Sermon for Blessing of the Animals

Love Does No Wrong

September 7/ 2014               Romans 13:8-14

When I was a little girl I had a dog – It was my own dog, even though the family had a dog that we shared I had my own.  His name was Elijah and he was a mix between a black lab and a Newfoundlander.  Needless to say he was big and black and beautiful and gentle and kind and loyal.  I got him when he as a puppy and he grew up alongside of me, we lived in the bush in Northern Ontario and so the dogs were able to roam free– I was quite the emotional person and there were many times when I was having trouble at school or frustrated with my parents and I would sit outside, sulking or crying or just in general being mad, sad or angry and right beside me was this big black dog someone to lean on to wrap my arms around to dry my tears.  I can still feel the softness of his fur.  But  when he was almost two he and our other dog Erin, started to get into trouble – they discovered porcupines – there were wonderful prey because they lumbered around and were easy to catch and then fun to tear apart between the two dogs – it got so into it that they failed to recognize that they were actually in pain as they wrestled their catch to the ground – and then we had the task of removing all the quills from their muzzels and sometimes because they were so bad we had take the dogs to the vet to get them removed – this happened over and over and over again – 17 times – until finally the vet said that if they did not stop they would die because of the quills – I guess they can move and puncture the brain – anyway – it was decided that Elijah was the one that had to go – partly because he was the more frequent hunter than Erin and also because he was not the family dog and we had not had him as long as Erin.  My parents found Elijah a new home with a friend who lived in a large town that did not have porcupines.  It was  a hard decision and I understand that giving Elijah away was about keeping him safe and alive, but it was hard and sad and I missed him terribly and I don’t think that I have ever had a dog that felt like mine, that was in tune with my emotions, who knew when I need a friend, who loved me just cause and put up with my moodiness.  There is something about a dog’s love…,

The reading this morning from Romans talks about love – human love and how God wants us to love – as communicated through Paul to the church in Rome.  This letter from Paul is one of his later ones – he has been an evangelist for some time now and has been writing letters focusing his thoughts about who God is and who Jesus is and how life should be lived both as individuals and as communities and as churches that are pleasing God – Paul is reminding the newly formed Christian church in Rome about who God is and the gifts that God has given – and in this case the greatest gift of all – love – which has come in flesh as Jesus.  Paul is addressing people who have been Jewish and so have an understanding of the law of Moses, they know the 10 commandments, they appreciate the stories about God through the writings of what we now call the Old Testament.  So this particular part of Paul’s letters is a reminder of the importance of love in relationships – with each other and with God, for as Paul reminds us – if we love, if we truly love that way the God loves than we do no wrong, the commandments are kept – murder, adultery, stealing and desiring things that belong to someone else – when you love – love as God loves – then they don’t happen – because why would you murder someone you love – really love – love without jealousy and anger and pain and judgement and expectation – like my dog loved me, not because I gave him all sorts of wonderful things, but because I was me and I gave him my love.

Of all the words used throughout the world, the one that is used the most -- or misused the most -- is "love." Love is not merely a denial of self. It is caring for others, and seeking their welfare above and before self. We use the word "love" to describe a great variety of experiences: feelings of the heart, conditions of the mind, expressions of our will, and our own actions. It is, therefore, extremely difficult to understand when people say that they "love," what that really means. Furthermore, because "love" has a tendency to be an ambiguous word, it can also be a dangerous word.

When you see the word or hear the word love, what do you see? I see a couple looking at a little face wrapped in a pink blanket for the first time. I see an old man as he sits with his wife of 52 years. She has Alzheimer's. He knows that she is not who she was but he still loves her…I see my big black dog and feel the warmth of his body beside me.  

Years ago my father worked in corrections – back in the day when children and youth were also under the umbrella of corrections before community and social services.  He began as a guard in a training school where 12-18 year old who had gotten in trouble with the law were sent but over the years he shifted his focus, obtained a teaching degree and eventually became the principal at White Oaks which was a facility near Hagersville that used to be an old army base.  The boys dad worked with were between the ages of 6-12 – kids that had shuffled out of the foster system, or boys that did not have the support and love of their family and when they got into trouble or just had no where else to go, usually they were kids that were not raised in a loving environment, and when there was nowhere else to put them quite often they were placed in a training school.  They had to also go to school of course because of their age and my dad was the principal of the White Oaks correctional Centre’s school.

In my father’s office he had a large cage and in that cage were a bunch of mice.  Whenever a boy was in trouble and sent to the principal’s office – my dad sit at his desk and read or write or do something while the boy who was over the top angry or frustrated, would sit in a chair beside the cage filled with mice. After not very much time had passed the boy often would reach inside the cage and take a hold of one of the mice that was running around, he would hold it in his hand, and stroke it with his finger, and he would start to change – his demeanor would relax, the anger would begin to fade and in about 10 or so minutes the angry boy chomping at the bit would be a calm, child ready to talk about what had happened to make him get sent to the office.  The mice allowed him to get beyond all the bad behaviour, all the negative emotions, and all the loveless anger, something in the living breathing little warm bodies warmed up these boys hearts and they became open to at least have a conversation, and re-consider and quite possibly were finally open to feel the care and concern and love that my dad gave them.

It is not new news that animals are beneficial to humans, a 2012 article by  NPR – National Public Radio, focused on how humans and animals heal each other:

“One of the earliest studies, published in 1980, found that heart attack patients who owned pets lived longer than those who didn't. Another early study found that petting one's own dog could reduce blood pressure.
More recently, …, studies have been focusing on the fact that interacting with animals can increase people's level of the hormone oxytocin….
"Oxytocin helps us feel happy and trusting." … "Oxytocin has some powerful effects for us in the body's ability to be in a state of readiness to heal, and also to grow new cells, so it predisposes us to an environment in our own bodies where we can be healthier.”[1]  Because we have pets, because we interact with animals.

I have known a wonderful cat named Molly who lived in the long term care facility in Golden Dawn in Blind River Hospital.  She knew when people needed her and when one of the residents was dying she kept vigil, laying on their bed, or sitting on the window sill, waiting, keeping watch…

In our living and our dying we are loved by our God and Molly was able to be present in that sacred time as a vehicle for that love.

In my first pastoral charge in Blind River we had blind man as part of our summer congregation.  He and his wife and his beautiful golden retriever guide dog, Max came to church every Sunday during the summer months.  When Tonni died after a prolonged illness, Max became a pet to Evangeline, Tonni’s wife because he was too old to be retrained for another to use as a guide dog.  Max was a bit lost without something to do everyday so Evangeline found new work for Max – she became a regular visitor at the local nursing home – and she brought Max with her – he went an visited each of the residents a couple hours a couple days a week – the visits brought meaning and purpose not only to the residents but also Evangeline and especially Max.

Beth Royalty writes:   “A large part of Paul's message to the church in Rome, and to most of the churches to whom he wrote, was to encourage the people in how to live, how to behave, and in what to do in response to God's gracious gift to them, to the world. It seemed clear to him that if you live your life as if you are going to meet God face to face anytime, if you live your life confident that God's kingdom has begun, if you live your life knowing that the relationship you have with God is more important than any other thing in your life, well, if you live your life that way, then your behavior ought to reflect that this is what you believe. It wasn't about doing something right in order to win God's approval. (Paul would never have said that our action would win us salvation.) It was about faith, faith in God's actions, faith in God's love, and faith in God's promise of steadfast relationship with us! But faith does not just believe. Faith is also about doing, acting, and working in God's kingdom here and now, doing the work of Christ in the place where we are, responding to that free gift of God's love that we can do nothing to earn, but that we can do everything to show off.”[2]

I think we need to take a lesson from our animal friends gathered here today, because more often than not, we witness what it is to live in love, to live in grace.  Our animal friends trust that we will care for them, not because we have to or that we will get something out of it, but because we love them.  And that is grace, that is God’s good gift to all of God’s creation – grace – love – not because it is deserved or earned or merited but because God loves.  And we can be assured that when we love as God loves and care as God cares we will begin to see glimpses of the kingdom – and when we live the kingdom by loving and respecting and caring for all of God’s creatures from the snails to the whales, from the toad to the tortoises, from the dog to the human creature – we live in love.  We live as God wills.  And the kingdom and God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven.  Amen.

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[1] http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/03/09/146583986/pet-therapy-how-animals-and-humans-heal-each-other

[2] Rev. Beth Royalty:  Telling the Good News:  day1.org/954-telling_the_good_news

Returning with a sermon for August 31

Called by Cross and Flame

August 31/2014           Exodus 3:1-15 and Matthew 16:21-28

School begins in two days – the summer of 2014 is almost over – at least for those of us that have school aged children this weekend is the passageway to the next school year.  We will begin on Tuesday morning with our litany of final instructions as our children head out the door…  “Do you have your lunch? Don't forget your jacket. Remember to wait your turn. Say please and thank you. Raise your hand and wait to be called on. Your snack money is in the outside pocket of your backpack. Don't wait too long to ask to go to the bathroom. Tell an adult if someone bullies you. Don't pass notes or text during class. Call me when you get home. Make sure you cover your mouth with your elbow if you sneeze. Did you wear clean underwear? I love you!" It's a final call of our voice in a way trying to assure ourselves that our voice is the one in their heads and that the pressures of peers will not overtake them and they will be able to fight off all the bad influences that they are bound to run into in the big wide world of academia – and we know that what are children really are thinking about has less to do with us and more to do with the new year's adventures.  And yet we hope – we hope that the call of the family will be louder and stronger than the call of the culture.

Our stories today focus on call – the call of Moses and the calling of Jesus to follow him.  We use the word ‘call’ or ‘calling’ is used in a variety of ways,

·       As a vocation, profession, or trade

·       Or as a summons

·       Or a  strong impulse or inclination

·       A sound that comes out of our mouth when we want people to come in for dinner

It is an evocative word, and biblically, calling is powerful moment when God get in and speaks in ways that profoundly impacts those who have the encounter.  This morning we listened to probably the most famous call story of all, that of Moses…

We are introduced to Moses today in our Exodus reading fully grown and living as shepherd in the Midian desert but much has happened in the two short chapters before this morning’s story – this man – this full grown adult male – has already lived a lifetime full of adventure and undertakings, before he became a shepherd of Midian – before he has his holy encounter this morning.  For this is the Moses the one born into a time when all of his baby brothers in the faith had been destined to perish in the pogroms of the pharaoh where all boy child’s born to Hebrew mothers were exterminated in an attempt to control the burgeoning population of the Hebrew slaves.  An unsuccessful attempt as was witnessed by the midwives who in their act of subversion, indicated that the Hebrew woman had such and ease of birthing that the babies were born before they arrived and so they could not dispose of the boy babies as the pharaoh had decreed – and then another act of subversion by Moses mother and sister – as they too defy the pharaoh’s plan when after the birth of the baby – they take the elements that surround them – a basket and some pitch and create a vessel that protects and ultimately saves this baby boy from the execution orders. 

The basket flows down the river of life and the baby ends up in the court of the Pharaoh, the very dictator that that sought to destroy all the babies has one of the condemned float into his palace and meet up with the woman of the court – and this child, this Hebrew born baby boy is taken by another woman who again subverts the system and is plucked from the river, and raised in the palace and given the name Moses. 

All of these circumstances, all of these woman’s choices conspire together to create the backdrop for Moses to grow up and become – well – MOSES, but there is more in his growing up that prepares him for his encounter at the bush this morning.

For the land of the Pharaoh that Moses grows up in, from the privileged position of the palace he witness to the cruel and punishing treatment of the Hebrew people and begins to recognize that injustice and discrimination and unfairness that surround him in the as he witness the Pharaoh’s building program, constructed on the backs of the Hebrew slaves.  Until finally, witnessing he beating of a weakened slave, seeing the cruelty and the oppression that is integral part of the daily life of the Egyptians – Moses steps in – and in an attempt to stop the thrashing, he in turn, using his strength –in and act of perceived justice, he destroys the other, and the slave master lies dead at his feet. 

This is not good – this is an act that will change Moses life forever, for from this moment, Moses life of privilege and prestige in the court of the Pharaoh ends – and Moses in order to save his own life must flee – must run for his life – and so off he sets out of the city and across the dessert, running for his life, running until he can run no farther, and when he looks up, he finds himself in the midst of the Midian dessert.

Here he will make a new life for himself; here he will shift his identity from a privileged palace person, to a shepherd, a man of pastures and sheep.  He will find love, and create a family with Zipporah and his two sons, and he will find contentment and purpose in this new life – but alas all that is about to change, and the catalyst for that change – God – is about to introduce himself to Moses  in a way that will forever change Moses life. 

It’s an ordinary day – much like this one – and a shepherd is watching over his flocks – standing guard, leading them to water, checking to make sure that they are all accounted for.   When just off to the right, out of the corner of his eye, this shepherd notices something strange – it’s a flicker or a flash of something bright, like when the sun catches the corner of a shiny object– he turns and goes to check it out, to see if there is any danger for his flock and maybe just a bit of idle curiosity to see what this flashing in the sun, and the closer he gets – the stranger the  site is and as he approaches this bush that is burning but is not burning up – he reaches out his hand to touch and feel – as he does – he hears his name….Moses

Moses ….Moses… take off your shoes ---- you are standing on Holy Ground

Moses….

The voice of God in a bush – in a moment where the ordinary became extraordinary, the commonplace became amazing, the everyday became unexpected…

Moses….take of your shoes….

In a name, in a breath, in an instant, Moses the shepherd transformed in to Moses the Prophet of God

One of the commentators I was reading this week reflecting on this passage asked a question that I wonder if we need to consider before we go much farther into this sermon – when we think about this passage – of Moses and the burning bush – when we listen to this story – who do you see?   what do you see? what do you hear?

Does Moses look a little like Charlton Hesston?  Is the burning bush a bit like a Hollywood sound stage?  Is there swelling music in the background as a deep base voice bellows:  “Take off your shoes, you are standing on holy ground”?  I don’t think we should be too grateful to Cecil B Demille – I suspect that he has restricted our understanding of this holy encounter to look a lot like Hollywood, and not very much like the Midian desert were a man has an encounter with the holy.

Because a holy encounter such as this one, a God moment frozen in time in scriptural words is actually not a been there done that kind of encounter – a moment such as the one described by the writers of Exodus – is a profound sacred moment – when God gets in the world shifts and transformation happens – it is numinous – it is about liminal time – that time when things are thin between this world and the next – moments are sacred and God is as close as our very breath….something shifts with in us – and our lives are never the same again

This burning bush God call – has little to actually do with the burning bush – it was just a vehicle to Moses to pay attention – it says “hold up Moses”  pay attention Moses – something is happening here.  This is Holy

This is sacred – take off your sandals – this ground is sacred – the earth is sacred and holy ground – connect to it – connect to me – feel me here – not in the bush – but feel me in you – in your very breath – I am – says God

Call – God’s call is not a Hollywood moment with the voice of God coming down from a speaker mounted in the ceiling..

God’s call

Is unique for each of us as we are unique – for there was only one Moses and only one burning bush – we will not see one because it was not for us to see – but we will see something, or hear something or feel something – for God is calling us too – and God will call to us in our language that only we can understand, should we choose to listen –

So our question is – what are our burning bushes, where are the devices that God uses to get our attention.  Are they spectacular sunsets or fathomless starry skies where in the awe and majesty of the created world – we breath and realize that God is all around us – and that we are all deeply connected to each other and the whole created world??

Is our burning bush the voice of another saying – you know you would be good working with children, or helping the sick or planning an event – I see gifts in you…you have this ability…

Or is the burning bush in our lives a burning issue that calls us to respond, that will not leave our minds – that compels us to transform our lives

Or the place of deep discomfort where changing is our only options because staying were we are hurts too much…

I believe that we all have a burning bush or two or three or sixteen that we come upon in our lifetimes where God is trying to get our attention – to shift our live, to shake us up, to call us home, to transform us.  God calls us, each and every one of us to become more, to live more fully, to love more and to be loved more.  And how do I know – well it is in the words of God himself – words spoken to Moses when he asks – who shall I say sent me – and God says:  I AM who I AM

the name God gives to Moses I AM – is tantamount to saying ‘I’m utterly sufficient for all your needs’…and the motivation to be sufficient, to liberate, to comfort, to provide…is that at the heart of God’s self is love…that love which is real, authentic, and which is our model, as God’s beloved – to love…even when it hurts.

The great I AM, God our creator calls us in love –

God’s saying, in the giving of his name :  I Am ...  completely me -

here is a sense of the utter integrity of God...

I will be who I will be -

He’s saying: I never change... this God is ...reliable, faithful

but also, this God, this name-giving God is saying:  I Am... sufficient, enough, able to supply all    your    needs...not wants - needs...

·       needs spoken and unspoken,

·       needs known and unknown.

The name given, demonstrates that this God - this passionate God 

who wants to liberate his people - is  enough - more than enough,

more than a match for Pharaoh,

more than a match for all the gods of Egypt combined.

And then, thousands of years later, this God comes yet again in a new way as baby in a manger who grew up to be part of another conversation we heard this morning

The prelude to the story is that Jesus was asking his friends and disciples:

‘who do people say I am’

and Peter’s response - 'you’re the messiah...'

And then, Jesus does something extraordinary -

Jesus gives him a new name - from Simon, which means ‘pebble’,                                                

to ‘Peter’ the ‘Rock’...steadfast, firm. 

The giving of a new name, is also the implied giving of new qualities, 

new characteristics, to Peter....But how quickly things change.

In our gospel reading today, Jesus begins to talk of his mission and ministry,

and of what that will cost... suffering and death...and resurrection.

And suddenly, Peter’s given another name, Satan

when he recoils in shock to what Jesus is saying:

when he rejects the message

being spoken, about the cost of following,

when he shows that he’s not yet understood

the full implications of being a disciple,

just how costly it is to follow him.  Take up your cross says Jesus – and follow me

Karoline Lewis reminds us that:  “Taking up your cross is not an individual act that validates your faith or demonstrates your willingness to go the distance or a statement of self-sacrifice or self-denial. The cross has everything to do with community. Take up your cross and follow. To follow, by definition, demands something or someone to be followed.” [1]

To pick up a cross... is to lay aside one way of living,  and to discover a new way to live...

the way of love.  To pick up the cross is know that God is calling to you and through you to live a Godly life – to care for others, to share your wealth, to see beyond yourself and to see the world through the eyes of God. 

And remember, always remember:  what gives us the courage and the strength, and the joy to keep going is that:we are called to follow in the name of love, the One whose name means love – the the the I

The I AM, who calls us ‘beloved’...whose love is real, sincere, whose love is more than enough,

and who, in love, walks the way of love with us, beside us... forever and ever, Amen.

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[1] Karoline Lewis:  A Cross and Follow Kind of Life:  https://www.workingpreacher.org/craft.aspx?m=4377&post=3300

Struggle Promise and Trickery

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“Struggle Promise and Trickery”

July 13, 2014      Genesis 25:19-34

My father’s mother, my grandmother Davies lived with us as I was growing up.  My father’s family is Australian and six weeks after I was born we went to Australia because my Grandpa Davies was ill.  My grandpa died a couple of months after we arrived and with my father being the only child when we returned to Canada a year later my grandmother came with us.  Immigrating to Canada in your seventies is a hard thing to do – immigrating with only a steamer trunk to pack your most precious possessions must have been even more difficult.  Grandma brought her clothes, some special linen’s that she had done the handiwork on before her stoke, some china tea cups, a few family pictures and a few mementos.  One such memento was  pocket watch that my father had given to his father as a gift years before, my grandmother cherished it.  She kept it close to her, in her headboard of her bed which had sliding doors.

My two sisters and I loved that watch, we would take it out under grandma’s watchful eye and hold it in our hands and listen to it tick – sometimes grandma would let us wind it if we were very careful.  Eventually however, the watch got dropped and the glass shattered.  The watch was placed back in the sliding door in the headboard, to wait until my mother had time to get it to the jeweller to replace the glass.

One day, I walked by my grandma’s room, and there was no one inside, I decided to open the door and just have a look at the watch, see how it was doing.   I silently slid open the door and there it was, just sitting there gleaming brass watch just begging to be picked up – I picked it up and held it in my hand, I looked around, no one was around so, I wound it just a little to hear the tick tock sound I loved.  The watch felt cool and heavy in my hands and I realized that without the glass I could move the hands of the watch myself.  Tentatively at first I began to turn the minute hand, 1 o’clock, 1:30, 2 o’clock, then I went a little faster, watching how by spinning the minute hand the hour hand would move from one number to the next – one time around 3 o’clock, two times around 4 o’clock, three times around 5 o’clock, click, snap oh….oh,oh….

There I was holding my grandfather’s watch in my hand staring with dismay at the minute hand which was now lying on the face of the watch no longer attached to the center pin.  My fun and games were over, I quickly put the watch back into the headboard, laying the minute hand as close to the pin as possible – I think was my hope that the next person to pick up the watch would think that they were the ones who  broke it, and then I quietly snuck out of the room.

A few days later when I had completely dismissed the watch incident from my mind, I heard my mother’s voice call out across the house:  “Girls, come here!”  The closer I got to my grandmother’s bedroom the more I realized that the broken watch had been discovered.  The three of us came into the room to realize that my mom was standing there holding the broken watch – “who did this?” she asked, showing us the broken minute hand.

“Not I” said my sister Judy

“Not I” said my sister Robyn

“Not I” said myself – all the while looking at my mom with big unblinking big eyes hoping that she would not be able to see through me.

“Really?” said my mom – “one of you had to have done this”

We all shook our heads and said “no” again.

“wait till your father gets home – was what she said next – these words – wait till your father gets home”, for me and my sisters were serious words, we knew that we had pushed my mother way too far, and the consequences would be dire….

That was a long wait, all afternoon my stomach churned and churned as worried and worried that I would be found out.  I practiced keeping a blank face so that my dad would not know by looking at me, I practiced saying he the words – “not me”, so that they sounded true – I tried to think of excuses to explain how hands of a watch could come off without seven year old fingers involved – I came up blank!

When my father got home, after my mother and he talked, we were all called into the front hall.  My sisters and I lined up on one side, my parents in the other.  My father had the broken watch in his hand.  My dad looked us all over standing there with our heads down and said in his deep deep voice:  “who did this” 

“Not I” said my sister Judy

“Not I” said my sister Robyn

“Not I” I said – or tried to say but the words got stuck in my throat, I coughed, I chocked and then I burst into tears and confessed to the horrible deed.

I would have made a terrible Jacob – I am unable to lie and cheat and trick my way through things – my conscious would not have allowed it and I don’t have the stomach for it.  What is going on inside is written all over my face, so tricking people has never worked for me.  But did it ever work for Jacob.

Let me remind you about Jacob – Jacob second born son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham – Jacob, who name means trickster.  He is the second born twin, yet right from the get go – right from his time within the womb – he is already struggling to be something other that what he is.  His mother, Rebecca long awaited and long anticipated pregnancy is filled with struggle as the babies which are growing inside her are in conflict with each other – she can feel it within her – and this is confirmed  to her by a conversation that she has with God – where she finds out that not only is she carrying twins, she is also carrying two nations – what a terribly troubling and confusing time for an elderly mother – to wait over twenty years to finally conceive and then to have so much struggle during the pregnancy must have been very difficult for Rebecca.  So when her boys are born – imagine witnessing to the continual struggle that they have with each other.  – the second child grasping out and holding onto the elder child’s heal as he emerges into the world, trying to what? Move him out of the way so that he could be born first!  Or maybe he was so anxious to get into this living on earth business that he tried to pull himself forward using his brothers heal as his purchase.  For whatever reason, this second son begins his life on this earth already struggling for what he does not have. 

This struggle between the two brothers continued as they grew.  Their parents did nothing to dissuade this competition in fact they took sides which probably made everything worse.  The first born son, Esau was the apple of Isaac’s eye.  Esau was a strong, robust, outdoorsy, hearty boy who thrived in the physical pursuits.  Jacob, Rebecca’s favorite, was a boy in the tents as the writer tells us, a sensitive child who liked a gentler life, learned to cook, and was smart, cunning and slight of build.  This competition between the brothers defined not only their lives in boyhood but also who they would become as men. 

The first sign of this adversarial relationship is at birth, with the hand on the heal – the next comes when they are young but old enough to know that the social, cultural and religious norms of their day, makes Esau the inheritor of their father’s legacy and not Jacob.

 

Once- after a long hot day of hunting Esau returned home famished, exhausted and interested only in getting some food and getting some sleep.  As he goes into the tent, he smells a wonderful smell, and his stomach starts to gurgle and his taste buds start to salivate in anticipation of the wonderful food he smells cooking on the fire.  Jacob has cooked a lentil stew and Esau wants some desperately.  Now a kind brother would just offer up a bowl, but Jacob, is more manipulative than kind makes a desperate deal with a desperate brother – this stew is for you, if you are willing to pay the price – “anything” says Esau – “anything” says Jacob – really?  Than what I want for this pot of yummy red lentil stew is your birthright – I want to be the one that inherits our father’s legacy – if you give me that, I will give you this stew.  Stew for birthright  – how would one even be able to give that away – I wonder if that is what Esau thought when he agreed to the deal – giving away something that can’t be given away is an easy trade for a pot of stew…, but Jacob takes it even further – and later – much later – as the end of Isaac’s  life comes, he is still seeking something that was not his by birthright.

Jacob yet again moves into trickster mode – and deceives his dying father…

As with the customs of the day, when a father lay dying he calls to his side his children and blesses them and passes on words of hope as to what his wishes are with regards to his legacy, kind of like the video wills that people do these days except they are done before death not after.  When Isaac gets to this time so close to his death, he calls Esau in but Jacob seeing another opportunity to take from his brother what is not rightfully his – disguises himself, by taking some goat hides and wrapping them around his arms, because his brother has hairier arms than he does, and goes in Esau’s place to receive the blessing of the first born.  With his goat haired arms and disguised voice, he sits down beside his now mostly deaf and blind father and receives the blessing meant for his brother, while his father strokes his fake hairy arms.  

 Not long after Isaac dies, and Jacob’s trickery has caught up with him; he must flee his home which now belongs to the brother he spent a life time tricking.  You will need to return next week to hear more of the Jacob saga and see where his trickster ways take him to next….

Isn’t it lucky for us that God does not love people for who they are but for who God is.  God can love and bless and continue a covenant promise with a cheat, liar and trickster –  God can choose a lying watch breaking child to grow up to go into ministry.  And God can choose people just like all of you sitting in these here in these pews to be bearers of the Good News, to bring about the kingdom of God.  It is not because we are normal that we are chosen or that we are good or special or perfect, in fact these stories teach us just the opposite

Rick, an Episcopal priest from the US reminds us that it is not about human perfection that attracts God to bless us – in fact it is often just the opposite, it is in our flaws and human failings that God gets in and the kingdom comes, and he writes:  “But, this story reminds me that it doesn’t have to be fine. Nothing has to be fine.

Things can be awful and embarrassingly dysfunctional–and God can still move. God can still do great things.

I really believe that at the heart of the stories of the patriarchs, and the whole of the history in in the book of Genesis, is the truth that God does things through the lives of the strangest and most awkward of people.

When God looked out over the whole world to find the people he would call his own–the people he would bless with the privilege of being a blessing to the whole world–he chose what often times looks like the “b” team. The replacements. The ones who didn’t even have the illusion of having their act together.

He chose people—Just. Like. Us…..

We don’t have to be perfect and have everything figured out and in flawless order before God can visit us, and bless us.

In fact, we can be a blessing to the whole world.  If God can work in the household of Isaac, Rebekah, Esau, and Jacob–then my goodness, there is no doubt that God can work with us too.”[1]

God did not choose people who had their act together; who lived perfect and upright lives, no God chose and continues to choose perfectly flawed and failed human beings just like us, to love God with all our heart, to love our neighbour as ourselves, to care for the sick, to help the lame to walk, to set the prisoners free; to scatter the good seed on the land and to harvest the abundance of God’s crop.  God choose us to bear the good news and to live the kingdom here on earth as it is in heaven – you are God’s chosen people, Thanks be to God.                   – Amen.

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[1] Rick Morley:  A Garden Path: http://www.rickmorley.com/archives/489