Readings for October 23, 2016 + Pentecost 23, Lectionary 30C

• Jeremiah 14:7-10, 19-22 and Psalm 84:1-7  
• 2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18  
• Luke 18:9-14

Baptismal Pilgrimage, by Pastor Kinsey
I’ve visited some pretty awesome cathedrals in Europe.  In Rome, Paris and Cologne, and many cities in between.  The different styles of Romanesque, Orthodox, and Gothic, span many centuries, easily back before 1000 A.D.  My favorite though, was the Cathedral in Chartres which, some 900 years later, has aged exceptionally well.  The building's exterior is dominated by heavy flying buttresses which allowed architects to increase the window size significantly, and oh, the stained glass windows!  Their beauty is exceeded only by their ability to illuminate and tell the stories of the bible.  Virtually unharmed through two World Wars, the structure has seen only minor changes to its two contrasting spires and the three great façades, adorned with hundreds of sculpted figures, as you enter through its large wooden doors.
 
“How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!” cries the Psalmist.  “My soul longs, indeed it faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.”  Psalm 84, as we have heard today, is a psalm written by the Korahites who were the doorkeepers of the Temple in Jerusalem on Mt. Zion.  It was a song the pilgrims sang in praise of God, as they approach the Temple to worship the LORD.  And its dwelling place was indeed lovely!  Magnificent!  It was said to be blindingly beautiful when approached from the main road rising up from Jericho, in the east, when the sun reflected off the gold plated frontal, high above the temple mount, and the whole city. 
 
It reminds me of the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the Five Pillars of Islam, where Muslims rejoice to travel, sometimes long distances, at least once in their lifetimes, to worship by the millions, in the Great Mosque.  In Jesus’ time it was much the same.  Many made the pilgrimage yearly to Passover, and other festivals, singing praises to YHWH.  “5 Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion... 7 They go from strength to strength; the God of gods will be seen in Zion.”
 
In this Pentecost season, as we’ve been reading through the parables, miracles and sayings of Jesus, in the gospel of Luke this year, we’ve been noting how Jesus has been on one long pilgrimage, or journey, himself.  Already in the first half of Luke, Luke told us that, “Jesus has set his face to go to Jerusalem,” a sign of his intentional resoluteness.  Along the way, he’s been defining and clarifying his message of the arrival, of the kingdom and realm of God, in his person, his life.  And knowing all the while, that when he arrives, his life will be offered up, and poured out, in Jerusalem, for the sake of the world.  What we don’t yet know, is that this pilgrimage Jesus is on, will end in at the Passover festival itself, that he will be sacrificed, like a Lamb who’s blood once set God’s people free from bondage in Egypt, which is what this major spring festival of the year is all about, in Jerusalem – a liberty, and setting us free from all the forces that defy and rebel against God. 
 
Jesus, though, is more ambivalent about Jerusalem and the house of the LORD, than the Psalmist is.  While he knows its beauty, and has worshiped there himself, Jesus also knows that prophets are not welcome to speak freely there.
 
So, when Jesus arrives, will the Korahites, the door keepers of the Temple, open up to Jesus, as they do daily for all the other pilgrims coming to Jerusalem?  And what about us?  Are we – as the door keepers for our church – welcoming and open?  What are the rules for entering our sanctuary, or for joining in the worship of God, in this place? 
 
A seminar professor, (Dwayne Howell cf. Workingpreacher.org) recalls the days when he was a seminary student, and how he got a job as a custodian in a neighboring church, to help pay for his tuition.  It was his dream job, he said!  A gothic beauty, the old church was full of history.  He was mostly on his own there, and took great pride in what he did, even looking for what extra he could do, in maintaining the church. For a time, like the Korahites, he was truly a “doorkeeper”, since it was his job to ‘lock-up’ each evening.  But along the way, something changed with his attitude about the job.  Instead of preparing the church for others, he began trying to protect the church, from others.  He didn’t want others to come in and mess up the church!  He actually tried to keep people from being, the Church, that is, joining together to fellowship and worship.
 
It’s true, a doorkeeper can serve, in one of two ways: first of all, as a “greeter,” welcoming others; or, secondly, as a “bouncer”, keeping other people from entering.  To act as a bouncer, however, disregards the purpose of the church.  It’s as if one says “I know how to do church better.”  And, it also directly challenges God who has ultimate authority over the entrance.
 
As doorkeepers who are greeters, we are here to prepare a place for others, and to share in the excitement with those others, God sends us.  This is a place of safety and peace, in the midst of a world of constant noise, increasing disrespect for one another, and the assumption that the world is just a product for our instant gratification.  And so, when we come here, we come with the sometimes weary, and always solemn need, to reconnect with our authentic selves, in all of our wonderful and unlimited diversity, to hear and digest our LORD in Word and Meal, which refreshes us and sets us free from our bondage, and that gives us courage to remember who we are, and what our mission is all about, so that we can be Sent back out into our lives, confidently, to be disciples in God’s world. 
 
Today we open the doors of Unity in joy and hospitality, to welcome Alex to this font of blessing, the baptismal waters of refreshment, where salvation and the Holy Spirit reside, and the waters are the pools of God’s never ending grace and love.  “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts!  …Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O lord of hosts, my King and my God.”
 
In Paul’s 2nd letter to Timothy, today, Paul knows his days are numbered, and he can see the end of his pilgrimage.  But he sounds more like he is preparing for his baptism, for some kind of transformation, and victory!  “6As for me,” says Paul, “my life is an offering being poured out on God’s altar, and the time of my departure has come.  7I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  8From now on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me on that day.  [And] The Lord will do right not only by me, but by everyone eager for his coming.” 
 
When Jesus reaches Jerusalem, he will pour out his life too.  As the Lamb of God, he is more than a martyr, or rising phoenix.  Jesus is the gift of life who exposes, and brings to light, our sin and bondage to the powers of death, that have held us prisoner’s throughout the ages.  And in Baptism, we can now imitate Jesus’ life-giving pilgrimage, instead of chasing after the failed models of our fallen world. 
 
Joined to the death and resurrection of Christ in baptism, we are reborn inheritors of eternal life, and have nothing to fear, for not even death can win!  We are claimed and named Christian, at the font of life.  And, freed from bondage, we go out renewed and refreshed, to share this powerful word, with all the world.  

Readings for October 16, 2016, Pentecost 22, Lectionary 29C

• Genesis 32:22-31 and Psalm 121  
• 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5  
• Luke 18:1-8

Wrestling Match, by Pastor Kinsey
In high school I had the wrestling coach for my Phy Ed teacher one semester, and he taught the whole class the fundamentals of wrestling.  It was the first time I had ever seen the wrestling room, a claustrophobic space covered with mats, in the basement of our old high school.  And the walls were plastered with pithy slogans about striving to win and not to “lose heart,” like: “Sometimes it’s not how good you are, but how bad you want it”; and, “Live fast, fight hard”; and, “Make your competitive juices, overcome your excuses”.  But my all-time favorite is the one written on the ceiling, which said – If you can read this, you’re already beaten! 
 
I surprised myself, in my wrestling ability, however, going undefeated in my weight class.  And apparently, I surprised the wrestling coach too.  When the class was over, he approached me to ask me, to seriously think about joining the Junior Varsity wrestling team he coached.  He thought that, with a bit more instruction and training, I might have a career in conference wrestling.  I’d never thought of myself as a wrestler.  I was aiming to make it on the basketball team, which was also a winter sport.  But when I look back, I’m pretty sure where my wrestling ability came from – my brother Dave!  Growing up, we never lost heart for wrestling each other, as brothers of the same size are want to do.  We wrestled on our beds, on the floor in every room, until my mom couldn’t take it anymore and sent us outside, where we wrestled in the yard.  And we went at it with our whole hearts, until we pretty much came to a draw, because we were so evenly matched. 
 
Well, I never joined the wrestling team, and maybe that was unfortunate, because I never became much more than a bench warmer, on the JV basketball team either!
 
Wrestling is a prime theme in our readings today.  Jacob – of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob fame, who with his mother’s help, stole his birthright from his twin brother Esau – literally wrestles with “a man until daybreak.”  The “man” – who is also referred to as God, later on, or as an angel, in some traditions – is the one who approaches and initiates the encounter with Jacob. 
 
It’s fascinating that the divine-being-in-human-form is not able to “prevail against Jacob.”  He is not a giant or a supernatural man, but a human-form-of-God, in some way.  This God-in-human, is not omnipotent, but limited in his incarnation, and is unable to win outright.  God and Jacob come to some kind of a draw.  Even the act of striking him, and putting Jacob’s hip out of joint, doesn’t free-up this divine Angel wrestler.  So he asks Jacob to let him go, because it’s almost daybreak, to prevent Jacob from seeing God face to face, which no one can endure in this world.  And still Jacob bargains for more, locked in battle beside the Jabbok river, saying, “I will not let you go, unless you bless me.”  And so God gives Jacob a new name, Israel, meaning “you have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed.”  This is God’s blessing – and a new understanding for Jacob, of himself. 
 
Does this mean, that all of us need to schedule a wrestle match with God in order to receive a blessing?  I suspect we all have our times of wrestling with God, even if we don’t always come out with a blessing, quite so clear, if at all.  But just as God first comes to Jacob, God comes to us and initiates contact with us, striking us with a blessing.  Bu Grace, God sends faith to us, which we receive and develop through baptism, in our own faith journey’s, as we “ask God to help and guide us.”  God blesses us with a new name, in baptism, Christian!  Engaged by God, our journey is a kind of wrestling, in a good way! 
 
The other wrestler in our readings is the unnamed woman who persistently petitions a local judge for justice.  Her tenacity is so great, she merits a story to be told about her!  Widows, we know, were often talked about in the same breath with orphans and foreigners, that is, as having no standing in the community.  Widows were needy and powerless, in Jewish and Christian circles.  No widow was supposed to be in court asking for anything.  That’s a non-starter!  Her only hope was charity and the good graces of others.  There was no law, no case, for the judge to rule on!  And yet, after her continual pleading for justice, the “judge said to himself, though I have no fear of God and no respect for anyone, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will grant her justice, so that she may not wear me out by continually coming!”  This is a widow who knows her wrestling slogan: “Make your competitive juices overcome your excuses!” 
 
But does this mean that God is like an indifferent and uncaring Judge?  And should we expect we have to nag God, to be about doing justice in the world?  What is helpful for me, is remembering that this is a parable of comparison.  In other words:  If even the unjust Judge will give in to the ceaseless petitions of the widow, how much more will God, who is just, grant our prayers and petitions! 
 
In the end, I have to wonder if the main take-away of this parable, is primarily about God?  Or, is it more about us, and who we are, as a people of faith?  If we look at the introduction and conclusion to the parable, isn’t that more the picture we get?  “Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart,” is Jesus’ introduction.  And then unpacking it at the end he says, and “…when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”  
 
When we see it in this way, about us, as much, or more, than about God, we see how it is about our faith journey, in relationship to God.  Losing heart, is challenged by our praying always, and often.  Losing heart, happens when we have no support from our community of faith, when we feel alone and unsupported.  But faithful living is staying in touch with God, and our baptismal sisters and brothers.  Being persistent in faith and prayer is just who we are.  Praying always and having faith, are two sides of the same coin. 
 
“…the widow in Jesus’ parable is the very picture of purposefulness and precision,” says Debie Thomas.  “She knows her need, she knows its urgency, and she knows exactly where to go and whom to ask in order to get her need met. If anything, the daily business of getting up, getting dressed, heading over to the judge’s house or workplace, banging on his door, and talking his ear off until he listens, clarifies her own sense of who she is and what she’s about.”  As the wrestlers say, Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard!
 
In our wrestling with God, we find out, more and more, who we are.  In our faith journey, when we don’t let go, when we pursue a blessing with all we have, we discover how close God is -sweating with us- as we wrestle through the proverbial night, and until we see, the light of day! 
 
In Jacob’s story, we learn that wrestling is not only important, but is possible at all, because our God, is close to us, and cares deeply about us.  Our God is vulnerable, takes the form of fellow human beings, to knowingly risk everything, in order to be by our side – teach us, touch us, wrestle with us, strengthen us, challenge us, engage us mind and body, so that we are opened in a new way to the will of God, changed, that God’s world would be seen for what it is, a beautiful gift that is ours in all its fragility, so that we might know, we are its care takers, as we are, of one another. 
 
God does not prevail against Jacob, in the all-night wrestling match, and is willing to concede that as the divine One, in order to leave before daylight and preserve Jacob’s life.  God is vulnerable in God’s incarnation, and cares for Jacob’s future.
 
This is the God we also know in Christ Jesus, whose incarnation – as God in human form – left him vulnerable to the machinations of a world, aching from brokenness, and exploited by the mighty ones he came to bring low – sacrificing everything for us.  Jesus’ journey of faith and wrestling match – as he came to know, and understand, more and more, on his walk to Jerusalem – meant he would allow himself not to prevail against his enemies, but love them, making it appear to the world, as if all had been lost, hanging on the tree of the cross.  Yet, this gift, sealed a message very different and contrary to the world’s – that God lifts up the lowly righteous ones, and that his crucifixion, it turns out, was not a death that could hold  him, but is our Tree of Life – and our promise of victory.