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The Land Toward Which They Were Going

7/27/2015

Readings for July 26, 2015
Pentecost 9B

sermon by Pastor Fred Kinsey

The Land Toward Which They Were Going
And immediately, the boat reached the land toward which they were going. So ends today’s gospel reading. …the boat reached the land toward which it was going.   Jesus had fed the large crowd, and as they were about to take him by force to make him king, he went back up to the mountain again by himself, while the disciples got into a boat and started across the sea to Capernaum, home of Peter and Andrew, James and John. It was dark, and the sea became rough.

Nine summers ago, Kim and I boarded a car ferry with Kim’s sister Pam, a somewhat larger boat than Jesus’ disciples were in.   We were in the little town of Galilee, in the littlest state of Rhode Island, by the beach they summered on as kids, on the very southern tip of the Ocean State, about to head out on the open ocean to Block Island. It was a particularly gloomy morning, that yet held promise for a fair afternoon.

Kim loves the ocean breeze, and led us out to the front of the boat to experience the rush of wind, and the thrill of the journey. But, as we left the protected cove, the swells were up 8, to 10 feet, and her usual joy was overcome by seasickness. Green at the gills, she headed for maximum stability, which was the humid, dark, airless stall of the head, in the middle of the boat, in the middle of the sea. There she gripped the bowl and kept repeating last Sunday’s gospel word, the last word we had shared with our Michigan congregation of 20 years, before leaving them in transition to find new life in Chicago:

“and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

And immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going…”

For the rest of the Ferry ride, she found herself repeating this promise desperately, to the bob of the swells, and then blessedly, the boat reached the dock on Block Island, the land toward which it was going. The motion ceased, and graciously, the sun came out.

If any of you are feeling seasick today, a little landless, a little unsettled over open waters, it’s understandable! It’s summer in Chicago, and though we want to be outside, things like gang-related shootings can make you feel queasy; Social Services closing down here in our neighborhood, can strike fear in the hearts of its clients; not enough jobs, or good paying ones, breeds hopelessness. There are any number of things which can send us down below, to hang on for dear life! We wonder toward what land, the little boat of our churches, is going.

It’s an unsettled time of change in our country, in our churches, maybe in your life. That’s how it was for Kim and I, in the time in-between calls, with no real place to call home, out at sea in the 12 foot swells, clinging to a promise. To Jesus’ promise. Toward what land are we going? What are the signs, giving us direction?

When we get into this boat with the disciples today, on John’s Sea of Galilee, we’ve already had a busy year swinging with Jesus’ life-giving promises, riding the swells, in times of trouble.

But while they were there, on the other side of the Sea of Galilee, in territory considered hostile, there was a hillside, newly green and grassy. It was just before the spring feast of Passover. Just about the time for the feast that celebrated the new life Israel received, when death passed over them, and set them free from slavery. It was the time which recalled their journey towards the Promised Land, the land toward which they were going and God’s walk with them in the wilderness. Now, no wild animals would come upon them during Jesus’ meal. No bandits would come to snatch their possessions. They could eat at leisure, enjoy the meal in safety. They were satisfied.

But when Jesus realized the crowd was about to come and take him by force to make him king, seeing the Messiah in his feeding miracle, he disappeared into the mountain wilderness by himself, because it was not yet his time, and because he was not anyone’s personal food dispensing machine.

They had skewed the miracle of the bread and the fishes into something it wasn’t, and did not yet understand where the abundance came from. That the goodness and newness, came from God. The satisfaction of our basic hungers and thirsts, come from God. The safety, comes from dwelling in God’s presence; from sitting ourselves down in trust with outstretched hands, in need of God’s gifts, invited to the Promised Land, to which we are going.

Could they come to understand that the means by which God cares for the world, comes from our spirit of sharing, being one with Jesus, God-in-the-flesh, as stewards of generosity, knowing that what we have, has come from God, and that we are going toward the land God promises?

When evening came, and his disciples went down by the sea, they got into a boat, and started back across the sea, to Capernaum, their home. They didn’t know where any of this was headed. Darkness had come, they were landless, and Jesus had still not come to them.

The sea – as Lake Tiberias can – suddenly became rough; a strong wind was blowing. They rowed. And rowed. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus, walking on the sea. Now, the Sea was not water. Not life-giving, renewing water.   No-- the Sea was a wild place. Full of untamed chaos and unpredictability. Yet in this story, Jesus did not tame the waves. Jesus did not still the storm. He moved in it. Through it. And the disciples were terrified. They did not know where Jesus, this Jesus who moved through the storm, had come from.

Don’t be afraid, Jesus said. It is I.

The disciples wanted him, in the boat! Who wouldn’t want Jesus in their boat, as we row, row, row on the sea of life, journeying through the wild sea to the promised land?! The land toward which we are going.

Did they understand? About the living water? About the abundance of wine, their fill of bread, when they hungered and thirsted on the way?

How hard it is to understand, in the turmoil of troubles, in the midst of the storm – to understand the healing graces, or the awesome glory. How Jesus can make use of even meagre gifts, for the life of not just those in the boat, and on the hillside, but bless these offerings to the world God loves.

But somehow, as they leaned hard into the promise, into Jesus, they must have known, as we must know, that these are, our signposts on the way to new life, on the way to the place that Jesus leads us. Goes before us. Walks beside us.

Don’t be afraid, Jesus said. It is I! Jesus moves in the storms, through the storms, with us. And immediately, the boat reached the land toward which they were going. They reached the shore they were bound for.

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Community Building, Rev. Fred Kinsey

7/13/2015

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Readings for July 12, 2015
7th Sunday after Pentecost

Sermon by Pastor Fred Kinsey

Community Building
Nothing can hurt us, in a world of power politics, if we trust in the founding power of God’s gracious gift of the kingdom. That’s the good news for us, despite the R-rated gospel, in which Jesus is neither featured nor mentioned. This birthday party for Herod, should probably come with a warning for parents: Caution, you may not want to expose your children to the following story, which contains violent images, adult situations, and an outrageous misuse of power. I’d like to think we don’t condone that kind of behavior today, and if caught, politicians and other leaders, would face public condemnation, and justice under the law. But one thing for sure, power politics, spiced with entitlement and lascivious behavior, are still regular headlines.

Even as the 1% of Jerusalem, wine and dine, and are entertained – at a whole other level than say, the Taste of Chicago – the foundation of their power, rooted as it is, in the ruler of this world, is upending the community God desires.

Years ago, The Washington Post quoted a lavishly paid lobbyist: “There are only two engines that drive Washington: One is greed, and the other is fear.” ‘That,’ says Princeton Biblical Theologian Clifton Black, ‘is a fine description of Herod’s birthday party.’ His banquet brought together in Jerusalem the triune powers of most every capital: politicians, big business and religious leaders.

Do you ever wonder what Mayor Emanuel and Governor Rauner talk about when they sit down to drink wine together? Both reportedly enjoy a glass of wine over dinner, no misuse of power there. And, it’s perfectly legal for Governor Rauner to have a $140,000 membership in a private winery-club out west, which Mayor Emanuel and family have visited. You can be the judge of what those kind of perks mean. But the two businessmen turned politicians do have a couple other things in common. Both earned their wealth through hedge-funds, the borrowing of other people’s money to turn a fast buck, and one of the most popular techniques right now for the rich to get richer, without any particular social benefit, in fact, it usually involves consolidating companies to make a quick profit, whose restructuring usually includes permanently laying off hundreds, even thousands, of employees. That kind of job is a birthday party that most of us aren’t invited to, though you may know someone who’s an unemployment casualty!

The other value they share is re-forming education, as in, privatization, siphoning tax dollars away from Chicago Public Schools, to line the pockets of a few Charter School owners.

Politically, the Governor and Mayor don’t agree on much else. But the rich and famous don’t need to agree on all things, when sitting down to a glass of wine together, or, in accepting an invitation to a birthday party.

King Herod, or more accurately it was his son, Herod Antipas, was known by history for his weak leadership. Not too long after Jesus died, Rome deposed him for his ineffectiveness. Perhaps, he had a conscience that kept him from the ruthlessness demanded of his position. The gospel of Mark says, he was awed by John the Baptist and regarded him as a righteous and holy man. Instead of doing away with him, as his ill-gotten wife, Herodias first wanted, he tactfully arrested John and lodged him in his jail – probably much worse than cells, than either Emily or I have seen! Herod used to like to listen to him, though he was often perplexed, says Mark. We don’t know if Herod went down to the prison to visit John, or had him brought up to his headquarters. But he protected John. There must have been something in his message that resonated with Herod.

But Herod’s foundational power was built on rotten pillars. And as a leader, you cannot be tepid about the realm and kingdom of God. Herod needed a greater conviction to get out of the foundational box of excluding and exploiting others, and overcome the self-perpetuation of his power.

“An opportunity came,” as Mark’s gospel puts it, at this birthday party for Herod. The opportunity was not for Herod, but for his wife, Herodias. And, an opportunity for the immoral power of the ruler of this world to enter through the corrupt foundation of Jerusalem’s elites. Herodias’ daughter came and danced to the delight of them all. And to show off, Herod pledges before his friends and supporters to make a gift to the young teenager, of up to half his kingdom. But she doesn’t even know what she desires yet – not in that ball-park – what would she know of wine-clubs, and hedge-funds? So she asks her mother, and the devil’s opportunity is ignited. Herodias wants the head of John the baptizer! This is the opportunity, burning within Herodias. The opportunity to execute the truth-teller, the prophet, and renewer of society, has arrived!

Does Herod want this? Probably not. He seems to have a conscience, but he has no backbone to go with it. Being a good person, or a nice guy, unfortunately, doesn’t have anything to do with where your power is founded and how it is used.

This tragic tale of Herod’s birthday party is sandwiched between the sending out and return of the disciples, the mission and hard work of spreading the news of Jesus’ new community, come alive: a community founded, not on power-politics, but on a new starting point of truth and mercy, of grace and dignity, of regard and respect. There is no gun violence in the new community, because teens are not asked to receive the head of anyone on a platter, there. In the realm of God, we learn and advocate for a universal school system, with fully funded and resourced schools in every district, and we insist on jobs for every graduate, so that the alternative economy of gangs has no soil to germinate in. The community of God is not tepid, does not tolerate wealth in the hands of a few, or allow immoral budgets, or make rules that exclude, exploit and underserve the rest of us.

Where does your power come from? Is it founded on the ruler of this world, or in the mercy and grace of God’s love? If we do not know, or have not discerned it in our spiritual journey, then we may be in danger of giving our power over to the crowds, like at Herod’s birthday party, and we may let “dinner and a movie” turn into something ugly and violent.

When the disciples return from their campaign of using their power to start new and life-giving communities, Jesus will invite them to a dinner party that feeds 5,000 from 5 loaves. When Jesus celebrated the Passover dinner with his disciples for the last time, a remembrance of God’s deliverance out of slavery into the freedom of the Promised Land, he sat down to share a glass of wine with them, as a sign and symbol of his own blood, his life, the foundation of this new community. Jesus used his power, which came from the realm of God, for the life of the world.

This kind of spreading of the message of the gospel by us, the followers of Jesus, has risks. The more we define who we are and what we stand for, the more the powers of this world, and the dangers of a structural evil, push back. But we have basic and powerful tools, bread and wine, welcome and community, to hold us together. We do not exclude, but share with all. It is not wealth, as the world measures riches, but it is a wealth hidden in weakness, and a power in self-giving, that lives forever, through us, and in the lives of people who embody the realm and kingdom of God. Let us dine at the table of the LORD, and share the Cup of Salvation, for we have a power to share that’s courageous, which is called faith!

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Bishops' Best, Pastor Fred Kinsey Sermon

7/5/2015

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Readings for July 5, 2015
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Lectionary 14B

Bishops' Best, by Pastor Kinsey
When Bishop Wayne Miller joined the Moral Monday IL movement three weeks ago, he came downtown, dressed to the 9’s, to make the most of his office and calling. He wore his rabat vest and Pontiff-three collar with his large gold neckless cross, underneath his best bishop’s black suit. But rain was in the forecast so he brought his umbrella, not the new mini-compact-spring-loaded kind, but one of those large, long umbrellas, that golfers use! And for good measure, he also carried a rain coat.

The bishop planned to join the other clergy and faith leaders who were willing to risk arrest by joining in holy Civil Disobedience. It was his first time, and talking about it made him smile, more than any other expression. He was proud to do it! He told us that he was wanting to make this witness for a long time, and he was glad for Moral Mondays, that this was the perfect opportunity.

The theme on that day was, Camel through the Eye of a Needle, based on the gospel story of the Rich Young Ruler – the one who comes asking Jesus for his blessing as a candidate for the Kingdom of God. A nice guy, but all he can think about is securing his privilege. ‘Follow the 10 Commandments’ Jesus told him, just like everybody else. But still, he was unsure, so “Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said, ‘You lack one thing; go, sell what you own, and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ When he went away grieving, Jesus told the crowds, “it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter into the kingdom of God.”

As the storm clouds gathered, the bishop was ready. When his turn came to address the crowds at the Moral Monday rally, he said, “Under the best of circumstances it is not easy to get a camel through the eye of a needle. But I can tell you for sure you’re never going to get it through, if you’re not aiming in the right place…if you’re off the mark! The primary and only purpose of good government,” the Bishop said, “is to defend the life and well-being of the most vulnerable in our society.” And this Budget is off the mark!

The gospel of Mark reading today takes a revealing turn, for Jesus and his followers. Jesus shows his hand, in his hometown, and is rejected for it. Why? Because he is forming a new family and community, not based on his biological, family, and clan, and religious hierarchy, but on inclusive house-churches of radical hospitality. It includes the poor and oppressed as equals, not just as tokens, but as the basis of the realm of God, the empire of the faithful here and now, as a choice, an alternative to the empires who continued to use privilege, to keep the poor, the meek, the merciful, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, down, oppressed and excluded.

After Jesus is rejected in Nazareth, he left his hometown and his family – and to some extent his religion, for this is the last time in Mark’s gospel that he goes to the synagogue. Jesus sends his disciples – his new family, clan and religion – out to begin the mission of forming new house-churches and communities of faith.

Bringing together the poor and the privileged in the church, is no easy task. Even when the privileged try to their best to ‘walk the talk,’ we have been known to miss the mark.

Bishop Miller did not know – when he put on his bishops’ best that morning – that his civil disobedience, if it resulted in arrest, meant he would have to give up all his possessions. He had not been able to attend the training meeting with the others, and this was his first time. When Kim and I described what would happen, he decided he might as well give his umbrella to Kim, because, looking like a weapon of a sort, it would be the first to go. The rain coat he wanted to hold on to, however. Not just for the threatening rain clouds, but he planned to use it, to sit on. The pavement was already damp from an earlier shower, and he needed something to protect the trousers of his expensive suit. But the Bishop was determined. Whatever privilege he had to give up after they put him in cuffs, he was ready for it. And as he sat on Randolf Street in protest with the others, the rains came pouring down.

The Apostle Paul wrestles with this, giving-up of his privilege, when writing to the Corinthians in the 2nd Reading. He is able to boast of having much, he says. As an Israelite and Pharisee, he was at the top of his profession and religion. As a follower of Jesus, he was called by the Spirit of Jesus himself, and he had had visions of the third heaven, of Paradise, given to him, that would prove his higher status. But he gives it all up for Christ, who told him, “’My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me…;” says Paul, “for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

Even if many of us cannot identify with Paul’s strengths, still we can get the point he is making. The grace of God, and the vision of Paradise, can only be given to us as a gift. We cannot earn it or steal it away. Yet even in our weakness, we are loved and desired by God. As Pastor Nadia Bolz-Weber said at the last ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans 3 years ago, “This God [of ours] will use all of you. And not just your strengths, but your failures, and your failings, and your brokenness. …God's strength is perfected in human weakness. So your brokenness is fertile ground for a forgiving God to make something new and to make something beautiful. So don't ever think that, all you have to offer is your gifts."

Last Monday was my time to participate with six other clergy and lay leaders, in a Moral Monday civil disobedience, including Pastor Emily, Rabbi Rosen, and Epworth United Pastor Carol Hill. It took prayer and preparation with them, and yes, a willingness to sacrifice my privilege. It is not just that I stand with the poor and ask the rich to pay their fair share that motivates me to risk arrest. But that Jesus asks us to build the realm of God, to go out and heal and anoint the sick, to let the oppressed go free, and exorcise the evil spirits that are at the root of all that works against the kingdom of God.

The communities of faith that Jesus sent us out to build, are radical safe-houses, and churches, that are in some ways like other counter-cultural movements, using what we used to call, guerilla tactics, for instance. But what makes us different, and nothing like them, is our radical hospitality and openness. We are not covert, but welcoming to all. We are not forceful, but non-violent. We are not dogmatic, but open to a wide variety of beliefs. “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you,” said Jesus, “as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.” We are completely vulnerable and dependent on the hospitality of strangers. It doesn’t mean we don’t have an agenda, and clear values, of course, or that we shouldn’t be pro-active in our mission.

When I was arrested – maybe not as smiley as the bishop was – I used some of my solitary jail-time in prayer. One thing I prayed about was for the opportunity to use my privilege for good, and for change, being intensely aware of friends like Ralph, who don’t have such privilege. At CD training, Ralph asked for a time-out to thank us for what we were doing, because he would love to be there with us. Only he couldn’t, due to his prior arrests. Ralph, a former gang leader, and now a Cease-Fire worker, a family man and church goer, spent years in jail. He would not be accorded the same privilege of being released from jail, after a just a few hours, like myself, and the others with me were, and he couldn’t risk that because of his wife and 2 little boys. My favorite Marshall at our Moral Monday actions is Ralph, and one of the best at helping to keep everyone safe. I prayed my sacrifice might be one small step of solidarity between us, and our communities, and a sign of hope for Ralph, that we can bring the realm of God just a little closer.

I thanked God for our bishop and his first step of CD, that it might be a large witness, because of the office and his greater risk of privilege, and even for Kim for so graciously offering to hold his golf umbrella. I gave thanks for the hundreds of others who joined in the protest, including 3 more from Unity. And I prayed for all of you, for Unity Lutheran Church, that we may be the community of Christ in mission for our neighborhood. And I prayed for our governor and legislators, that they may be moved by the radical hospitality of our movement that I believe is founded on the one who risked all his privilege – family, clan and religion – and gave up his very life, that our neighborhood, and community, and world may know the realm and empire of God, and renounce the greed and neglect of an immoral budget.

Jesus is calling us to risk our privilege as a church, and to build a community of believers that includes everyone in our neighborhood. How do you hold together those of privilege, with those who have too often been oppressed and exploited? What has to give? What has to be protected? Who is welcome, and how do we do it? Who do we need to stand up to and shake their dust off of our feet? Why is it important to always continue inviting?

Jesus trusted his followers to build this community, the church, and gave us authority to do it. Why not us? Why not now?!

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The Land Toward Which They Were Going

Community Building, Rev. Fred Kinsey

Bishops' Best, Pastor Fred Kinsey Sermon

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