  Not as much as making a sacrifice of your own, of course, but on some level, you had to respect Apollo to dine on his beef.

So the small Christian community faced an ongoing grocery challenge.
They all knew, of course, that there is only one God.  The God of Israel, Creator of All, Father of Jesus Christ, the Lord.  And Apollo, Aphrodite, Poseidon were all illusions.  Idols without power of their own.
No one in the Christian community was going to participate in the worship of those gods.  But they still had to eat.

Some in the congregation said that to eat Apollo’s beef or Poseidon’s mutton was idol-worship – a sinful rejection of God.  Others, however, said that eating the meat sold from the temples was harmless, since we all know those gods don’t really exist.  (And apparently the “eat everything” group were calling the more cautious folks stupid.)

It may seem a strange thing to argue about, two thousand years later.  But we have similar challenges.  Just not – mostly – in the supermarket meat department.

Paul points out that this isn’t really about idols, or about meat.
It’s about how our every day actions and choices affect others.
It’s about caring for our brothers and sisters in the community.
And that’s exactly what matters to us, today.

Paul tells the Corinthian Christians that food cannot bring them close to God, and it’s perfectly okay to eat meat from the temple markets
UNLESS
it distresses one of your fellow Christians.  
If it makes your dinner companions feel that they have sinned, or makes others who respect you question the quality of their relationship with God, take the meat off your table and eat your vegetables.  Period.

Being right doesn’t count.  Building up your neighbor does.

This week I got an email from a friend inviting me to join an internet protest of Trader Joe’s about fair wages for tomato pickers.  And, while I’m generally allergic to internet protests, I signed on to this one, sending an email of my own to the management.  Because I buy a LOT of my groceries at Trader Joe’s.  And I if I know my food costs someone else their health, family life, and dignity – which does happen when we underpay our farm workers – dinner feels sinful.
And dinner that feels sinful undermines our relationship to God.

That’s about food, yes.  And about idols, on some level.
But it’s not mostly about food.
It’s about how our daily actions impact others.

Your decisions this week may not be about tomatoes.  It might be clothes that horrify your sister because of sweatshop labor. 
It might be your kids or grandkids watching your behavior in traffic, or when there’s a political debate on TV, and learning some words they know they shouldn’t use. 
It might be peers or co-workers who respect you watching your relationship with the boss, or a client, and trying on relationships that feel wrong to them becasuse they want to fit in. 
You remember how that works in school, don’t you?

It’s not just food. It’s everything we do.
Because other members of God’s family are affected by our dinner, our clothes, our vocabulary, all of our actions.

Sound like a tough job?
It was tough in Corinth to serve a healthy dinner without shopping among the idol-worshippers, and it’s a tough job in Lombard and Chicago to make every choice count.

But the good news is that all our choices count.
Colleages and fellow students might want to fit in with our habit of treating everyone with dignity and respect.
Kids and grandkids want to learn how to love from the ones they love the best.
Siblings and friends want to be led to life-giving choices and peace of heart and mind.

The good news is that we preach the gospel all day, every day.
And the mission of the church is fulfilled in our offices, cars, classrooms, and yes, our shopping carts.
We make a difference in the world with every email, phone call, management decision, conversation, and purchase.

Look around you for a minute at your brothers and sisters in Christ. See all the different lives through which God can work in Lombard – Villa Park, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Downers Grove, and all around. 
Think about their shopping lists, their offices and homes and friends, all the daily choices and actions that are shaped by the faith we share.

Look at them, looking at you. And know that your decisions make a difference – even in the grocery.  Every single thing we do to love and build up our neighbors makes the gospel real, here and now.

Isn’t that good news?


Sunday, January 22, 2012

Wearing Your Gospel


Maybe you’ve heard of Tim Tebow.
He’s the young backup-to-frontline quarterback for the Denver Broncos.  But he’s news even outside of the sports pages because in the last few years, he’s brought evangelical Christianity to big time football prominence, and brought genuflecting back into fashion (although that particular sort of kneeling has been rebranded as “Tebowing”).

Two weeks ago, the Monday morning buzz was all about divine messages or divine intervention when a game-winning overtime touchdown pass brought Tebow’s passing to 316 yards – a total immediately taken by some fans as a reference to the 16th verse of the 3rd chapter of the Gospel according to John – a biblical reference Tebow famously wore in his eye black during a NCAA championship game.


John 3:16.

It’s a bible verse that’s had a place, of sorts, in football and other televised sports for around 30 years.  But you’ll find that cryptic little reference in other places, too. It’s on the bottom of the shopping bags of the fashion chain Forever 21 (something the youth group tipped me off to, last weekend).  It’s on the drink cups of a west coast burger chain, and on the door of my dry cleaners here in Lombard.  And I’ll bet you’ve seen it other places, too.

John 3:16 has become a shorthand for Christian faith in many places.

In fact, I’ll bet many of you can recite it, now, without looking it up in the Bible.  Anyone? 
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” (NRSV)
I'm sure you also know that it comes from the story of the Pharisee Nicodemus sneaking in to visit Jesus and ask about the power of God – a story that’s all about the unpredictability and uncertainty of faith. 
And pulled from its context, in the last quarter century or so, John 3:16 has been recruited to do the work of the entire Bible, or at least the Christian testament.  It’s been called a summary of the Gospel.

But I don’t think that’s fair.

Because the Bible is a big book.  It has a lot to say about God, much about the Son of God, and more to say about how we live when we’re in relationship with God – with some politics, census, history, and love poetry mixed in.
It can’t possibly be summarized in 25 words. And you really do have to know the whole story in order to appreciate the love, the gift, the belief, and the eternal life mentioned in that one popular verse.

So it drives me crazy that there’s a culture that regards quoting John 3:16 as the essence of Christian faith.


But I do think Tim Tebow is on to something.

Because it is a big book, and there’s really too much of it to hold on to all at once.  But there are certain stories, sayings, and verses that speak strongly to us.  Fragments that express the essence of the gospel we’ve received and understood in our hearts and try to practice in our lives.
And today we heard mine. 

Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”
 
That’s Mark 1:15.  I don’t wear eye black on national television, but you can find this gospel story on my quilt square in the parish hall. 

The time is now – not someday, but now. 

The reign of God is near –within reach, here
Repent:  Change, renew. Turn like a plant toward the sun.
and Believe in the good news:  Give your heart and your allegiance to the joy of God’s presence. Make that the core of your life.

That’s the Gospel according to Jesus; 
the gospel that Simon and Andrew, James and John would have heard when he called them from their boats.  No wonder they respond so fully, so immediately, to the call!    

Jesus preaches the world I want to live in, the gospel that shapes my days and my imagination: The world according to God is now.  Respond. Believe.

 

These are words that encourage me to make decisions and actions that reflect the kingdom of God, here and now; that remind me to rejoice in giving my heart to good news of God’s presence. 

Of course, you have to read the whole Bible to appreciate that one verse, too. Because that's how you learn about the world according to God.  It's described in Genesis, and by Moses and the prophets as a good world, where we are made in God’s image and care for creation, where the weakest and most fragile are the focus of grace; a world where other desires can never pull us away from God’s love. And the law codes, the letters of Paul, even the history and the love poetry and the politics, are about how we repent, how we change our behavior to live according to the reign of God.


And in all of that there are other gospel gems.  Other lenses that may focus and reflect the whole gospel for you, and for others, the way Mark 1:15 does for me.


I don’t imagine that we’re going to see a lot of Mark 1:15 signs at football games.

But I wish we would.
I wish we’d see those signs in all sorts of places.
And signs reading
John 3:16 or John 3:17
and many more, so that the good news is everywhere, in many different ways.

Which brings me back to Tim Tebow.

Because John 3:16 isn’t the only verse he’s worn on his face.  In his college football career, he wore many different biblical references, verses and phrases that shape his life, that he shared with the world – or at least the Florida Gator fans.

And I wonder:

How would it be if we wore our gospel – you and me, at work or at school – every day, or at least once a week?
How would it be, if we knew and proclaimed – by our faces and bodies and by our actions – the core of our faith?  If we carried with us, for all the world to see, the words that shape our everyday decisions and dreams.

I want you to try it.

It may take time.

First, you need to know your verse.  You may already.

If not, read and listen and remember.  Open your heart to the stories and statements of the Bible that grab hold of you, deep inside.  The ones that trigger longing, or tears, or real joy.

Then use them.  Spend time imagining how your life would be, lived according to those words.  Put them on your lists of pros and cons when you’re making a decision, even if it seems to be about something else.  Imagine them over the heads of people you love, and people who drive you crazy.


Finally, proclaim them.

You don’t have to paint your face, but you could.
Write them on your hand. 
Get a T-shirt.

And don’t be shy about sharing them.  Because if you’re living the gospel, other people will want to know your secret.

It may not win you a Super Bowl, but life in the Kingdom of God lasts a lot longer and has fewer commercials.

Thanks be to God.

Sunday, January 15, 2012

Holy Bodies


Last week, I sat down with our first and second grade Sunday School class to prepare for Youth Sunday, today.  This is something I try to do every month: visit with the class that’s preparing to help lead worship, talk about what we do in church, and help them write the prayers we use. 
So we had a great conversation about what we ask God for, and what we thank God for.  Then I asked about reading the scripture lessons – and all of the first and second grade students readily volunteered their older brothers and sisters.  So I went back to my office, pulled up the readings for today, 
and winced.

Because, I admit, I don’t usually strike up a conversation with our teens and pre-teens – much less their younger brothers and sisters – about immorality, prostitutes, and bodies.  In fact, it’s something many of us are not comfortable talking about in church, even if it IS in scripture. 

But here it is, this morning, 
regularly scheduled in the lectionary,
on one of our regularly scheduled Youth Sundays,
and here we are, talking about it. 

Hey! Paul is saying,
Pay attention to what’s going on with your bodies!
I’ve been teaching you about the wonderful gift of freedom you have in Christ, and I know you’re listening because I hear you going around, telling each other delightedly: I am allowed to do anything, now!!
Great.  But now this freedom is getting you into arguments about eating meat from the temple or only vegetables. You’re arguing among yourselves about whether it’s more free to marry or stay single.  And you brag about your freedom to welcome someone in your congregation who is living intimately with his stepmother.
Pay attention!
If you think this is what freedom’s all about, you’re turning Jesus Christ into a prostitute! 

Do you suppose there was a shocked silence in the Corinthian congregation when the reader got to that point in Paul’s letter? 

There should have been.
Paul’s trying to shock them, because he wants so much for them – for us, really – to pay attention. 

Think about your body for a minute.
Do you love your body?
Does it feel beautiful, and holy, and wonderful?
When you want a spiritual experience, do you think first about your body? 

How many of you answered “no” to at least one of those questions?
Me too. 

Paul wants us to answer yes.
And I think God wants us to answer yes. 

But so much of the world around us wants us to answer, “no.”
Every other ad on television has something to say to us about what’s wrong with our bodies – so that the marketers can sell us something to “fix” them.
Many of us learn from a very early age that we’re not beautiful – too tall or too short, the wrong shape, the wrong color hair, too much or not enough of it….  And of those few who do learn early that they are beautiful – many are taught to fight their bodies in order to stay “beautiful.” 

The bad news isn’t the hype itself.  The bad news is that if we believe the hype, it’s a spiritual disaster. 
Seriously. 

Have you noticed, perhaps, that your body is with you twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the year?
Your body is the only article of faith you can’t ever leave behind.  It’s the revelation of God that quite literally walks around with you. 

Paul said it: your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you... 

Your body is the church in the world.  The temple, the physically holy space that is with us always. Our bodies are the holy presence of God everywhere we are. 

At work; at school.
In traffic.
At the doctor’s office, at the lunch meeting, when we’re in a fight with a family member.
When we’re checking our email, or watching TV.
And, very definitely, when we’re in bed. 

It’s no accident that scripture asserts that physical intimacy is a spiritual union.
The holy presence of God is embodied within you, being you, no matter what. 

This is precisely why we talk to our kids about sex, and why we hope they will talk to us.  It’s why we talk about sex in church. 

And also about details of food, and illness, and other things that make us uncomfortable.  Things some might say should be decently kept to oneself. 

Because our life of faith, our relationship with God, are not just what we pray and hear and say here on Sunday mornings.  This is the least part of it, honestly.
Our relationship with God matters most in the places that aren’t church.  And our bodies are there.  Our bodies are us, the temple of the Holy Spirit, holy and valuable to God, eating, sleeping, making love, singing along with the radio, checking email. 

Paul is mad at the Corinthians because they have forgotten that every cell of our bodies belongs to God.
And when we forget that – when we forget that our hunger, our physical pain, our strength, even the nerve endings and skin and heart of arousal – belong to God, we slip unintentionally into abuse.  Into neglect of the holiness of our bodies, and worship of the things which are not God. 

And we miss this wonderful, extraordinary gift:
that our bodies are the gift of holy physical presence that we can never misplace or lose. 

Think about your body, right now.
Your body that aches sometimes, that doesn’t always cooperate, that changes when you least expect it, that offers delights of taste and touch and smell. 

What is your body doing right now?
….sitting…..breathing….turning breakfast into muscle and bone….making meaning out of sound waves in the air….perhaps touching someone else’s body…pumping blood and life through your heart and limbs and skin…fighting infection… breathing…. 

Close your eyes.  Occupy your body. 

And listen:
LORD, you have searched me out and known me;
    you know my sitting down and my rising up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
For you yourself created my inmost parts;

    you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will thank you because I am marvelously made.
  Your works are wonderful, and I know it well. 

Know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own. You were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body. 

Go ahead and open your eyes, again.
Go on breathing, occupying your body,
the temple of the Holy Spirit that can never be closed to you, the real holy presence of God in all the places you are. 

In the end, I’m glad we’re talking about this on Youth Sunday.
Because this gospel truth shouldn’t be kept from children, and most especially not from teens.  It’s one we need to know, one we might even best learn from the youngest of our children. 

Your body is holy.  A wonderful revelation of God’s love for you. 

And if we hear it here, absorb it with our bodies, here,
maybe it will help us pay attention to our holy presence on Tuesday mornings, and Friday afternoons, early in the morning and late at night,
in all the places we are.