The Here and the Hereafter

Thoughts on Gaza and the Israel/Palestine Conflict

Jesus taught that we must love The Other – no prerequisites, no limitations, no exceptions. That’s a very, very hard thing to do – especially in times like this. Yet, we must.

I have Jewish friends whom I deeply value and respect, just as I have Palestinian friends whom I equally value and respect. Many of these folks are friends and co-workers with each other, deeply committed to affirming the value of all human beings; regardless of nationality, race, creed, or political convictions.

The events of the past several months have been deeply troubling to my friends, as they have been to me.

They are appalled and deeply troubled by Hamas’s slaughter of innocent Jews and Palestinians in the October 7th attacks. Many of the dead, wounded, and missing are their own friends, families, and co-workers. People they knew. People they loved across the divisions and strife their own leaders and governments continue to nurture in the name of maintaining and expanding their own power.

But equally, they are angered by the Jewish Government & IDF’s response to that attack. Few deny that Israel has the right to defend itself, and that a forceful response to the Hamas attack is reasonable. But many question, as do I, the ferocity and breadth of that response. They are angered, as am I, by Israel’s willingness to sacrifice tens of thousands of innocent lives in its campaign to extinguish Hamas. …A fruitless and self-defeating endeavor I might add, as such violence and contempt will create more new militants and new enemies than it kills. People who will dedicate their lives to making Israel pay for what it has done, just as Israel is punishing all Palestinians for what Hamas has done.

The grievances and pain both sides have experienced both before and since October 7th is real and cannot be denied. I know people on both sides of that fence. They are deeply wounded by the decades of conflicts and injustice they’ve suffered, wounds they will never fully be healed-of.

Sermon: Who We Are

Paul had to address problems that we still face today. People still talk at each other rather than with each other. People still seem unable to appreciate their neighbor’s points of view. Many don’t give credence to others’ perspectives including our own – if they hear us at all. So, What does Paul do?

Please join me in prayer…

Lord God, may your peace and Holy Spirit fill this place. Open your scriptures to us, and may I clearly communicate that which you intend us to receive. May your Word take root and flourish within each and every one of us. Through it may we be strengthened and transformed by your unconditional, living, and limitless love for all of your Creation. In Jesus Name, Amen.

I’ve been thinking a lot about community recently. Especially communities of faith – such as ours, here at MCC. In our reading, Paul talks about what a community of faith is, and how to make it work.

In Paul’s time, Corinth was a young city of several hundred thousand inhabitants, rebuilt long after Rome destroyed the original city and all of its people.

Everyone was an immigrant, or descended from immigrants. The social hierarchy was still fluid and evolving. So, improving one’s social status was possible, unlike most Roman cities. This may be why many came to Corinth in the first place. But even so, there were great disparities in wealth, power, and privilege. Most of the population were slaves and freedman, and very poor. Some were newly wealthy, but often had a low social status due to their own humble origins.

Back then, Christians were seen as slightly bonkers (we still are). But we worship together regardless of class, which was very odd to folks back then, because it challenged the social norms of the time.

In Corinth at this time, there were perhaps 200 Christians over all, meeting in tiny house churches scattered around the city. Their members are known to include Jews, longtime Gentile believers, new converts, slaves, the wealthy, and perhaps a few soldiers and Roman officials as well. It was a tiny and diverse but fragmented, community of faith. They worshiped together, but their divergent perspectives and lives created friction.

Sermon: An Expository Reading of John 18:33-37

In any debate, facts are rarely the real issue. … Instead, what is at stake in any debate is how we view the facts: What we believe those facts are telling us, and what facts are relevant to us in light of what we already know. In other words, it is what we believe that counts.

I presented this sermon during my second year as a ministerial intern, at Sudbury Memorial Congregational Church, UCC, on November 25th, 2012. At the time I had not yet set up this, my “Ministerial Blog.” So, it was more or less forgotten until I rediscovered it the other day. Given its relevance to the current liturgical season, and also the challenging socio-political debates we all experience, it seemed helpful to publish it now.

Allen (Narrator)’s Prologue…

Today we celebrate “Christ the King” or “The Reign of Christ” Sunday, the last Sunday of the Liturgical year, a time when we ponder the meaning of Christ’s Lordship here on earth, and in our lives.

In pondering this issue, Tom and I focused on the topic of Fact vs. Faith. For us to allow the Son of God to have Lordship over our lives, then Christ must be real and tangible truth to us in some way. But, what does that mean? How do faith, fact and truth intersect? How does the truth of Christ become reality in our lives?

In 1975, James Cone, a well known African American Theologian, got right to the heart of this issue when he wrote that “Jesus is Black.” People were shocked by this, as you might imagine. Many rejected the idea, others tried to understand it as a metaphor. But Cone insisted, saying that his critics didn’t understand, the TRUTH is that for Black people, Jesus is Black.

He must be, otherwise, Jesus is not talking to those of us who are Black, but only to those who are White. In order for Jesus to speak to us, to really be what he says he is – God with Us – then, for Cone and many others, Jesus must be Black. Otherwise, Jesus is not someone that Cone can relate to as a Black person, as a member of a race that has been oppressed and marginalized for centuries because of the color of their skin.

In hearing this, our reaction may we be “But, that’s not the truth!”

Really? How can we be sure? …Does it matter?

In any debate, facts are rarely the real issue. If they were, the billions given to all those nonprofits for political advertising in the recent election would never have been donated, or spent. Instead, what is at stake in any debate is how we view the facts: What we believe those facts are telling us, and what facts are relevant to us in light of what we already know. In other words, it is what we believe that counts.

Facts can influence what we believe, and may cause us to modify our beliefs, but a fact by itself is meaningless and useless – it is our belief in that fact, and how that belief influences us and what we do, that makes all the difference.

As you can see, we’re doing things a bit differently for today’s Meditation and scripture reading. Tom and Kim are going to read the text, with Tom taking the part of Pilate and Kim taking the part of Jesus.

The setting is the morning after Jesus’ arrest. Jesus has already been convicted by the Sanhedrin and has now been handed over to Pilate. Pilate is about to begin cross-examining Jesus, to elicit the facts of the case before he determines Jesus’ fate.

We will read through the scripture twice. The first time will be uninterrupted. We will then go through it a second time, pausing at each critical point to provide background and commentary. Once done, we will have a time of silence to meditate on who Jesus is for each of us.

And now we will begin. The reading is John 18:33-37. You are invited to follow along in your bulletin…

John 18:33-37

Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?” Pilate replied, “I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here.” Pilate asked him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice.”
The NRSV [New Revised Standard Version] Bible.

[PAUSE]

Tom and Kim’s Script… (used both times)

Narrator (Allen): So Pilate reentered the governor’s palace and called for Jesus to follow him.

[PAUSE]

Pilate (Tom): Are You the King of the Jews?

[PAUSE]

Jesus (Kim): Are you asking Me because you believe this is true, or have others said this about Me?

[PAUSE]

Pilate: I’m not a Jew, am I? Your people, including the chief priests, have arrested You and placed You in my custody. What have You done?

[PAUSE]

Jesus: My kingdom is not recognized in this world. If this were My kingdom, My servants would be fighting for My freedom. But My kingdom is not in this physical realm.

Pilate: So You are a king?

[PAUSE]

Jesus: You say that I am king.

[PAUSE]

Jesus [continued]: For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the cosmos: to demonstrate the power of truth. Everyone who seeks truth hears My voice.

Allen’s Script & Notes… (Second time through)

Allen: Now, as we said we’d do, we’ll run through the text again, this time pausing at each critical point.

Narrator (Allen): So Pilate reentered the governor’s palace and called for Jesus to follow him.

[PAUSE]

Allen: By inviting Jesus into the governor’s palace, Pilate is demonstrating to Jesus that Pilate is the one who is in control, that things are going to play out according to Pilate’s rules. Pilate believes he has control of the situation…

Pilate (Tom): Are You the King of the Jews?

[PAUSE]

Allen: Pilate was the son of one of the most prominent patrician families in Rome, a family that had been in the center of Roman political and economic power for generations – a power that was accepted by everyone at the time. Pilate was used to having and exercising power, and had been educated in the best schools, schooled in logic, debate, rhetoric, and Roman Law.

So, he knew about facts. By asking “Are You King of the Jews?” Pilate is asking Jesus to confirm that the facts are as Pilate already knew them to be.

But, Jesus goes a level deeper, responding to Pilate in a completely unexpected way…

Jesus (Kim): Are you asking Me because you believe this is true, or have others said this about Me?

[PAUSE]

Allen: Astonishingly, Jesus is not concerned with what the facts are, but with what Pilate believes. This question cuts right to the chase, short circuiting any potential for bickering over whose facts are relevant or true, and throwing it all back at Pilate, asking the only question that really matters – “What do you believe?”

Pilate doesn’t grasp this, and so proceeds by reciting the facts as he knows them…

Pilate: I’m not a Jew, am I? Your people, including the chief priests, have arrested You and placed You in my custody. What have You done?

[PAUSE]

Allen: Pilate is still focused only on the facts, and his facts are these: I’m not a Jew. You’ve been arrested by your own people. You are now in my power. So, based on these facts, Pilate demands a new fact: “What have you done?”

But, Jesus is not concerned with these facts. Jesus is trying to help Pilate see the bigger picture. The issue is not about Jesus’ fate, which Jesus is already certain of. The issue is what does PILATE believe – what does Jesus’ existence mean to Pilate?

So, Jesus tries to get Pilate off of this fact-based line of thought. Jesus tries to get Pilate to understand that Jesus’ Kingdom is something bigger, something deeper, something harder to grasp than a straightforward claim to worldly power and prestige…

Jesus: My kingdom is not recognized in this world. If this were My kingdom, My servants would be fighting for My freedom. But My kingdom is not in this physical realm.

Pilate: So You are a king?

[PAUSE]

Allen: Pilate is still going down the fact-based road, he just doesn’t get it! I must say that history does not have a high opinion of him or his capabilities. He was described by some of his contemporaries as unimaginative and inflexible.

What Pilate seems to have gotten is that the truth is that Jesus is claiming to have a Kingdom. What Pilate isn’t accepting – isn’t believing – is the other fact Jesus presents, which is that it is a Kingdom that is not of this world.

Jesus: You say that I am king.

[PAUSE]

Allen: Jesus is saying that Pilate has admitted that Jesus is King. But note the subtle difference between what Pilate said “So, You are a King” and how Jesus responded: “You say that I AM King” … “A King” vs. “I AM King” … Jesus is not only pointing out what Pilate believes, but emphasizing that Christ is not a King of this world, but is the Great I AM, the one and only King of the entire Cosmos.

Jesus [continued]: For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the cosmos: to demonstrate the power of truth. Everyone who seeks truth hears My voice.

Allen: Now we get to the heart of it. This discussion was never about the facts, but about the Truth, and Pilate – like any good politican – would know this. No discussion is ever about the facts, but is rather about what people believe. Facts are tools that we employ to support our beliefs.

And facts are important tools, admittedly, because if the facts everyone accepts don’t support what we believe, then we feel rootless, broken, oppressed.

Jesus claims to have come to demonstrate the power of truth. Truth is beyond a mere recitation of individual facts and statistics. Truth is deeper than that. Truth requires belief, and truth is believable only if we find it to be relevant to us. Truth is also powerful: it helps us understand who we are, where we are, how we relate to our past, and what we aspire to in the future.

Truth is powerful. It is truth that overturned the accepted fact that once governed this land, which was that Blacks were less capable than whites, and happy in their enslaved condition. It is truth that is overturning our own conceptions of who can marry whom. And, it is truth, the truth that Jesus loves each and every one of us, just as we are, that enables us to overcome the judgment and oppression of this world, and to be the persons God created us to be.

If we seek truth, we will hear Jesus’ voice. Pilate hasn’t heard, but do we?

How does what we believe make Jesus relevant to us?

Let us now sit for a moment and ask ourselves “How does what we have learned here this morning help us to reject the accepted wisdom of the world and stand for the truth that is embodied in the Gospel of Christ?”

Delivered at Memorial Congregational Church UCC in Sudbury MA, November 25, 2012: (Reign of Christ Sunday).

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Sermon: “We Shall Overcome”

“…Our role is one of support, not leadership. We are not here to solve the problem, but to help make sure it is solved; not set aside, not weakened, not forgotten. We are not the light that chases away the shadows within which injustice thrives. We are a lens others use to focus and strengthen that light. We are here to be take part in the journey, not lead it.”

A Meditation on the “Great March on Washington” of August 28, 1963

Sermon Video:

Before I begin, I must thank Rev Gail Wright and her son, Peter Wright, for stepping in at the last minute once they knew of my need to isolate due to COVID exposure.

I particularly wish to thank the Rev. Sarah Hubbell: Last week, while describing my struggles and thoughts as I prepared for this service, I mentioned that I’d found the materials my Father had saved from his witnessing of Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech at the finale of the Great March on Washington DC on August 28, 1963.

She pointed out that this month is the 60^th Anniversary of that event. So, now you know how the theme of today’s service came about. The music, hymns, scripture readings, and sermon are all connected with the events of that day.

Sermon: “Perfection”

If we were perfect, would we need God at all?

Paul’s Epistle to the Romans is a dense and complex text. We will examine just one thread of the many he surfaces in this morning’s reading…

Please join me in prayer… … Lord God, may your peace and Holy Spirit fill this place. Open your scriptures to us, and may I clearly communicate what you intend us to receive. May your Word take root and flourish within each and every one of us, and through it may we be strengthened and transformed by your unconditional, living, and limitless love for each and every one of your children. In Jesus Name, Amen.

The world is a dismal, frightening, imperfect place; and we’re tired. It isn’t like it was in the “Good Old Days.” (On the other hand, even the good old days were not like the Good Old Days.)

But seriously, we’re tired. Tired of one crisis after another. Tired of existential problems that never go away. Tired of our own endlessly repeating kaleidoscope of challenges and problems. We’re even tired of being tired.

Sermon: Those Who Would Not See

The late Marcus Borg, a well known New Testament scholar and theologian, once wrote that American Indians would often begin a story by saying: “Now I’m not sure all of this happened this way, but I know it is all true.”

“The Story of the Man Born Blind” in the Gospel of John is the story of a community cast aside. They were thrown out: unseen, unheard, unwanted. They were rejected by those whom they loved; and who they thought loved them in return.

October 25, 2022: Rabat

…a big part of why I am here is to hear those narratives. Our narratives – the stories we tell about ourselves – help us understand who we are, and help us communicate that understanding to others. The sharing of narratives helps bind individuals together as a family, or a tribe, or a political party, or a faith, or a nation. Narratives are the stories of how we came to be who we are, and where we are going. They are the collective memory of the group or groups that we identify with, the groups that help define our place in the world.

As I write this, I am sitting down to dinner here in my hotel room in Rabat. The sun is setting, and I hear through my open balcony door a Muezzin reciting the Adhan: the Islamic call to public prayer, at a nearby mosque.

Since I do not understand a word of Arabic (let alone the Moroccan Arabic dialect [Darija], or Moroccan Berber, or even French) the lyrics of the Adhan are a mystery, as are most of the conversations that have been going on around me today.

When I need help, I’ve been able to find English speakers fairly easily – which helps a lot while traveling alone – but I am definitely looking forward to joining my tour group in Marrakech tomorrow afternoon, when I can be certain there is always someone nearby who can communicate with the people of this beautiful land.

Even so, not speaking the language really limits me ability to hear the narratives, and so learn a bit about the lives and loves and concerns, of the people of Morocco.

Preparing for a Journey

A few days from now I will be embarking on a new journey.

No, I am not starting out on a new direction for my life. Nor am I doing anything earth shattering. Nor am I seeking to change the world. But, perhaps I am seeking to change myself.

This journey will be to Morocco. It will be a journey into the past, and into the present, and into the future.

I am undertaking this journey for two primary reasons, which are both equally important to me.

A Prayer of Invocation Inspired by Ecclesiastes 3

Lord God, Creator of all Space and of all Time, the God who is and who was and who ever shall be, the Great I Am: changeless and yet everchanging.

God of Faith, we are thankful for your presence here with us today: You are always at our side, always believing in us, even when we fail to believe in ourselves. You are always seeking to fill us with your peace and your strength and your love: helping us face the unending challenges of this world, weeping when we are hurting and broken, rejoicing to see us grow and prosper, helping us follow the path you intend for us as we journey through this life.

God of Hope, we gather here today, seeking refuge and rest; renewing our strength so that we may continue bringing your Gospel to a world that is not what it once was. It is a new season, and all is changing. We are tired, and we ourselves are not what we once were. We seek to better know who we are, and better know who you are, that we may know who our neighbor is, and so that we may learn how to love them for who they are, as they are.

God of Love, help us to never fear nor fail to embrace those who are other, even those who reject us. Help us love those who seem unlovable. Help us see them with your eyes. And, help us to love ourselves, for only with the love you have planted and are nurturing within us can we minister out of that love to our neighbors.

In the name of Jesus, whom you gave to this World out of your boundless love for all of your Creation, and your desire that all be healed, including us; Amen.

Delivered at Memorial Congregational Church UCC in Sudbury MA, September 18, 2022.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

Sermon: “The Ocean of Memory”

“…nothing we own, nothing we value, nothing we think we control in this life, will last. Once we are gone, we cannot enjoy any amount of wealth, cannot use anything we once had to return us into present life. We remain there forever – lost in that ocean of memory with none of the riches we once treasured. We will not even have control over our own memory: everything will be in the hands of those we leave behind.”

This weekend, of course, is Memorial Day weekend. It started as a sort of groundswell movement all over the North and South during and shortly after the Civil War: a day to place flowers on the graves of those who died in battle; a day to remember those we’d lost because of that war: It has grown to become a day of Remembrance for all who died in any of the wars our nation has fought.

Now I am not going to speak about the Civil War, or how it is still being fought today in so many ways, nor even about war in general. But, I think the themes of Memorial Day’s narrative are reflected in this morning’s scripture readings – the themes of loss, and of the Love of God; and how that shapes our relationships with others, and even within ourselves.

Every death, whether expected or understandable – such as from old age, or perhaps in battle; or not understandable – such as from COVID, or a shooting in a classroom; is a loss. The uniqueness of those who died, and all the richness and beauty and potential of their lives dies with them. They are lost from the present, never to return; living on only in our memories. But, human memory inevitably fades with time, and it vanishes entirely when those who knew that person pass on themselves. I visualize this as a sort of tide, a tide of memory slowly receding from the shores of the present. Yet, in reality it is the present that is advancing. We are leaving that tide behind.

I grieve even when those who have been a royal pain to me or to those I whom love pass away – although I’ll admit, perhaps I don’t grieve quite as much.

Even so, our lack of fond memories of them does not mean they were not loved by others, nor that they did not have value as human beings. If nothing else, they were loved and valued by God. And if God loves and values them, how can we not do the same? To me, the question seems to be not whether we should love those who are in our past, but how to do so in our present.

Seen but not Heard

In my own encounters with abusive situations, I’ve come to a couple of hard-learned and sometimes painful but valuable conclusions. As a starting point, always give credence and respect to the claims of the party with less power

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2022/05/20/johnny-depp-amber-heard-trial-testimonies-kaye-pkg-ac360-vpx.cnn

Watching how Johnny Depp’s lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard is playing out in social media is deeply disturbing to me.

In my own encounters with abusive situations, I’ve come to a couple of hard-learned and sometimes painful but valuable conclusions.

As a starting point, always give credence and respect to the claims of the party with less power.

Sermon: Peace Be With You All

I’ve been thinking about the symbolism of clerical robes, such as this one I’m wearing this morning. The founders of Protestantism replaced showy liturgical vestments with this rather boring scholar’s robe because they wanted the focus to be on the teaching of the Word – not on what they saw as vanity and spectacle. They wanted their congregants to focus on the internals, not the externals, of our faith.

This emphasis on what is being preached vs who is doing the preaching (or what they looked like) is rooted in the early Church’s determination to not make an idol of the person of Christ. This is why we do not know what Jesus the human being looked like. Every image we have of him was created long after all who actually knew him were gone.

John makes this same point. He tells us Jesus said to Thomas: “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.” Everyone in that room believed because they saw Jesus alive again, in person. But Jesus is warning them that his physical presence is actually an impediment to their ministry.

He said those who came after them would believe without seeing, and would be blessed. Jesus’ words, and the gift of the Holy Spirit that we receive through Him, are what matters – not his physical form.

This morning I’m also reflecting on John’s beautiful summation of Jesus’ entire ministry: “Peace be with you all.” …I also see it as the shortest complete sermon in the Christian Scriptures, so perhaps I should just stop right here.

Nah!

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John 18:33-37

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A Meditation on the “Great March on Washington” of August 28, 1963

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