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Thanksgiving Proclamation

11/29/2021

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Readings for Advent 1C, November 28, 2021​
  • Jeremiah 33:14-16  
  • Psalm 25:1-10  
  • 1 Thessalonians 3:9-13  
  • Luke 21:25-36

Thanksgivng Proclamation, by Rev. Fred Kinsey

“Jesus said: “There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations…”
 
The distress that was building up among the nations in 1st Century Palestine was central to the apocalyptic signs Jesus was naming – and everything that went wrong, seemed like a sign!  But the point was, as Jesus said, “Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down” by all these stressors.  And, so that, they don’t “catch you unexpectedly, like a trap,” and traumatize you.  But, “Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things, …and to stand before the Son of Man.” 
 
Jesus believed, that defending Israel against the Roman Empire, militarily, was not only futile, but, an unsustainable tactic against any nation or empire.  He counseled fleeing the war in 70AD.  But also, more critically, to be ready to rebuild as communities of faith, congregations, spiritual cells of God’s kingdom, stronger, from the ground up, as an act of faithfulness, and as a reflection of the kingdom and realm of heaven, here on earth.  This is what was meant by escaping all these things, and standing before the Son of Man. 
 
In other words, faithfulness was in reading the signs, and creating a new world out the ashes, of the old one.  And so the question for us is:  ?What will we do in hard times as people of faith? 
 
Which brings to mind, for me, the history and meaning of this holiday weekend of Thanksgiving!  Most of us know that it was Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War, that established the Thanksgiving holiday for the whole nation.  But not everyone knows it was Sarah Josepha (Buell) Hale, a widow, and working-mother of five, a prolific writer of children’s poems and stories, a co-founder of Vassar College, an influential editor in her own right – who is known as, the, “Mother of Thanksgiving.” 
 
Sarah J. Hale began writing letters to Governors, Senators, and Presidents as early as the 1840’s, when tensions between north and south were increasing, to make the “occasional celebrations” of Thanksgiving, every since George Washington, into an annual, national holiday.  And it was her persistence and prominence in American culture, that has credited her as the single most influential person to finally setup Lincoln, for his famous proclamation.  Like Washington’s proclamation earlier, that asked Americans to give thanks for “the happy conclusion” to the Revolutionary War, Lincoln’s proclamation coincided with the turning tide in the midst of the Civil War, at the battle of Gettysburg, in PA. 
 
But amidst the strife of 1863, two years before the Civil War’s ending, the signs of bloodied battlefields, the sign of Confederate states who had willfully broken away from the Union, in order to preserve human trafficking, and deny that “all, are created equal,” made it hard to give thanks as a united country.  Preachers in the north, and preachers in the south, gave very different sermons on where God’s favor rested, during the war. 
 
But Sarah Josepha Hale’s campaign for a National Day of Thanksgiving was all about finding a way to move forward, and to reunite, as one nation, no matter their past sins.  “Thanksgiving is a festive[al] which will never become obsolete,” Sarah Hale predicted, “for it cherishes the best affections of the heart - the social, and domestic ties.” 
 
And although, Mrs. Hale was partly, maybe even mostly right, in a certain way, my Truth-O-Meter tells me that she was also, partly wrong.  United on paper, by the 13, 14, and 15 Amendments to the Constitution, just 5 years after the Civil War, we have never completely united around, “created equal.”  Chattel slavery may have ended with the Civil War, but discrimination based on race has continued through Reconstruction, Jim Crow, and Civil Rights, to this day.  ?When will we sit down at the same Thanksgiving table, black, brown and white, LGBTQIA+ and cis-gender, and truly be sisters, brothers, and siblings, united in purpose and belief? 
 
Our good intentions are just not enough.  And now, the virus of 1619 is spreading like a Covid variant, once again, in our very own Day, and never more clearly than we see in the hearings in the House for the January 6th insurrection -the uprising for a new Confederacy- as the hearings, slowly but surely come to a head, before our very eyes.  ?Will we have a country under the rule of law, wrestling honestly, albeit anemically at times, towards ‘equality for all?’  Or will we have a new White Supremacy form of government, as the Confederacy once conceived our nation in 1860? 
 
“Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength…” Jesus said.  Not to escape these things, but to “know that the kingdom of God is near.”  That we are alert to the signs, and we will know to prepare ourselves, even amidst the “distress” of our own “nation.” 
 
?What will we do in hard times as people of faith? 
 
As a people of faith, it ought to be easy for us to “stand up” and proclaim our allegiance, to the God of love and justice.  But too often we have remade God in our own image, worshiping at the altar of expediency and complacency, self-satisfied with the status quo and structures that continue to uphold our American Original sin. 
 
Perhaps we need some sort of a Day of “Christian Thanksgiving,” especially for White Affinity, like a Truth & Reconciliation movement, as a first step, on the way to equity.  ?Would this help us to know what season it is, that we are in, like a sprouting fig tree heralds the summer?  St. Paul, a Zealot, in life-long recovery, ever since his experience on the Road to Damascus, for his sins of persecuting the Jesus movement, threw his new resurrected-life, 100%, into proclaiming the Christ who was alive for all. 
 
And he joyously proclaimed thanksgivings for some of the smallest, but most telling signs, like the church he started at Thessalonica in Greece.  As one of his first congregations, on his first missionary journey, Paul wasn’t even sure if they even survived, after he left.  So, when he could, he sent his companion, Timothy to visit.  And the news Timothy brought back was surprisingly positive.  They were thriving, and supporting one another, in their new congregation, showing their neighbors what the love of God, looked like.  So Paul immediately writes back to them: “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy that we feel before our God because of you?”  “…May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, just as we abound in love for you.”  In the midst of an authoritarian Roman Empire, a small congregation thrived as a sign of God’s rule, and Paul gave thanks.
 
Sarah Cole and Abraham Lincoln, no doubt knew this: that our public Thanksgivings, soon enough, turn into love for one another, whenever, and wherever, it is a thanks, that is grounded in our Creator God. 
 
Paul wrote this letter to the Thessalonians from the cosmopolitan city of Corinth, where he was having a very rough time keeping this much more secular church together, and for whom he wrote his poem on love – that “love is kind, love does not insist on its own way, love never ends.”  The Corinthians, it seems, had yet to learn the lesson of Thanksgiving!   
 
But in the midst of Paul’s struggle in Corinth, good things were beginning to happen just down the road in Thessalonica.  Because, they were “alert at all times,” and seeing “the signs.” 
 
Let our Thanksgiving celebrations, this week, also be an opportunity to see and acknowledge the signs of distress; and to be ready to respond, kneeling before the Son of Man, and acting according to the righteousness and justice of Christ. 
 
?What will we do when times are hard and the signs are ominous?  Let us be ready, our ‘hearts on guard.’  For the kingdom and realm of God has come near and we, congregation, are called to be the people of God. 
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"What is truth?" Pastor Fred Kinsey Sermon

11/1/2021

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Readings for Reformation Day | October 31, 2021
Jeremiah 31:31-34  I will write my law in their hearts, says the Lord
Psalm 46  The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. 
Romans 3:19-28  Justified by God’s grace as a gift
John 8:31-36  Jesus says, Continue in my word and you will know the truth


"What is truth?" Rev. Fred Kinsey
Today is the day, 504 years ago, that a young Martin Luther posted his 95 debating points on the door of the Wittenberg castle church for all to see – as the legend goes.  It was the Eve of All Saints Day, or All Hallows Eve, October 31, 1517. 
 
So much has been written by, and about, Luther, it’s not surprising, I guess, that just this week, I came across a new fact.  New to me, at least.  Young Martin changed his sur-name!  It was probably right around this time, at the posting of the 95 Theses.  His original family name was Luder. L-u-d-e-r.  But, as he set out to protest the corruption he found in the church, and as he diligently read the scriptures, he fell in love with the word in our Gospel reading today, “e-leuther-ia,” which means “to set at liberty,” or simply, freedom.  And so instead of Luder, he became Luther, for e-leuther-ia! 
 
And so perhaps, like so many stars of our time, Prince, Lady Gaga, Bob Dylan, Audrey Hepburn, to name just a few, it seems old Marty, was ready to make a name for himself, too.
 
In our Gospel reading, Jesus says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free – e-leuther-ia.” 
 
Luther, was in pursuit of that freedom, the truth about Jesus the Christ, and what it could teach him!  He was so enthralled with this question, that despite his father’s expectations, that his oldest child should go to law school and become a high-priced lawyer, the young Martin took his vows, and entered the Augustinian monastery, before his father had opportunity to change his mind. 
 
Luther desperately wanted to find his freedom.  His soul was imprisoned and tortured by the thought of eternal damnation, which the medieval church had kept alive.  And not only did the church hierarchy, not believe it themselves, but they conceived of ways to profit off of the falsehood too. 
 
And to bring the truth out into the open, Luther posted his 95 Theses, hoping to debate things like, Indulgences, the veneration of the relics of the saints, restricting access to the Bible and other prohibited books, and the ostentatious wealth of the Church verses the Gospel’s call to carry your cross. 
 
Luther experienced this huge disconnect when he was sent on assignment to Rome.  He even engaged in the tourists’ most popular attraction, going up the “Scala Santa, or Holy Steps — brought back from the Holy Land and believed to be the very steps from Pontius Pilate's palace that Jesus climbed on the day he was convicted, [and Luther] saying the Lord's Prayer on each step.  Reaching the top, Luther stood up and thought, "Who knows if this is actually true?"”   (https://classroom.ricksteves.com/videos/martin-luther-s-experience-as-a-pilgrim-in-rome)
 
And so, Luther didn’t feel any closer to the freedom that Jesus promised, after visiting the capital of the Holy Roman Empire.  It wasn’t until perhaps two years later, in what has come to be called Luther’s Tower Experience, that the vision of his Protestant theology started to come into focus for him.  Reading from Paul’s letter to the Romans that, we are justified by God’s grace as a free gift, by our faith in Christ, or, the faithfulness of Christ, was the big breakthrough. 
 
There’s nothing we can do to deserve this grace, Luther realized.  It’s a passive, and overwhelming gift.  It’s the truth, and a gift of life, given to all people.  A gift of salvation.  We are saved by grace through faith.  Grace alone; faith alone; scripture alone, as Luther would write.  This, is the truth, that made Luther free.  That liberated him from his guilt and anxiety.  There was no flagellation, no holy relics, no Indulgences, that could save him.  Only God’s gift of grace in Christ Jesus, can free us. 
 
That’s the truth!
 
Of course, some people say, truth is relative.  And not only today, but Pontius Pilate cynically said, later in John’s Gospel, at the trial of Jesus, “what is truth?” 
 
Fast-forward to today, and just in the last couple of weeks, the former President’s Media and Technology Group (TMTG) issued a press release announcing the creation of a new social media site called, “TRUTH Social!”  Rather than a “tweet,” a statement on the new site would be a “truth.”  Although, if you read the fine print, in the Terms of Service, it says, criticism of the former president is prohibited. 
 
Mr. Trump is passionate about creating his own “brand of truth,” certainly one that is not based in scripture.  It is more closely aligned with a, self-absorbed, self-deluded, Authoritarianism, that no one dare question.
 
But ‘truth’ matters.  Truth can set us free.  While a false-truth can imprison us. 
 
Today we celebrate the true spirit of the Reformation.  And it is not a celebration of the person of Martin Luther, or any of the other reformers who came before or after him.  Luther himself was deeply flawed, as well as, brilliant and courageous.  But in his later days, we know, that he devolved into bitterness about converting Jewish people to the Christian faith.  And, as Lutherans, we have to acknowledge this. 
 
In one flippant writing for example, Luther even says he may resort to burning down Jewish homes if that’s what it would take for their conversion.  This is tragic, detestable, and unacceptable.  And we have to acknowledge our part in it, and because of people like the former President, and the white nationalists who would use it still today, just as the Nazi’s did to justify Kristallnacht, and all that followed, just 80 short years ago. 
 
So, what we celebrate today, is the Spirit of the Reformation, which was inspired by the Holy Spirit, herself!  We celebrate the freedom, that comes from knowing God’s truth. 
 
Pilate’s famous remark, “What is truth,” is the wrong question.  “Who, is the truth,” is the real question.  As Jesus says, later in chapter 14 of John’s gospel – “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” 
 
Jesus is the truth that sets us free, because he is sent by God, at once an outside reference point to our human fallenness, and also a close and intimate friend, like a familiar Good Shepherd.  He is the truth, because he knows, ‘greatness’ is in becoming a ‘servant,’ and, ‘the last shall become first.’  That’s how Jesus became the true Messiah and Savior for us. 
 
From our perspective, here in this life, the truth for today, you could say, is much like that oft quoted Reformation motto: “The church is reformed and always being reformed according to the Word of God.”
 
God’s truth is un-changing.  But our experience of truth must always be in the process of praying and reflecting on where we have been, and where God is calling us to now, in this moment, in this time, in our era.  As new discoveries, scientific and literary, are revealed to us, we need to re-measure, according to the Word of God, what is the truth that sets us free. 
 
There are many ‘false-truths’ that intend to imprison us, for their own selfish reasons.  But freedom in Christ, is the only true liberation for us.  This is the constant task of the followers of Jesus, as we journey with our Good Shepherd to the foot of the cross, and beyond. 
 
Let us rejoice today, and celebrate the truth that sets us free, the Word revealed to us by the Holy Spirit, which always is reforming us, by God’s love and grace. 

And on this Reformation Sunday, let the people say, Amen. 
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