Learning from Joseph

Matthew 1:18-25

Let's look at this sometimes too familiar story slowly to understand it in today's terms.


Joseph who knows nothing of God's Holy plan, discovers that his soon to be wife (considered his wife in the act of betrothal) went missing for three months and shows up pregnant. He does not know the back story. He doesn't know what is happening, but decides to handle the matter himself quietly (rather than a public shaming and stoning which was completely acceptable at the time). This alone is an act of compassion we should learn from.


We have all had days where we have met someone and could easily make judgments. You know the person who parked in your spot at work and should have known better. What about the girl who is wearing the way too short skirt, or the guy that is driving ridiculously fast. What about the person who is yelling and screaming at the driver in front of them, or their children....


The thing is you don't know their story. You don't know what their day, weak or life has been like. Joseph did not know what was going on with Mary, yet he chose to deal with her quietly. He didn't shame her. He didn't talk about her in a loud voice so that she knew he was belittling her. How do we deal with those who we think aren't living like they should? Who aren't doing what we think they should? Who aren't acting like they should?


Joseph does not act immediately. He sleeps on it. He takes time to digest what he sees, what he knows and what he should do.


Do we do that? Do you spout off to who ever will listen when someone does something you disapprove of? Do you complain to their parents? To your friends? Do you take time to think about it? Try and see it from a different perspective?


You see Mary being pregnant was not only a huge shame for her, but for her entire family and for Joseph. Honor was everything at the time and in this there was no honor. If he chose to accept her and her child as his own as the angel tells him to do by having Joseph name Jesus. Then Joseph was also accepting the shame and a very difficult path. It was not an easy thing for a man in a patriarchal society to accept another man's child as his own. Blood lines were important, lineage was important. Matthew spends the first part of the chapter reviewing those lines. Yet if we take a moment to take notice we will see they are not as pure as we thought. There are women and men in those lines who lied, cheated, were prostitutes, foreigners, and did not always make the best choices right down to David himself.


Isn't that the way it is though. When we stand in a position of power, a place where we are on the verge of being made to feel uncomfortable we begin to think the worse of the one making us uncomfortable. Our defenses go up, we act rashly protecting what we think we know, and our “values” even if we aren't acting on them.


Yet Joseph sets an example of what Jesus will teach to all the world that love needs to win out. That patience and compassion need to replace pride. Faith in God's will needs to trump embarrassment. Perhaps as we wait in anticipation of Jesus' coming we should not only learn from him but from Joseph how to take a moment and love someone who we do not understand, who makes us angry, who makes choices so different from ours they seem to be poor choices. Perhaps this Christmas season we need to consider what difficult situation God is leading us into so that we can share with the world his Good News and Saving Grace.

Wake Up!

Isaiah 2:1-5
Psalm 122
Romans 13:11-14
Matthew :36-44


Whenever I read anything that sounds apocalyptic I begin to sing “It is the end of the world as we know it.” by REM. I can't help it, but I do. As I began to look more closely at the readings though the theme of being on edge, or anticipation of waiting was there.


These were all communities who had experienced hardship. Isaiah took place during the Syria-Ephraim war (Syria and Israel attacked Judah). In the Roman's community there was a great deal of persecution by the Roman government, and in Matthew, that community had been recently rejected from the synagogues and forced out of the Jewish community. These were people who were tired, who understood hardship and needed hope. Hope for something new.


Do any of you need hope?


Do you have past wounds, hurts, injuries that you have tried to harden your heart to but they still remain tender and vulnerable? Do you need hope?


I do. I know there are many things that I struggle with. I think for many of us, me included having relationships with people is a struggle. It is easier and safer to isolate my emotional self. It is easier to hide and not get to know people than it is to risk being hurt again. It is hard to be vulnerable, especially if you have been hurt. Yet is this not what we are called to do?


We are called to be in community, to serve and to live out the Good News. WE are called to be in relationship with one another and that is risky business people. You have to risk being hurt. You have to be willing to forgive, you have to do some hard work and relaxing in the recliner in front of a tv show is not cutting it.


Matthew reminds us to be ready.


We are to be ready. Are you ready? Are you living in hope? Are you willing to take some risks? To reach out to someone new and get to know them? Are you willing to live out the Gospel? Really live it out? How are you doing it?


The gospel is not a prison sentence, it is new hope. It is realizing that we do not travel this world alone. That we have God helping us to navigate this broken world with all of its problems and short comings. We can stop living out the Gospel when we are reunited with Christ, until that point we need to be doing some living! That does not mean that we live life as usual, as those in Noah's time, but that we are constantly on God watch. We watch for God moments, we watch for opportunities to be a good person to someone else, we watch for moments of sharing love with another person. This does not mean you lecture someone on Christ, you simply love them where they are. You risk being hurt. You hope in Christ and you love another person.


This is the season of Advent. The season of Hope. The time to take a serious look at your life and see if you are truly living in hope.



Are you like the owner of the house, going about your business as usual, doing your day to day, letting

End Times

Luke 21:5-19
2 Thessalonians 3:6-13


After the horrible storm in the Philippines, and all the devastating storms in the last two years people tell us we are living in the end times. We see the terrible wars, the torture, human trafficking, enslavement and we stare in horror and say we must be living in the end times.


The thing is that it is not just our times right now, this has been a fear for all times. We hear today in Luke how Jesus is warning about how times will be hard for those who live in his way, but not to give up he is with us. We hear about the destruction of the temple (both his body and the building). We hear about the false profits and the war and if we are a careful study of scripture we see those paths as well.


In 2 Thessalonians we hear Paul warning people against laziness. The people living in these communities thought the end times was coming – like NOW! Why would they work so hard to do anything. It was time for those who believed to go home. Why bother, it was all over.


Think about this for a moment.


Why bother? Does it really matter? No one cares?


We hear this all the time. I hear, why should I try? No one cares? Why does it matter? We grow complacent. We hear horrible things and we harden our hearts. We see horrific images and we become as stiff necked as those in the Bible. We hear false profits, and we jump on board because it sounds better than what we are doing.


People expect there to be one catastrophic event that ruins the world. They expect things to end dramatically in an Armageddon manner. Yet God does not exist in linear time. God is out side of time viewing all at once. What if we are all living in the “end times now”. All of us are going to have an end time. Jesus tells us this. It is not the end time we have to fear, but wasting our time. Paul tells those in Thesolonica that.


We don't have to worry about dying, about the world ending, about it all being over if we truly believe that Christ came, lived and died for us and our salvation. That through Christ we have a new and everlasting life and can experience the presence of God now in the in-breaking kingdom. If we are truly living out this message than we need to be truly living!


So here is the hard bit – are you living or are you wasting time? Are you gossiping and doing nothing? Are you earning your keep for we all have an end time. We all have a short journey on this earth. What are you going to do with it? You can experience the peace and joy of Christ. You can live out his word and experience joy unmeasured. You can choose to help others, to live outside your comfort zone and make a difference, or you can coast and be a loafer. What is it going to be?



We live in the end times, so will our children, and grand children and great children, just as we follow those before us. What are you going to do with your end time?  

A Wee Little Man.

Luke 19:1-10


Today we hear the story of Jesus once more with a tax collector. This one seems to have a few twists and turns however. Jesus plans on going through Jericho. In the first line it says that he plans on passing through – yet he doesn't. He stays the evening with Zacchaeus and eats with him. What happens that changes Jesus' plans? Why?


We hear about Zacchaeus who is the chief tax collector. He knows about Jesus and is so excited that he completely abandons all of the natural social norms. He is so despised despite his great wealth in the Jewish society that they won't let him through the crowd to glimpse Jesus. They won't let him in. They won't even let him through. So he runs ahead – which a man would never do, a rich man especially as this opens up for all sorts of criticism. Not only does he embrace himself to run ahead of where Jesus was going to be but he also climbs a Sycamore tree! How much more humiliating do you want to get for a man of his wealth and stature. He humbles himself completely in order to see Jesus.


Jesus stops what he is doing and calls him down. He tells him that he is going to stay at his house. This enrages the people. The hated tax collector, the one that they think or think they know has cheated them and works for the horrid Romans. This man that just made a fool of himself before the entire town is the one Jesus is choosing to eat with. Jesus puts them in an uncomfortable place. They love and respect Jesus as a healer and teacher, yet they hate the Romans and the tax collectors. They have to forgive Zacchaeus or they have to reject Jesus. The grumbled.


Do you ever grumble? Do you complain? Moan? Do you get annoyed and say some harsh things under your breath? How about grumbling when things don’t' follow your time line? When you think things should get done? What about when someone hurts your feelings? Your pride? Your honor? What about people you just don't agree with? It is a very human thing, especially when we are being challenged by God. We grumble, we mumble, we complain.


Here is the deal though, we are called to try and be like Jesus, so that we can live out his love with others and share the good news of the Kingdom of God.



Notice Jesus does not shame Zacchaeus. He does not mention his job. He does not mention what he does not like. He rejoices in Zaccheaeus, he dines with him which means he accepted him just as he was. He forgave him. He forced the people around him to think about Zacchaeus differently. Jesus made a world of difference to Zacchaeus. Jesus opened up the gates of inclusion in this small Jewish community despite the grumbling. So how do you do the same? How do you forgive those whom you disagree with? How do you love those whom your community does not approve of? How do you rush to see Jesus even if it means losing your pride and doing the hard work of climbing a tree?

Faith in times of Trouble

Click on the  links below to read the text.
Luke 17:5-10
2 Timothy 1:1-14

Today we celebrate World Communion Sunday. This is a time when we celebrate communion with all of our brothers and sisters around the world. It is also a time for United Methodists to collect a free will denomination-wide offering to provide scholarships for U.S. (racial- and ethnic-minority) and international undergraduate and graduate scholarships.¹


It is also a day that we talk about faith. We hear in Luke that we need faith only the size of a mustard seed, but I counter we need to actually live in faith even if it is the size of a mustard seed. We can profess things with our lips, but it needs to be in our hearts. WE also hear in 2 Timothy 1:1-14 today a reminder “to keep alive the gift that God has given you.” (v.6).


These are not easy tasks to accomplish, especially in our community today. Today we come together to celebrate faith and communion, but also to pray for the two families in the community who have lost children – another one of our most precious gifts. How do you keep the faith we are supposed to have when such tragedy takes place?


We are reminded not only of the miracles faith can provide (telling the Mulberry to pull itsefl up and throw itself into the sea), but then we are provided immediately after with what seems to be a bit of harsh reality. We are reminded that the servant serves all day, comes in tired and hungry and has to serve his master again, before eating himself and he does all of this without the least thanks. Isn't that what faith feels like most days? It feels like just doing what you need to do. We don't usually celbrate it, we don't look on it as a big deal, we just do it.


2 Timothy cautions us in this though. If we continue about the business without taking the time to marvel in what Jesus has done for us then we can loose our faith. If we do not nurture our gifts through sharing what God has done with others, prayer, community, the Word, and Sacraments than what helps us to keep the faith we were blessed with?


2 Timothy also reminds us that there will be times when we suffer, but in our faith we can stand in confidence of God's grace. We can be assured of God's presence and guidance.


So faith is truly a two way street. We have to be willing to begin with the mustard seed to trust God with those things, God will in turn grow our faith to be bigger and more wild than the Mustard plant, yet at the same time we need to nurture these gifts. We need to respond. It is like any relationship we need to respond and interact with God in order to have a good relationship and faith that can stand up to these tough times.


Right now our community is spinning. Just stand in the halls of the schools, listen to the adults and the kids who can not grasp how innocent, good, kids could suddenly be gone. We have friends and neighbors who are not only holding their kids tight, but don't have the faith that maybe someone here does. Maybe that have not experienced it. I think this is where 2 Timothy calls us to stand up and share our faith. That does not mean we go about proclaiming all the troubles go away in Jesus, but we reach out and listen to their pain, we bring food, we comfort, and we pray. It means that we look for those reeling and hurting and offer compassion, assistance and truly live in our faith. It also means that our faith may need some nurture, we may need to seek community, someone to talk to, we may need to spend extra time in prayer, and maybe while we celebrate the sacrament of communion today we take some extra time to make sure we are anxiously anticipating the encounter with God who has promised to ALWAYS meet us at the table.

1http://www.gbod.org/lead-your-church/lectionary-planning-helps/twentieth-sunday-after-pentecost-world-communion-sunday

Freedom in Christ

Colossians 2:6-19

Have you ever felt inadequate? Have you ever had the experience with friends or even church people that you just didn't measure up to what they considered Holy. I have – quite regularly. I have found that there really are two parts to this. The first is listening to them in a way that you take it personally, and secondly allowing yourself to question what you know. I know Jesus came so that I can have a relationship with God. I know that I am loved just as I am, but somehow I am still trying to measure up. To what? Good question. My expectations, their expectations, what I think they are expecting, to the invisible and unspoken rules I seem to understand, or just what I think I should be doing - which usually includes a perfection I will never obtain here because it leaves no room for my humanity.

The Writer of Colossians is writing to a community of believers who are being told that they are not holy enough. They aren't doing the right things and that they will never be as Holy as them if they don't have certain experiences. This is the letter of response.

The writer of Colossians tells us to put the brakes on it. To stop trying to achieve human goals and remember who and whose we are. In verse 6 we hear “Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him.” We are reminded that all we need to do is to accept Christ and then to allow him to work. How do we do that you ask? “Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught, and be filled with thanksgiving.” There is something about roots you need to know – they not only spread deep, but wide, they are bigger than the plant often and support it despite what it faces above ground. How do we do this, by building our lives after Jesus, by praying, fasting, listening, spending time in community with others, doing good to all, studying scriptures, worshiping and participating in Holy Communion as well as being Thankful.

Funny thing that thankfulness thing is. Sometimes I think that is in there not because we need to be polite and thank God, but because the very act reminds us of how blessed we are. By being thankful you give yourself time to recap the day not as what you missed, not as how inadequate you are, but completely focusing on God and his movements in our lives. Thankfulness is powerful and sometimes something we forget. When things are going well why do we need to think about it. The thing is if we practice it all the time, then we can find the blessings in our lives when things aren't going so well. This takes us out of the blame game and expectation picture and just reflects the glory of God. How often do you do this? I don't do it enough.

I love verse 8 where the author reminds us “See to it then that no one enslaves you by means of the worthless deceit of human wisdom, which comes from the teachings handed down by men and from the ruling spirits of the universe and not from Christ.” This is the moment when your best friend grabs you by the shoulders and gives you a reality check - “Dude don't let them tell you your worth, when you know that God finds you worthy of his love”. This is the moment when you get shaken awake from the entanglement. This is the death that is caused by the world, and how the world runs itself. Too often we forget just as the author tells us that we are baptized into Christ death and raised from that into new life. When we are baptized we no longer have to be held by those demands. We do not have to live up to anyone's expectations, just be a vessel for God to work in. We are a new being in that we no longer have to be trapped by anyone else's expectations. We are free, nothing separates us from God now but us. We are the only things that can stand between us and God. That is the beauty of Christ.

The author goes on to remind us that when someone is judging us in verse 18 then they have puffed themselves up and forgotten Christ. I think we do this when we judge ourselves at times as well. There is a difference between seeing our own flaws and asking God for help and holding ourselves up to expectations that we can't meet without Christ.

In verse 19 We hear, “Under Christ's control the whole body is nourished and held together by its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God wants it to grow.” Notice that it does not grow as the body thinks it should. It does not become with out God and so it can not evolve without God, yet this is clearly telling us that it does evolve and that God is in charge. If God is in charge do we really need to try to be in absolute control of things? What about when we forget to do those spiritual practices that give us roots? Then what - we forget to be the body and perhaps it is one of those pruning moments we face so often that has to happen.

We often sit in judgment of so many things, but in Colossians we are simply told to live into our baptism, to make space for God and watch what God can do. So how are you living into your baptism? How are you letting God help free you from the slavery of our human expectations, or the expectations the World places on you by media, social networks, and/or work? What are you doing to Grow space for God to work in your life? How do you see God growing the Body? Where are you on remembering the thanksgiving piece of this? How thankful are you?   

Need a Fill Up?

Luke 10:38-42

Colossians 1:15-28

Over the past few weeks I have been on over drive with church stuff to do. Have any of you felt like that, with some part of your life. You try to fit more and more in your day and feel like you are chasing your tail and still behind? If that pace lasts too long, and if you are anything like me, it will cue the frustration and feelings of inadequacy.

I think this is why I resonate with Martha so much and probably also why I have been confused by this passage for so long. Why is Jesus being hard on Martha? We were just told to take care of people last week with the Good Samaritan so why is Martha getting reprimanded? What does Jesus mean?

Then I hit upon the idea in one of the commentaries that perhaps it is the extreme service Jesus is warning us of. I looked up the passage in its original Greek with an English translation on a great website I have found (http://leftbehindandlovingit.blogspot.com/2013_07_01_archive.html ). When I looked at that, I realized that one of the words for what Martha was doing is business. I also found out that as a leader of the women in the early church, she was literally acting as one of the first deaconesses – connecting the world with the body of people and serving the people through her work and her hospitality. So she was busy with the business of hospitality. This is something that Jesus has praised before.

So what is different now? According to the Greek/English translation Martha is actually approaching Jesus in a state of near hysteria. She is so overwhelmed by the task at hand. She doesn't know where to start.....this sounds so much like my life at times!!!! Has anyone else felt this? So many things running down over you that you don't know where to or how to catch your breath. This was my month of June! We sold our house, found a new house, found an apartment, packed ten years of stuff, finished Kindergarten, finished youth soccer – which I was coaching, said good bye to our friends, our family and our home and headed to a whole new place. I was Martha about mid June – Jesus send me some help already. Don't you see I am drowning here? Get yourself moving and send me help!

Martha is there, panicking. There are so many needs around her and she is trying to fill them, both literally with food and figuratively with her gifts as a leader in the early church. This is when Jesus tells her to slow down. Martha, Martha is not a condescending pat on the back, it is an attention getting. He says it to slow her down. Then he tells her she is worried and troubled over so many things and only one thing is needed. When have you felt like that? So overwhelmed you can't even remember to do the one thing that is needed because it isn't a physical pressing need. Taking time to listen to someone when ten others are clamoring to you about their hunger is not easy. This is what we have to do everyday. What clamors for your attention? Smart phones, television, computers? What about meetings, groups, chores, and schedules? Appointments that seem to be more important than doing your devotions? What seems to sneak in and steal your time with God in prayer, devotion or meditation. It may be a good thing. It may be sharing your gifts and talents that God has given you, but if we never take time to refill with God like Mary then we will soon be empty. We will feel panicked like Martha because we can not fill those needs without God. We cannot use our gifts and talents without being replenished in Christ. We need to hold fast onto the center of our faith so that we may live, truly live out our faith.

Service and Word are required to live out true faith, but the service comes from the Word. We can not share with others what we do not have. We can not share the freedom from separation that God grants us if we do not take time to stay connected with God. The Word and the Spirit gives us strength to do the work in the world, without them we have no power do any lasting good.

So how are you going to refill with God? How are you going to let your Martha and Mary sides work together? What are you going to do to fill up with Jesus and then go out and serve the world in all of its neediness?