Joseph

Matthew 1:18-25

Joseph is the main character in Matthew’s telling of the birth of Jesus.

In Luke, it’s Mary; but in Matthew, it’s Joseph.

Here Joseph lives up to the name later given to him by the church, nutritor Domini – the guardian of the Lord.

Joseph has been a very popular figure for obvious reasons.  And has been called the patron saint of families, fathers and orphans, pregnant woman, married couples, carpenters, teachers, lawyers, laborers and working people, and most recently the patron saint of a happy death, and of fighting communism.

Much has been made of Joseph over the two millennia,

Much has been made of him though not nearly as much as has been made of Mary.

Year after year we get a very mythologized picture of Joseph

We get this through Christmas decorations, through television, through the internet.  Sometimes we need to peal away some of these accretions to see what we might see of the real Joseph.

When I opened up the Bible to read the text for this week and saw Joseph sitting there on the page, to be honest I began to feel a little bored. 

And I think it’s because the Joseph that lives in my imagination is so divorced from reality – he’s the wooden Joseph of the manger scenes, the cartoon Joseph of the children’s television shows, the stuffed Joseph – is there a stuffed Joseph? I’m sure there is.

The Joseph of our million consumer-driven sometimes good and often times awful “art”

How do we delete that Joseph in order to see him again for the first time, to borrow a phrase that Marcus Borg uses in his books.

We need to see Joseph again for the first time.

Freedom of Faith

Galatians 4:21-5:1

Law and faith have two different ears.  They hear and perceive reality very differently.  And so they hear and perceive truth in stories very differently.

And we get a glimpse in today’s reading into the two different ways that Paul and the teachers heard the story of Ishmael and Isaac.

For the teachers the main point to take away from the story
was that Isaac, not Ishmael was the rightful heir,
Isaac was born of Sarah,
Isaac was the son promised of God.
And the teachers probably taught that the Galatians are like the descendants of Ishmael,
Ishmael was born of Hagar, Sarah’s slave,
Ishmael did not inherit the promise of Abraham.
But, the Galatian community can become part of that promise by becoming like Isaac in being circumcised, in following the law.  
This is how the teachers probably heard and communicated the story.  
And so the Galatians are being told that they can become right with God, 
they can make themselves acceptable, if only they will do x, y, and z.

Paul's Disturbing Idea

Galatians 3:15-29

Human beings are masters at finding ways to divide from one another.
It's really quite easy to do.
It's much easier than working together, for sure.


A simple recipe for division:


Make sure that you know that you're right and that you have a strong handle on what's wrong with the world and who's fault it is.


Then go about either trying to convince everyone about how right you are,
or condemn them for not seeing the real way things are.


And lump them into the group of people whose fault it is that the world is the way it is.


Go back to the beginning, read some authors and talk to some people who think like you and then go out again converting and condeming.


Repeat ad nauseum.

Belonging by Faith

Genesis 15:1-6
Galatians 3:6-14

The story we read this morning from Genesis
is about God's promise to Abraham that Abraham would have an heir.
Abraham would be a father and a grandfather.
And this promise seemed outlandish to Abraham who had become cynical that he would ever continue a legacy.
And he argues with God in his cynicism. We catch that in what we read.
But God repeats to Abraham the promise: “a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.”
You will have a family old man. You find it hard to believe but with God all things are possible.
And I love the way that Barbara Brown Taylor narrates what happens next.

"….God brought the old man outside,
which means that he was inside before that—in a tent, maybe,

Beginning and Continuing with the Spirit

Buechner on the Spirit
Galatians 3:1-5

I really do think at the risk of being overly simplistic,
at the root of how we go wrong as spiritual people
is when we let fear drive our decisions and our responses to what happens to us.
I know that is too simple. But it seems that a big driving destructive force in our lives is fear.
In contrast to fear throughout the scriptures we are given the examples and the teaching of faith and love.
And here in Galatians we read of Paul's frustration that the path of faith and love is being compromised by fear based decision making.
For Paul, the Galatians are changing horses in midstream.
They began their spiritual journey, awakened by love for God and by a realization of God's unconditional love for them.
And it was the faith in this reality, this new creation, which paved the way for the Spirit of love to fill them and move them towards a new way of being human.
But along come some teachers who instill fear and doubt about their qualifications for being considered true children of God.

A New Family

Galatians 2:11-21

Reconciliation is an awkward thing.
Sometimes it's that morning-after the fight when you wake up and remember that things aren't quite right with you and your spouse.
And you are making coffee and she's making cooking eggs,
and there's a silence that lies like a blanket over the whole room.


Sometimes it's that friend you haven't seen in ages,
and you know that they've changed or they know that you've changed
and for one or the both of you,
that really makes the friendship as it was in the past very difficult to keep going.


And there's something that can happen.
Some kind of grace that can get you both over that initial awkwardness
and into a kind of new fellowship, a new community
but that first step is steep one and sometimes we're just not feeling up to it.

Ongoing Conversation

Galatians 2:1-10


The Christian faith is and always has been an ongoing conversation.
The central question at the heart of the conversation is how do we live in light of the resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth? How do we live in light of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon men and women of every class and culture.
The New Testament begins this conversation.
As Rob Bell phrases it in his book Velvet Elvis,
“God has spoken and everything else is commentary” (52).
And for early Christians, God had spoken definitively to the world in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth.
One of the early Christian writings puts it this way:
“In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe” (Hebrews 1:1)
Christians of the first century believed that they were living after the end of the world.
They looked for a final judgment to come, but lived as if God had definitively spoken and appeared on the stage of human history and made all things new.
And this was the experience of the early Christians when they were suddenly given joy, courage, faith, and hope and love to a degree they had never experienced before on the day of Pentecost, the feast of the first fruits.
What do we make of this sudden outbreak of spirit?

Good News That Isn't Good News

Galatians 1:1-9

Sometimes reading the Bible in public is like taking a friend to a party.
A friend that you don't quite know what he will say next.
And while you may know the context, why the friend is saying the things that the friend is saying.
And you may understand that the offensive and embarrassing statement just made was only offensive and embarrassing because the hearers didn't understand the person speaking, their background, the context, etc.
And if the hearers are compassionate listeners, they will seek to understand better what the friend is saying.
But if they don't really care as I can imagine being the case in many parties, they will just take the words at face value and go off and have an inside joke about my friend.

Sometimes reading the Bible in public is like that.
We'll read words that on their surface sound harsh or rude, or offensive.
And instead of asking more questions – trying to understand better what's going on,
we close the book and close our minds.

Now I think a lot of this impatience with the Bible has good reasons.

Spirit and Community

A sermon for Pentecost Sunday given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire on May 19, 2013.

Acts 2:1-21
Romans 8:14-17

I think it is fitting that we are welcoming 
and commissioning Mark on this day in the church year.

Pentecost is called by many the birthday of the church.
That may sound strange depending on your definition of the word “church”

Pentecost was the day when a group of disciples had an extraordinary experience 
that launched them into the streets sharing the good news of forgiveness.

They had begun in fear.
They weren't certain what to do now that Jesus was gone.
They were probably meeting together on this day to pray and seek guidance from above.

And then into their midst, breaking through their peaceful prayer time
a sound like the rush of a violent wind, filling the house 
and a vision of divided tongues, as if made of fire, resting on each one of them.

Oneness in Practice

A sermon for the seventh Sunday of Eastertide given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on May 12, 2013.

John 17:20-26

I remember the first day we drove up into Acworth center to come to this church.
It was August or early September we had moved to South Acworth 
just in time for my brother's 14th birthday.

We lived that year in Brenda McCumber's old house which is now the Turner's house 
next to the Village Store.

And so since school hadn't started yet, the trek to Acworth center was unfamiliar.
It seemed like a long drive for being in the same town.

And it was raining.

But I remember arriving and coming to the door 
and George and Mickey Randall were just inside 
greeting us and welcoming us to church.
And I remember experiencing the big spacious narthex,

And we climbed the long and winding road of the stairs up to the sanctuary.
And entering through the double doors, we were once again greeted
Scott and Laurie Luther-Houghton
And this time with bulletins in hand.
And we found a pew and sat.

Believing

Reflections from a sermon for the sixth Sunday of Eastertide given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on May 5, 2013

Acts 16:9-15

Revelation 21:10, 22 - 22:5

There is no manuscript for today's sermon.  

It was mainly focused on Lydia and how she encounters Paul while praying down by the riverside in Philippi.

Lydia, if we project a little bit, is a bit like many nowadays who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious."  Who want to worship God and seek out the wisdom of God through reading, conversation, nature (going to riversides), prayer and meditation; but who do not feel like they can identify with one particular organized religion.

Many criticize these individuals, but Diana Butler Bass helps to show in her book Christianity After Religion: The End of Church and the Birth of a New Spiritual Awakening that this movement has something to teach those who are part of an organized religion.  There is something to be learned.

By This Everyone Will Know

A sermon for the fifth Sunday of Eastertide given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on April 28, 2013.

Acts 11:1-18

John 13:31-35

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said,

“We must face the sad fact that at eleven o’clock on Sunday morning when we stand to sing ‘In Christ there is no East or West,’ we stand in the most segregated hour of America.”

Now it's a sad truth that Sunday morning worship across the nation is still the most segregated hour of America.

And it's not just by race.

Last week we sang “There's A Wideness in God's Mercy”

a hymn written in 1854 by Frederick William Faber, a Roman Catholic priest

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea;

“For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of our mind;

“There is grace enough for thousands.”

How scandalous it is that God's grace is enough for thousands, that God's love is broader than we can comprehend, that God's mercy spans the seas.

The Charcoal Fire

A sermon for the the third Sunday of Eastertide given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on April 14, 2013.

John 21:1-19

As Jesus handed out cooked fish and bread to the disciples one by one,

Peter stared straight ahead at the charcoal fire in front of him.

After the initial excitement of being once more in the presence of the risen Christ,

Peter had begun to remember the night when Jesus had been arrested.

He had been scared and confused that night

but he had wanted as best he could to stay right with Jesus.

So he and John had followed

and they made their way into the court of the High Priest.

No sooner had he been allowed into the courtyard that the woman who guarded the courtyard looked him up and down and asked him accusingly,

“You're not also one of this man's disciples, are you?”

“No, I'm not!” Peter had replied in a knee-jerk reaction of fear.

Having to wait outside in the cold,

he found comfort in the circle of people warming themselves

around a charcoal fire.

Easter Becomes Hope

A sermon for Easter Sunday given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on March 31, 2013.

Isaiah 65:17-25

Acts 10:34-43

Luke 24:1-12

Easter begins in confusion.

Easter begins in fear.

Easter begins in doubt.

The women wake up early for the first Sunrise service,

lug bags of spices and perfumes

set out early on a Monday morning

Of course it wasn't Monday, it was Sunday – their first day of the week.

But I think it might help us experience it a little better to think of it as Monday.

set out early on a Monday morning

after a seriously rough weekend.

They make their way to the tomb.

We can understand some of the bewilderment they must have felt.

We can understand some of the confusion that lingered from the previous days.

Add to that – early morning, pre-coffee muddled thinking

and it was the first day of a new week of work and responsibility.

Easter begins in exhaustion.

Love and Financial Sense

A sermon for the fifth Sunday of Lent given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire on March 17, 2013.

John 12:1-8

New Englanders pride themselves in being frugal,

following all the phrases we got from Ben Franklin

“Time is money”

“A penny saved is a penny earned”

“Early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise”

or my new favorite:

“The sleeping fox catches no poultry“

Some go to the dump, I'm sorry – transfer station – looking for that “one man's trash”

that can become this “other man's treasure”

Or we spend a day delighting in the deals at thrift stores or bargain shops.

Jesus in the Village Store

A sermon for the third Sunday of Lent given at the United Church of Acworth, NH on March 3, 2013.

Luke 13:1-9

I imagine the beginning of Luke chapter 13 taking place in the Village Store.

Jesus and his disciples walk in and someone calls out,

“Hey did you hear about the Galilean tourists?”

another chimes in “Big massacre”

a third concludes: “those radicals had it coming to them.”

This exchange. Sharing the news and giving our take on it.

This is what we do. In the workplace, in the home, at the store, at the transfer station,

leaning over the hood of a pickup truck.

What's so interesting to me about this part of our lives.

Is the way that we make sense of things

and help each other do the same.

We hear the news story and we speculate.

How could this happen?

What should we do?

Here's how I imagined it:

Love and the Ordinary

A sermon for the fourth Sunday after Epiphany given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire on Sunday, February 3, 2013.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

In High School band I was in the percussion section.

I had the most fun when

I got to play the various cadences as we marched onto the field.

Left-right-left. . . .

Or when I got to play Wipeout during half-time at the basketball games.

Or offer up a drum solo in 5/4 time to Dave Brubeck's Take Five in Jazz band.

But there were less thrilling moments too.

Like when I had to play the suspended cymbal or the triangle in a concert piece.

When the music would show a sea of rests

with isolated scattered notes throughout the piece.

I had to count diligently or I'd lose my place and crash my cymbal or ding the triangle

At the wrong moment.

The Same Spirit

A sermon for the second Sunday after Epiphany given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire on January 20, 2013.

1 Corinthians 12:1-11

Paul's first letter to the Corinthians is a passionate plea for unity.

Unity in the community of believers.

Christians have made a mistake when reading chapters 12 and 13 of Paul's first letter to the Corinthians.

We have lost sight of the forest while focusing on the trees.

We tend to hear what we want to hear.

But chapter 13, famous chapter 13 is a perfect example.

When we begin to hear “love is patient, love is kind...”

What do we immediately think of?

But what was Paul writing those words for?

Living as Beloved

A sermon for the Baptism of Christ given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire on January 13, 2013.

Isaiah 43:1-7
Luke 3:15-17, 21-22

20^th century Catholic priest and writer, Henri Nouwen points out that our lives are fundamentally driven by one question – 'Who are we?' Our lives are lived in response to this question. Our actions and our attitudes are shaped by the answers we give to this question.

Nouwen writes:

"The three answers that we generally live — not necessarily give — are: 'We are what we do, we are what others say about us, and we are what we have,' or in other words: 'We are our success, we are our popularity, we are our power.'¹

This is a fragile life, built on a shaky foundation which can shift in an instant.

By Another Road

A sermon for Epiphany Sunday, January 6, 2013 given at the United Church of Acworth, New Hampshire.

Isaiah 60:1-6

Matthew 2:1-12

Barbara Brown Taylor reminds us that Epiphany is not so obscure a holiday in other places in the world.

“In many parts of the world, Epiphany is a bigger holiday than Christmas, with rituals of gift giving tied to treasure-bearing wise men instead of a jolly fat man in a red suit.  In some places, children leave shoes filled with hay outside their homes.  The hay is for the camels of the wise men, who leave gifts for the children in the shoes as thanks before resuming their journey to Bethlehem.” (Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 1, 215)

In Epiphany we recall the journey of the magi to Bethlehem.

We read about their coming to Herod and then to the baby Jesus and his mother Mary.

Herod was not the most stable of characters.