The only thing that felt Apocalyptic about Thanksgiving this weekend, was the full and pregnant feeling I had after eating and drinking to my hearts content.  Not sure if it was the plate of turkey and all the trimmings, or the dessert – or should I say desserts: pumpkin, apple and pecan pies – and I had one piece of each!  And so, ready to burst, a handful of us decided to go out for an evening walk and get a little exercise.  It was a beautiful Wisconsin night, above average temperatures and clear as a bell.  Far from the big city, the sky was lit mainly by the stars.  The Milky Way was clearly visible along with the 1,000 plus closer stars of our galaxy, and they were made all the brighter because the moon had been darkened in it’s new moon phase.  In the east, the orange-ish glow of Jupiter also stood out.  We could all pick out the Big Dipper, which sat on the northern horizon like a pot on the stove.  Then Mitchell, the youngest, called out, “Look, a shooting star!”  Suddenly, we were all on the look out for something to happen in the sky.  Was it a sign?  “Keep awake” –for you do not know when another star will fall!  But after a while we walked on, happy that the beauty of the sky seemed unchanged, the Dipper forever in the north, like a cherished old kitchen pan you can count on in the cabinet. 

As Jesus sat across from the Temple with Peter, James, John, and Andrew, he instructed them: “But in those days, after that suffering, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see ‘the Son of Man coming in clouds’ with great power and glory.”  

Chapter 13 of Mark is often called, “The Little Apocalypse”, after the apocalyptic passages in Isaiah and Daniel, and later in Revelation.  Albert Schweitzer popularized the Little Apocalypse, however inaccurately, about a century ago.  He believed that, when Jesus said “this generation will not pass away until all these things have taken place,” that Jesus meant his second coming would take place.  So, disappointed that Jesus’ prediction had not come true, Schweitzer left the church, though he continued to cling to the mission of Jesus, going to fulfill a life of good works overseas in Africa. 

Today we know that the Little Apocalypse was actually not just a disembodied prophecy about an other-worldly second coming, but a specific map of history happening in and around Jesus and the early church.  As in all Apocalyptic writing, it arises in times of great distress, like war and displacement.  Daniel, of course, was written amidst Israel’s hopelessness, exiled to Babylon, and it helped strengthen their faith when they were tempted to give up. Mark’s Little Apocalypse was written during, or immediately after, the Jewish War from A.D. 66-70, in which the Brigands of Israel were finally defeated by the Romans, and the Temple was destroyed and burned to the ground.  So apocalyptic – first and foremost – addresses the community in which it arises.

In the first verses of Chapter 13, the disciples marvel at the beauty of the Temple.  And Jesus responds: ‘Go ahead, take a good look at it’ –and it was a magnificent, with its meticulously milled, massive stones, the gold inlay, towering above the city of Jerusalem.  But Jesus predicts, “not one stone will be left here upon another; all will be thrown down.”  Then, sitting down on the Mount of Olives across the valley, the disciples ask him, “when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”  The whole rest of the chapter then, the Little Apocalypse, is Jesus’ answer to Peter, James, John and Andrew.  The wars he describes were the Jewish Wars of their generation.  Two of the worst earthquakes, we now know, happened in those years, of which Jesus makes mention.  The images of a ‘Son of Man’ coming in the clouds is almost a verbatim quote from Daniel.  And so today we know that Jesus’ prediction, that the Temple would fall, and he, the Son of Man would arise, did happen within a generation, or 40 years time.  And Jesus’ final word to the disciples as they look at the Temple from the Mount of Olives is, “Keep awake,” a message to them for the Passover festival about to take place, as much as it speaks to us today.   

And do the disciples keep awake?  Certainly not when they return to the Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives less than 48 hours later.  Jesus asks them to wait for him while he goes to pray and simply stay awake, stay on watch.  But three times they fall asleep, and then the Temple guard walk right up and arrest Jesus.  Not until the cross and resurrection, will they truly wake up! 

The “Little Apocalypse,” like earlier forms of it, are prophecies delivered in the midst of national crisis, which map a way out for a hopeless people.  As we too get more and more cautious and fearful in these times, lean more and more on simple and seemingly secure answers, Jesus, in the tradition of the prophets imagines a whole new world that God is going to bring even as we see the sky falling.  Something new is about to break in!  The old is giving way, and we must give our undivided attention to it.  Endings are opportunities for new beginnings, and God will not be satisfied with former traditions that have lost there traction as the former things are passing away. 

I remember the first Faith-based Community Organizing Training I went to.  In a workshop, an eager but perplexed student, asked Stephen Bowman, one of the leaders, “it seems like we are being trained to be some rather radical change agents in our parishes, and yet most of our people are traditional in their faith.  How will we convince them?”  Without hesitation Stephen answered: “you don’t have to convince them.  The people of your parish are people with families that care about the communities they live in, and no matter how traditional people are, they will stand up for what is best for their family life and neighborhood.  Justice and fairness is in their interest.” 

The darkened sky’s and falling stars of apocalyptic times are sometimes misused by false prophets to fill us with fear, and take away the power we have as change agents in the world.  But Jesus gives us a real map to follow through times of crisis and testing.  Jesus empowers us, during days where hope is in short supply and we are unsure if we even have a future, in days such as these when we face tough economic times, both in our society and in our congregational budget, and even the powers of heaven look shaken up. 

We know this is true because Jesus, the Son of Man, assures us that he is also the Son of God.  When in times of great peril, the Temple, the place where God had traditionally resided for centuries, was falling down, Jesus gave up his body, his life, to be raised as a new temple, a much more universal and available temple, where all could see and meet God wherever they live, and worship.  And miraculously, we, the Gentiles, were invited in!

We too, Keep Awake, knowing that the Son of God is alive, and will lead us through all uncertainty, offering us courage and a way through every fearful day and hour.  On this first Sunday of Advent, we have hope.  The world is so full of excess and false leaders, but it is also pregnant with a new Savior, about to be born into our world, born as one of us.  “Keep Awake!”  

‘Each week, the TV show, “Undercover Boss,” follows a different executive as they leave the comfort of their corner office for an undercover assignment.  Their mission?  To examine the inner workings of their own companies!  Working alongside their employees, they see the effects that their decisions have on others, where the problems lie within their organizations, and they get an up-close look at both the good and the bad, while discovering the unsung heroes who make their companies run.  To the utter surprise of the employees, the CEO reveals his or her true identity at the end of the show.  They meet face to face and share in a conversation about their company. 

It sounds a lot like what Jesus reveals to his disciples in this Christ the King gospel reading from Matthew. "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him." Then, to everyone's surprise, he will reveal that he has been undercover among them for some time, but truly a different kind of boss.

When Todd Ricketts became CEO of the Chicago Cubs, he took a turn on “Undercover Boss” and went into the beloved stands of Wrigley Field as –you guessed it- a beer vendor.  In conversation with them afterwards, Ricketts revealed that he was impressed with the good humor and strong work ethic, which his staff had as they faced daunting challenges, demanding fans, and discouraging games.’  Certainly that was true if Mr. Rickets happened to have run into Lois Lyse, long time Unity member, hard working, good humored, and an usher at Wrigley Field for a dozen or more years.  ‘It may be scandalous to compare Christ with a beer vendor--especially for the perpetually losing Cubs--but it’s encouraging to think that the Son of Man, our "enthroned king" might actually be happy with the work we're doing’ under discouraging conditions, demanding times, with sometimes daunting challenges. ( HYPERLINK "http://www.christiancentury.org/contributor/christine-chakoian" Christine Chakoian, Christian Century)   "You who are blessed by my Father,” says Jesus, “well done, good and trustworthy servant.” 

The contemporary Icon of Jesus I posted on the Friday Constant Contact email called, Christ in the Margins, portrays Jesus, looking through a barbed wire fence, his pierced hands grasping the strands of wire.  And, as you contemplate it, it makes you wonder, is Jesus inside, looking out from this confinement, or outside, looking in? 

On this final Sunday of the Church Year, Christ the King Sunday, the sweep of Jesus life is now revealed.  Jesus, the innocent victim of judgment, had become Judge at the end.  Jesus is reigning from an apocalyptic throne at the right hand of God, but he derives his glory from his servanthood, his acceptance of the cup God gave him to drink, as the crucified king.  Jesus, who knew defeat, is now victorious!  He is all-powerful, in his vulnerability.  Jesus came to reveal the realm and kingdom of God, a wholly other culture of life, emptying himself here in the midst of our human culture of death – or as the Hymn of the Day says, “a different rule of righteousness, a different kind of king.” 

And that’s also how Matthew describes the sheep at the kings’ right hand, “the righteous.”  The righteous ones are those “blessed by God and who inherit the kingdom prepared for them since the foundation of the world.”  Much like those who are “blessed” in the Beatitudes – the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness – the coming Son of Man chooses the sheep, not for their knowledge of doctrine or their good standing in the community, but for their actions toward “the least of these” here in the kingdom of this world.  The Son of Man welcomes those who care for the hungry and thirsty, the stranger and the naked, the sick and imprisoned. 

Jesus, like Todd Ricketts posing as a beer vender, goes undercover in our world.  Not just to be judgmental, but to tell us ahead of time, to prophecy, and to illuminate the kingdom of heaven for us already, now.  Jesus invites us to be followers, and to join him on the journey.  In a sense, the journey, our discipleship, is all we have here, punctuated by the occasional and unpredictable mountain top experience of arrival. 

So the choosing of sheep and goats reveals most of all that, “just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.”  Jesus not only reaches out to the least of these, he is one of them, the hungry and thirsty, the outcast and naked, the sick and imprisoned.  If you love Jesus, if you are a follower, it will become a part of who you are.  The way to God is the way of Jesus.  And the way of Jesus is to instinctively care for the least of these, knowing that we are dependent on one another.  How do we know?  Because of the gospel good-news.  Interestingly, the disciples, pre-Easter, did not know.  They have to ask Jesus, “when was it that we saw you hungry or thirsty, outcast or naked, sick or imprisoned?” 

Whether a sheep or a goat, they don’t know.  They have to ask.  But we, on this side of the grave, know already.  Christ is risen!  The cat is out of the bag!  The victim, has become the Victor!  Jesus is on both sides of the barbed wire fence – the prisoner has come to set us free!  The beer-vender-boss, knows us inside and out, has lived our life and invites us to follow him into a life of service, and blessedness. 

The culture of this world, with it’s promise to reward the successful with more success, teaching them to lord it over others, has been inverted and overcome by Jesus.  Following Jesus to the cross we experience the power of love, a stumbling block to the world.  Jesus, the one judged on the cross, is the merciful Judge at the end.  We learn forgiveness in Jesus’ pardon of his executioners, and view the threshold of a new culture of life, in living for the least of these. 

The God on high, a ruler we so wish to save and protect us, comes and humbles himself to live among us in human form precisely as one of the least of these.  This is truly a different kind of undercover boss and king.  Jesus ushered in the culture of love and justice that can unite the world, and create abundant life.  This is the culture prepared for us from the foundation of the world.  The end has been revealed – and this good-news will not be put back in the box.  “Come to the banquet – you who have been blessed by my Father,” eat and be satisfied – for I am with you, even now, until the end!  

For it is as if a banker, going on a cruise around the world, called a meeting of his vice presidents, and entrusted the company to them.  Make loans to any family you can, who wants to be a home-owner.  I don’t care what they have for a down payment, 10 %, 5%; don’t worry about their credit risk or job situation.  Just make the loan, we have to compete!  And, in the mean time, I’ve got my managers in the finance department working on those new Credit Default Swaps, 24/7.  They’re like, blipping golden!  It’s, heads we win, tails they lose.  The markets love it.  And I promise, we’ll all get handsome bonuses when I get back.  Any questions?  Good, get to work! 

And so his servants eagerly rolled up their sleeves.  It was their chance to shine, and they knew what he wanted for the company.  They learned how to cozy up to the Federal Trade Commission and minimize their criminal risk, and how to pay politicians for their elections, and the media reported prosperity for all, as they hailed the steady climb of the almighty markets.  Those entrusted with 2 talents made 4, and those with 5 talents turned it into 10.  It was all working, and they sat in the lap of “abundance” more and more.  No one said anything about how the loans they made weren’t backed up by much of anything, and practically no one knew how the company stood to gain even more if the CDS’s were defaulted on – basically they were a trade that has a high probability of doing nothing, but a small possibility of producing a nice return.  Upside with no downside. (Wikipedia) 

But the one who had received the one talent went off and hid it in a plain old savings account, in his neighborhood bank. 

After a long while the banker returned from his cruise to settle accounts.  The ones who had doubled their money in the markets, and by making loans to new home-owners, were praised by the bank owner.  ‘Well done good and trustworthy vice presidents.  You have been trustworthy with just a few of my billions, I will put in charge of many more.’  “Come on in and share my happiness.” (Edward Sweitzer trans.) 

But the one who received the one talent was not so lucky.  Master, I knew that you were a harsh man and you didn’t care about bending the rules to earn more and more money, even from those you didn’t know, and in neighborhoods you’ve never set foot.  So I was afraid to lose it and I went and put it in a conservative savings account where I live.  But I’m sorry to say, because the bank defaulted and was closed in the Great Recession, and my house is under water, it’ll be a while before I can pay you back. 

But the rich owner said, you “lazy” bum.  I knew you didn’t have it in you.  If you knew how I was passionate about making money, why didn’t you learn how to invest, and bundle CDS’s in the market, and show me you’re worthy of living like a king?  I’m sorry, but you’ll have to give your house to J. P. Stanley Sachs over here with the 10 talents.  “For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”  And another thing, you’re fired. 

How do we view God in this gospel parable today?  Although it is about money – a Talent, by the way, equaled at least 15 years of annual earnings – still, the purpose of parables, is to teach us, and challenge us, about the kind of God that is revealed in Jesus. 

This is one of only two parables in Matthew that do not begin with the familiar, “The kingdom of God is like…” introduction.  Does it make a difference?  Is the rich owner to be compared to God, and to Jesus, in this parable, or not?  There are so many ways to turn it and see it, yet, nothing seems to add up in the parable, if you know what I mean, to make a coherent picture of who God is!  If the rich owner is God, the analogy is often made to the generosity of a God giving us good gifts, like the 5 Talents, an amazingly large sum.  But how does this square with a God who punishes a guy, who only tried to hold on to the master’s money and not risk losing it.  Especially when you compare it to the parable shortly before this about the Unforgiving Servant who was also entrusted with large sums of the master’s money, and though he squandered it, wasn’t thrown into the outer darkness, but gets pardoned – instead of being punished, was given generous grace!  And, turning the parable another way, we find that the one who hid the money in the ground, was only performing what was the standard practice of the day.  Believe it or not, people did bury their money for safe keeping.  While “usury,” on the other hand, investing your money with a banker to make interest, was expressly prohibited in the Hebrew Bible.  And so, as we try to get a handle on who God is, nothing adds up in this story. 

But, in trying to read this parable with fresh eyes and an open heart, it suddenly hit me like a ton of bricks, when I heard the rich owner say, “For to those who have, more will be given and they will have an abundance; and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”  In our context today then, the rich owner is just the opposite of what Jesus has been preaching throughout this gospel.  This might very well be the story of greed in the world, told through the down to earth example of a very unfair bank owner, who rigged the system in his favor, invited in all those who wanted to play his game, and didn’t care about the losers, in fact, blamed them, called them lazy, and deserving of what they got.  At least on one level, it’s a parable about the Great Recession we’re in, and how our society is stuck. 

It’s no coincidence either, that this story falls right before next week’s gospel for the last Sunday in Pentecost, Christ the King Sunday, and the story about the separation of the sheep and the goats.  Today’s story is really just Part I of a two part episode.  Stay tuned!  In next week’s gospel, Jesus reveals the real judgment, reminding and amazing us once again, who God is.  Jesus welcomes the sheep -- those who care for the ones who have lost their savings, their pensions, and their homes, while the goats who ignored them, get anything but eternal happiness!

Jesus’ practice has been to reach out to the marginalized, and bless the poor in spirit, the meek, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.  He never preached that ‘the rich deserve to get richer, and those that have nothing should lose everything.’  You might hear that from a pulpit preaching the Prosperity Gospel.  But the God we know from Jesus’ words and deeds, is a God who welcomes all servants of healing and loving, giving and sharing.  And that’s a whole different banquet of joy than the invitation to come on in and share the happy spoils of the rich owner.  If we know nothing else from Jesus’ teaching, we know that his giving knows no ending, and that it is his love for us, that is a deep well of endless riches – a whole different banquet!  Come on in and share the joy of this feast!  

One of the standard chants of all the Occupy Movements – whether Occupy Chicago, Occupy Wall Street, or any of the dozens around the country – goes like this: A leaders calls, “Tell me what democracy looks like!”  And the crowd responds, “This is what democracy looks like!”  If you’ve been there in person its pretty compelling, especially when a whole street full of Occupiers, accompanied by drums, stretching shoulder to shoulder for blocks, chants together, in one booming voice.  On the one hand it lifts up the people, in that moment, as the brokers of their own fate, and on the other hand, it unveils for everyone a symbolism of the many, the 99%, in all their diversity, whether present or not. 

In the Book of Revelation, John hears, and sees, the broad based universal multitude of every tribe and nation, street-ful after street-ful, of those chanting and singing to God and to the Lamb.  “I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count,” says John,  “from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands.  They cried out in a loud voice,” and were joined by “all the angels, singing, Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever!” 

This is the Hymn of Praise we sang this morning as we gave thanks, and remembered our baptisms, in the beginning of the service.  Revelation is full of songs and praises, full of beautiful and awesome symbolism and images, containing both auditory and visual art, and one of the most quoted in ours, and many liturgical traditions.  And so, this is not a book of history, or some kind of ‘script for the end-times,’ as it is so often miss-used.  As for those who have been trying to predict the apocalyptic end of the world, for the last couple hundred years, adjusting and readjusting the date, and so far, failed, each and every time, Revelation has been a key source for their predictions.  But only because they think it’s about them!  That the end will conveniently happen in their life-time.  I say, lighten up!  Understand that the terrifying description of battles is a kind of symbolic language for the war God is waging against the Devil.  And listen to the beauty of the Hymn of Praise and see the wonderful images that invite us to join the banqueting feast of victory, yes, in our own life time, but also in every age, and for all time.  The Victory, in Christ is assured, in the end.  Whenever the end will be!  Christ has triumphed, and that liberates us today, and gives us great freedom to live our lives every day with courage and confidence. 

Join the victory celebration of good news.  Bang the drum!  This is what the realm of God looks like! 

And, this is what the Beatitudes celebrate.  Again, not literally, but symbolically, and proleptically.  That is, they reach back from God’s assured victory in the end, into our own lives now, inviting us to be confident and courageous in our victory in Christ.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, and the peacemakers, for theirs is the realm of God.”  In Jesus’ eyes, this multitude of the faithful, all these saints, the street-full of the multitudes, are blessed now, and held in the palm of God’s hand until the final victory. 

God works in a world of symbolism, as well as our flesh and blood lives.  God slays the dragon and fights the enemies that surround us.  The powers of evil that seek to turn our world against the good, and the just, and those banqueting together in peace, confront a strong and righteous savior, ‘the Lord of lords, and the King of kings.’ 

In Revelation, it looks like that will be the lion, for the first 5 chapter of the book.  The lion, especially in the symbolic world of Apocalyptic literature, was usually the Victor, the great and terrible beast who was undefeatable.  And that looks like how the story is going to go, until we get to this section, in Revelation.  And then, with an unusual surprise and reversal, it’s not the lion, but in our common Christian story, it’s the Lamb, the one who brings us out of the great ordeal.  We who “have washed [our] robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” we are saved by a Victorious – lamb!  Jesus is the Lamb, the little Lamb-kin, or, “Fluffy” as Lutheran Pastor Daniel Erlander says tongue-in-check, who brings us victory not by a great a terrible apocalyptic conflict or war, but in the end, by his shed blood.  By giving his life, lifted up on the cross – foolishness to us, as St Paul says – the Lamb, the innocent creature with no ‘mark’ of triumph or victory – except, to our eyes, the ‘mark of the nails in his hands, and the spear in his side.’  This is our savior, an agent of God’s purposes to transform the world.   

BTW- Have you seen the “Spoon River” performance yet?  Tonight’s the last performance!  I saw the matinee yesterday with my mom and my sister and brother-in-law, and loved the large and talented cast, each one playing a multitude of characters, who tell their stories, one by one, as they rise up from their graves in the cemetery – symbolically of course!  And oh, what a story they have to tell!  One or two with sweet or happy endings, but more often, scandalous in their honesty, of lives filled with betrayal, secrets, deep wounds and unresolved pain.  These are our lives too.  The existential reality of our human nature with all its longings and hurt, our lives in the shape of questions that can only be answered, and ultimately fulfilled, in the feast of victory prepared for us by the Lamb who was slain, and has already begun his reign.  In knowing the end we gain courage and confidence for the journey.  With that confidence, we can join in the Hymn of Praise from Revelation: “Blessing, honor, glory and might be to God and the Lamb forever. Amen.”   

In our song of praise on this All Saints Sunday, we lift up two names of those saints who died from our multitude this year, Jim Taylor and Harry Stillwell, they who now dwell with all the saints who have gone before us.  “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted,” Jesus declares to us!  And so we also lift up all those loved ones you have written in the Book of Names, and they will be read aloud, as we confidently and courageously sing “Blest are They,” and as we light candles and offer prayers, as we receive anointing for healing and wholeness, as we march around to the prayer areas, a great multitude, surrounded by all the saints, above and below.  We hear the blessings, and we see the heavenly host, and we join our Alleluia’s with all of their alleluia’s. 

               It’s a spiritually deep and unique celebration, knowing “God will wipe away every tear from [our] eyes.”  Bang the drum, and, “Tell me what the realm of God looks like?”  This is what the realm of God looks like!  

I’m totally with the Judeans.  Jesus, what do you mean by suggesting I’m enslaved to anyone and need to be freed?  I’m an American – we’re not in bondage to anyone!  We’re the flagship of freedom!  As the Judeans said to Jesus, “we are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone.”  So we might say: we are descendants of the American Revolution and will not be slaves to anyone.

Just so, Jesus has us baited, sets the hook, and reels us in!  “If you continue in my word, you will know the truth,” he said, “and the truth will make you free.”  Jesus hadn’t said anything about slavery before the Judeans, those leaders in Jerusalem, brought it up.  They assumed that’s what he meant, when he was teaching in the Temple.  Which is all wonderfully ironic, given that, after Abraham and Sarah, they actually were slaves in Egypt for hundreds of years, until Moses led them back home.  And, even as they spoke with Jesus, they were under the thumb of the Romans.  And likewise, it’s tragic for us, in that, one race and creed of people enslaved another race and color of people for hundreds of years, right here in ‘the land of the free.’  By our denial, Jesus reels us in, and points us to exactly what he means about sin and freedom.

Jesus is talking about the slavery of sin that each and every one of us are born into, a condition that we all are entangled in.  It’s more than making a mistake here or there, our individual sins, although, we all have these, as well.  But Jesus means, the sin of not being able to trust others, worrying that they may take advantage of us, afraid there isn’t enough to go around, so I better get mine first.  The kind of sin that makes it hard for me to share with others, building barns to store up treasures for myself, locked away from the common good, as we become estranged and separated from one another. 

This is a larger, corporate nature of sin, a condition which we all participate in and ‘cannot free ourselves from,’ the sinfulness of separation from God, and from one another.  “For there is no distinction,” as Paul said, “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” 

This is when the invitation to the freedom Jesus offers, starts to sound more appealing!  This good news that “if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!”  Jesus frees us from the curse of the Garden of Eden.  Where paradise was once lost, now it is opened again.  In the garden, outside Jesus’ tomb, Mary Magdalene mistook Jesus for a gardener on the morning of his resurrection.  On that first day of the week, the beginning of a new creation, Jesus made a way out of no way for all of us to re-enter the new Garden of Eden, the realm of God – “if we continue in his word and are truly his disciples.”  Because, in the garden, God makes wide steps for us.  In the ecology of God’s garden, there is grace, room to make mistakes and to sin, and also to forgive one another and find healing and new life.  This is the responsibility God tasked us with as care-takers of creation.  We cannot make our own paradise, but as Jesus’ disciples, we can know the way, the path that leads to, and around, the Garden.   

In a wonderful way the ecology of our world is like this, a big garden, our biosphere, created ‘very good’ by God, a diverse and inter-dependent ecology, with forgiveness for us, within its created limits.  As in the creation story, God made safe boundaries, separating the dry land from the waters, providing vegetation and animals for food, as long as we care for this ‘very good’ bio-diverse world.  As long as we care for one another, and share, out of the abundance of all God has provided. 

In our life times, however, we have pushed the biosphere beyond its capacity.  Signs of global warming in our science and our weather, speak in a prophetic way to the excesses of our over-consumption.  The eco-boundaries of planet earth have exceeded its capacity to recycle our carbon dioxide that we produce.  And of course tomorrow, October 31, you know what happens.  No, not Halloween.  The earth’s population will reach 7 billion for the first time.  Which has it’s own set of issues for using the earth’s resources.

What shape does confession and forgiveness take in this context?  Who will take the first step in trusting that we can live again together in the new world, the new biosphere, the Garden of Jesus’ resurrection, beyond our race to hoard fossil fuel’s and burn carbon based products past mother earth’s tolerance? 

Last Sunday, Unity received the “ComEd Congregational Challenge” award, “In Recognition of Outstanding Energy Conservation Efforts,” a pleasant surprise in the life of our ‘caring for creation’ efforts, and, something to celebrate!  Will it save the world?  Not hardly!  Nothing we do, whatever the size of our efforts, can free us from our bondage to sin.  It’s a relatively modest step to have retrofit our old energy-guzzling lights and Exit signs with new high efficient bulbs, and to have calked and sealed our leaky stained glass windows for the winter.  But it is a great example for us, and for others, that we can trust one another enough to take a step into the biosphere of God’s grace, the Garden of sharing generously of what God has first given us. 

The reformers of the church prized ‘freedom from’ the tyranny of corrupt religious authorities, and ‘freedom for’ the gospel good news for all.  That freedom gave courage to let old structures die, so that many could come to know the saving grace of the word in scripture for the first time.  Lord, keep us steadfast in your Word, curb us who by deceiving ourselves, and others, would bring all that God has made, to naught. 

‘We are an urban green space,’ with a beautiful Garden out front.  May our “green space” remind us of the Garden of Eden, a gift of abundant life, and enough to live within safe boundaries.  And also of the Resurrection Garden, where Jesus, who like a seed planted in the ground must first die, rose to new life.  Though we are slaves to sin as part of our human condition, together, as the Body of Christ, we are raised to live anew.  And as Jesus’ disciples, steadfast in his word, and fed at the feasting table, we find true freedom in generously giving away, out of the store of God’s abundant gifts!