Acts 4:32-35 "It's No Joke"

         There was a tailor named Mendel who was worried about his business and family/work balance.  You see, Mendel was down to his last $50 and was torn between buying a sign for the business and getting food for his family.  Rather than continuing to agonize over such an important decision, Mendel decided to pray.

“Dear God,” he said, “I do not know what to do. If I buy a sign, it may bring in business, but I need to buy groceries for my family…and if the sign does not bring in sales, we will starve.

God replied, “Mendel, buy the sign. Do not worry, your family will not starve.”

So, Mendel the tailor bought the sign, and business took off.  He fed his family, and all was well. 

However, as time passed, Mendel could not  keep up with all the orders flooding in just by himself. He contemplated hiring a helper but wondered if he could afford it.  So, he turned to God again and asked God if getting help would be a prudent move.

“Go ahead,” God told the tailor. “Hire some help; you will do okay.”

And so Mendel did. And his business took off beyond his wildest dreams. In fact, after a time, the tailor decided to move to a larger site that would accommodate the growing demands of his business. As he surveyed various locations, he found a perfect storefront, but the rental price was really steep.

“God” Mendel prayed once more, “I found the perfect place to relocate my tailoring business. But the cost of the lease worries me. I certainly do not want to get in over my head.”

“Go ahead and a get a lease on the store, Mendel,” said God. “Trust me, you will be okay.  I haven’t steered you wrong yet, have I?”

So Mendel the tailor signed a lease on an expensive 5^th Avenue storefront in the heart of the high tone shopping district in Manhattan.   The move was a smashing success for the tailor, and he was deeply thankful to God.  And so, out of heartfelt gratitude, Mendel the tailor proposed that he dedicate the store to the Almighty.

“How do you like the name “Yahweh and Mendel,” the tailor asked.

“Nah,” God said. “Let’s go with ‘Lord and Taylor.'”

Just like last Sunday, that was a joke to get us in the mood to talk about money – and to remind us in a backhanded sort of way that money is no laughing matter in the church nowadays.  In fact, it is a most uncomfortable theme for worship.  However, as we noted a week ago, autumn is stewardship season here and in many churches -  and, just as hunters this time of year go after deer, we in the church go after money.

However, last week, I as your pastor did not try to pick your pockets or guilt-trip you into making a financial pledge to our church.  Rather, I talked about your spiritual commitment to the courageous vision that is emerging.  

Do you remember what that vision is?  That we will maintain a building that is accessible to all and so can welcome all people.  That we will both encourage the arts and feed the hungry. That we will enhance communication and programming among community groups. That we will support the aging and elderly.  That we will worship a God that is still speaking in our world today.  

         Similarly, this morning, I promise not to overtly persuade you to empty your wallets.  Trust me:  it will not be like the two men who were marooned on an island in the middle of nowhere.  One man paced back and forth terribly worried while the other man sat back sunning himself as if he did not have a care in the world.  

Finally, the first man said to his companion, “Aren’t you afraid that we will never be rescued?  Aren’t you afraid that we could die out here in the middle of nowhere?” 

“No, not at all” said the second man confidently.  “You see, I make $10,000 a week and tithe faithfully to my church. It’s Stewardship Month there. My Pastor will find me.”

That too is a joke to keep our spirits up as we look closely at the significance of those most uncomfortable verses we just read.  Share everything?  Hold all things in common?  Give until it may hurt but then keep giving?  

As Methodist pastor John Holbrook queries:  Is this ”a rich call to Christianity or a dangerous call to the life of socialism?  Christianity at its most demanding or Karl Marx on steroids?  Or neither?  Or both?”

Before we make any rash judgments, let’s take a look at the origin of this passage.  Put bluntly, these verses describe what it was like to be part of the early Christian church.  

Now understand that the word “church” is probably a misnomer – or at least could be confusing for us 2000+ years later.  The early church was not a sacred building, nor was it professional pastors bedecked in robes and colorful stoles.  It was also neither boards and committees nor five year growth plans.  The early church was a loose association of small communities, house churches we frequently call them, that were scattered around the eastern Mediterranean. 

What made these newly born faith families so remarkable was that everyone who joined them did so because they had experienced something amazing, and their lives had been transformed.  Something had given them a joy and a hope they had never imagined possible.  

Those newfound emotions had become the central focus of their lives – even more important than material possessions and worldly success and wealth. Because of this remarkable change each of them had experienced, they were exceedingly grateful to the God who had made it so.  In short, these were truly grace-filled communities, defined by three characteristics.

The first was unity of purpose.  A courageous vision for God’s dream for a world grounded in compassion and justice held them together in spite of a complicated culture that was often difficult to navigate.  Though they certainly did not agree on everything, they focused on the vision they held in common rather than on what divided them.  

As one blogger I read this week observed, “We know from earlier in (the Book of) Acts that they were very different in many ways – there were rich and poor, locals and foreigners, men and women, old and young, religious and not-so-religious, privileged and oppressed. And this wildly different, weird, unlikely group came together with “one heart and soul.” That is unity for you!

The second characteristic was, as another blogger I read described it, “incredible, selfless, foolish generosity… Luke writes: ‘There was not a needy person among them, for as many as owned lands or houses sold them and brought the proceeds of what was sold. They laid it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to each as any had need.’”

Most Biblical scholars agree that throwing all of one’s possessions into a common pot was not a requirement in this new faith community.  Rather, it was a grateful response to God for Jesus, who, as we know, embodied in his own person God’s dream for the world.  

Sharing on that scale was joyfully and courageously living out the early church’s calling to care for the poor, which, as we know, was paramount in Jesus’ ministry. 

The early church was not at all like the tiny elderly lady watching a circus side show.  Central to the show was a strongman who demonstrated his power before large audiences every night.  Toward the end of one performance, he pick up a turnip with his bare hands and squeezed from it a few drops of juice.  He proudly and confidently said to the onlookers, “I will offer $1000 to anyone here who can squeeze a single drop from this turnip.” 

The wizzled old lady hobbled up onto the stage. She picked up the turnip and clamped it between her two frail, bony hands. She squeezed – and out came a whole teaspoon of juice. 

The strongman was amazed. He paid the woman $1000, but privately asked her, “What is the secret of your strength?”

“Practice,” the woman answered. “I have been treasurer of my church for forty-two years!”

Sharing one’s wealth in order to lift the needy out of their downward spiral was a communal attitude of gratitude in the early church. An atmosphere of thanksgiving and personal responsibility demonstrated that the community was living out its call to be all that Jesus stood for.  

The third characteristic of the early church was its proclamation.  Our blogger continues, “They are proclaiming Jesus’ death and resurrection, but not just that! They are proclaiming the good news that through Jesus’ resurrection life abounds, spills out and over into our own hope for the future AND into the way we live and are brought to life by God NOW.” 

In the end, then, it all goes back to Easter.  Interestingly enough, these verses we read from Acts is a lectionary passage assigned to the Sunday after Easter, also known in unofficial circles as Holy Humor Sunday, perhaps because of the outrageous claim it makes on us as followers of Jesus.

Baptist pastor F. Scott Spencer writes that “as in our own day, the early church worked out its resurrection faith through regular communal practices, such as baptism, the Eucharist, scripture study, and prayer.”  In addition, the early church engaged in the radical resurrection practice of grand scale sharing we have focused on this morning.

Spencer goes on to say, “Of course, however much we might admire this radical…practice of the early Jerusalem church, we may also pity, even decry, their shortsighted, impractical economic vision.. (After all, they believed that they would live to see the end times and the consummation of God’s promises.)…Turns out they were in it for the long haul, or at least a longer haul than they expected. And the clock is now ticking well past the 2000-year mark. It is all too easy, then, for us not simply to pity the early church's practice, but to dismiss it altogether.”

However, I think these verses are significant as we reflect on our church.  Could the same three signs of grace that characterized the early church (unity of purpose, foolish generosity, and bold proclamation) define us too?

I think so.  Look around, and you will see tiny glimmers of such grace:  a bit of unity of purpose, a tad of foolish generosity, a whisper of a bold proclamation.

The siding project is our unified commitment to our town to maintain the biggest community space outside of the schools.  Hopefully, we will soon embrace handicapped accessibility, so that everyone feels welcome here.  

We encourage the arts through our partnership with the Raymond Arts Alliance, and we fill hungry stomachs  with our Thanksgiving baskets and at the Table of Plenty at Maine Seacoast Mission.  In addition, we fill the hearts of those hungry for neighbors and friends at our community friendship meals.  We bring community groups closer as we work with Fire and Rescue to install smoke alarms and to initiate a new program to fund carbon monoxide detectors.  We support the aging through Age Friendly Raymond.  And each Sunday, we continue to worship, not a God who has given us all the answers, but a God who embraces us as peace-makers and justice-seekers, a God who is still speaking in our world today.  All that is unity of purpose!

A tad of incredible, selfless, foolish generosity characterizes us as well when you support our ministries and when you dream of expanding them as I do.  It characterizes us when you give to this church in a way that people around you think you are a bit crazy, but you know you are not crazy, but simply filled with early church hope and joy and promise for the future, simply filled with gratitude for Jesus and all that he stood for.  All that is incredible, selfless, foolish generosity!

And finally, if you listen carefully, you might even hear a certain boldness in our proclamation of who we are as 21^st century Christians.  You might hear in a whisper that we are not simply good doobies or model citizens.  We are reminders even now in this jaded cynical world we live in, we are reminders of the promise of the resurrection and the hope of transformation. 

We are reminders that what is dead and dying all around us -  in this church and in this world - really can take on new forms of life.  We are the promise of the resurrection and the hope of transformation in fearful and doubt-filled times.  That is bold proclamation!

Even though the world as we know it teaches us to hold on tight to what we have, God says to us as God said to Mendel the tailor, do not be afraid. Take unified, generous, and bold risks.  Open your hands and hearts – and, dare I say it, your wallets - in order to take care of one another – in order to be unified in purpose, foolish in generosity, and bold in our proclamation that we are the hope of the resurrection in fearful times.  Open your hands and hearts – and, dare I say it, your wallets – in order to be the church.  

Each one of us is part of the promise, is part of the hope – and that is no joke.  So – let us thank God – not just using words but also by sharing what we have – thank the Holy One for the wonder-filled life that this church can offer to us and to it touches. 

1 Timothy 6:17-19 "A Tangled Web"

 The pastor was off in another world one Sunday morning before worship began.  You see, he was thinking about the most effective way, at the end of the worship service, to ask the congregation to pledge additional money to cover repairs to the church building, repairs that were costing significantly more than anticipated.  

On top of all that, the regular pianist was sick, and a substitute had been brought in at the last minute. Having received no direction from anyone, the substitute wanted to know what to play. 

          “Here:  Take this copy of the bulletin.  The hymns are all listed,” the pastor said impatiently. “However,  you will need to think of something to play after I make the announcement about the finances.”
            As the end of the service, the pastor made the difficult declaration.  He said, “Brothers and sisters, we are in great financial difficulty here at church.  The roof repairs cost twice as much as we expected, and we need an additional $4,000.”

The preacher paused for a long moment before he made the ask.  “Any of you who can pledge $200 or more, please stand up.”
          There was silence.  Parishioners looked down at their bulletins or intently picked pieces of lint that were invisible to the human eye from their jackets and sweaters.

It was at that very moment of deep discomfort that the substitute pianist broke the silence and launched into “The Star-Spangled Banner” – and the money problem was solved.
         That is a joke – unless, of course, you take a knee when the National Anthem is played.  But really, joke or no joke, money is not a laughing matter in most churches nowadays.  The story we tell is that there is just not enough of it.  

And so, particularly around this time of year, we talk about money in church.  Part of the reason, I suppose, is because in many churches – ours included - the stewardship season is unleashed in the fall.  And so, similar to those outdoor folk who hunt for deer and turkey and moose, here in the church, we hunt for money .  

However, there is more to this money talk in church.  You see, Jesus spoke about money during his ministry a lot. In fact, more than 25% of the 40 parables he told had to do with money or used the concept of money to point to a profound spiritual truth. 

Jesus spoke about money more than he spoke about prayer and faith combined.  What is more, congregations and leaders of the early Christian church followed his lead. And so it should come as no surprise that the author of this first letter to Timothy focuses in the verses we just read on money, wealth, material possessions, riches - and the impact all of them has on each one of us. 

 One blogger I read this past week had this to say about the background of the author’s advice to Timothy.  Do you remember Timothy?  He was the young and still wet-behind-the-ears pastor who had been left in charge of the small church in Ephesus.  He was currently having trouble with false teachers.  

The blogger writes, “One thing that characterized these false teachers was that they thought they could get rich from their teaching. They were first-century versions of televangelists; they were people who said, ‘If you give me your money, the Lord will bless you with whatever you want!’

This kind of teaching was appealing to people then, just as it is appealing to people now, because it is a half-truth. Sometimes God (seems to) reward us financially. But (God) never promises to do that (and certainly not that all the time) because that is never the point. The point is we should be more interested in the Giver/God than in the gifts (the Giver) gives.”

In addition, Timothy had to contend with the close association between wealth/money and politics at the time in the Roman Empire.  As university professor Christian Eberhart writes, “For the most part, riches could only be acquired through continuous cooperation with the Roman administration. Those who were rich, therefore, usually supported a system that oppressed the vast majority of the population for the benefit of only few at the center of the Empire. Being a counter-cultural movement, early Christians opposed this system and envisioned a more equal distribution of material resources.” 

Money wove a tangled web back in Jesus’ day and in the early church – and that web is no less tangled today.  Our personal relationship with money goes way back.  For each one of us, it has a history as big as our family tree and as expansive as the culture in which we were raised.  

Perhaps we were brought up believing that we were poor with no choice but to live paycheck to paycheck, and consequently no room existed for generosity and compassion.  Perhaps we were taught early on the 80-10-10 rule (spend 80%, save 10%, give 10% away). 

Either way – or somewhere in between – money and how we use it is part of our persona, part of who we are as human beings.  Where we have come from is so important as we develop spiritual practices for dealing with money going forward.  You see, in the end, our values and our fears define our relationship with money.  

Methodist worship consultant Marcia McFee reminds us that Jesus preached that the choices we make about money have profound spiritual implications.  How we navigate the web of the money system we find ourselves in deeply affects our sense of Christian call and our ability to use that money for good. 

And so this coming week, I encourage you, as Christians, to think about and talk with whomever you are closest to about your money web – its history, the values it reflects, and the spiritual practices you have, up to this point, developed around it. It will be a difficult conversation, to be sure, because here in the church, we simply do not like to talk  - even to ourselves - about money.

In their book, Money and Meaning: Practices for a Heart-Centered Life. authorsMaggie Kulyk with Liz McGeachy, write this:  “We want to be honest and engaged with our money but also spontaneous and trusting; involved but fluid; living in the present moment but not in denial about the future. Balance is possible in relationship to this thing we call money, but it’s not easy to attain. If fact, working on these issues is like holding a knife by the blade. Money will bring out some of the best and the worst in us, but this is of course what makes it such a rich and important spiritual practice.” 

         In his ministry, Jesus embodies God’s dream for the world – that it be fully immersed in mercy, compassion, and justice.  And so he rails against economic inequality, exclusion based on health and welfare, and looking the other way in the face of poverty and injustice. Likewise he calls us as his followers to create a “courageous vision” for ourselves and for our churches, a vision that cannot help but, as McFee states, “transform our money practices to align with our values.” 

         And so we come full circle to those verses in the letter to Timothy and the brief words of advice the author provides about wealth.  The advice is not just about the dangers of money either. It is also about that better path we are called to take, the path that reflects the Gospel message and lies at the heart of Christianity.  

         First, the author writes, do not place your hope for the future in your finances, which are so uncertain.  Now, any of us who watched big chunks of our 401Ks evaporate in 2008 or who today carefully listen to NPR’s Marketplace, hoping to glean any economic signs that might point to recession:  we know about financial uncertainty.  Instead, the author advises, rather than putting your great high hope in the vagaries of the stock market, put that hope for the future in God’s dream for the world.  Put your hope in justice, in compassion, in radical hospitality. Put that hope in a courageous vision.

Second, the author of this letter to Timothy advices, be generous and share with others.  Pretty straightforward!  

Third, do numbers one and two (place your hope in God’s dream and share generously), and your life will begin to be as God meant for it to be.  If you intentionally do numbers one and two, you will understand what living a wonder-filled life is like.  You will experience a life  overflowing with love and grace and peace.  

What the author of the letter to Timothy is trying to tell us is that a wonder-filled life will not be found in an obsession with wealth and possessions.  It will only really be found when we are pursuing God’s dream, when we are looking outward in faith rather than inward with fear, when we open our hands, our hearts, and our wallets – and live trusting that there will be enough to go around.

         OK – I know what probably some of you are thinking.  It is along the lines of what one Presbyterian blogger I read this week wrote, “It's very tempting for us to say, ‘Well, (the author) must be speaking to someone else other than me, because I'm not rich.’”( Did that maybe cross your mind?)

The blogger goes on to say: “We (imagine) some secret boundary which we have not crossed in terms of personal wealth that constitutes ‘rich.’ But let me just remind you of one thing: the one in our midst (here today) who has the least has more than the wealthiest person who first heard this letter read in his own congregation. 

We live in the most affluent society, the most affluent culture, in the history of the world. And we are among the wealthiest Christians in the history of the world, and the least of us has more than those who had the most in this congregation when (the author) first wrote to Timothy.

So God's words are for all of us, no matter how little we relatively have in comparison to some others in our community, or even in this congregation. Paul's words are for all of us.”  Enough said!

Where and how we spend our money says volumes about our priorities and values.  Not sure what those are for you?  Look at your checkbook register or your bank statement.  There you will find that your priorities and values are all listed.  

As blogger Kevin Pierpoint stated, “ Chances are if you hang on tightly to a small amount money, you’ll do the same if given a larger amount, and if you’re careless with what you have you’d be careless with a lot of money.”

         In the next few days, you will be receiving that annual stewardship letter.  It will ask you to prayerfully consider your role in the courageous vision emerging at our church here in Raymond.  

What is that vision?  That we will maintain a building that is accessible to all and so can welcome all people.  That we will both encourage the arts and feed the hungry. That we will enhance communication and programming among community groups. That we will support the aging and elderly.  That we will worship a God that is still speaking in our world today.  

As you decide how you will support – not this church’s budget – but rather its ministries and its programs, ask yourself these questions:  Do you give out of obligation or because you believe your gift serves this church’s courageous vision? Does this courageous vision serve the wider community? Do you give freely or with hesitation? Does giving make you feel joyful or afraid? To what extent is your giving about gratitude – gratitude for this church, for the transformative power of Jesus’ message, for all the blessings God had bestowed upon you?  To what extent is your giving simply an act of sharing what you have because that is the right thing to do?

         As many of you know, I admire Presbyterian pastor and theologian Frederick Buechner.  And so I will end this sermon with his words about money:

         “The more you think about money, the less you understand it. The paper it's printed on isn't worth a red cent. There was a time you could take it to the bank and get gold or silver for it, but all you'd get now would be a blank stare.

If the government declared that the leaves of the trees were money so there would be enough for everybody, money would be worthless. It has worth only if there is not enough for everybody. It has worth only because the government declares that it has worth and because people trust the government in that one particular although in every other particular they wouldn't trust it around the corner.

The value of money, like stocks and bonds, goes up and down for reasons not even the experts can explain and at moments nobody can predict, so you can be a millionaire one moment and a pauper the next without lifting a finger. Great fortunes can be made and lost completely on paper. There is more concrete reality in a baby's throwing a rattle out of the crib. There are people who use up their entire lives making money so they can enjoy the lives they have entirely used up.

Jesus says that it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Maybe the reason is not that the rich are so wicked they're kept out of the place, but that they're so out of touch with reality they can't see it's a place worth getting into.”

Maybe the way we begin to untangle this web of money is by first looking inward at the ways it has strangled us – and then looking outward at the ways it can lay a strong foundation for making God’s dream for the world and the courageous vision for this church a reality.

         

Jeremiah 32:1-3, 6-15 "Faith and Risk"

         If the Israelites thought they had been through the worst already in their 800 years of history as God’s Chosen People, they were in for a gigantic surprise.  You see, they were about to hit rock bottom, a place toward which they had been dangerously cascading for some time now.  Not that they should not have been prepared for the inevitable!  

After all, Jeremiah, the prophet of Yahweh, had been warning them about their upcoming destruction for years now.  Everyone knew Jeremiah as the prophet of doom and gloom, and he had been preaching words of judgment and despair for most of his career as a mouthpiece of God.  

In fact, the first half of the Biblical Book of Jeremiah is full of the prophet’s warnings and dramatic symbolic actions to get the attention of the Jewish people.  The shattering of a clay pot is perhaps the best known one.  

And now Babylon, the imperial power of choice at the moment in the ancient world, was threatening the complete destruction of Judah – just as Jeremiah had said.  It finally seemed obvious that the handwriting was on the wall. 

         The historical prologue that we just read in the opening verses of this passage – the first of these verses with some of those strange and hard to pronounce names – places this particular prophetic declaration in 588 BCE.  The date is significant and corresponds to the second siege of Jerusalem shortly before the eventual fall of the Holy City, the epicenter of Jewish culture and thought.

         Baptist pastor Calvin Miller describes the situation like this:  “The city was encompassed with soldiers. It would soon fall. The siege had gone on for a couple of years by this time, and the people were starving in the streets of Jerusalem. There was not enough water! There was not enough food! Typhus and death were reigning in the streets.”

Perhaps not surprisingly, the Jewish King, Zedekiah, did not at all warm to Jeremiah’s despondent and disheartening announcements.  When the king desired light, Jeremiah preached darkness.  When he wanted happy thoughts, Jeremiah spoke words of despair. When he insisted on emphasizing a rosy future, Jeremiah shattered clay pots and declared the worst.  And that is why the old prophet found himself in prison for treason, insurrection, and prophesying that Zedekiah himself would fall victim to the Babylonian onslaught.  Jeremiah was a loser among losers, imprisoned by a loser king.

 Of course, the prophet’s prediction was not farfetched, what with the Babylonian army having camped outside the city gates for a couple of years now.  And then, in 587 B.C., Jerusalem finally fell and became (as Miller described) “the habitation of wolves and jackals — a city of tumbleweeds and stark, empty streets.”

That is the setting for this extraordinary story that we read this morning.  It is a story of such great high hope in the midst of such overwhelming darkness, and it is difficult to find its equal in all the pages of the Bible.  

We find Jeremiah sitting in his dank prison cell when his cousin, Hanamel, approaches him, giving him the absurd option of purchasing a plot of land, acreage that is currently occupied and ravaged by the Babylonian army outside of Jerusalem – at full price, no less.

         Now, we all know about land deals – Florida swamps and Brooklyn Bridges.  I remember when Joe and I were looking for land here in the Lakes Region, so that we could build a house and be closer to this church and my ministry here.  We eventually found our Little Farm in Naples, as you know, but prior to that, we looked at dozens of parcels of land.  

Each one sounded terrific – forested, gently rolling, excellent drainage, butterflies and acres of wildflowers every summer.  What, of course, we found out as we looked at these parcels was that they were not all they were cracked up to be.  

One was situated next to a working quarry.  Another had dicey sounding neighbors. Yet another was advertised as 50 acres with all the natural world amenities.  However, it turned out to have a tiny amount of road frontage, and the 50 acres stretched backward from there, forming a very long and very narrow rectangle that encompassed a fair amount of swampland.  

Land purchases are risky ventures.  And we all know about the number one maxim in assessing real estate value – location, location, location.  Anyone with half a brain would understand that the deal offered to Jeremiah was completely ridiculous!  Who would ever purchase land trampled and laid waste by an army?  Land that was currently occupied by a foreign power and would be so occupied for – how long?  Possibly forever?

And yet, in spite of all that common sense was screaming at him, Jeremiah buys the land at Anathoth - despite what every real estate investor worth his or her salt would have advised him.  He signs and seals the agreement and weighs out the purchase price, which ends up being seventeen pieces of silver – not an insignificant amount.  

Then he orders the deed and its copy to be placed in a clay jar – rather like the Dead Sea scrolls – in order to be preserved for generations to come.  Finally, he issues a reminder: that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, Yahweh, has said that houses, fields, and vineyards will once again flourish on this very plot of decimated land – and, of course, with God, all things are possible.  In prophetic literature like this, symbolic action was a common way to convey the Word of God.  And this act of Jeremiah, this land purchase that logic and rationality would say was sheer folly, is no exception.

I find it fascinating that Jeremiah specifically mentions a vineyard in his final reminder.  As Franciscan Brother Garret Galvin remarks, “Few things speak more hopefully about the future than a vineyard. Vineyards take a number of years before they are able to reward their investment. This is not a short-term investment or a quick fix financially. Jeremiah definitely looks to the future here.” Jeremiah’s great act of courageous faith was not for himself, but for future generations.

And so, in the middle of the catastrophic events that swirled about the prophet and the people of Judah, when the world seemed so dark, despair so close, and the end of everything they knew so near, once again, God/Yahweh injected hope through the prophet’s symbolic action of buying the land.  Jeremiah put his money where his mouth was – quite literally.  In doing so, he outlined the beginnings of a new reality that could hardly have been envisioned previously.  

Presbyterian pastor Frank Yamada sums up Jeremiah’s action this way: “Today's passage reminds us God is invested in the future destiny of humankind. Even when catastrophe was imminent, Jeremiah made an audacious and specific financial act, symbolizing God's declaration that judgment and destruction would not have the final word. 

Judah would certainly suffer the judgment that God had announced. Babylon would destroy Jerusalem and Judah and carry off its inhabitants into exile. The prophet, however, activates the future in the present through a symbolic act of purchasing a field. God's people would be restored and would again thrive in the land.”  Yamada goes on to say that “perilous times require the faithful to put into embodied action the hope that God has announced, which is already here, but not yet.”

I think we in our church would do well to embrace this story of Jeremiah’s land purchase as a symbol of courageous faith in the promises of God – and make it our own.  After all, our future is not clearly defined, rosy, and bright.  

We are existing on a deficit budget, one where we have cut expenses year after year, because we have lost some generous contributors to changing family circumstances and because not everyone sees the need to pledge his or her financial support.  Our Sunday morning attendance numbers are down.  We have no Sunday School.  Many of our most ardent volunteers feel burned out and just plain tired.  Some wonder if there even is a future for this church.

And then, this passage from Jeremiah pops up in the lectionary to remind us that God is still speaking.  God is still acting in mysterious ways, God’s wonders to behold.  

How relevant to our situation!  The words in these verses announce to us that this is the time to, like Jeremiah, have faith in God’s promises even when the outlook may seem bleak.  

Faith is an investment in the future. What that future looks like for this church, I do not know.  That being said, I do know that this is not the time to back down or hide or become uninvolved.  This is not the time to let fate take its course, but rather it is the time for faith to lead us.  Instead of focusing on doubt and fear and relying on excuses, Jeremiah knew this was a moment for faith – faith in God but also faith in the Jewish people – and so it is for us.  

Faith is real only when we exercise that faith. Hudson Taylor is accredited with saying it a bit differently, “Unless there is an element of risk in our exploits for God, there is no need for faith.”  Faith is a bold embracing of the future – even in the midst of darkness and the unknown.

There is a story of a man who fell off a cliff.  As he tumbled downward, he managed to grab a tree limb. He hung there and shouted to the heavens, “God, are you up there?”

“I am God. I am here to help,” came the reply.

“Save me, then!” shouted the man.

“Do you really think that I can save you?” queried God.

“Of course, you are God, you can do anything,” the man responded with a note of desperation in his voice.

“Then let go of the limb…” said God.

“WHAT?!” replied the man incredulously.

“I said, if you have faith that I can do anything, let go…I will save you,”  God continued.

The man thought for a moment, pondering his dilemma, and then asked, “Is there anyone else up there?”

         United Church of Canada pastor Stephanie Vermette commented on the man’s situation and, perhaps for some of you, on our situation as a congregation.  She writes, “When there seems to be no hope for the future, when everything seems to go down the drain, when everybody is ready to give up, we receive the promise that God will remain with us.  No matter how bad and crazy things appear to be at any given moment, we receive from God the assurance that the future has something to offer us when we accept the challenge to act courageously.”

God is not done with this church yet.  I truly believe that. And to that end, Caryl Gilman and I are leading worship for the next two weeks on the theme of “brave change.” We want to engage all of you in defining those core values of this congregation that we cannot lose, but also reflecting on what may be ripe for letting go of or changing in order to fulfill our Christian mission in the 21^st century.  

We have also invited someone the second week to tell us about her church’s recent journey though brave change.  I hope you will be part of this worship series, and I hope you will invite others who do not often come to worship. This is not the time to hide in the known past.  It is the time to embrace the unknown future.

Where we as a congregation will end up, I cannot say.  However, I can say that I am pretty sure it will be different from where we are now.  I do not know what action our faith will prompt us to take.  However, I do know that, as one blogger I read this week wrote: “to place our ideas and our dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss, to live is to risk dying, to hope is to risk despair, and to try is to risk failure.”  

I also know that faith involves risk, but that faith increases when we become willing to exercise it.  Likewise, I know that light and life and a path forward emerge when we make a radical investment in the future – just as Jeremiah did by purchasing that plot of land.

And finally, I know that Patrick Overton’s wonderful quote might well be our mantra as we move forward to envision our future as a church:  

“When you walk to the edge of all the light you have and take that first step into the darkness of the unknown, you must believe that one of two things will happen. There will be something solid for you to stand upon, or you will be taught to fly.”

.

1 Timothy 2:1-7 "Prayer"

         There was once a man walking with his young son down the side aisle of a large urban Gothic-style church.  It was the kind of church that had elaborate stained glass windows that reached up high and lofty nearly to the ceiling.  It also had a series of commemorative plaques mounted on its massive stone walls.  Everything about the church building was awe-inspiring and impressive.

The small boy noticed one of these bronze plaques as he tiptoed by.  He stopped to look closely at the long list of names engraved upon it.  He asked his father what the plaque was for. 

His father replied solemnly that it was a memorial plaque to commemorate the young men who had died in the service. 

“Oh,” said the boy very seriously as he looked around at the empty hard wooden pews.  

Then he asked, "Which one did they die in, the 8:30 or the 10:00 service?"

Face it:  Sometimes people can be bored to death in church.  I remember as a youngster sitting through worship in the first row of the balcony with my family.  

It was where we stationed ourselves each Sunday, and I was always relieved when the minister finally came to the end of his sermon.  However, to be honest, I was only partially relieved because I knew that after the hymn he would be launching into his seemingly never-ending pastoral prayer.  

For a child whose devotional life consisted of a brief grace that my father spoke before our evening meal and a four liner I recited at bedtime, a pastoral prayer that detailed supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgiving (as the author of this 1 Timothy letter enumerated in the verses we just read), well, one could easily think that the Second Coming would occur before the minister concluded that sort of conversation with God on behalf of the congregation.

And yet, according to the author of this letter, prayer like that must lie at the very center of our devotional lives.  Though the Apostle Paul likely did not pen these words to his sidekick Timothy, tradition has it that he had sent Timothy to the small church in Ephesus with the task of straightening out its worship life because the congregation was edging toward some practices that would be destructive to its faith. 

And so the author of the letter imparts a list of instructions for Timothy.  He begins by setting to right the order and purpose of public worship, that is, the getting together as a church family just like we do every Sunday.  And first on the priority list for public worship was prayer.  The writer might have said outright that worship without opportunities for prayer is hardly worship at all.  

As Methodist pastor Jo Anne Taylor commented, ““First of all, then,” … the instruction begins, but this isn’t going to be a point-by-point outline. Prayer isn’t something we do at the beginning and then check off the list. After all, Paul writes to the church in Thessalonica, “Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).”

In other words, intentional and regular prayer is a principal way the church differentiates itself from, say, the Rotary Club or the Lions or United Way.  Here in the church we openly serve our communities and our world in response to the grace-filled and loving relationship we have with God.  It is a relationship that is constantly re-established and strengthened through prayer. 

I once worked with a couple of young Cub Scouts on some advancement requirements here in Raymond.  They were supposed to talk with someone about religion (i.e. Christianity), a topic about which they knew absolutely nothing.  I think the boys’ father figured a minister would come in handy.

The Dad insisted upon being in on the meeting, I suspect, because he was concerned that I would brainwash his sons into wanting to come to church. In fact, he announced to me as they were getting ready to leave that being a Christian and attending church was really the same as being a good citizen and attending Scout meetings. Wasn’t that right?

However, contrary to a Cub Scout Pack Meeting or the monthly Kiwanis Club gathering, here in church we overtly recognize and acknowledge that God is in our midst.  We do that principally through prayer.  

As one blogger I read this past week wrote, “To acknowledge the power, the beauty, and the liberty that the presence of God imparts is to immediately give a sense of reality and vitality to a service.” In addition, prayer puts our own humanity in perspective.  Praying for others may make our own problems and issues seem less overwhelming.  

Praying for ourselves may help us see those problems and issues in light of the power of God.  In church, we are all encouraged to make prayer a part of our lifestyle – not just when tragedy strikes or when we want something beyond our control.

Did you know that there are at least seven different words for “prayer” in Greek?  The author of this letter to Timothy uses four of them as he enumerates the types of prayer to be incorporated into public worship.  

The first is supplications.  That is a word we do not use often these days.  It means simply asking God for what you need, appealing to God for real and vital wishes.  We often highlight physical or emotional urgencies, and we call out to God to meet those needs.  And so, in the church, we find room to pray for ourselves.

O Most Holy God, give me strength to meet the challenges of today whatever they might be.  Give me patience when I deal with my children or my elderly parents.  Give me hope to trust that our world can change – and for the better.  Give me the courage and power to stand up and speak out for justice.

The second type of prayer that the author mentions is simply “prayers”.  

That generic term is a catchall for the variety of prayers that might crop up in church and reminds us that prayer in all its forms is a sacred activity. Prayer is an act of worship, not just a listing of our wants and needs, and certainly not something we do to fulfil a religious duty.

In addition, the author insists that we not only offer prayers of all kinds, but also that we pray for all kinds of people.  He specifically mentions kings and others who are in authority.  Seminary professor Christian Eberhart details the background for this request.  He writes, “When understood against the backdrop of the Roman Emperor cult of the late first century CE, these words take on a new meaning. Established in 510 BCE, Rome had been a republic governed by two consuls who were elected to their positions. This system was in effect for half a millennium, but was then changed in two significant ways: First, starting with the rule of Julius Caesar, the republic was replaced by the Imperial system; this means that one emperor would rule from now on. And second, Rome gradually introduced the apotheosis of the emperor.

After his assassination in 27 BCE, Julius Caesar was soon proclaimed divine and accepted among the gods of the state, officially allowing for the initiation of his worship. 

Later in the first century CE, this type of Emperor Cult gradually developed in the whole Roman Empire as a unifying and politically stabilizing force. However, it gave rise to the custom of praying to the divinized Caesars.

In this kind of imperial milieu, the request in 1 Timothy 2:2 to pray “for kings” instead of “to the kings” takes on new meaning. It implies most ostensibly that rulers, like everybody else, depend on the guidance and mercy of God. Furthermore, it indirectly implies that they are not divine but mortal humans.”

And so, here in church, we also pray for our leaders.  We pray for our President – even if we may not like his policies very much or even if we feel his decisions make it harder for us to live a Christian life.  We pray for our Senators and Congressional Representatives even if we may think they are making a mess of the legislative branch of our government.  And we pray for our Supreme Court Justices even if we may think that the majority of them study the Constitution from a far too conservative viewpoint. 

Almighty God, we pray that knowledge of you and the Gospel that you sent Jesus to proclaim will influence the thinking and decision-making of our rulers and leaders.  

We pray for clear thinking and level-headedness for President Trump as he often carries the fate of the world on his shoulders.  We pray for the same in our Supreme Court justices as they rule on cases that will affect generations to come.  We pray for Susan Collins and Angus King, for Cherie Pingree and Jared Golden that you will give them the courage not to waver, but to stand up for what they believe is right.

The third type of prayer that the author of this letter mentions is “intercessions.” These prayers are ones we offer on behalf of someone else, when we plead for their interests or needs.  We may pray for the sick or those who mourn or for those who have a special concern.  We may pray for people we know – or for those we do not.  Sometimes this type of prayer gets us thinking about what we can do to help those we pray for.

Episcopal priest Rick Morley elaborated on this type of prayer.  He writes,  “During one of St. Julian of Norwich’s visions she saw God’s hand holding something so small and brown, it looked like a nut. She came to understand that it was the whole created universe. The cosmos cradled in God’s hand.

See that nut. See it nestled in God’s palm.

Look closer at that nut, with its swirls and galaxies and stars and planets spinning around those stars.

Look closer, and amongst the billions of galaxies, find ours. The Milky Way.

Then, look closer, and amidst the hundreds of millions of stars in that galaxy, find ours. Our star, our sun.

And then, look closer, and see our green and blue and white and brown planet spinning around that sun.

Under its clouds, moving by winds blowing high above the surface, see the people. People living in cities, and in suburbs, and on islands, and on farms, and in villages, and in slums, and ghettos – see them all. With their various colored faces, and various colored hair, and various colored eyes.

See them. With all their ideas, and dreams, and creeds, and fears, and nightmares. See them in their poverty and in their riches, their righteousness and their plots and schemes, their goodness and their evil.

See the children. Some well-fed. Some in school. Some in safe neighborhoods. See other children in homes where food is scarce. In countries where education is rare. In places that are unsafe, war-torn, and incubators of terror.

See the adults. Some young and energetic. Others tired and worn. Some with jobs, and homes, and cars. Others unable to find work, homeless, and stagnant. Some fulfilled in life, and others discontent, bored, or angry.

See the elderly. Some cared for, others neglected. Some with means, and others completely without means. Some weak and sick, others still vibrant.

See those who are trying to make their homes, their communities, their country, and their world a better place. See those who are compassionate and concerned about the welfare of others.

But also see those who are hardened, greedy, and concerned only with themselves.

See those who work and pray for peace, and see those who only ever seem to contribute to the violence and disruption of the world.

See all of them. Behold them.”

So much to pray for in this way!

O God of everyone and everything, big or small, significant and imposing or lost in the crowd, we offer to you in prayer Pauline who struggles in a nursing home, Frank with his three broken toes.  We pray for Lori and Dan who mourn the death of their son, for Craig recovering from surgery, for Tom as he regains his strength.  We pray for healing for Joan and Polly and Adma.  We pray for those we do not know – for asylum seekers, for refugees and migrants, for those who hunger and who live in poverty.   Grant them wholeness and your peace.

         And finally, the author wraps up his instructions with prayers of thanksgiving, especially for God and for all God has done for us.  John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, put it this way: “We who are grateful believe we have better than we deserve. Instead of taking things for granted, we see good things in life as gifts. Instead of assuming we are entitled, we assume grace underlies all we have. Gratitude gives thanks for mercy. Complaints focus on what we don’t have. Gratitude notices the good and is thankful. Gratitude sets us up for joy in life. Rather than merely consuming or existing, those who are grateful choose to embrace what life gives and enjoy life’s mercies.”

         Meister Eckhart, a thirteenth century German theologian, philosopher, and mystic, put it more simply: “If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”

O Gracious God, we have so much to thank you for:  the sun and moon and stars, the change of seasons, our families and those who care for us.  We thank you for everything that makes our lives beautiful and worth living.  We thank you especially for the gift of Jesus, our Christ and our Brother.  We thank you for the Gospel message he proclaimed. We thank you that you have a dream for this world.

         Prayer is central in defining us as Christians.  Prayer is the foundation of both our worship together and our individual devotional lives. Prayer binds us irrevocably to God. 

 I like what Episcopal priest Geoffrey Hoare said about prayer: Prayers  “are not matters of cause and effect, not a straightforward mechanism, not a matter of putting in a request to God and having it answered depending on whether or not God is having a good day.

 In the economy of God…prayers are rather more like throwing a stone into a pond and watching the ripples affect the whole environment. I came to realize that things do not happen in the world because I pray. But things do happen in the world when I pray. 

I am changed as I discover the deepest desires of my heart and the world is changed in some way to do with the might and majesty and mystery of the One who made us, the source of light and life, the ground of our being, the lover of our souls who brings universes into being.”

Amen and amen.