Called by God

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1 Samuel 3:1-11, 15-20 (NRSV)

Now the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord under Eli. The word of the Lord was rare in those days; visions were not widespread.

2 At that time Eli, whose eyesight had begun to grow dim so that he could not see, was lying down in his room;3the lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.4Then the Lord called, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’* and he said, ‘Here I am!’5and ran to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call; lie down again.’ So he went and lay down.6The Lord called again, ‘Samuel!’ Samuel got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ But he said, ‘I did not call, my son; lie down again.’7Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.8The Lord called Samuel again, a third time. And he got up and went to Eli, and said, ‘Here I am, for you called me.’ Then Eli perceived that the Lord was calling the boy.9Therefore Eli said to Samuel, ‘Go, lie down; and if he calls you, you shall say, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.” ’ So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

10 Now the Lord came and stood there, calling as before, ‘Samuel! Samuel!’ And Samuel said, ‘Speak, for your servant is listening.’11Then the Lord said to Samuel, ‘See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make both ears of anyone who hears of it tingle.

 15 Samuel lay there until morning; then he opened the doors of the house of the Lord. Samuel was afraid to tell the vision to Eli.16But Eli called Samuel and said, ‘Samuel, my son.’ He said, ‘Here I am.’17Eli said, ‘What was it that he told you? Do not hide it from me. May God do so to you and more also, if you hide anything from me of all that he told you.’18So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. Then he said, ‘It is the Lord; let him do what seems good to him.’

19 As Samuel grew up, the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.20And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was a trustworthy prophet of the Lord.

Sermon Queen Anne Christian Church
January 15, 2012
Ruth Jewell

The experts have many wonderful insights about this particular story of Samuel, how he represents new life in a troubled community and a trustworthy and faithful servant of God.  They say he and Eli model how we, as followers of God, should receive God’s message: to speak it out, never hide the word, and accept that Gods plan is good.

But as I read this scripture over and over again, something else kept tugging at my heart.

Now, I respect the theological wisdom of the scholars, but, I am going to go with what lies on my heart and maybe at the same time you and I will get to know each other just a little better. This small part of the bigger story is about God calling to Samuel and confiding in him, not sending him out, actually God does not tell him to do anything, … God just wanted to talk.

That I think is a significant moment in history, God needed someone God could trust to tell of the plans for Israel.  And little Samuel was in the perfect place, can’t you just picture him: asleep next to the Ark of the Covenant, with his small arm cradling his head, safe in the presence of God.   What a sweet, sweet image.  Yet Samuel will not stay that small innocent child for long and God knows it.  So God calls Samuel and begins to get to know the person who will become God’s priest, and the kingmaker of Israel.

Now I am not, nor will I ever be, in the same league as Samuel and probably you all would say the same thing, but God does wants to get to know us.   That means God wants to know everyone from the littlest ones, to the teenagers, and all the way up to us adults, all of us.  Sometimes God calls do not to give us a task to do, but to tell us God loves us.  And, sometimes God calls us home, to rest our weary spirits in the arms of the Divine Creator.

But this story also reminds me of the times, when like Samuel, I heard God’s voice and didn’t understand, when I ignored the call or when I simply said go away and don’t bother me. Haven’t we all done that at some time or other?

Sometimes it’s because we are busy with our lives, sometimes it’s because we just don’t want to hear, and sometimes it’s because we don’t understand that it’s God calling.

God had to call Samuel three times before Eli was awake enough to understand what was happening and help Samuel respond to God.  And, like Samuel we often need another person to help us interpret what God is trying to do tell us.  I now recognize there have been many people in my life who have spoken words that helped me recognize God’s voice, especially in times when I seemed to have the hardest time hearing anything.  I can’t speak for anyone else; I can’t tell anyone else’s story of their call.

But, I can tell you a very small part of my greater story I know it’s not exactly like Samuels but then I’m not Samuel. Your story when you tell it won’t be like mine or Samuel’s and that’s the beauty of the world of stories every story is different, every story adds a new pixel to the great web page of life.  So if you will allow me I would honestly like to tell just a small part of my story of how God called me.

It all began eight years ago when I had a gut feeling (i.e. God knocking on my heart), I needed to follow a path towards a more spiritual life and to share that experience with others.  I actually followed that call and received training and a certification as a Labyrinth Facilitator. I discovered I loved leading labyrinth worship services, walks and retreats, it provided me with a way of sharing my love for the Divine, God, and Creator in all of Gods manifestations.

But, every time I held one someone would say I needed to go and receive further training, I however, kept saying “nooooo, this is enough, I’m have a good time, and I don’t need anything else, besides I’m too old and not smart enough to go back to school.”

Ah, but then I was about to turn 60 and I decided to hold a special transformative service on the labyrinth instead of a birthday party.  So in the year I spent planning the service I did a lot of thinking, and I thought, and I thought.  I talked to God.  I spent time on our back deck watching the ships travel up and down the sound, I listened to friends, and family and finally said “OK, I will give this graduate school thing a try.” I would pursue a degree in the Masters of Arts in Transformative Spirituality (called MATS), which I thought would be useful in my growing labyrinth ministry.  I wasn’t going to do anything fancy, just expand my own understanding and knowledge base.

God though was still calling and I still didn’t understand.

Five years ago when I began attending Seattle University I was excited to be learning all kinds of things, new ways to read scripture, learning philosophy, and biblical history, but those darn pesky instructors refused to acknowledge I was only in the MATS program.  Every time I talked with one of them they’d ask “you’re in the MDiv program aren’t you,” and when I’d say no “I’m MATS,” they’d say “wrong program.”  I kept telling God I didn’t want to be ordained, I was too old, I wanted to do other things, John and I wanted to do other things, didn’t matter, the questions kept coming.

Finally after 2 years of questions, I spoke with my advisor and she told me to really sit down and be still, to listen with my heart instead of my mind.   Essentially she gave me the advice Eli gave to Samuel “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”   Well the rest is history; John and I, together, are off on this madcap journey that we have no idea where it’s leading us.  And just as Samuel was told by Eli that he needed to tell all and not hide anything, I am learning to do the same.  I am also learning to accept that God’s plans are good even if I don’t know what they are.   So I guess I’m a little like Samuel as I continue to grow up.

It took a whole lot of people holding the phone and saying “God Calling” before I understood that I needed to sit down and listen, not chatter, not ask for help, not even offer prayers, JUST LISTEN to what was being spoken in my heart, and just like Samuel I’ve spent a few sleepless nights wondering what John or Laurie might think.

Now there is one lesson I’ve learned in the last five years and that is …

“God does not have a retirement plan.”

In case you hadn’t noticed Noah was 600 years old when he built the ark, Sara gave birth to Isaac in her 80’s or 90’s and when Abraham was 100, and Elizabeth was past her childbearing years when John was born, I’m just glad God only wants me ordained.

So, God can call anytime and anyone, God might have called Samuel and David as children but obviously God picks anyone who fits the bill. This story of Samuel is only one part of a larger story and my story is only part of my larger story in fact, both stories are part of the same story of God’s relationship with us humans and all of the of today’s stories will continue far into the future, just with new characters and new adventures and you are all part of that story.

You too have stories to tell of your calls by God, many I’m sure are more exciting than mine or Samuels. Some will be to a call to pastoral ministry,  other calls will be to other roles God wants you to play; teacher, salesman, airplane engineer, mother, housewife, lawyer, writer, so many roles, so many opportunities to be a trustworthy servant and partner with God.  God called Samuel as a child, and maybe he does represent new life for a troubled community, I happen to think our young people are nicely filling the role of new life in our community.

But Samuel doesn’t really serve God until he is older and wiser, so, my thought is that God wants us to be more than just children, yes we always will be children to our parents, but God also wants us to grow up and be co-partners, co-creators of a our lives, communities, world, and universe and we can’t do that until we learn to listen when God speaks.

When God called Samuel he didn’t tell him to do anything, except listen, to sit and hear God’s voice. How can we be trustworthy prophets, healers, advocates if we don’t HEAR the voice of God?  Once we hear that voice we are given the choice of working with or turning our backs on God, that’s called free will.

But, in the last nearly 65 years I’ve learned God is very, very, persistent and doesn’t give up on anyone. If you are needed to work with God, God will call back, day after day after day. If the line is busy God will call again, if you don’t answer God will call again, and if you can’t understand the language God speaks God gets you an interpreter.

Where are you being called, is your line busy, are you home to answer the phone.  Are you so busy texting you don’t bother to pick up on God’s message, or do you need an interpreter, well don’t worry, God will figure it out and you may choose one way or other.  However I pray you will respond with life rather than death and so I offer this final prayer to share with you.

Lord, you call to me, “(I invite each of you to please speak your name)!”  May my answer be, “Speak Lord, for your servant is listening.”  Amen

Ruth Jewell, ©January 15, 2012


 

Scripture Meditation: Luke 2:36-40

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Queen Anne Christian Church
January 1, 2012

36 There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child* to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

Who is this woman Anna and what does she have to do with the circumcision and naming of Jesus.  She is mentioned only once in scripture and the only information we have about her is in these three verses, not a lot to go on.  We don’t even know if Anna really existed, she may be a creation of Luke because the role Anna plays is important in the telling of his story.

When I read these few sentences something stuck out for me.  Here is woman who is living in the temple, praying night and day, fasting night and day, and considered a Prophet, a woman!  In a culture where women had only marginally better status than the household’s donkey this is amazing.  But, Luke does give her great status within the Jewish culture; first of all he names her of the Tribe of Asher who was the seventh son of Jacob, so she has social credibility with temple authorities.  Her husband’s name, Phanuel, which means “Face of God”, seems to foreshadow the very life she has lived all her years in the temple, praying and fasting, focusing her entire life on God.   Her act of devotion and obedience to God appears to be exemplary, and she also appears to be one of kind.   While it isn’t unheard of in scripture, after all there were women judges in the Hebrew Scriptures so women traditionally did play an important role in prophecy, but the impressions we receive from the Christian Scriptures are that a woman’s role had diminished to simple household duties.

So why would Luke even bring up this seemingly insignificant woman?  After all she doesn’t play a role in the ceremony; in fact, she just seems to be at the right place, at the right time to meet Mary, Joseph, and Jesus.  It is her response to that event that Luke is emphasizing here.   Unlike Simeon, Anna doesn’t bless the child, or Mary and Joseph, she doesn’t offer advice, doesn’t even offer a warning about what they will endure.   Rather she understands only one thing her prayers, which she’d been offering for long years, had been answered, because Anna sees the Face of God in Jesus.  Even though this small child is only 40 days old she recognizes his importance to her people.  And, what does she do:  Anna immediately begins to praise God, and tell everyone she knows that she has seen the future of Jerusalem.  Anna, a woman, yes a well respected and honored woman but a woman, becomes the first to spread the Good News.   Anna becomes the voice of the voiceless in the culture of her day.  She’s not telling the Chief Priest, or any other temple big wig, she’s telling those “who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem,” Anna is telling the ones who had suffered the most under the rule of the Romans and even under their own Jewish authorities.

Anna lived in the temple, she knew how it was run, she understood that many temple authorities were abusing their power, to gather wealth and power to themselves at the expense of the people God had placed in their care.  Yet in all that time Anna never lost her faith, she knew a change was coming and when she saw the first glimmer in the eyes of a baby she could not contain herself, she had to broadcast it.  Anna may not have known how the life of this newborn would alter the world she knew, actually rock the Jewish and Roman world to its core, but that didn’t matter, it didn’t matter because she saw  hope in the eyes of a child, It didn’t even matter that she had no knowledge as to what kind of hope was coming, she simply had to tell what she saw.

Today we start a New Year, a year of promise and yes a year of change.  Traditionally the symbol of the New Year is a child, representing new life and new opportunities for the coming year.  Unfortunately we have come to see the New Year promises as only political, economic and material, but I wonder how Anna would see them.  Would she see hope in the latest gadget to buy, would she make a New Year’s Resolution to lose weight, or to pray more?  I don’t think so, I think she would look into the eyes of the New Year’s Child and see hope of different kind.  A hope of a better tomorrow, redemption of the New Jerusalem, a hope that draws us closer to a relationship with God and God into a closer relationship with us.  Anna never knew what would take place 30 years later, just as we don’t know what will happen in the year, or years,  to come.  That didn’t stop her from being the first to shout out that hope was at hand, and it shouldn’t stop us from shouting out the same thing today.

Today we are some 20 centuries past the birth of Jesus, and yes a lot has happened within the church we aren’t particularly proud of, but, there is also a lot that we should be exclaiming with praise.  Anna was shouting that change was coming and a good change at that, if people listened.  Well I am shouting out that change is coming to us as well.  In the last 5 years I have worshiped and studied with people of many different denominations and there is one very important lesson all of us agree upon and that is Church as we have known it is undergoing a radical change.  Now I don’t mean individual churches, like Queen Anne, we are a part of the greater Church, but we are only one part.   I mean Church, the Greater Body of Christ, God and Holy Spirit. I mean the Church made up of every tradition, whether followers of Christ, Islam, YHWH, Buddha, or any other expression of God that draws people into relationship with the Creator.  If Anna were here today she’d be shouting from the rooftops that how we worship, the ways we express our spirituality, and how we care for the ‘other’ are evolving into a new expression of God in creation.  She would be saying, I see the future in the young and old alike who have awakened to discover they want more than what those of the Baby Boomer Generation have grown comfortable with.  Anna would be telling you, no long will the 1 or 2 hours on Sunday Morning be enough, that a time is coming when all will take their awakened spirituality and apply it to their lives, to live in a new way, where Sunday Morning, or Wednesday Evening, or Tuesday at noon becomes a time to celebrate lives enriched by a living faith. But, the real job, the real life, of being co‑creators’ with the Great Spirit comes in our everyday living together.

Simeon warned Mary and Joseph to be prepared for heart break, and I think he would offer us that very same warning because we too will live through heart break.  It is never easy creating something new and alive.  There will be, there are right now, birth pangs.  Suffering will take place, all of us will have to walk through some dark places, shedding some old ways, adapting others, and creating new ones.  But  like Anna we cannot be worried about that, just as she only wanted to let the world know that something new is coming and to get ready, we too need to tell and help prepare the hearts, minds, and spirits of our fellow travelers for new life.  Anna didn’t know what the future would bring; she was only the harbinger, the robin, or first crocus of a new spring that would rock the World as she knew it.

We have just entered winter, yet deep in what looks like a lifeless ground there are stirrings of new life, ready to be born.  New green shoots will shoot up and spread their leaves and produce the fruit of a new world.  Within the hidden places of the earth there are animals sleeping and preparing for the spring, having their young that will grow up to become the next generation.  Our Churches are like that, we too are ready to send out shoots to grow into new green life, we too are ready to shelter the young so that they will grow into a new strong generation of Christ’s Body.  Luke ends this passage with the young family returning to Galilee where the “child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God.”  Today we are  the ones to shelter, and fill with wisdom the young who will follow us and take up the new life of the Body of Christ.  More importantly we are the Anna’s of today, shouting out the first good news of a new spring.   It is up to us to shout out “I’ve seen the Face of God, hope is coming and it will be good.”

AMEN

©Ruth Jewell, January 1, 2012

A Pre-Christmas Meditation

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Luke 1:78-79
78By the tender mercy of our God, 
the dawn from on high will break upon us,
79to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
to guide our feet into the way of peace.”

     It is the first full day of winter, Christmas is just 3 days away and the sun has just broken over the trees to the east of us; it is a bright, cold, winters morning.  I’ve been re-reading the above scripture from Luke as I watch the sun climb into the sky. We used these verses yesterday for our prayer group Lectio Divina and I haven’t been able to get them out of my mind, therefore, I ‘m not supposed to.  I NEED to continue to consider what they mean to me.

These are the last two verses of the prophecy Zechariah speaks when John (the Baptist) is presented to the temple.  Mind you these are the first words Zechariah has spoken for 9 months so he’s put a lot of thought into this moment.  This is part of the Christmas Story we don’t hear much of yet it is a beautiful piece and one worth remembering.  John after all is the one who announces the coming of the Messiah and, in the synoptic Gospels, baptizes him. (Just in case you’ve never noticed there is no baptism in the Gospel of John.) John also recognizes the divinity of Jesus from the womb when the pregnant Mary approaches Elizabeth.  So John has a role in this divine birth narrative.   

     While the prophecy Zechariah speaks tells us his son will be the one to prepare the way for the Messiah, these two verses are really about the coming role of the Messiah, the light that will shine in darkness.  Zechariah knows what it is like to be in darkness; from the day Gabriel announced to him he’d have a son he had been unable to speak.  For a Jewish Priest the inability to speak is a kind of darkness, for being unable to speak the words of God is like putting out the light for those who need the comfort of the WORD.   These two verses don’t refer to sunlight, they refer to Son Light, and the WORD spoken that draws us out of our darkest moments, pulling us away from the death of a life lived in the shadows.

The footnote for verse 78 tells us that there is another ancient interpretation of line two, “… the dawn from on his has broken upon us,”  instead of “… The dawn from on high will break upon us,” and that changes the meaning of the two verses.   I happen to like the ancient version of that line because it means there is no waiting for the Good News, it is now, always has been now.  We have never had to wait for the WORD, all we’ve had to do is open our ears, eyes, hearts, and listen.

The birth of Jesus is the embodiment of the Divine, the Holy Spirit, who wanted us to see the WORD that had been repeated over and over again by messengers throughout the ages.  But Jesus added to the Spirits message, He just didn’t speak the words, and berate those who had fallen away; he acted the WORDS, which was a significant change in the game plan for G-D.  No longer are we to hear the message we are to act it out.  If we are to honor the Child in the manger then we must do more that kneel and give homage. We are to remember Jesus was born homeless and poor, which means that the light, the words we offer, must lead the homeless and poor, in body and spirit, out of the darkness.

I have always had a love/hate relationship with the Christmas Season.  I dislike the gift giving, the hoopla, the commercials, and the insincerity of the greetings people give.  I have always wondered how I will change to make this moment meaningful for myself and for those I love.  I finally have come to the conclusion giving expensive gifts and preparing an overly elaborate dinner is not Christmas.  That does nothing to honor the dawn that has broken upon us.  So this year I offer my gifts to the homeless and the poor.  The money for dinner went to feed the poor.  That is my Christmas gift to family and friends, the light of the WORD acted out. I know I can’t care for all of the poor, homeless, or mentally ill, there are too many and they tug at my heart.  I want to gather them all up, human and non-human, and hold them, give them warm clothes, good meal, and a safe place to rest.  I can only offer what little I have.

Holy Spirit, love was born that night in a stable and the WORD became visible to all who could see.  I pray that now in the messiness of emphatic change in how we hear and see the spirit we will all gather at the manger and offer not gifts of gold, or IPods, or gameboys, but rather offer love, compassion, mercy, and justice for those whose have lived in darkness for too long. My prayer is I will hear you, touch you and listen with an open heart, ear and eye.  May my mouth be opened to offer the overflowing love you have given me, let me be the shepherd to guide people on the path to your peace.

©Ruth Jewell, December 22, 2011

A CHRISTMAS MESSAGE

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This has been an odd Christmas for me.  Usually by this time I’ve baked cookies and stollen, prepared pie crusts, wrapped dozens of presents and decorated the house.  None of that has occurred, all I really want to do is sit and read and listen for the silence.  Just before Thanksgiving one of my friends was talking about celebrating an “it’s not my birthday Christmas,” where instead of presents for yourself you ask for gifts for a charity.   I’ve given that quite some thought and I like that idea.

I’ve really always disliked receiving presents anyway, they are usually things I don’t need and often don’t want.   And, while I would give great thought to the gifts I gave I often felt the recipients of my gifts had the same feeling.   So this year I’ve done things a bit differently.  Instead of buying gifts for family and friends, I told them I was giving, in their name, a gift to the Chief Seattle Club, a day shelter for homeless urban Native Americans and First Nations Peoples.  I asked that instead of gifts for me that they would either send a gift for the Chief Seattle Club or give a gift in my name to a charity of their choice.  No wrapping, no shopping, no shipping and someone who really needs our gifts would receive them.  In addition since I wasn’t going to cook a big dinner I gave the money I would have spent to the Chief Seattle Club for their Christmas dinner.  I don’t think I’ve enjoyed preparing and giving a gift so much in my whole life.

Yes, I know I haven’t done my part for the economic recovery and as a result someone somewhere may not have my few pennies for their Christmas.  But shouldn’t Christmas be a time of reflection and not consumerism, a time to remember the graces given to us by God throughout the year and offer our gifts of thanks to the Christ Child.  As I remember, it isn’t what you give but how you give that matters.  Tradition tells us that Jesus was born in a stable and laid manger, he was poor and homeless most of his life and giving gifts to those who can’t provide for themselves seems like the proper offering to the Child in the hay.  As I was dropping off my gifts at the Chief Seattle Club I had to turn away homeless men who also wanted my gifts but I am unable to feed and clothe all of the homeless, and I wonder sometimes if God understands there are too many people who can’t care for themselves and that there are way too many people who tug at my heart.  I wish I had more to give.  If I had the billions that some people had I would go from homeless shelter to homeless shelter just handing out gifts, but I don’t, and I don’t know what to do about that.  I do the best I can and hope that is good enough.

So what will I be doing for Christmas?  Well, I will be in church offering a gift of another kind, prayers and service.  As an Intern Pastor I am participating in the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day service at Queen Anne Christian Church, Seattle, WA.  I am grateful to be able to give to those who come to the services prayer, song and love and I am honored to read a Christmas Story I wrote a number of years ago titled “The Innkeeper” on Christmas Day.

May you be filled with the blessings of the Christ Child and may you pass on those blessings to those who are hungry, cold, suffering and/or homeless.  For it is more blessed to give than to receive.

Peace and Love this Christmas Season

©Ruth Jewell, December 19, 2011

Building a Road

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Isaiah 40:3-4

3 A voice cries out: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord,
make straight in the desert a highway for our G-d.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.’

I have read and heard this scripture read I don’t know how many times and it is only this morning that I took a hard look at how it is punctuated.  This isn’t someone in the wilderness crying out, it really is a voice sending us into the wilderness to prepare the way of the Lord, and that changed how I looked at this scripture.

As I read this several times I realized Isaiah isn’t talking about going out into nature but rather to travel inward to the desert of my heart, the valleys of my despair, an over  inflated ego, and all of the lumps and bumps I cross on the road of life.    It takes faith to create a highway where no road has ever been and what could be lonelier than the empty places in my own heart.  Making way for G-d means I must open a door, pull up the weeds that block the entry and let G-d in.  It is something I have to choose to do and to complete with the only expectation that G-d will come, belief and faith is all I have to build that road.

What is amazing is what happens when I do finish the way and G-d comes!  Wow, the valleys of my despair are lifted up into the light and I learn that my own ego is the real stumbling block to G-d.  Letting G-d travel the highway of my heart my ego takes on a reasonable size and the roads I travel become level like a smooth plain.

This isn’t about someone crying in the wilderness, unless the person crying is me.  Rather it’s about what I must do in order to get ready to accept the gifts G-d gives me every day.  Gifts such as a golden sunrise, or sunset that tingles my heart and takes my breath away.   Gifts such as the love I receive from my beloved and friends but often don’t acknowledge.  The gift of time: time to pray, time to sit in silence, time to laugh, time to leap with joy, and yes even time to cry, suffer, and have my heartbroken.  All of these are gifts are given by G-d and all of them provide me with strength, courage, peace, blessings, and comfort, simply because I know the Holy Presence is nearby.  Life will never be easy, but it is bearable when I maintain the highway in the desert of my heart where G-d walks.

©Ruth A. Jewell, December 4, 2011

NEVER FORGET

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1 Corinthians 1:7-9 Just think—you don’t need a thing, you’ve got it all! All God’s gifts are right in front of you as you wait expectantly for our Master Jesus to arrive on the scene for the Finale. And not only that, but God himself is right alongside to keep you steady and on track until things are all wrapped up by Jesus. God, who got you started in this spiritual adventure, shares with us the life of his Son and our Master Jesus. He will never give up on you. Never forget that. (Italics mine) The Message

Wow, I just read this as the scripture for my morning meditation and the last sentence just jumped out at me and took my breath away.  G*d, the one and the only, the great I AM set ME, little ol’ ME, on this path, I am astounded that I never thought of it that way before.

Like most people I have enough of an ego to believe that what I do is all my own thought and that often gets me into a whole lot of trouble.  Yet here Paul is telling the people of Corinth, and me, that G*d started this crazy trip and, even more amazing, that same G*d will never give up on me.  Even when I screw up, or tell G*d “no I think I’ll do it my way,” which usually ends up badly, G*d is still there to pick up the pieces, wipe the dirt off my face and place that all important bandage across my wounded heart.

This is the season of Advent and I must admit it is not my favorite time of the year.  Most of my family times their deaths for this part of the calendar, in fact today, December 2, 2011, is the 42nd anniversary of my father’s passing.  So I have some personal issues for a time of the year when most people are excited and filled with joy.  Yet this passage of Paul’s gives me hope.  I do not think it was a coincidence that I chose to read this passage from The Message instead of the NRSV version and I am grateful for the Presence’s help in directing my hand as it passed over the Bibles on my bookshelf.   I could have chosen a version that would have said something a little different and more ‘traditional’ and then I would have just gone on with my day.  But, this passage is more important than I thought.  I am not alone on this journey, G*d will not forget me, no matter where my path leads me the Holy Presence will be there to support me and give me guidance, isn’t that amazing.

In the past two weeks I have received news that could change the way my ministry will happen and knowing that G*d will be along for the journey makes this scary new section of my path a whole lot easier to anticipate.   I know the Holy Spirit is guiding me and that Christ is there to pick me up when I fall and when I get frightened or simply tired G*d will be there to hold me in the palm of her hand and comfort me.  I also know when it’s time to celebrate G*d, Christ, and Holy Spirit will dance through the night with me and we will sing with great joy.  Paul writes “G*d will not give up on us,” and even though I know I will sometimes forget I know G*d won’t and that is all I need to know.

©Ruth Jewell, December 2, 2011

What Does It Mean To Keep Awake?

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Sermon: Queen Anne Christian Church, Seattle, WA
November 27, 2011, First Sunday of Advent
Scripture: Mark 13:24–37

The Coming of the Son of Man
24 ‘But in those days, after that suffering,
the sun will be darkened,
and the moon will not give its light,
25 and the stars will be falling from heaven,
and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.
26Then they will see “the Son of Man coming in clouds” with great power and glory.27Then he will send out the angels, and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.

28 ‘From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near.29So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he* is near, at the very gates.30Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place.31Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

32 ‘But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.33Beware, keep alert;* for you do not know when the time will come.34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch.35Therefore, keep awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn,36or else he may find you asleep when he comes suddenly.37And what I say to you I say to all: Keep awake.’

 These verses are some of the most difficult found in the Gospel of Mark. It’s not just the fact this it is apocalyptic in nature, but it is stuffed with meaning, which may or may not have meaning for us in the 21st century.   It is also an odd start to Advent, no angels, no shepherds, just a warning, crazy stuff huh. So, we are going to have to wade through the imagery and history to find what is meaningful for us today.  I wish I had more than 10 minutes or so because there is so much in this scripture and it’s really interesting, but I’m sure you don’t so I will be brief.

The fact of the matter is Jesus isn’t talking about the second coming at all here because He almost immediately says that no one will know when that will happen, not even him!  Mark is writing to a community that needs to flee the Jewish revolt, which began in 66-65 of the Common Era and resulted in the destruction of the temple in 70 of the Common Era.  So much of the imagery Jesus speaks here is related to Jesus’ own prophecy of that event, which came true.  Mark is telling his community that this war isn’t theirs, it’s not the beginning of the end, so Mark’s community needs to “get out of Dodge” before they become enmeshed in the destruction.   What is important to recognize is Jesus is fine without knowing,  it is useless to speculate about the second and Jesus knew God has ensured that history, his and ours, was headed somewhere, we have to be patient and let it unfold.  And, that is the first clue to finding meaning in this scripture; patience.

Let’s take another look, in Mark 13:30-31 Jesus says “Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.”  Now that surely sounds like the second coming.  Well let’s think about that for a moment, if Mark is warning his community to leave Jerusalem,  telling them that the war wasn’t their war, nor the Messiah’s war, does it not make sense that what Mark is saying is this war will end before they do, Jerusalem may pass away but the words and deeds of Jesus won’t.     Again Mark, through Jesus’ words, is telling his community to be patient.  How do we know that, well in verse 32 Jesus says “But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the son, only the Father.”  Well if no one knows, not even Jesus or the angels, and the lack of that knowledge doesn’t bother Jesus then we need to stop worrying about the whens and start living the way we are intended.   All we have to do is “be alert,” when the time is right, it will happen.   But what does it mean to be alert?

So what are we to do while we wait, oh ever so patiently, well Jesus has an answer for that as well in verse 34, Jesus always has an answer, well nearly always, sometimes Jesus lets us figure it out.  So here’s the story.  Your employer goes on an extended vacation and he tells you and your fellow workers that each of you have your tasks to complete while he, or she, is gone.  The employer doesn’t expect you to wonder when he or she will return, or to cut short your work days, or take a vacation yourself, the employer expects you to do your job and fulfill your contract.  The employer tells you that she doesn’t know when she will return, so you need to keep awake and do your job or otherwise you will be caught short when she does return.  And that is the second clue to what this scripture means to us, we have a task that needs to be completed before the coming of the Master.

So how do the clues of waiting and working fit us in this season of Advent?  Well first of all we aren’t supposed to sit in our rocking chairs and wait for the day to come,  whether that be Christmas Day or the Second coming.  We Christians have a mission to complete; our waiting is supposed to be active waiting not passive.  Jesus makes that clear when he says “each has his work.”   So just what are we supposed to do; well be a faithful witness and in Mark’s day, and ours, that points to social justice.  We need to be aware of the social justice issues of our day,  which by the way aren’t that different from when Mark’s Gospel was written.   How do I know that, well all I have to do,  and you too,  is LOOK at what Jesus DID, not so much what he said, for Mark, nor Matthew or Luke for that matter, does not record many of Jesus’ words but nearly every page has Jesus doing something.  Jesus heals the sick, chases out demons, feeds the hungry, and offers comfort where comfort is needed. He plays with children and shares his table with those the so-called righteous of his day lock out of their homes.  In other words he made a difference in his world and Jesus calls us to make a difference in our world. While we wait for the day the Kingdom of God is fully expressed WE are to do the best we can to prepare for it.  We are to keep AWAKE and not let the Master find us sleeping in our Lazyboy chairs with the remote in our laps.   We are to continue the ministry Jesus and his Disciples started, opening the doors of compassion, love, mercy and justice for those who have no voice in this world.

It’s not our place to speculate when the Master will return; it is our task to do the work of the Master while we wait for the Kingdom to be fulfilled. God has assured us that history is going places; Jesus was content with letting God take control, so we too must do the same.  Tomorrow will come, of that we have no doubt, and today is all we need to be concerned about.  Do you remember the old television show Mission Impossible?  Well just like the voice on the tape this is your assignment.  “This is your mission if you choose to accept it, take care of the poor, the hungry, the widow, and the stranger amongst you.  Have compassion for the voiceless, offer mercy to all, and let justice and kindness guide you as you walk with God.  This sermon will self destruct in 15 seconds.”

©Ruth Jewell, November 27, 2011

First Sunday of Advent

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Isaiah 64:8 Yet, O Lord, you are our Father: we are the clay, and you are our potter; we are all the work of your hand.

November 27th is the first Sunday in Advent, and Advent means waiting. Now that we have stuffed ourselves on good food, and reveled in the company of family and friends we will have to wait for that magical moment when we remember the Birth of Jesus.    I have often wondered what God felt at the moment when woman and man were created.  I have watched potters and I know there are many false starts and mistakes, did God have that problem.  After a long day of trying maybe God got tired and put aside the project until that magic moment.

The Potter’s Wheel

God placed the lump of clay
Onto the wheel, and said
“What will I make today?”

Slowly the wheel turns
Picking up speed
God’s hands surround the cool slippery mass.

Slowly a shape takes place,
Maybe a vessel, for holding light ….
Water …  Air … Fire …?

Something to hold love?
Something to hold compassion?
I’m tired, it will wait until tomorrow.

Ruth Jewell, ©November 12, 2011

A Story of Openings

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I was preparing to leave for class when I suddenly remembered I had the homily for the 8:30 am Morning Prayers, and I hadn’t written anything yet.  As I stood in my office, panic setting in, I grabbed my notebook, and a book on the interpretation of scripture and ran out the door.  I am fortunate, blessed even, in that I ride a bus from my home to the University of Seattle and that was all the time I had to write the homily, a 30 minute ride, but somehow a door opened for me as I rode in that day.  Here is what I offered November 8th at Morning Prayers.

A STORY OF OPENINGS

Matthew 15:21-28
The Canaanite Woman’s Faith

21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon. 22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.’ 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, ‘Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.’ 24He answered, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’ 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, ‘Lord, help me.’ 26He answered, ‘It is not fair to take the
children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ 27She said, ‘Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.’ 28Then Jesus answered her, ‘Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.’ And her daughter was healed instantly.

This is a story opening doors not a story of how rude Jesus could be.  We can compare Matthew to the other three Gospels and Paul all we want but Matthew could care less about the other four writer’s audiences.  Matthew is talking to, writing to, a Jewish community and one more than likely in crisis.  And, because of the makeup of his community (we could say his social analysis) we need to ask what door he is opening.

In Matthew’s community the salvation Jesus offered came first and foremost to the Jew, but something is happening in this community that causes him (or her, we don’t know the author of this Gospel), in this story, to open the door to the Gentiles.  We do not know what that was, we can speculate but that is all it would be.  What I find interesting is how the cracked door may speak to us, today, in the 21st century.

So we have this woman doubly, maybe triply, taboo for Jesus, a Rabbi, to speak to in public.  Rabbis didn’t speak to women, most certainly not to Gentile a woman and probably not to a married woman. But this woman, a Gentile, approaches in an attitude of prayer and Jesus relents, telling her she
has “great faith.”  “Snick,” the door of salvation just opened to the “other.”

Two thousand years have passed since Matthew wrote those words and in all those years many still haven’t opened wide the door to the other.  Matthew is telling us today, just as he told his community that faith without action, without social justice is an unfulfilled faith. We all have individuals we would avoid, after all Jesus was avoiding the religious authorities by going into Gentile territory.  But Matthew was telling his community, and us, that Jesus and God have a plan for the “others” in our lives, just as God has one for us.

How much will it take to open wide the door?  How much will it take to let the
others in not just into our presence, but into our hearts?

Ruth Jewell, ©November 8, 2011

A Variation on the Lord’s Prayer

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Abiding Spirit, surrounding us in love,
Honored be your name.
Your Kingdom grows in all Creation
Sacred is the work of the earth,
As earths children reach for the universe.
Fill us with the bread of your word,
And forgive the errors of our ways,
Just as we forgive the errors
Of those around us.
Guard the path we walk,
And keep those who would do us harm
far from our travels.
We praise the Kingdom of your Universe
Filled with the power of your love in all our
Yesterdays, todays and tomorrows,
Now and forever more.
Amen

By Ruth Jewell,
©November 4, 2011

I awoke about 2 am this morning and couldn’t get back to sleep.  Running through my mind was this variation of the Lord’s Prayer.  I had to get up and write it down in order to return to sleep.  As I read it now I recognize some of the issues I have with the traditional language and the feeling that I need a closer connection with creation.  The words of the prayer are genderless and non-human specific and that is becoming increasingly important to the way I view God and the universe.

Humans are just one of the many species living in God’s Kingdom and we are dependent on the life-giving graces of all who make up Creation.  The damage we humans have done to creation on planet earth is life threatening to all who live here and we seem to ignore the seriousness of what we have done, and doing. If we have truly been given the special charge to care for this earth we are spectacular failures.  If the children of earth are to survive we must change our ways and begin to value the lives of all who share this beautiful blue world we live on.

I also said the language was genderless and non-human specific and that too is important to me.  My image of God is genderless: neither male nor female, neither human nor non-human.  I don’t have enough information to say what God might look like nor do I need any in order to believe that God exists.  All I have to do is look around me and I see the expression of God in everything and everyone I see, hear, and touch.  I am blessed to be able to hold my grandchild in my arms and see an expression of God in her beautiful face.  I am blessed to be held by my husband and feel an expression of God’s embrace.  I am blessed to be comforted by the animals that live and travel life’s road with me and known that God speaks love and compassion through them.  God isn’t separated from my life, God surrounds me.  Just as Saint Patrick states so well:  God before me, God behind me, God to the left of me, God to the right of me, God below me, God above me, God within me.

I realize I haven’t supplied any answers, or given and suggestions as to how we should or should not behave.  This is simply my belief in a God that abides everywhere, I offer it as a gift of who I am.