Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones

May 18/2017  Easter 5

Sticks and stones may break my bones but names will never hurt me and old adage, of unknown origin but something I remember as part of what we knew back when I was a kid.  My parents taught me to say it when anyone teased me.  I am sure that they meant well, but my memory does not have this catchy phase as being at all helpful – because as a young child I was teased a lot – what with having red hair and freckles, always being the new kid as we moved a lot, and having the type of personality that responded well to teasing, I used to chant sticks and stones quite frequently.  I was searching for stone quotes the other day and I discover that the writer Robert Fulghum in his popular book “All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten” took this simple children song and put truer words to it when he wrote:  ‘Sticks and stone may break my bones but words will break my heart.”  As a teased person I know this to be true as ugly word and unkind words made me feel bad about myself when I was a child – and you know- I don’t know about you but even as an adult unkind words can still break my heart.  

Just like a slingshot armed with a stone, words are powerful, words are painful, and they can be used as a weapon to inflict substantial damage on your intended target.  Words have been used to denigrate, humiliate, subjugate, chasten, embarrass, demean, shame, punish and subdue – I think words can do more collateral damage than sticks and stones any day.  Some words are so awful that we use them by only talking about their first letter – the ‘f’ word – the ‘n’ word.  But words also have the power to heal your heart as well and words can be kind and considerate, caring and loving, they can be used to build up a person, say your sorry, tell someone that you love them, they can educate, illuminate, share a story, tell a tall tale, or a joke or a funny story – words are powerful.

Stephen knows a lot about words that inform. It is very early in the life of the fledgling church and Stephen has become one of its greatest champions.  – he is an eloquent speaker for the newly emerging church – Pentecost has passed he spirit has come and fired up the witnesses to go and spread the Good News – the disciples are out and about talking up Jesus, telling others about their experiences – sharing with any one that will listen that the Christ is the new way – the new truth, the new life – and for some reason the ones who are living the old way, the old life and the old truth are a bit perturbed at what they are hearing – in fact  they are downright upset.  The words that Stephen is delivering are having the opposite effect on what was intended.  And Stephen in the midst of delivering what he thought was a live giving message – was heard by others as a death giving message - The words, the actions, the message is so radical for the officials that Stephen is sharing his words with – that it is more desirable to kill the messenger than to have the message continue to be spread – and so when Stephen spreads the message about Jesus the Christ / the messiah / the saviour / the holy one of God / the resurrected one-  and the worlds about the resurrection are some of the most powerful words that cause a lot of the consternation.  With these words, the authorities arrest him, and hold a council where he is tried and then convicted of blasphemy – which is a crime that is all about using the wrong words, blasphemy means:  ‘the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; – It is at the council meeting that we join the story this morning and witness to just how words can cause fear and misunderstanding that in order to silence the words, the speaker must be silenced–and so Stephen a man of words, sharing the good news of Jesus Christ, son of God, redeemer, sustainer and liberator – these words that for Stephen are words of hope and love and peace and joy – these are according the men who have arrested and now tie Stephen, these words about God – are words to die for – and so Stephen is sentenced to be executed by a group of his peers which will be an angry mob who will pick up stones off the ground and throw them at Stephen so many times that his body will break and he will fall, and he will die from his injuries of the stones.  

The short five verses that we heard read this morning is the carrying out of his death sentence and Stephen’s words as he is being stoned to death.  It’s gruesome – it’s harsh – and a disturbing story– partly because although this is a 2000 year old story it still rings true – partly because still today we hear of people being stoned – woman who have been alleged adulterous in some countries – and partly I think because the line between us and the ones who send the stones flying is very thin.  Because the ones throwing the stones are not executioners, nor are they thugs hired by the authorities to take care of the problem – the stone throwers that stand around Stephen and hurl the rocks are ordinary people, like you and like me, ordinary people who maybe caught up in the moment, ordinary people who may spurred on by the words of the council that convicted him that Stephen was somehow a threat to the way things were.  Ordinary people who in the midst of the excitement and craziness of the moment were the ones that killed the messenger.  And death is perpetrated with the use of stones –Sticks and stones can break your bones.

The gospel reading contains other types of words, words of comfort, caring, compassion and calm – words that will never hurt you.  Jesus and his disciples are sharing a meal in the upper room – it is the day that we now call Maundy Thursday, and we are almost at the end of the story.  It is the Passover and Jesus and his disciples have come to Jerusalem to share the Passover feast there.  They have gathered in a room to share a meal but before they do, Jesus takes a towel and wraps it around his waist, gathers a bowl, water and kneels at his disciple’s feet and gently and with their feet with gentle care.  He then takes some time to share words of comfort and caring.  This section of the gospel of John-for the writer John – is a crucial time in Jesus ministry.  The Author takes many chapters to tell about these few short hours in this upper chamber.  And the author focuses on Jesus words – his final words to the disciples who have known and loved and followed him for three years now.  Words to comfort, words to inform, words to challenge and most importantly words to let them know that they are loved and even if Jesus is not there with them – they will never be alone.  

‘Do not let your hearts be troubled – believe in me, believe in God, in my father’s house there are many rooms, and I go to prepare a place for you….’

These words spoken to the disciples two thousand years ago speak to us today – these words of comfort are often words used at funerals and memorial services, they offer comfort to us as they offered comfort to Jesus friends and disciples.  What I think is most profound about the words that Jesus chooses in this moment is that they are not about what was, or what is to come, - they are about right now – this moment – they had just had the conversation about denial and betrayal – and they have not yet got to the place where they will break the bread and share the cup – or talk of things to come – but what Jesus does in that moment is ground them into their right there and right then – He says do not let your heart be troubled – let go of your worries, let go of your concerns – everything will be okay.  And when the disciples within a sentence or two of Jesus talk begin to question and worry –‘we don’t know where you are going – says Thomas – ‘show us the Father says Phillip – relax says Jesus – it is all here – I am here – everything you need and want is before, right now– be in the moment says Jesus and understand – understand who I am, understand who God is, and understand how connected both to God and Myself you are says Jesus, “so that where I am you may be also”.

I think it is ironic how these words which in the moment are so comforting – so healing, so peace giving that in a few short hours with a few short words – Jesus will be arrested, tried, sentenced and nailed to sticks that will try to break his bones all for words that broke the hearts of the disciples and breaks our hearts too.

Sticks and stones will break our bones and words can break our heart – but words heal our hearts too, and in the midst of the brokenness of Stephen, and in the midst of the brokenness of Jesus the words they used now– ‘Lord, do not hold their sin against them’ and ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’ – these final words of Stephen and Jesus heal broken hearts. 

Do not let your hearts be troubled – believe – and remember that sticks and stones and words carry a lot of power – use them well.

A :Little Bit Sheepish - A Sermon for Good Shepherd Sunday

A Little Bit Sheepish

May 11/2014      John 10:1-10 and Psalm 23

Every year at this time in the church, if you are following lectionary, and we do, it’s sheep and shepherds.  In church on this Sunday, the psalm will be #23, and some portion of John 10 will be read.  There is something that those who choose how the lectionary would work that is important to encounter every year with the metaphor of sheep and shepherd.  It is funny, because although lectionaries have been in use in as long as we have had the printed text of the holy scriptures, the one that we use now, the revised common lectionary, has only been in use since the 1970’s.  It is interesting because I imagine in Nashville Tennessee, which is where the organization that created the lectionary resides, you would not think that sheep and shepherds were at the forefrount of their minds when they were thinking about how to arrange scripture readings to open up God’s word for the church and it’s people in this day and age.  And yet – this metaphor, this image of God is significant enough that a Sunday each year is devoted to it.  The image of sheep and shepherd has more meaning to the people of Jesus time than it does to this industrialized, computerized, urbanized society and the bible uses the image of the good shepherd, and the bad shepherd, and the lost sheep, and the wayward flock over and over and over and yet I bet you that there are some of us here that have never been up close and personal with a sheep – and I bet also that the shepherd of today barely resembles the shepherds of Jesus day… – I have this friend who when she was in her 20’s was with me as we went into Banff National Park – while we were there a few mountain sheep approached us looking for food from the friendly tourists – my friend Cindy was all excited because she had seen and touched a real moose.  Many of us have no real appreciation for how a sheep lives and the care it needs and what a shepherd does for it and the flock.  And yet – here we are surrounded by our woolly friends seeking to hear and follow the voice of the shepherd.

It is post Easter – we celebrated the resurrection of the Lord four weeks ago – and we are in the great 50 days of Easter in the church year – each of our stories in this time focus on how the world has changed now that God has conquered death, that Jesus lives again.  And we follow the disciples as they shift from being with Jesus to them being the ones that are the bearers of the Good News – this is the birth of a new thing, the church is being created, something new is going on – because Jesus was dead but now is alive, because God was working in the world creating something new – the tomb was empty and the world has never been the same since.


On this forth Sunday in Easter – this Sunday of sheep and shepherds Jan Richardson reminds us that,  to pay attention to where we pay attention, to how we turn ourselves toward the Christ who comes to us. Pay attention to who the Christ comes to as we listen to our story.  The Christ comes to the  women at the empty tomb, to the disciples and Thomas in the locked room, to the two at the Emmaus table in the breaking of the bread, Jesus shows himself, inviting others to see and recognize him, even to place their hand within his very flesh so that they may know and trust who he is.”[1]  He comes when he is least expected and in unexpected ways.  Pay attention to what we give our attention to.  Jesus appears today – pre resurrection, in conversation at the temple – that’s meaning of his words have deeper meaning in a post-resurrection world.  He speaking to the Pharisees  - speaking about who he is, and what he has come to do and how is work and life are deeply interconnected to God’s – he is not making much headway with them.  His words are falling on deaf ears.  Jesus says – pay attention – something is happening here that is important and life changing and radical – very truly I tell you says Jesus – God is getting into the world and you are missing it!

And again Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep.  

What is it that makes it so hard for us to accept that God wants good things for us, that the God wants us to be safe and happy and protected.  Jesus is trying to help the Pharisees understand just how much good God is doing in the world – Jesus has just healed the man born blind and instead of rejoicing at the wonderful miracle that a man who had been blind since birth is now able to see, to experience the world in a whole new way – instead the Pharisees are looking for a scam, looking to discredit someone or something because for some reason, Jesus being able to heal the man does not fit into their understanding of who God is and what God is capable of doing.  And so as they confront the man and his parents and finally Jesus, they are so wrapped up in what they see that they cannot see what is really going on – and when Jesus tries to clarify things by using the metaphor of sheep and shepherd and gate and gatekeeping and thieves and robbers – what the Pharisees here is not clarification they hear instead blasphamy – they do not hear gospel but heresy – they miss the presence of the divine and what they hear is hear is sacrilege! 
Why is it so hard to accept that God wants good things for us?
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 

It is pretty clear in the first line from this ancient prayer, this sacred piece of poetry that God wants the best for us.  There is something about this prayer
Psalm 23 is a wonderful example of God’s love at work in the world.  In the whole of the bible – this passage is the most known and the most used of all of them.  There is something about this ancient text, this sacred piece of poetry that is able to transcend gender and race, denomination and faith and speak to the hearts of people of many different faiths and cultures all over the world
²He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters;
³he restores my soul. He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake. 

The shepherd psalm is our reminder about God’s will for us in our lives and God place in the midst of living.  It is about God’s presence in times of trouble, God’s abundance in times of scarcity and God’s love as a protector, redeemer and sustainer.   It is not only in the cadence of the psalm the poetry’s flow but the images of God that are presented that cause us deep in our being knowledge of not only the sacredness of life but also the deep intimate relationship that human being have with their creator, with God.  We have all experienced times in our life’s journey times of sorrow, or pain, of grief – and yet in the midst of that this psalm reminds us that we are not alone, that God is with us in our adversity.  – this psalm reminds us that we are never alone in our valley of the shadow of death – that God is with us.

⁴Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. 

Bad stuff happen we all have been there …and God walks with us
I love the perspective of a shop owner in Nottingham, England. He posted this notice in the window of his coat store: "We have been established for over 100 years and have been pleasing and displeasing customers ever since. We have made money and lost money, suffered the effects of coal nationalization, coat rationing, government control and bad payers. We have been cussed and discussed, messed about, lied to, held up, robbed and swindled. The only reason we stay in business is to see what happens next." 

⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Gretchen Alexander is sightless. But she refuses to allow her blindness to limit her life activities. She enjoys archery, golf, softball, sailing and water-skiing, as well as a number of other activities that those of us who are sighted have yet to learn.

She also speaks to groups about living life fully. When speaking to a group of high school students, she was once asked if there was anything she wouldn’t try.

“I’ve decided to never skydive,” she answered. “It would scare the heck out of my dog.”

⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord my whole life long.

Why do some people rise above their problems and live life fully, while others become defeated? Merle Shain explains it this way: “There are only two ways to approach life, as a victim or as a gallant fighter. And every day the decision is ours.” Or put another way, we can believe we’re helpless or we can believe we’re powerful and capable. And every day we reaffirm our belief.

We have a choice to make about whether we choose to see the goodness and mercy that follows us all the days of our lives or not.  We have a choice to make about whether we are willing to live in the house of the Lord.  

This God, our God – the God that Jesus was trying to explain the to the Pharisees – this God is our Shepherd this God who as Nadia Boltz Weber puts it:  

“ is a God who created us and all that is, this same God spoke through prophets and poets, claimed a people to be God’s own and freed them from the shackles of slavery. This same God led those people through the wilderness to a land of milk and honey, and told them to always welcome the stranger and protect the foreigner so that they could remember where they came from and what God had done for them. Then in the fullness of time, and to draw ALL people to himself, God came and broke our hearts like only a baby could do and made God’s home in the womb of a fierce young woman as though God was saying, from now on this is how I want to be known. And as Jesus, God the Son kissed lepers and befriended prostitutes and baffled authority. Jesus ate with all the wrong people and on the night before he died, he gathered with his faltering friends for a meal that tasted of freedom. He held up bread and told us to do the same thing and he promised us so much: that he would be with us, that forgiveness is real, that we are God’s, that people matter and that death is done for and that after a tough resurrection, grilled fish makes an awesome breakfast.

Which is to say, God chose to enter the the world– enter into the uncertainty and danger of mortal human existence in order to point to something bigger.  Bigger than what is fleeting and finite.  In the incarnation God has given us nothing less than a small measure of eternity through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Christ.  And made us an Easter people – not people who vapidly pretend that everything’s ok – but people who live in the Christ reality of death and resurrection. People who live in the reality of a God who brings live things out of dead things.”[2]

This is our God this is our Shepherd and we shall not want.  Amen.

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[1] Jan Richardson:  http://paintedprayerbook.com/2011/05/09/easter-4-blessing-of-the-gate/#.U22MRqIl0fc

[2] Nadia Boltz Weber:  http://www.patheos.com/blogs/nadiabolzweber/2014/05/stop-saying-the-church-is-dying-a-sermon-for-the-rocky-mountain-synod-assembly/

Roadside Service

Roadside Service         Easter 3 (Year A)

Luke 24: 13-25

Do you ever feel sometimes that the world is going too fast?  That things are changing at such a speed that it is hard to keep up?  That just as you get used to things being one way something happens and before you know things have changed again?  This past week for example Toronto’s mayor has finally admitted that he needs some help controlling his substance abuse – after two more uncontrollable tongue issues.  The provincial government presented a budget and less than a day later an election called for June 12^th.  Things are heating up in the Ukraine, and the crisis is quickly becoming a war.  Over 350 in Afghanistan lost their lives in a landslide.  And the families of the teenagers who lost their lives on the ferry are just beginning to understand their loss. 

Not all the events of last week were on such a big scale -  200 people in Enderby BC are stranded in their homes because of a washed out road.  For some  – the spring rains brought flooding, and others who live in the Midwestern United States had their homes where blown away.   And some families said goodbye to loved ones, or learned of diagnosis of disease that will forever change their lives.  And I imagine that as the folks that are living through these trying times, I bet you a few of them will at some point stop what they are doing and take time to reflect on their journey and maybe just maybe like the grieving people in today’s story realize that they are also walking with the Divine and the God had been with them on their journey.

The recent events in our world, point us to the message in today's Gospel reading. Life is unpredictable. Stuff happens. Tragedies happen. Blessings happen. Moments of feeling clear and certain are fleeting. Inspiration comes and goes. Health is temporary.   Bruce Epperly writes:  “But, God is in each detail, filling it with holiness and then moving on the next and inviting us to follow. Faithfulness is in the remembering but also in movements that create new memories and new possibilities. As the Emmaus story notes, hospitality is the open door to creative transformation and an expanded vision of possibilities.” In truth, what happens is often less important than how we respond to what happens. 

Two people are walking down the road – they are leaving Jerusalem – there is nothing to keep them there anymore – the Passover festival is over – so they are headed home – Cleopas and the unnamed walker – some say this unnamed disciple is Cleopas’ wife, some say another disciple who was grieving the loss of Jesus profoundly.  

Here they are on this ordinary day two people walking home.  The road, I imagine has many on it, some going to Jerusalem to do what it is that you do in a larger centre of commerce – other are going in the same directions as this couple as they too leave the city after the Passover celebrations.  So as they go along they are joined by another – and fell into conversation with their fellow traveller.  They shared with the stranger some of their feelings about what they had witnessed over the Passover festival, how for them it became not about celebrating the Great Exodus of Moses but instead became a time of horror and grief as they witnessed to the arrest trial and execution of their friend, mentor and prophet Jesus.  It was easy to share their intense emotions, to share their grief, their disillusionment, their sorrow and pain, with this stranger who walks with them.  They are surprised that the stranger has such wise words, reminding them about how God has been with God’s people for generation to generation, and that maybe what has happened is part of God’s plan.    

Sad as they were they reached out to this stranger and invited him to share a meal with them. Their response to loss and sorrow and tragedy, was grief, indeed, but it was also gratitude and gracious hospitality.  Some of what Jesus had taught them had rubbed off and table hospitality was top of Jesus examples of how to live as God would have them live.  So as they shared the meal, and as the bread was broken – something shifted – something changed and the stranger was no longer a stranger – he was instead an intimate friend – the stranger was Christ – their eyes were opened and they saw the Divine in their midst – and the meal and the men were transformed.  And then he was gone.

In the middle of a simple meal, in the middle of an ordinary day – something shifted and the ordinary became extraordinary and the moment was sacred – that these moments of journey and meal – where shared with the Christ – that God got in.  And the feeling was palpable – and the realization that Christ was there, caused these two people to get up from their table and retrace their steps – this time with a lightness of heart and foot and return to share this good news, to tell of this wonderful experience of God and grace and resurrection and new life – to share Jesus alive.

Sometimes – often times it is so hard to see what is right in our midst.  The famous flower artist Georgia O’Keefe once said:  “no one really sees a flower, not really – to look at a flower takes time, like having friends takes time.”  When we are in the midst of the living and breathing and sickness and grief and the sorrow, and the anxiety and the fear – it is hard to see God in the midst as well as in the midst of the joy and laughter and the delight and the wonder – the presence of God often goes unnoticed.  But God is still there – and God is here.

God meets us on the road.  We too are on journey as individuals and as a community.  Last week we celebrated 60 years of this community’s ministry.  What a great day, what amazing music that Alison and the choir preformed.  We heard wonderful stories of times in your life as a congregation when you walked the road fully knowing that you went with God, there was excitement and energy in the remembering.  But you know as well as I do that those times are gone and we are in these times.  Did you know that we are closing United Churches at a rate of one a week now?  You have heard about the struggles to fill the pews, fund the projects, find the energy, this is the road we are walking on right now – but the wonderful thing about a story such as this is that what hope it gives to us struggling grieving people as we continue our journey – we don’t go alone – God is with us – walking that road….I wonder where we are going?  I wonder what we are called to do now?  I wonder who we are called to do ministry with?  I wonder what God has planned for us here at St. James? 

Cause Jesus meets us on the way. He doesn't come to us in Jerusalem. He doesn't wait for us at home. He doesn't bid us make some holy pilgrimage or undertake some pious feat. Rather, he meets us where we are on the road, in the midst of our journey, right smack in the middle of all the pain, frustration, and despondency that threatens to overwhelm us. Even when we don't recognize him.

I am a Grey’s Anatomy fan, and a few years ago they aired an episode that was an Emmaus Road story for me.  It was at Callie and Arizona’s wedding.  These two of the characters (both woman) were getting married – or as married as you gay and lesbian couples can get in Washington State.  They had booked a church, found a minister, invited guests – and welcomed parents into their home to prepare for the big event.  Callie is Catholic and her family is having a hard time with her choices.  Her mother especially – and as much as Callie tries to make her mother feel comfortable and to include her mother in the preparation and also in the life of her new granddaughter the mother’s “faith” belief about God, Jesus and Church will not allow her to accept her daughters choices and eventually her mother stops trying, she gives up and goes home.  Callie is devastated and because of a variety of other mishaps – as only an hour long prime time drama can provide – Callie decided to call the whole thing off.  Into this comes Callie’s friend and colleague Miranda (and this is the point – this is the place that is an Emmaus experience

Miranda says “First of all you do not need the law, or a priest or your mother to make your wedding real. And the church can be anywhere you want it to be…because where do you think God is. God’s in you…God’s in me. God’s right here in the middle of us…Now some churches haven’t caught up to God yet. Your mother hasn’t caught up to God yet and by the way she may never catch up but it’s OK. If you are willing to stand up in front of your family, friends and God and commit yourself to another human being to give of yourself in that kind of partnership…for better or worse, in sickness and in health, Honey that is a marriage, that is real and that is all that matters.

“because where do you think God is. God’s in you…God’s in me. God’s right here in the middle of us…”  And he was known in the breaking of the bread – that’s were God is  - didn’t our hearts burn as we listened to him.

In me / in you – immanent God (that’s the theological language)

And between you and me (eminent God )  God is here, 

And Jesus meets us on the way. He doesn't come to us in Jerusalem. He doesn't wait for us at home. He doesn't bid us make some holy pilgrimage or undertake some pious feat. Rather, he meets us where we are on the road, in the midst of our journey, right smack in the middle of all the pain, frustration, and despondency that threatens to overwhelm us. Even when we don't recognize him.

Jesus meets us where we are—wherever we wander, whatever path we claim, whatever road... Jesus walks with us—not virtually, but actually. He is right here. He does not appear at the comfortable center, but at the edges and the margins—and he appears not first to the wealthy and powerful, but to grief-stricken women and hot-headed men and weary travellers. He comes to you and to me.  Jesus joins us on the journey – and burns in our hearts – and shares a meal – and breaks the bread – and is made known to us – and we discover that we have never been alone – that God was with us even though we could not see him – God is in our midst – journeying with us.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.