Readings for March 26, 2017 | Fourth Sunday in Lent

• 1 Samuel 16:1-13  
• Psalm 23  
• Ephesians 5:8-14  
• John 9:1-41

"The Blind," by Pastor Kinsey
So, I admit, I watched some of the Northwestern March Madness game last weekend.  It was their 2nd game, and they were one of the Cinderella’s of the tournament, having won their first ever game, in the NCAA Road to the Final Four Men’s basketball tournament! 
 
But the reason I bring it up, is that the call that went against them in the last minutes of the game, is a perfect example of ‘not seeing what’s right in front of you.’  I mean, the refs are the best of the best in the tournament – but, they just missed this one!  You can see it in the Slow-Mo replay.  What was ruled a blocked shot, as the Northwester player attempted to dunk the ball, was a clear violation.  The Gonzaga player put his hand right through the hoop to make the block, which is goaltending.  So the Northwestern coach, Chris Collins, jumped out of his seat and came out on the floor, shouting to get the ref’s attention as he was running by him, and, that’s not allowed either.  And the Ref called a technical foul on Coach Collins.  The best shooter on Gonzaga, calmly hit both penalty free throws, and just like that, it was a 4 point swing, and a huge momentum-swing in the game, with less than 5 minutes to go.  And Northwestern’s Cinderella story ended, with a 79-73 defeat. 
 
The ref had a clear view of the play, but missed it.  Sometimes we don’t see what’s right in front of our eyes! 
 
When Jesus heals a man born blind in our Gospel reading today, some of the townspeople just refuse to see it, even though he’s standing right in front of them! 
 
When the man born blind came back from washing in the pool of Saloam – washing the mud, made with Jesus’ saliva, from his eyes – and he could see,  “8The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, ‘Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?’  9Some were saying, ‘It is he.’ Others were saying, ‘No, but it is someone like him.’ [The man born blind] kept saying, ‘I am the man.’ 
 
You have to wonder, what was so different about the man, that they couldn’t tell it was him?  He didn’t change clothes, as far as we know.   Certainly, he hadn’t had some work done, a face-lift.  He was the same guy, except, now he could see!  How could they not see, what was right in front of them?! 
 
Clearly, they couldn’t believe that this transformation had happened!  I wonder if we would have?  So, they switch tactics, asking, “How were your eyes opened?”  And he told them how Jesus made mud, spread it on his eyes, and told him to go and wash in the pool called Sent, and then he received his sight. 
 
This is a good thing right?  Let us rejoice and be glad in it, as the Psalm says.  But the townspeople are offended, none-the-less.  Nothing like the in-breaking of the kingdom of God to upset the apple cart!  Nothing more threatening than the surprise of change, and healing! 
 
So the townspeople, march the man born blind over to the gate-keepers of the faith, the Pharisees.  They know what is wrong here!  Jesus healed on the Sabbath, which is generally against the law.  And so they conclude that he can’t be from God, for he does not observe the Sabbath. 
 
And they demanded that the man born blind “give glory to God” and not to Jesus.  “We know that this man [Jesus] is a sinner.”  But the man born blind answered, "I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see."  But this only hardens their position. 
 
“28Then they reviled him, saying, "You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses.  29We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from."  30The man answered, "Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes.  31We [all] know that God does not listen to sinners, but [God] does listen to one who [offers their] worship and obeys [God’s] will…  33If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."  34They answered him, "You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?" And they drove him out.
 
So, why can’t they see what’s right in front of their eyes?  What is preventing them from having joy in this wonderful work of God’s healing? 
 
In a word, I think we could say, its determinism.  Determinism, a part of Calvinist thinking, is the belief that, because God knows everything, God even knows what we’re going to do before we do it.  Sometimes it’s called, predestination.  So, it follows, some would say, that our status in life is also determined.  It’s simple, if you are poor, that’s what God has decreed – if you’re rich, God has blessed you.  And even in the bible we see a strain of that.  That, blessed are those who do well, do good, follow God’s statutes, for they shall prosper.  Wealth is a reward, according to parts of Proverbs and elsewhere; the reward for goodness and uprightness before the Lord.  Though, as we grow older, we find such black and white proverbs to be much murkier.
 
When the gate-keepers cannot convince the man born blind that Jesus did wrong, their response is not to have sympathy for his point of view, but to condemn him for being born blind.  “You were born entirely in sins,” they say, so don’t you dare try to teach us!  They refuse to see what’s right in front of their noses, and, to force the world to conform to their truth, they simply expel the man from their company. 
 
Even the man born blind, is trapped in that certain structural way of thinking.  He says, 31We know that God does not listen to sinners, but [God] does listen to one who worships [God] and obeys [God’s] will…” 
 
Jesus breaks through this binary view of a wrathful God, in the Beatitudes, when he says, blessed are the poor, the meek, the persecuted.  You have been told you are unacceptable, but I tell you, God blesses you, and doesn’t determine ahead of time, who is acceptable, and who isn’t. 
 
We’re all imperfect and fall short of the glory of God.  Blindness, and any other disability, are not punishments from God.  The rains fall on the evil and the righteous, said Jesus.  And now to all the townspeople, Jesus says, God’s grace does not take a rest on any day of the week, but God’s healing power is working overtime, and always, and God’s amazing grace never turns away from us.  Jesus was clear from the beginning, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” he said.  If anything, he was born blind so that God’s unbounded works of love might be revealed through this man, considered unworthy. 
 
In the end, the healing of the man born blind is not just about his eyesight, but it is a sign of much more.  It’s especially about our faith.  What do we believe in?  Who do we believe can transform the world?  Are the sick and blind deserving of being healed, or are there some pre-determined to be poor, or blind, or lame, as a birthright?  And who is incapable of seeing the truth, even when it’s right in front of our eyes? 
 
In 2010, when the devastating 7.0 earthquake hit the country of Haiti, and Port-a-Prince was leveled, some prominent ministers here, claimed it was a punishment for who they were, and the kind of religion they practiced, which they didn’t approve of – instead of seeing it as a natural disaster, the kind that could, and has, struck in California, even people these ministers might approve of! 
 
Whose eyes are closed still today, to the science of climate change, for example, right in front of our eyes, that increasingly threatens life on mother earth due to our own overuse of fossil fuels?  Who keeps proposing devastating budget cuts to the poorest among us, while giving tax cuts to those who have the most? 
 
When “Jesus heard that they had driven the man born blind out, and when he found him, he said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?"  36He answered, "And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him."  37Jesus said to him, "You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he."  38He said, "Lord, I believe." And he worshiped him.  39Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind." 
 
None of us is perfect.  Luther said that we cannot attain to perfection, and so we all deserve judgement, or wrath – but instead, God sent Jesus to show us forgiveness and grace – to open our eyes, so that we may see – and to grant us to enter the kingdom and realm of God – and that’s a very sweet sound.  

Readings for March 19, 2017, the Third Sunday in Lent

• Exodus 17:1-7  
• Psalm 95  
• Romans 5:1-11  
• John 4:5-42

"At the Well," Pastor Kinsey
At a meeting I went to last week the first agenda item was to introduce yourself and say why you were interested in the group.  And as the first person said their name, a young, good looking man – a 19 year old, I found out later – asked in a soft voice, if everyone could include their gender pronouns.  Some people are even doing that in their email signature, I’ve noticed.  As we went around the table, everyone, who I knew, all said what I expected they would, either, ‘he, him, his’ or ‘she, her, hers.’  I assumed the teenager who asked for us to include gender pronouns would say either, ‘they, them, theirs,’ or, opposite my assumption of his gender, she, her, hers.  But he said, he, him, his.  It was some of the others who surprised me, when they said, they’d rather not identify any pronoun. Just call me Terry – said Terry!
 
I think it’s a relief, to live in the 21st century’s growing acceptance of gender fluidity, where we don’t get hung up on binary choices that constrict and deny who we are, and which has the potential, at least, to free us up from the hierarchies that have been ingrained in us, and have oppressed so many.
 
So it’s interesting, I think, that at the same time, the question that still creates a lot of tension for many, namely, ‘can men and women be friends?’ is also unanswered, to any satisfactory degree.   The perils and protocol of mixing gender, even a binary understanding, are still being sorted out.  100 years ago, this congregation, like many others, probably worshiped with women on one side and men on the other.  Marriage usually occurred right out of high school.  And, churches and schools had separate men’s and women’s groups. 
 
In Jesus’ time, men and women mostly didn’t mix in public either.  Societal roles were clearly defined.  Even in the Temple, women had their own side to worship on, separate from men, and of course only men were priests. 
 
So, ‘can men and women be friends,’ in the bible?  Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well, in our gospel lesson, and it was a most extraordinary meeting indeed! 
 
This is not just any well, btw, this is Jacob’s well, the same well where Jacob met the love of his life, Rachel.  In fact, the ‘town well’ was a traditional place to meet people.  Jacob’s own father, Isaac had made the match for his mom Rebekkah at a well.  So it was part of the family story, bound up in Jacob’s life, but part of a bigger story, too.  Moses had met his wife Zipporah, at the local well, who had been sent there by her father to draw water for the flock.  And when Zipporah and her six sisters returned much earlier than expected, their father said, ‘That didn’t take long. Why are you back so soon? 19They said, ‘An Egyptian rescued us from a bunch of shepherds. Why, he even drew water for us and watered the sheep.’ ‘So where is he, said the father? Why did you leave him behind? Invite him so he can have something to eat with us.’  And that’s how Zipporah and Moses met at the well, settling down, with her father’s blessing, got married and had a son they called Gershom, or Sojourner.
 
I know this custom is true because when we went to Palestine in 2005 we visited Gabi, a young man who lived in a small village in Galilee.  He was a student at our Chicago Lutheran Seminary in Hyde Park, but had gone home on spring break.  And on the top of his list of places to show us, in his little village, was the town well, where he was happy to tell us the story of meeting a beautiful young woman two years earlier, a seminary student herself from Chicago.  So, when Gabi first came here, his plan was to go to Chapel, which for him was like going to the town’s well.  Little did he know that the newly remodeled chapel had a living water font as its centerpiece, where the water flowed continuously, splashing over the sides into a pool and sounding like a babbling brook or a bucket being filled. 
 
It was a refreshing, and life giving place, just like the wells of Palestine-Israel, where love blossomed and new relationships began. 
 
Today, I can tell you, the two seminarians, from two different continents, did indeed fall in love, get married, and have a couple of very cute kids! 
 
Jesus, the giver of living water, comes to Jacob’s well thirsty, after a long morning’s journey, and asks the Samaritan woman for a drink.  As a man, he has the upper hand, but he is also at a disadvantage because, as a foreigner in Samaria, he has no bucket with him to draw water for himself.  They were alone – these two  – because his disciples had gone into town to buy food.  Man and women meet at the well, Jacob’s well!  One story line could have been, is there a budding romance in the offing here? 
 
But, even beyond gender, there are more barriers to separate them.  Samaritans do not share things in common with Jews, like the bucket or even a drink of water from the same well.  And religiously, they are distant cousins, having been one family, before the Exile, but now estranged.  Sort of like Lutherans who separated from Roman Catholics, or like Missouri Synod Lutherans and ELCA Lutherans in America, separate now, but from the same Lutheran birth mother. 
 
So the woman at the well is cautious at first, asking, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?”  But Jesus reaches past that, and steers the conversation to a more deeply theological one.  “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”  …“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” 
 
So, maybe women and men can be friends – as long as they stick to theological talk?! 
 
But then Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.”  To which she says she doesn’t have a husband, and Jesus says, I know, for you have had 5 husbands but you don’t have any right now!  But even that doesn’t seem to be an opening for a relationship.  The woman says, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet,” for now she’s interested in who he is, or might be for her, as a holy person.  But the barrier here, is their dispute over where the Temple should be.  The Samaritans worshiped on the mountain they were talking on, Mt. Gerizim, but the Jews of course, worshiped in Jerusalem, on Zion. 
 
And, in breaking down this barrier, Jesus says something very new and surprising, “…the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him.”  Highly gendered, of course.  But then Jesus says, “God is spirit, and those who worship [God] must worship in spirit and truth.”  This is talk of the new Messianic age, which everyone was anticipating.
 
And when Jesus identifies himself as the Messiah to her, “the one who speaking to you,” she is excited to return to her city, not even remembering to take her water bucket, because she has a whole new mission now, one that supersedes her gendered servant role, and she announces to her towns’ people,  29”Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?  30They left the city and were on their way to [Jesus].”  Jesus’ followers will break through the gender barrier, and include men, and women, as disciples!
 
So, ‘the woman at the well’ becomes an evangelist for the Samaritans, and, with Jesus, breaks every barrier that has held her down, gender, religion, and ethnicity – she finds the love of her life.  Not of course, a relationship in marriage, but a love of the One who loves her for who she is, just as she is – and she receives life, and living water, at the well. 
 
Our relationship with Jesus, our Lord and our Messiah, is born out of the hope for the healing of our life-scars, the relationships which have hurt us, or tried to define us as less-than, as not worthy because of our gender, or our beliefs and ideas, our ethnicity or race, our status.  And Christ finds us and meets us at the well, at the deepest darkest moments of our lives, to give to us, living water, a renewal of our baptism, that gift of grace and unconditional acceptance.  The encounter opens our eyes and begins the healing process, so that we may worship this Savior ‘in spirit and truth.’  We turn around and go in a new direction.  And our tears turn to joy.  And our joy empowers us to share that good news with our own towns’ people.  ‘Come and see’ the one who knows me inside and out, and does not shy away from my inmost soul, but offers a healing relationship. 
 
Relationship with Jesus, is more than romance, or friendship even.  It is the deepest most intimate relationship we can have – leading us to spirit and truth.  

Readings for Lent 2A, March 12, 2017

• Genesis 12:1-4a  
• Psalm 121  
• Romans 4:1-5, 13-17 
• John 3:1-17

"Picasso and O'Keefe," by Rev. Fred Kinsey
Is there a difference between growing up, and growing old?  Between growing into ourselves and being born anew? 
 
I remember in college, reading about the difference in the careers between Hegel and Aristotle, how Aristotle was famous at an early age, while Hegel didn’t write anything important until well into his 50’s.  Or Picasso, who first painted Picador at the age of 11, while Georgia O’Keefe slowly matured in her painting career, after her marriage and her move from New York to New Mexico, working and receiving awards, right up until her death at the age of 98.
 
I always felt like I would be more like Georgia O’Keefe and Hegel, than Picasso or Aristotle.  I would grow into who I was along the way, not immediately springing up and flowering into the full understanding of who God was calling me to be.  I would not worry about growing old, or past my prime, because I felt the strong call to faith and ministry that was well grounded and that was a life-long walk. 
 
Most of us are probably that way, I suspect!  Most of us are not, precocious girl- or boy-wonders, and geniuses.  And the good thing about realizing that, is that we can then be open the where the wind is blowing in, around, and through us.  “7Do not be astonished that I said to you, 'You must be born from above.'” Jesus said to Nicodemus.  “8The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 
 
Nicodemus, it turns out, would be a late bloomer too.  He had grown up in the school of the Pharisees that were very attentive to the foundational teachings of Judaism, and were good at forming people to be followers of God’s Word.  They produced strong leaders like Rabbi Gamaliel whose grandfather was Rabbi Hillel, and of course, whose most famous student was, the Apostle Paul.
 
During these next five Sundays of Lent, we move from our appointed Year A Readings in the Gospel of Matthew, to reading from the Gospel of John, which has a whole different feel to it than the other three synoptic gospels.  Some of John’s gospel stories are quite long, but also quite good in wrestling with God’s Word, illuminating where the Spirit is blowing today!  In the early church, centuries ago, they were used, to prepare candidates for Baptism.  And they are still a good catechism for those preparing for baptism today.  At the Great Vigil of Easter service, on the Saturday night before Easter Sunday service, we will gather around the font, not here, but in the back gathering area of the sanctuary, for the Affirmation of Baptism, remembering that we are a baptized people. (Who knows, maybe we’ll even have a baptismal candidate come forward by then?!) 
 
In our gospel reading today, Nicodemus isn’t ready yet for being re-born.  He was a leader of the Judeans and a Pharisee, and came to Jesus by night.  Now, night, after sundown, was the time when Shabbat, the Sabbath, started, and often the time for reading Torah, the books of Moses, the first five books of the Bible.  But here, the emphasis seems to be on where Nicodemus is in his faith journey, viz. a viz., Jesus.  He is a hesitant believer at best.  He says that he knows Jesus is a teacher, or Rabbi, who has come from God, but everything Jesus questions him about, he doesn’t seem to have a clue about!  Coming in the darkness is more about his struggle to understand, his inability to see Jesus very well, his susceptibility to stumbling, and his fears.  
 
Nicodemus thinks that because of the signs Jesus has done, like changing water into wine, that this proves Jesus has the presence of God.  This is one reason Nicodemus is coming to him now.  But Jesus was clear that, although he wouldn’t turn anyone away because they were attracted to him for the signs he did, faith depended on something deeper, over time.  Signs would not be enough to sustain us in our journey of faith. 
 
“Very truly, I tell you,” said Jesus, “no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above – or, born again.”  That’s a good place to start, with someone new to the faith.  But even that starting line is confusing for Nicodemus, who says, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother's womb and be born?”  Ha!  I’m not sure if this is John’s humor or just plain confoundedness on Nicodemus’ part.  But this is not what Jesus means!  “5Jesus answered, ‘Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit.  6What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit.’”  And he continues with his beautiful image of the wind blowing through the trees as a metaphor for the Holy Spirit.  We can’t see the Spirit, but by the eyes of faith we can see how it works in the world, how the Spirit is really the life force of the presence of God.  This is how it is with everyone who is born again, born a 2nd time, born through Baptism, of the spirit! 
 
Nicodemus will still be in the dark when his conversation with Rabbi Jesus is over.  But he will return again in John’s gospel, once more in the middle, when he sticks up for Jesus as the Pharisees and Temple Police are debating about arresting Jesus.  And finally, at the cross, Nicodemus is the one to bring 100 pounds of burial spices to lovingly help lay him in the stone-hewn tomb. 
 
Nicodemus is a late bloomer, he comes to faith in Jesus, towards his end.  It is a journey that starts in darkness and many unanswered questions.  But he never gives up, even under difficult and challenging circumstances.  It is never too late to come to Jesus with our questions, and to be honest with where we are in our life of faith.  Sometimes we can become old too soon, without continuing to be open to the presence of God, and where the Spirit is calling us now, each and every day.  But we can be reborn from above at any time, and any age.
 
One thing that has helped me stay locked-in on the calling of the Spirit, and attentive to the grounding of faith, is the recognition that faith must take a risk, even when we feel afraid.  Fear paralyzes, and tempts us towards settling for what the world says is important.  But taking a leap of faith, based on the Spirit’s calling, even when we feel like we’re entering unknown territory, is being born from above, born again. 
 
Like Nicodemus, all of us start our quest by stumbling in the dark towards Jesus!  So, our models for our faith journey must be solid, because they are often not ordinary or popular.  Following the latest fad, or chasing after the latest “thing” will usually not get us where we want to go.  That’s the road that craves for being liked, as we desire to see ourselves through the eyes of our friends, or the image of the newest star.  Nicodemus was attracted to Jesus, but had a difficult time letting go of the way his fellow Pharisees might see him, and so, he was confused by Jesus’ teaching that he should be reborn by the Spirit.
 
See yourself through the eyes of the kingdom and realm of God!  Not through eyes of your self-consciousness, you’re need to be liked.  God created us good, and our spiritual journey is a life-long walk down the road of discovery, finding our self-image in the image of Jesus the Christ, who lived in the presence of God.  It’s a growing into yourself, each and every day, with the help of your community of faith. 
 
If we’ve stopped growing in the Spirit, and avoid taking the risk and leap of faith, we simply grow old.  But if by our Baptism, we are daily reborn of water and Spirit, we are alive and well, no matter how old our age tells us we are. 
 
Let us never grow old of diving deeply into the waters, and spirit, of baptism! 

Readings for First Sunday in Lent, March 5, 2017

• Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7  
• Psalm 32  
• Romans 5:12-19  
• Matthew 4:1-11

Why Do We Need Jesus? by The Rev. Fred Kinsey
Why do we need Jesus? 
 
Is there anything Jesus can actually do for us today?  What makes it worth spending this 40 days of lent -- amounting to a tithe or a tenth of the whole year – refocusing ourselves on Jesus?  Why give this offering, giving ourselves over to walking through the wilderness of Jesus’ suffering and dying, as though it were happening for us today?
 
Why, do we need Jesus?
 
Maybe we need to take it back, all the way to the beginning of our human story.  As we open the bible to the first couple of chapters of Genesis, we are invited to celebrate the goodness of creation, all that God has given us as humans, to till, and keep.  We lose ourselves in the goodness of the garden, among the trees, the sparkling waters, the sky and its lights, the sun, and the moon and the stars.  We revel in the goodness of one-anothering, and in the companions we’ve been given to work alongside, in tilling and keeping these gifts of creation.  So why do we need Jesus?
 
As we read on, we run into today’s reading, and to the place just a few verses into paradise, where – like a symphony interrupted, with the needle scratching right off the record – it all went horribly wrong! 
 
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,” – as the serpent said – “she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.”  And all that paradise music grinds to a screeching halt!  That’s when we come to grips with life, after paradise, wrestling with the question of why we need Jesus. 
 
The crafty serpent starts the ball rolling – much like the crafty intentions of a presidential tweet, creating conflict, challenging the created intention of the Garden – and Adam and Eve have the choice of following the Tempter’s eye-popping delicious offer, or staying with the pacific beauty and salvific gift of Eden.  And what happens when their decision is made, and their eyes are opened?  Adam and Eve go through a bout of blaming.  The serpent talked me into it!  She gave it to me!
 
Or, we can look at this story, and blame God!  God created everything after all, and how good can it really have been... who created that snake, for instance?  Why didn’t God tell me my eyes would be opened?  And why didn’t I die, like God warned?  Maybe the design is faulty, and we should just sue!
 
And then too, if someone else has ruined your life, you can just sit around and wait for someone else to fix it up.  We could need Jesus for that!  We could see Jesus as a kind of fixer, our enabler, that lets us continue to be the victims of our uncontrollable needs and wants, since it was either God’s fault, or was all Adam and Eve’s fault, and we’re just helpless children, a kind of, “it’s in our genes,” original sin.
 
Another way, I suppose, is that we can look at this story as a warning, and decide, not to need Jesus, by never going out on a limb.  We can work towards, never needing forgiveness, because we never do anything wrong.  We can decide not to reach out for, or risk anything, fearing that it will prove as disastrous for us, as Adam’s and Eve’s, reach for more.  We can decide we can follow all the rules, never break a Commandment, keep our nose clean, but without realizing it, never engage in the wonder and goodness of what God has given us, as if we can control our destiny without ever beginning to live.  As if we have no desires.
 
And of course, Lent gives us lots of great opportunities for self-righteousness with our self-denial, fasting, and special offerings.  We can distort the season into being about accumulating enough holy points, that we don’t need to rely on Jesus, accumulate enough stuff around us that we don’t need to rely on anyone else, for that matter.  We can do it ourselves – and despise anyone else who hasn’t been able to ‘pull themselves up by their own bootstraps’ and be self-reliant.
 
Why, do WE need Jesus?!  Well, St. Paul in our 2nd Reading, figures it this way:  “Sin made its entry into the world through one human, Adam, and through sin comes death.  The legacy of sin and death, passed on to the whole human race, and no one could break free of it, because no one was themselves free from sin.”
 
We need Jesus to break free!  We need Jesus because we are in bondage to sin, and the fact is, we cannot free ourselves.  Even the very things we think will set us free, can come to enslave us, possess us.
         
We live in a culture and economy that thrives on selling a promise of freedom that we can find for ourselves, buy for ourselves.  Maybe because in some ways it seems cheaper and easier than looking to Jesus and his suffering; easier than dying and rising with Christ.    The culture does it the same way Satan tempts Jesus. 
 
In tempting Jesus, Satan first sets before him bread and all the material stuff of life, promising it would fill up his barns for the future, and he would never have to feel vulnerable.  If only we could have these things, we think, then we’d be happy and we’d have nothing to fear.  Then our lives would be complete and we’d be satisfied.
 
When that fails, the tempter holds up thrill seeking, as a kind of special privilege of the elite, telling Jesus to just let go and fly off the pinnacle of the Temple.  All power is yours, for God’s angels will bear you up – an illusory freedom, that the powerful can control all things, even the supernatural. 
 
Finally, he offers the temptation of political control, power to not need anyone or anything else, and squash anyone or anything that would get in your way.  
 
But Jesus defeats all the temptations of the Evil One, and provides a path for us to follow him, a life-giving Way for our needs and desires.  What happens in the wilderness does not stay in the wilderness; but it plays out again and again in the ministry of Jesus, and in the lives of all who become followers.
 
As we come to this beginning of the 40 days journey to the cross, it may still be difficult for us to say we NEED Jesus.  Of course, there’s a lot of things we feel we need.  Maybe we feel like we need a drink, or need to win the lottery, or need a big steak dinner, or a faster computer, or a better body, a great vacation, or a romance, or a nap, or a new pair of jeans, or more time, maybe even just a day free of pain, or a job, any job, or a gallon of milk for the children’s breakfast, we need a way out of the wilderness of despair!  But none of these things can ultimately satisfy us.
 
Why do WE need Jesus - really?  Because we are in bondage to sin, and cannot free ourselves.  We need to spend a tithe of our days walking with Jesus and listening, following his example – in order to find God.  We need Jesus, to break free of the dead-end alley-way that the serpent offers.
 
Listening to Jesus’ voice – discerning temptation, from the Tree of Life – helps us develop a sharp ear for the world’s twisted logic, and provides us a wake-up call to look and listen for all that is false and deceiving in the voices around us, and points us consistently to our reliance on God for all things!
 
It almost seems too good to be true, to believe there is any such thing as a free gift!  But that is what God offers in Jesus.  A full promise, and a free gift.  Jesus shows us the path, within which we can live free, from the tempter’s power.
 
Jesus – in freedom and obedience – turned away from Satan’s offering of bread, so that he might take bread in his hands, break it, and offer it to us as food for the journey – the free gift of life lived in God forever.  Why do we need Jesus?  To set us free, and show us the kingdom-life.

Readings for Ash Wednesday, March 1, 2017

• Isaiah 58:1-12  
• Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21

"Old and New," by Rev. Kinsey
Old, and new questions.  First Isaiah, and then Jesus.  Times change – Questions arise anew!  But, God is who God is.  “I am who I am,” said God to Moses from the burning bush.  “I will be who I will be.” 
 
The people of God in Isaiah’s time, as they were returning, finally, from their Exile, were having a difficult time rebuilding their lives, their homes and their Temple.  Instead of joy, there was quarreling.  Their question was, why doesn’t God listen to our prayers?  Why doesn’t God see our fasting and repenting?  They were proficient in their liturgies and worship, with piety and prayers.  Why wasn’t God taking notice?
 
The prophet Isaiah, speaking for God says, that this is the old question.  Now you must ask a new question: what is the fast, and what is the worship God desires?  In light of our quarreling, how do we, first and foremost, please God? 
 
Isaiah also provides God’s answer: “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them?” 
 
Only when we ask the right questions, the questions that arises out of our situation, that addresses God from the place God has put us in right now, today – can we begin to discern the right answer.  Old and new questions – in the context of a God who remains always sovereign and full of grace and love. 
 
This morning, when Jon Grondahl and I went to the Berwyn EL stop with our Glitter Ashes, I didn’t know what to expect exactly.  I think we were both a little nervous.  And to add to that, we attracted the attention of the press, a reporter from the Tribune and two from Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.  I was prepared to be satisfied to offer ashes to 5 or 6 people.  But it was easily ten times that many.  As soon as Jon dropped me off from his car and we set up our sign, a woman walked up, and I could see on her face, the joy that was in her heart.  I’m so glad you’re here, Father, she said!  With my work schedule I’m not able to get to Ash Wednesday service at my church today.  And after I marked her with the ashes and gave her a blessing, she said to me, God bless you!  Later, a worker from one of the local shops walked over just to receive ashes, and promptly walked back down the alley and through the service entry to go right back to their job!  And another young man told me, I came here all the way from my usual stop at Argyle, just to receive the Glitter Ashes.  Thank you so much! 
 
In the Lutheran church, not too many years ago, we use to ask: why Ashes?  Isn’t that a Catholic practice?  Most Lutherans hadn’t been including it in the Ash Wednesday liturgy.  Today we ask: why Glitter Ashes?  Old and new questions. 
 
The Christian organization that started Glitter Ash, Parity, is clear that today, in this moment, the need for a strong Christian witness has never been more urgent, because, in their words: “refugees [are being] turned away; Immigrants denied re-entry to the U.S., Nationalism, overt racism, and queer-[homo]phobia [are] running rampant.”  And we need to find ways as Christians to speak out against these values that are clearly against our beliefs, seeking to tear apart our communities, and we need to embody the message of love and peace. 
 
When we receive the ashes, of either kind, they are an embodiment of our faith in God, and Christ Jesus, in death and resurrection.  The old question asked whether this might go against our values of humility, of being humble.  But for most all of us who have learned to wear them, it has become a mark of our strong faith, our love of God, and love of one another, a sign that we are not afraid of our mortality because we believe in the hope of the resurrection.  Go ahead and stare at my ashes –  I’m ready to testify to who I am! 
 
The new question: Why Glitter Ashes? might in a similar way be asking, Why do we have to specifically mark out gender and sexuality issues?  Isn’t this taking away from the mark of Christ crucified?  And these are the questions we must raise, to discern where God is calling us today.  We may have different answers, and need to journey awhile, together, listening to each other’s questions, before we find common ground.  But Isaiah and Jesus were able to have that kind of discussion, even in the holy scriptures, so I’m sure we can handle it too. 
 
Jesus says that the old question was, How do we be seen by God in our worship?  Whether it’s prayer, almsgiving, or fasting.  But the new question is, How do we worship so that our heart is in the right place?  “For where your treasure is,” said Jesus, “there your heart will be also.”  God can see you wherever you are!
 
And, I guess, this is why it’s important that we make our confession tonight.  Because God sees us for who we are – and as Luther said, God accepts us as we are, and where we are.  God creates each and everyone of us good, but none of us are perfect.  And God knows our sins already!  So we confess, in order to acknowledge our own sinfulness, and in doing that, God forgives, and thereby gives us another chance, declares new life for us!
 
Glitter Ash is a sign of this too.  God knows that the church, and its people, for far too long, sinned against those who were different, and shamed those who were of a different sexual orientation or who claim a different gender identity.  God knows, but it is us who make it our confession today.  Glitter Ash can provide a sign and symbol of the hope that the Church has a new opportunity to live in God’s realm and kingdom, beyond the sin and fear it has produced.  And that’s why the purple Glitter Ash is irrepressible, and how, like traditional Ashes, it “loosens the bonds of injustice, lets the oppressed go free… and lets our light shine forth like the dawn,” as Isaiah said, and that “our healing shall spring up quickly.”
 
And so today, we confess and receive the ashes of our repentance.  In our worship we confess our mortality, that God’s love shines through.  In our relationships as we go, we give our lives away in service to others, that the love and mercy of Christ may take root and thrive in our communities. 
 
In our Ashes of both kinds, we embody the journey of Christ to the cross on our bodies these 40 days, that on the other side of suffering, and the death’s we experience, is new life that is already ours, through the God who, will be who God will be, for our salvation and the life of the world!