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Sermon by Rev Fred Kinsey, "Thousand Dollar Wedding Gown"

4/25/2016

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Readings for Easter 5C, 4/24/2016
  • Acts 11:1-18  
  • Psalm 148  
  • Revelation 21:1-6  
  • John 13:31-35


"Thousand Dollar Wedding Gown," by Pastor Fred
The wedding industry in the United States is a $55-billion behemoth, with the average ceremony costing more than $31,000.  Overblown ceremonies, reality shows, and obsessions with celebrity weddings, have all changed the meaning of this tradition.  Chelsea Clinton and Marc Mezvinsky’s wedding cost $5 million.  Prince William and Kate Middleton – $34 million. 
 
And Chicago lives up to its “Second City” nickname, when it comes to pricey weddings.  A new survey says Chicago is the second most expensive city in which to get married, coming in with an average price tag of over $61,000.  
 
New York City has the most expensive weddings, as you might have guessed, averaging over $82,000, while the cheapest weddings are in Alaska, averaging a mere, $17,000.
 
It’s notable too, I think, that over one-third of couples, or 36%, are having, ‘red weddings,’ by putting them on credit, even if that means starting out their married life in debt.  In a survey of more than 1,000 people who were engaged to be married, they agreed that having access to credit would allow them to spend more than their budget.
 
John of Patmos probably wasn’t picturing a thousand-dollar dress when he spoke of the new Jerusalem “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." How can we recapture the original intention of this metaphor, framing God’s desire to be “married” to the church, in understandable terms for us?  How do we get back on track, past the excess?
 
Perhaps Catherine of Siena, that 14C Saint commemorated this week, can help.  She famously experienced a “mystical marriage” to Christ.  “You, eternal Trinity, are a deep sea,” she said.  “The more I enter you, the more I discover.  And the more I discover, the more I seek you.” (Dialogue, 167)  That’s some wonderful, racy, pre-Reformation stuff! 
 
John’s idea of marriage to God, was the eschatological vision of the kingdom of God at the end of the ages.  A vision, we have mixed up over the centuries, and so its metaphor always comes as a surprise.  The kingdom of God, says John of Patmos, comes down out of heaven from God, to earth.  Mother earth, which we celebrated Friday on Earth Day, is not left behind, and no one is raptured up, to a Platonic body-less displacement.  John envisions “a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth will have passed away, and the sea,” the place of chaos, and monsters, and death, “will be no more.”  The new Jerusalem, or the resurrected people of God, are “coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” – for Christ. 
 
Again, Catherine of Siena, on her mystical marriage to Christ: “O eternal Father!  O fiery abyss of love!  O eternal goodness!  O immeasurable generosity!  O mad lover!  And you have need of your creature?  It seems so to me, for you act as if you would not live without her, in spite of the fact that you are life itself, that everything has life from you, and that nothing can have life without you. Yet you have fallen in love with what you have made.”  This real, vulnerable desire for us, as much as our searching desire for God, this marriage of gracious gift-giver of immeasurable generosity, to creatures here below, was Catherine’s dream for the Church.
 
Though, tt was not a dream, that was disconnected from the realities of this world.  She knew the sin and separation from God, of her time.  Catherine spoke our struggles to love one another, amidst our betrayal, and Christ’s desire for reconciliation:  “She” – the Church – “runs away from you, and you go looking for her; she strays, and you draw closer to her.  And what shall I say?  I will stutter “A – a,” because there is nothing else I know how to say.  Finite language cannot express the emotion of the soul who longs for you infinitely.”
 
We all long for love and reconciliation, even, and perhaps especially, in our darkest days.  Christ is our faithful partner, always forgiving, always calling us to a new day, and our best selves.
 
There was once a nun, who served in the military, during World War II.  Much later, she was at a conference with two men who had both been in the war, a German and an American.  One evening after dinner, as they washed the dishes together, they exchanged stories about the war.  The American told of the horror he felt as a young pilot, during a particularly savage bombing of a city in Germany.  He had orders to bomb the hospital, which he would know, by the huge Red Cross painted on the roof.  The second man – after regaining his composure – revealed that his wife had been giving birth to their baby, in that very hospital, when it was being bombed!  And the nun had to tiptoe out of the room, because the two men fell into each other’s arms weeping – in a reconciliation beyond words. (adapted from  Suzanne Guthrie, Living By The Word, CC)
 
Imagine being in the new Jerusalem, where we might fall weeping upon one another, waves of reconciliation breaking upon us as we adjust ourselves to this dimension of pure love, where “death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
 
One of the mysteries of marriage, a mystery in all our human relationships really, is knowing that God cherishes all our attempts to work with God at banishing the one thing, even God cannot abide – being alone, unknown, and forgotten.  If Catherine of Sienna is right, even God desires us.  And we know too, that we are only fully human when we are acknowledged through the eyes of another, who loves us for who we are. 
 
Far too many of our fellow human beings, lack this affirmation, and basic gift, which we the baptized know, as the free gift of grace.  Our cities are full of lost souls, far too many who have been taught negative images of love, and who experience loneliness, oppression and stigma. 
 
Catherine of Sienna has been called, “a mystic whose plunge into God plunged her deep into the affairs of society, Church, and the souls who came under her influence.”  Catherine became the first woman afforded the title, Doctor, or teacher, of the Church.  But far from living a quiet, withdrawn life as a theologian, Catherine was instrumental in negotiating the papal politics in her time; she spoke up for those lost and lonely ones, saying: “We’ve had enough of exhortations to be silent!  Cry out with a hundred thousand tongues.  I see that the world is rotten because of silence.”
 
John’s gospel opens with, in the beginning was the Word, and the word was with God, and the Word was God.  Israel Kamudzandu, a professor of New Testament Studies, finds the same poignancy in our passage from Revelation, “the new creation is framed by God’s direct speech,” he says.  By, the Word!  “See, I am making all things new.  God’s new creation must replace this deadly, torn, … angry, sick, …vengeful, hurtful, and painful world.  The church is called to make a choice,” he says, “to be on the side of God and to be part of the new creation, or to choose the world […which is] focused on entertaining people, rather than offering new life.”
 
How can we not, place ourselves in the role of bride, choosing to find true love in God’s desire to be “married,” to us, the church?  “See, the home of God is among mortals. God will dwell with them; they will be God’s people.” 
 
We don’t need a $1,000 wedding gown, for this beautiful wedding dance of life, when we have, and know, the fiery, mad, and everlasting love of Christ. 
 
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
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Sermon by Rev. Fred Kinsey, "Dropping the Ball"

4/12/2016

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Readings for Third Sunday of Easter,
April 10, 2016
  • Acts 9:1-6, (7-20)  
  • Psalm 30  
  • Revelation 5:11-14  
  • John 21:1-19

Dropping the Ball, Pastor Fred
Fred Snodgrass played center field for the New York Giants.  And in the 1912 World Series against the Red Sox, he made one mistake that the world would never let him forget.  The teams were tied in the tenth inning, when a fly ball fell into Snodgrass’s mitt—and he dropped it!  The Red Sox won the series, and the error stuck with Snodgrass the rest of his life.  Even sixty-two years later, the New York Times headline for his obituary, read: “Fred Snodgrass, 86, Dead; Ball Player Muffed 1912 Fly.”
 
It was as if nothing else had ever happened in his life.  Tried and convicted in the press and popular opinion, he never got a second chance.  Snodgrass’s story also reveals how our culture is addicted to the success and failure of its stars.  What happens when a hero fails?  Does Tiger Woods have a future? or Mitt Romney?  What if our memory of Michael Jordan ended with his failure to make it, in Major League Baseball, before he returned to win 3 more NBA Championships?  Or, what would have happened to Al Gore’s faux failure in Florida as Presidential candidate, if we didn’t give him any credit for barn-storming the country with his “Inconvenient Truth,” movie, that transformed the Climate Change movement?  How does anyone deal with their past failures? 
 
Of course, Paul did more than just drop a fly ball in the World Series.  Saul was a known leader for persecuting Christians, followers of The Way.  Saul was there when Stephen was stoned to death, just a few chapters earlier in Acts, eliminated, for his preaching Christ crucified and risen, the Messiah and Savior – and Saul approved!  Saul went on to organize a deputized gang to arrest followers of the Way, and here in our First Reading, we find him, breathing threats and murder against the disciples!  Once again, he applies for the permits that were legal under this rigged system, to round up followers of the Way, believers in the Lord.  This time Saul was on the road to Damascus, a hot-bed of Jesus followers, at the time.  So, Paul didn’t ‘drop the ball’ when it came to terrorizing disciples of the Lord!  Paul had a reputation that preceded him! 
 
What would have happened if Paul were remembered only for that part of his life?  The story of the Mission to the Gentiles would be missing a huge chunk, that’s for sure! 
 
And, what would have happened to Simon Peter, for that matter, if Jesus had not appeared, post-resurrection, and cooked breakfast for Peter, giving him the chance to recant his denial of Jesus, the night his Lord was on trial, with a three-fold confession of love? 
 
Paul will be transformed – turned around 180’ – on ‘the way’ to Damascus, as he is struck down by the voice of, ‘the Way.’  “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he tells Saul.  And, with a thunderclap and sudden flash of light from heaven, he is struck to the ground, and blinded!  But the resurrected Jesus has mercy on this known criminal, and instructs him to go and wait in Damascus.  Saul’s companions have to lead him there by the hand, all of them trembling in fear.  And for three days Saul was without sight, and neither ate nor drank, anything. 
 
What can possibly lift Saul out of his three day grave?  Who or what can rescue him from his depressive spiral to the bottom?  How can he possibly see his way forward again? 
 
We all know people who are tempted to believe that God has given up on them.  They are convinced that their failures, or the failures of our country and world, are so great that there is no way that God can use us to bring hope or healing to others, much less restoration for our climate, or our violence, or our income disparity.  How many are there who feel that the memory of a past failure, may be determinative for how others view them, now, and forever?  Where does our rescue come from?
 
Saul cannot rescue himself, however powerfully we think of him now, as Paul the missionary.  It is the Spirit of Jesus, who ignites a leader of the Way to intervene, whose name is Ananias.  Ananias is well aware of Saul, and would rather keep his distance from him, for fear of being bound over for arrest and trial in Jerusalem.  But the Lord assures Ananias that he is calling Saul, to be an instrument for the Lord to bring Christ’s name to the Gentiles, and to kings.  And so as a representative of the whole communion of saints, Ananias goes as instructed to the street called Straight and enters the house of Judas. He laid his hands on Saul and said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on your way here, has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  “And immediately, …his sight was restored.  And after being baptized and taking some food, …immediately he began to proclaim that Jesus was …the ‘Son of God.’” 
 
And, in a real way, Ananias himself had to be converted, and transformed to a new way of thinking, to make the desire of Christ, for Saul, come alive.  Ananias did not want to believe such a person could be changed.  He feared for his own welfare, from this man who had done so much evil to God’s saints in Jerusalem.  But trusting in the Lord, Ananias was able to walk confidently into the house where Saul was, and he laid hands on him to invoke the Holy Spirit, calling him now, Brother Saul! 
 
It takes the community of Christ to transform Saul the persecutor, into Paul the greatest known missionary of New Testament times.  When Saul persecutes Christians, he is persecuting Christ’s body.  And when Saul is healed from his illness of persecution, he is healed by Christ, and a flesh and blood leader, resurrecting Paul, to a whole new life.  Now Paul will proclaim the greatness of the Lord, instead of actively doing it violence.  Nothing is impossible with the power and movement of the whole Body, the believing members of the Way of Christ.  This is Saul’s insight, on the way to Damascus.
 
Just like Peter and Cornelius, two enemies, in the very next chapter of Acts, who will have simultaneous visions that put them on a path toward reconciliation – so here, Ananias and Saul experience visions from the Lord at the same time, and find reconciliation as brothers of Christ. 
 
Paul’s call is first of all, to the Gentiles, and he will meet, and claim equality with, the Apostles in Jerusalem, before departing from there 3 separate times, to traverse the northern Mediterranean countries of the Empire, founding churches along the way, to which he would write letters, encouraging and admonishing, congratulating and challenging, them. 
 
But Paul’s call was also “to bring Christ’s name before kings.”  This was to be a public ministry to manifest Christ’s good news to the kingdom’s on earth, as it is in heaven.  And the trajectory of Paul’s travels finally did bring him to the capital of Rome itself, where his wisdom and message, could leave its most important and enduring legacy.  If Jesus was the Son of God come down to dwell among us, if he was our Lord and king, reigning in our hearts, as well as Lord of our institutions and kingdoms on earth, he should also reign from the seat of the Roman Empire, not theocratically, but morally and joyfully, that justice and peace would triumph, over Rome’s tyrannical ethic of ‘lording it over’ others. 
 
Paul made it to Rome, after writing them the longest and finest Letter of all in the New Testament, only to suffer death, on his own cross, most likely.  A sacrifice for his Lord, and the whole body of Christ, left to us, the church, to complete. 
 
Can we be resurrected and live again?  Or are we mired in the past of our overwhelming mistakes, both personally and communally? 
 
Will we have the courage to go on, after dropping the ball?  Are we united with all the people of God, excited for the transformation, that the Holy Spirit is calling us to?  Are we ready to raise Saul’s, into Paul’s? 
 
Together, we are the body of Christ, the baptized people of God, called to the table, to take some food and regain our strength, for the mission ahead.  With Christ, we are on the Way!
 
Alleluia, Christ is risen!
Christ is risen, indeed. Alleluia!
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Sermon by Reverend Fred Kinsey, "Toughest Questions to Ask"

4/8/2016

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Readings for the Second Sunday of Easter, April 3, 2016
  • Acts 5:27-32  
  • Psalm 118:14-29 
  • Revelation 1:4-8  
  • John 20:19-31

Toughest Questions to Ask, by Pastor Fred

How do I know it’s still Easter?  I know it’s still Easter by the amount of Ham Loaf leftovers that are in the refrigerator!  When I told John this week about our family tradition of the Easter Ham Loaf, he was confused but curious.  You mean ham, like a spiral ham?  Is that what Ham Loaf is? 
 
Well, sure, anyone can serve a nice spiral ham for Easter.  But in our family we have Ham Loaf, you know like a meatloaf, but with ground ham and veal.  And then we have this delicious prepared mustard sauce that you pour on top!  He looked at me like I was crazy – and had probably gone off the deep end! 
 
I have to admit, Ham Loaf’s an acquired taste.  Not all the in-laws have come to accept it in our family, and so, it’s not for everyone.  And yet, despite its description, I actually like it!  Without Ham Loaf, it’s not really Easter for me!  At the same time, I’m always afraid to admit it to outsiders, because I know the reaction I’m likely to face.  Disbelief, at best – disappointment and derision at worst!
 
Garrison Keillor once said: “Easter is that time of year when Christians ask themselves two questions,” ‘Do I really believe all this stuff?  And if so, why do I live this way?’”
 
So, every year, I have to rethink my interest in Ham Loaf.  But more importantly, we get to rethink our interest, in the resurrection!  Do we really believe all this stuff?  Is it fundamentally a part of who I am, and no matter what the reaction, do I show it and share it with others?  How should I live, if I do believe? 
 
Thomas was a radical questioner.  He was unsure the empty tomb meant anything, and he wasn’t sure the disciples were telling the truth, any more than Mary was, about seeing Jesus on the first day of the week.  For Mary, it was early in the morning.  For the other disciples, it was evening on that day, the first day of the week.  Thomas thought he was on pretty solid ground, doubting that Jesus would really show up for him.  “Unless I see the mark of the nails in his hands, and put my finger in the mark of the nails and my hand in his side, I will not believe” he boldly told all the others disciples.  What are the chances of that, anyway?! 
 
But, with or without Thomas, the earth had moved!  When Mary arrived early on the first day of the week while it was still dark, the large stone had already been removed from the tomb – Jesus’ imprisonment was over, death could not hold him.  And Peter and John, ran to see it, after Mary did. 
 
Yet by evening, they were all enclosed in a tomb of their own making!  They had locked themselves in, afraid for their lives.  “…the doors of the house where the disciples had met,” says John, “were locked for fear of the Jews…”  And, agrees Professor of Homiletics, John Hoch, “Upon seeing the empty tomb, the disciples didn’t preach, they didn’t join the choir, they went home.  …it seems as if the disciples were locked into familiar tombs.” 
 
But, who would protect them from a similar fate, reasoned the disciples of this crucified Messiah?  What would befall them, if they even showed their faces?  And, the risk they perceived was not unfounded, as we see from the situation in our 1st Reading from Acts.  There, some months or maybe even a year or two later, Peter and the other disciples, had gained their voices and were testifying in public, but were arrested and jailed for their message. 
 
And so, for that whole first week, the Disciples had remained cloistered in that upper room.  Jesus was out and liberated, and, on the loose in the world, but the disciples, controlled by their fears, remained locked up, entombed behind the stony doors. 
 
So Jesus comes – even though ‘friend and foe alike’ were meant to be shut out – and he stood among them and said, “Peace be with you.”  And to Thomas, he specifically said, “put your finger here and see my hands.  Reach out your hand and thrust it in my side.  Do not doubt but believe.” 
 
What does it take for us to believe?  To get over our fears of what may happen to us?  What is it that, pushes us out the door?  That breaks open the tomb we feel so comfortable in, the closet we hide behind??  “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe,” Jesus says to Thomas. 
 
Some biblical scholars find the invitation of Jesus, to touch his wounds, as a kind of rebuke to him, for his dis-belief.  But I tend to think Jesus is looking out for Thomas – and, for all of us – by appearing to him; by coming to answer the tough questions everyone has.  Thomas recognizes the, resurrected Easter Sunday Jesus, by his Good Friday scars.  Like Thomas, many of us need to keep it real.  The questions and doubts we have, bring us closer to God, not farther away.
 
Today, across from Jerusalem, in the Garden of Gethsemane, posted outside the Church of All Nations, there is a sign that reads, “Please: no explanations in the church,” a polite way to warn to the thousands of tourists who pass through the church every day, and their tour guides, not to carry-on, in a sacred space.  But it reminds me of something a cranky old minister once said to a mischievous boy in his confirmation class: “The church is no place for questions, young man!”
 
But that is not the church of today, as it wasn’t of Thomas, the questioner.  Nor should it be for the church of Jesus Christ, anywhere!  Is the resurrection real?  and why am I living this way? are not questions that will arise, if we remain entombed in fear. 
 
The great theologian Paul Tillich, in his classic Dynamics of Faith book, claims that doubt, is in fact, an inescapable and essential part, of faith.  And, a questioning faith requires an element of risk, and more than a little courage, he said, because there is always the possibility of failure.  ‘Sometimes we ask questions and receive no answer. Sometimes we ask questions and don’t like the answer we receive.’  And these are the risks we take when we honestly engage the divine.  Thomas was willing to risk asking the tough questions about a risen Christ who was the same as the crucified Jesus!  And it made him into the greatest evangelist in the eastern church.
 
Today we are deeply honored to have members of Sarah’s Circle open our new Gallery exhibit.  It takes great courage to show the art that comes from a vulnerable place, as I’m sure any artist will tell you.  But it is a beautiful testimony to me, to see how the places of fear in our lives, can be resurrected, and broken open, to live to see a new day, as we find here, in the Gallery. 
 
What are the toughest questions you are afraid to ask?  Sometimes these are the very ones that lead us to freedom and a new found courage.  Mary and Peter, and all the followers of Jesus, soon came to realize that their faith in the resurrection was truer and more important to them, than their fear of being arrested.  Fear of what others may think or say, was small, compared to relationship of knowing Jesus, and Christ crucified and risen, for the salvation and freedom of the world. 
 
What they felt was true in their guts, released them from their fears, and gave them the courage of faith to stand up to the authorities.  Now! the rulers in Jerusalem were becoming afraid, of them!  What’s in your heart, about Jesus the Christ, that is dying to come out?  And, what do we want our faith heritage to be, going forward? 
 
Alleluia, Christ is risen!

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