Readings for Second Sunday in Lent | March 13, 2022

• Genesis 15:1-12, 17-18  
• Psalm 27  
• Philippians 3:17-4:1 
• Luke 13:31-35 

Wrapping Her Arms Around Us, sermon by Rev. Kinsey
I’m pretty sure this gospel lesson was chosen this week, because of International Women’s Day, but it just so happens that this Mother Hen image, is the most full-throated feminist metaphor for Christ we have! 
 
Jesus, almost casually, but with clear intention, labels Herod, as, a crafty old fox.  And then, proceeds to identify his own prophetic mission, to gather and protect his followers, as akin to a Mother Hen who gathers her brood under her wings. 
 
And, the “protecting mother” is, apparently, a thing!  “New [scientific] findings indicate that levels of a specific peptide in the brain, may answer the question of what makes a mother willing to lay down her life for her offspring [researchers find].  We've known for a long time that [normal] fear and anxiety [responses] decrease [when a mother is nursing her new born], … it's this [chemical] decrease that allows mothers to [take more bold and risky action for their children, in] a situation that normally would evoke a fear response.”  (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/hormone-found-linked-to-m/ ) 
 
Jesus, of course, could have chosen lots of different animals to portray himself.  What about the mighty eagle in the book of Exodus?  Or Hosea’s stealthy leopard?  What about the proud lion of Judah, mowing down his enemies with a roar?  Biblical examples abound.  But never before, or since, has the hen and her brood, been chosen! 
 
!There is the image, that John of Patmos chooses, in Revelation, that is similar!  Amidst all the violent images in Revelation, when it comes to opposing and conquering the Beast, with the mark of the Devil, John says, the Savior Jesus comes as, Lamb-y!  A little lamb, will redeem the world.  Like the Mother Hen, Revelation reveals the apocalyptic Coming One, as a vulnerable sacrificial Lamb.
 
But as defenseless as the Lamb and Mother Hen are, this is just the point.  Jesus assures Herod in this passage, and us, that he will not flee the opponents who are against him.  And he will protect his brood under his wings, and finally go to Jerusalem where he has already predicted his own death.  But he never advocates power in a violent way, for power’s sake.  His way, is love and forgiveness, in a fierce and strategic mode, that never gives up or gives in. 
 
When Jesus is told that Herod is seeking to kill him, we don’t know what Herod’s plan is.  But, Jesus is pretty confident, he does!  Even though Jesus and the disciples are still in Galilee -where Herod also is- Jesus says that it’s impossible for prophets like himself to be killed outside of Jerusalem – in other words, not in Galilee.  Jesus is going about his business, he says, working his mission of casting out demons and performing cures, and of preaching his prophetic word, today and tomorrow, and only on the third day, does he finish his work – another passion prediction in the gospels, of his suffering, death, and resurrection.  Everything, is going according to plan.
 
Jesus is in control, and taking the offensive – as, a proud Mothering Hen!  Jesus is not just on his way to die, at any old time and place.  He doesn’t have a death wish.  He is the opposite of careless or reckless.  When Jesus is threatened by his own family and friends in his hometown of Nazareth, for instance, the day they tried to throw him off the edge of the cliff, Jesus knew it wasn’t the right time, and he walked through the midst of them, and out of danger. 
 
Jesus is almost calm, about his journey to Jerusalem, and what he knows lies ahead for him in Holy Week.  And perhaps that’s because, it’s what God is calling him to reveal, that propels him.  It is the breaking up, and the breaking through, that centers him for the mission.  Like old and new wineskins.
 
He knows Jerusalem is unwilling to receive his gathering-together of them.  “I desired to gather your children as a hen gathers her brood,” he says, “and you were not willing!”  Even his own followers will scatter when he needs them most.  But that’s why he’s also content to work in Galilee, first, to establish his mission for all to see, that at the right time, afterwards, they will begin to remember (and a light, like tongues of fire, will reignite them into his mission).  Because only after Jerusalem, only after the scattering, only after the cross and resurrection, will the picture come into focus for his followers, at last.  Jesus does not want to die.  But as God’s chosen Son, he knows it is God’s will, for the healing of the nation, and the sake of the world. 
 
Herod ‘desires’ to kill Jesus.  Jesus ‘desires’ to gather his brood, his followers, under his wings, to protect and guide them.  Jesus knows too, they are not willing.  Even his followers will act like, and with, all of Jerusalem.  Except for Mary and John, all will desert him at the cross. 
 
Jesus sees all this, and yet he continues on, knowing it will also ignite a new world, and new era, with a renewed Spirit of God.  God’s grace and love and redemption, will dawn in the one single act, of cross and resurrection.  Jesus’ sacrifice as the Lamb of God, and as the Mothering Hen, will reveal once and for all, the possibility of forgiveness, in place of the inevitability of sacred-state-violence.  The lynching of Jesus, will not only be outlawed, but will bring shame on the heads of all, and reveal that Supremacy, is a power originating from the lair of the Fox.  The ugliness of the cross, will become the beauty and power, of love over hate, love over scapegoating, love over othering, and love over racism. 
 
Jesus knows that none of them will get it -understand- until afterwards.  That takes a lot of trust and faith!  “And I tell you,” says Jesus, “you will not see me until the time comes when you say, “Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.”  This is the refrain, of course, of the procession on Palm Sunday.  But at that moment, as they follow him, marching to Jerusalem, it is much more of a militaristic chant, and only after the cross, is the refrain understood as worshipful – worshipful of the Redeemer of the whole world. 
 
Barbara Brown Taylor says that the image of a Mothering Hen gathering her brood, “is the most vulnerable posture in the world – wings spread, breast exposed!”  She doesn’t have a chance against the fox!  But that doesn’t stop her from proudly taking that pose, that risk, for those she loves. 
 
How many thousands of times has that pose been struck in the last two weeks in Ukraine, as mothers wrap their arms around their children, as their husbands and sons enlist in the army, and the Mothering Hen boards a train with her brood, headed for the border, hoping to find shelter in Poland or Germany or Slovakia?  How many mothers from Central America came, wings spread, breast exposed, to the border of Mexico and the Unites States, seeking shelter?  How many mothers from Somalia, fleeing the terror of a brutal war, at the hand of the Saudi’s, risk immigrating here, or, wings spread, breast exposed, just hoping to survive the famine that threatens their everyday existence, and their ability to protect their young ones? 
 
Jesus is like a mothering hen, for all those most vulnerable ones.  Jesus, spreads his wings and exposes his body, on the cross, for the sake of the world.  Jesus, the Mothering Hen, shows us how to, not just survive, but to thrive, as a community of followers. 
 
Instead of gathering around the sacrificial victim at the cross, to gawk and give thanks that it isn’t us, Jesus shows us the way of sacrificial love that conquers all evils. 
 
And because a Mothering Hen is not afraid of the fox, let us gather around the cross to worship – worship the Savior of the world, who also wraps her wings around us, that Christ may be our strength and safety, and enfold us, now and forever. 

Readings for Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday | Feb. 27, 2022

• Exodus 34:29-35  
• Psalm 99  
• 2 Corinthians 3:12-4:2  
• Luke 9:28-43a)

St Vladimir, (by Rev. Kinsey)
“Now about eight days after these sayings Jesus took with him Peter and John and James, and went up on the mountain… to pray.” 
 
If only, throughout the history of the Christian Church, our ancestors would have remembered the, “to pray” part! instead of taking it metaphorically, as if Jesus went up to the top of the mountain to be transfigured into, procurator of the whole world, like a medieval king.  But that is exactly what Constantinople and Rome thought, for centuries, leading to destructive wars and crusades, and brought to our shores, the Doctrine of Discovery and Colonization – and, in the name of Christianity – chattel slavery. 
 
The account of Jesus transfigured on the Mountaintop, on this festival day at the end of this season of Epiphany, is actually told from the perspective of the three closest disciples of Jesus.  I don’t think I noticed before how important that is.  This is the tale, and experience, the three disciples had.  And when Luke points out how Peter, John and James were weighed down with sleep, he’s signaling that in the midst of their praying on the mountain, they had a kind of vision, of Moses and Elijah, with Jesus. 
 
And, you know how when you wake up from a dream, and you try to recall what it was about, how you’re a little foggy, and you may just remember the gist of it?  Well, Peter and John and James recalled that Moses and Elijah appeared with Jesus, in glory, a word Luke first uses in the birth story of Jesus, when the glory of the Lord shone around the Shepherds in the fields as Jesus was being born. 
 
And so, amidst this angelic glory, the three disciples recall, that Moses, Elijah and Jesus, were speaking of his departure, his exodus, (the Greek says), in Jerusalem.  Like Moses, Jesus will passover from life to death, to life again, in his passion, from Good Friday to Easter.
 
On the mountaintop, what really happens then, was not his coronation, but it was God revealing the good news about Jesus, that: a) he is God’s chosen son; b) he is in the line of the greatest prophets of Israel, in the prophetic line that warned us to repent, and turn around and go in a new direction, following God’s ways; and c) he’s come to lead all nations toward justice and peace, reaching out to the margins, including even foreigners, in salvation history. 
 
This is the Jesus of the gospels!  This is the message of good news, Jesus, the Son of God, brings.  It is for all, and for the least of these, first.  The mountaintop is not a metaphor for abusing and lording it over others.  It’s the act of intimate prayer with God, about the mission and purpose of God for our lives, which leads us to follow, all the way to the cross, in Jerusalem. 
 
And yet, there is always this perpetually cold wind blowing, fueling a movement trying to overshadow this message – which we ignore it at our own peril. 
 
Diana Butler Bass, who authored, A People’s History of Christianity, wrote this past week about the missing ‘religion-story’ in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, between Moscow and Kyiv.  “While the secular media tries to guess Vladimir Putin’s motives in Ukraine, one important aspect of the current situation has gone largely ignored: Religion,” she said.  “…In effect, the world is witnessing a new version of an old tale — the quest to recreate an imperial Christian state, a neo-medieval “Holy Roman Empire” — uniting political, economic, and spiritual power into an entity to control the earthly and heavenly destiny of European peoples.” 
 
I didn’t know much of this history, but the center of Eastern Orthodox Christianity shifted over time.  Of course, it began in Constantinople, or current day Istanbul, Turkey. And I knew there was a Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow.  But before that, it first arrived in Kyiv in the 10th century.  You can still visit the St. Vladimir Orthodox cathedral there.  Dianna Butler Bass calls Kyiv the Jerusalem of Orthodoxy.  But by the 13th century, and with the help of the Mongols, the Russian people had overtaken Kyiv and found willing patrons in the Russian Czars, to established Moscow as the new center of Orthodoxy, where it basically remained through the Soviet empire days. 
 
It wasn’t until recently, in 2018, that the Orthodox Church of Kyiv, established a new, more open, freedom loving, fact-based, majority, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, turning away from the traditionalism and false hierarchies of the Soviet Orthodox church, and significantly, was recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople!
 
But this loss, has infuriated Vladimir Putin, who is all for, the hierarchical, chauvinistic Russian Orthodox Church, that will not acknowledge women or LGBTQ leaders, and of course, supports authoritarians like Putin, himself. 
 
It may seem as if this is nothing more than a disagreement on principles, and for us, the interpretation of scripture.  But this is where we need to be alert, be as cunning as foxes, that what is happening in Ukraine in the last decade, is not just about politics, but is just as much about religion.  There is a coalition that Putin is a part of we don’t normally see.  Yet, right under our noses, the Evangelical right in our own country has been more than a willing partner.  Not only do their values align up with Putin and the Russian Orthodox Church, around the hierarchical order of white men on top – yes, white supremacy – but they have actively been working to unite Evangelicals with Orthodoxy, and conservative Catholics.  Their own world-wide triumvirate.  Or as Butler-Bass says, “The dream gripping some quarters of the West is for a coalition to unify religious conservatives into a kind of supra-national neo-Christendom.” 
 
Mike Pompeo, for example, the former Secretary of State, and a stalwart Evangelical, has been very public about his support and praise for the Russian leader. 
 
Today’s Transfiguration account, has been described as the middle of the gospel story, bounded by two other mountaintop experiences.  The first was the baptism of Jesus, where the heavens opened up and God’s voice declared Jesus was the beloved son with whom God was well pleased.  Here on the Transfiguration mountain, God says, this is my Son, my chosen; listen to him!  And at the end of the gospel, when Jesus is crucified on mount Calvary, the divine message is put on the lips of the Centurion, the Roman soldier, who as Jesus dies, praised God, and declared, certainly this man was innocent. 
 
On the next day after the Transfiguration, when Jesus and the three disciples had come down from the mountain, a great crowd met them.  Jesus’ work was not done.  He could not stay on the mountaintop, but came to continue his ministry of healing and preaching, as prophet and Son of Man.  And, from the crowd, a man shouted to Jesus, I beg you to look at my son.  A terrible evil spirit keeps taking over, seizing him and convulsing him, it mauls him, and scarcely will leave him alone.  Your disciples could not heal him, so I’m asking you. 
 
Jesus – we can imagine him turning to glance at his disciples – says, You faithless and perverse generation, how much longer must I bear with you!? before he turns to heal the boy. 
 
No matter how good our intentions, how much we’re able to wall off and compartmentalize our lives, the spirits among us, that work against Jesus, never seem to rest or completely go away.  Like a bad virus, they circle around and look for a new opening, a weak link, an unprotected vulnerable place, or person, or group of people. 
 
The journey with Jesus, from baptism, through our hopefully bright and sunny middle-aged Transfigurations on the mountaintop, to the unavoidable autumn of our impending Calvary days, is never smooth, and always seeking and longing for much greater clarity.  But on our journey, there is no escaping the gift of grace that Christ Jesus offers, which we can find, only on the way, only in the sacrifice of loving our neighbor as we love ourselves, only as we walk through the valley, longing for the mountaintop. 
 
We are a world, more lost in the wilderness, than at any other time, in my short span of life.  The voice of false authoritarianism is ascendant, no longer whispering, but shouting their lies, which are reaching more and more receptive ears.  It is not just politics.  It is not just economics.  It is also religion. 
 
And before the Holy Spirit can lead us out of this morass, we need to be clear on who the Jesus of the gospels truly is.  We need to pray for vision.  And we need to come down from the clouds, and lead others there too. 
 
Let us follow the Transfigured Christ, who rules as Son of all humanity, with healing in his wings, and a fierce heart for love in the face of all enemies, even death.  Let us live in the glory and gathering, of this Body of Christ!  

Readings for Seventh Sunday after Epiphany | Feb. 20, 2022

• Genesis 45:3-11, 15  
• Psalm 37:1-11, 39-40  
• 1 Corinthians 15:35-38, 42-50  
• Luke 6:27-38

"Brothers," Sermon by Rev. Fred Kinsey
Before we take on the impossible sayings of Jesus, in Luke’s Sermon on the Plain, I’m proposing that we divert our attention away, to the story of Jacob’s son Joseph, in our First Reading, that concludes the book of Genesis, (shall we)? 
 
I mean, “…do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return…”?  “Be merciful, just as your (heavenly) Father is merciful,” as Jesus says.  You see what I mean?!  Best to find another way around, to these weighty matters.  Get some context, first.
 
And, nothing like a good Novella to take your mind off your difficulties!  The story of Jacob’s family, and his favorite child, Joseph, takes place at the tale-end of the period of the Patriarchs of Israel: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  So, this is just before Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.  Long before David and Solomon.  
 
Do you remember the Joseph story, the 11th  born, of 12 sons of Jacob?  Joseph was the first born, of Rachel, Jacob’s 2nd wife, and his true love.  Rachel was the one he had to wait 20 years to marry, because of his devious uncle Laban, who tricked him into marrying Leah, his oldest daughter, first?  All this, just to explain why Jacob loved Joseph more than all his other 12 children.  Perhaps, the favorite-child syndrome is created here, for the very first time.  In my family, it’s the youngest, William, an ‘oops’ child, an unexpected blessing, that was the favorite of my parents.
 
So, Jacob treated Joseph, his favorite, differently.  He dressed him in finer clothes, for example, which has made for some very memorable stories to this day, even theatre, like Joseph’s Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat.  All of this to say, that Joseph’s brothers had reason to be jealous of him.  And then, on top of that, Joseph was blessed with the gift of dream interpretation.  And one day he had a dream about his 11 brothers, that, a more discriminating person, may have kept to himself!  A dream about his brothers bowing down to him, as if to worship him.  And so, they hated him all the more. (Robert Alter translation: 37:8) 
 
Do you remember, then, that when Joseph’s brothers were tending their flocks, how they conspired to get rid of him, once and for all, that Dream-Master, as they called him.  ‘Let us kill him and throw him into a deep pit,’ they said.  Reuben, the oldest, tried to dissuade them from it.  So, they held off, killing him.  Instead, they strip him of his beloved beautiful coat, before flinging Joseph into the hole.  Then, they sat down and ate lunch, right there!  Can you imagine?!  Perhaps they wouldn’t kill him directly, they’d just leave him to die on his own, probably by a lion, or jackels. 
 
But then, a caravan of camel traders from the east, came by.  And Judah, the 4th son, suggested they sell him into slavery, instead of killing him.  And they got 20 pieces of silver from the traders, who brought Joseph to Egypt. 
 
But now they had to decide how to tell dear ol’ dad!  And since they still had Joseph’s coveted coat, they conspired to dip the coat in goat’s blood, to make it look like he was attacked, and that they had nothing to do with it.  Then they gave the coat to a messenger, to bring to their father Jacob, so they wouldn’t have to lie to his face. 
 
When he saw the bloody coat, Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth round his waist and mourned for his son many days. (vs. 24)  Convinced that Joseph was killed by a wild beast, Jacob refused to be consoled by his one daughter, and 11 sons, saying, “Rather I will go down to my son in Sheol mourning,” and so Jacob bewailed Joseph. 
 
Many years pass.  And Jacob grows old.  And never, is quite the same. 
 
But down in Egypt, Joseph works his way up the ladder, going “through a roller-coaster of good and bad fortunes as he rises to the highest position among his enslaver’s household, falls to the depths of false imprisonment, rises to be in charge of other prisoners, languishes in prison, and finally experiences a resurgence to new heights as an advisor—even “a father”—to Pharoah (Genesis 39–41, see also Genesis 45:8) (Justin Michael Reed). 
 
And all because of his skill at dream-interpretation, including his last and most famous one!  For while all of Pharoah’s soothsayers fail to understand his dream about the seven fat and lean cows, and the seven goodly ears of grain swallowed up by the meager ears – when Joseph is called up from prison, given a quick shave and haircut, and fresh clothes, he responds immediately! knowing it means that there will be seven years of plentiful harvests, followed by seven years of famine, when nothing will grow.  And Joseph doesn’t hesitate to set out a plan for Pharoah: store up from the plentiful years, all the crops you can, so when the famine years come, you’ll have enough for yourself, and to feed the world. 
 
Then Pharoah said: Hmmm, where can I find someone with the wisdom to carry out this plan?!  And he looked at Joseph, and right there on the spot, gave him the job.  And Joseph was put in charge of everything, being Pharoah’s right hand man for the next 14 years, and to the end of his long life.  ‘And Pharoah took off his ring from his own hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and had him clothed in fine linen clothes, and placed the golden collar round his neck. And he had him ride in the chariot of his viceroy.’ (41.42-43)  Joseph was thirty years old, and now he was on top of the world.  Not bad! 
 
But the famine that was coming, was not only in Egypt, but stretched all the way into Israel as well.  And Jacob, his one surviving wife Leah, his one daughter, and his other 11 sons, soon had nothing to eat.  So, Jacob sent 10 of his remaining sons down to Egypt, where they had plenty of food to sell, he’d heard, to keep his family from starving. 
 
There were actually three trips down to Egypt, but long story short, our reading today is the Season Finale of our main saga! 
 
Joseph has kept his identity concealed from his brothers, on purpose, up to this point.  Testing them, to make sure that his father is still alive, and pushing them to remember how they sold him into slavery 17 years ago.  Which brings up a lot of guilty feelings.  But he can see, his brothers have grown and changed.  They are no longer proud of what they did.  And still, they have no idea, they have been in the company of their long-lost brother, Joseph.  That he is now this powerful man - their lives in his hands. 
 
And when Joseph puts all the Egyptian servants out of the room, and finally blurts out, “I am Joseph.  Is my father still alive?”  His brothers were dumbfounded, their tongues tied, so dismayed were they, at his presence. 
 
So, Joseph bid them, come closer to me.  And, no longer speaking through an interpreter, he said to them in their native Hebrew, ‘I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt.  And now, do not be pained and do not be incensed with yourselves that you sold me down here; for God sent me before you’ to preserve life.  There are still five more years of ‘famine in the heart of the land.  And God has sent me before you to make you a remnant on earth and to preserve life, (and) for you to be a great surviving group.’ (ch. 45; Robert Alter, translation)
 
And to reassure them, Joseph tells his brothers, who had betrayed him all those years ago, this theological truth: ‘so it is not you who sent me here - but God!’  ‘Hurry,’ I want you to go to my father, and bring him back here, so that all of you can live here – so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.  And then, Joseph ‘fell upon the neck of his brother Benjamin and he wept…  And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them.’  And finally, his brothers, having taken a breath, and gotten over their initial shock, were able to talk with Joseph, after all those years. 
 
Forgiveness and reconciliation.  Brothers, who were enemies, became, brothers, once again. 
 
It doesn’t always happen like this, does it?  Joseph had all the power, now that he was viceroy to the Pharaoh himself.  Usually, that kind of power, doesn’t lead to forgiveness and reconciliation.  How easy it would have been for Joseph to ruin the lives of his brothers.  Even in our own families and relationships, retaliation often seems, so much sweeter. 
 
Be merciful, says Jesus, just as our God is merciful.  When you lend – whether it’s money or a helping hand – expect nothing in return.  If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive as much again.  But, love your enemies.  Do to others as you would have them do to you. 
 
And Joseph’s father came and lived in Egypt.  He was reunited with his whole family, including his lost and beloved son, Joseph.  And Jacob died a very satisfied old man at 147 years old.  His sons were reunited.  And his favorite son Joseph, loved his brothers, who once had wished him dead.  But God used them for good.  And grace and mercy, had triumphed. 
 
Let us never forget the story of Joseph.

Readings for Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2022

• Isaiah 60:1-6  
• Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14  
• Ephesians 3:1-12  
• Matthew 2:1-12

"Which King?" Sermon by Rev Fred Kinsey
It’s surprising, in a way, that this Epiphany story of the Magi, is the text that was chosen for this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity!  The wise men, or Magi, are foreigners, Astrologers, from a non-Jewish religion, in a distant Gentile country, most likely, Persia.  So, the ‘unity’ implied in this astounding story is, far greater, than just our Christian circles, and implies a kind of United-Nations-world-wide reach and universal scope. 
 
It’s a universality that stems from our human longing, and quest for, the One who is the light of the whole world, this king of Israel.  It’s the desire for a king who is a descendant of the One Creator-God.  And the Magi, therefore, are perhaps the perfect representatives of this universal quest for salvation from the beginning of creation, because they are masters of the ‘signs’ in the stars of the sky, or what the ancient world knew as, the heavens.   
 
The birth of the savior of the whole world, is who the Magi came to worship, and offer their kingly gifts, of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.  Came to kneel in homage to this Mighty Counselor, this Prince of Peace, and ruler who will administer justice and peace, according to Isaiah (Is. 9.6).  They weren’t Christian.  They weren’t Jewish.  But they recognized a king when they saw one!  And this One, was born under the Star of Bethlehem, a cosmic event that led them from the eastern edge of the world, to Palestine, in Roman territory.  This biblical story, about the birth of Jesus in Matthew – the scripture underlying, the Eastern, and oldest, Church celebration of Christmas – is the tale of unity, for all the nations, all the peoples. 
 
Welcome, to the service, for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity!
 
On the other hand, though, isn’t this the very kind of unity, we as Christians pray for, as well?!  “That we may become completely One,” as Jesus himself prayed according to the gospel of John?  (John 17:23)   We petition for, “the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband,” that, “the nations will walk by [the light of the Lamb], and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,” as John of Patmos envisioned in Revelation.
 
It seems that, our Middle East Council of Church, hosts, want to welcome us, not only to ground-zero, of the birth of the Christ-Child, in Bethlehem of Judea, but also, they want to draw us into the spiritual and theological question of: Who do we worship as king?  Isn’t the unspoken question raised by Matthew’s Epiphany story:  Do we worship the king in Jerusalem?  Or the king born in Bethlehem? 
 
Again, the Magi show us the way, who, “…having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road,” says Matthew.  The Magi, having found the king they were looking for, the new-born ‘child, with Mary his mother,’ in Bethlehem, disobey Herod’s request to report back to him, in Jerusalem.
 
?Had the Magi been left with a kind of  ‘yukky feeling’ after meeting with Herod, I wonder?  Was their ‘creepy-radar,’ sending off alarm bells?  I would think so!  But in any case, it was divine will, according to Matthew, that the Magi, not return to Jerusalem and bring Herod word, so that Herod may – what did he say, ‘also go and worship him’ – worship his rival?  Pay homage to the king, that so frightened his kingdom? 
 
Herod, of course, was jealous of any pretensions to his throne, a throne that was based on authoritative, despotic, and absolute control.  A ruler that was answerable to no one, save the Emperor.  Herod, tolerated no rival!  And we know this by the very next story in Matthew, the slaughter of the innocents, where Herod orders the killing of every boy under the age of two, ‘in and around Bethlehem,’ in a ruthless attempt to eliminate king-Jesus. 
 
Who do we worship as our king? 
 
I don’t remember where I learned it, exactly, anymore.  But it was somewhere on our study tour to Israel-Palestine in the spring of 1978.  We toured as much as we could, from the cosmopolitan city of Haifa, north to Galilee and the Golan Heights, down through the West Bank and the Jordan Valley to Jericho below sea level, and up to Jerusalem, literally, up into the hills, to Zion, the city of Peace.  Tiny Israel-Palestine on the shores of the Mediterranean, I learned, was the fulcrum point, between east and west, north and south.  Between, Near-East and far-east Asia, Europe and Africa.  The land of Jews, Christians, and Muslims.  And Jerusalem is like a canary in a coal mine, an early warning sign for the fate of the world – spinning around it.  And at the time of the birth of Jesus, a pretender was on the throne.  Foreigners occupied the land.  But in the new-born Savior, hope had arrived. 
 
And, just like there were tensions over which king the world would worship, then, so in modern times, have tensions been growing steadily there, again.  If we want to pray for Christian unity, we need look no further than Israel-Palestine.  For, while money from pulpits in America, have been pouring into Israel since the  1980’s from leaders who are, you might say, wolves in sheep’s clothing – at the same time, the historic Palestinian Christians, have been intimidated and feeling pressure to leave, as a result. 
 
An investigation by Haaretz/(Israeli newspaper in English) reveals that extremist Christian groups have invested up to $65 million in projects in the ‘Biblical Heartland’ just in the past decade.  Meanwhile, as recently as December, “Christian leaders in the Holy Land,” the same leaders who are members of this, Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, “have warned that their communities are under threat of being driven from the region by extremist [radical Settler] groups, and called for dialogue on preserving their presence.” 
 
Or as Fr. Francesco Patton, the Catholic Church’s guardian of the Christian holy places in the Holy Land has said, “It seems that [the aim of these extremists] is to [push out the historic Christian presence from] the Old City of Jerusalem, even the Christian quarter.”  
 
The outsized economic and political support of certain extremist American church groups is a key factor in the decline of the Palestinian Christian population.  Who are these churches?  It’s organizations, like Christians United for Israel (CUFI), for example, led by prominent megachurch preacher John Hagee.  If you don’t know Hagee, his latest book title pretty much says it all: Earth’s Final Moments.  “Coming soon,” the book jacket says, “Earth’s final cataclysmic moment! Hagee reveals the shock and awe of God’s coming judgment in the Middle East, you can’t afford to miss what comes next.” End quote.
 
This errant Christian interpretation might be funny, if it weren’t so dangerous.  Based on the writings of 19th century British churchman John Darby, his theology never really was, defensible.  But astonishingly, opinion pollsters find that, 40-60% of Americans embrace Darby’s end-times belief.  Think - the popular Left Behind book and movie series.  So, we’ve got some work to do, here.
 
Darby, Hagee, and others, have created an alternative reality to the biblical narrative, as most Christians have come to know it – espousing a king who is a kind of natural born killer, who has no compassion for the poor, or desire for healing the blind, and proclaiming the year of Jubilee.  This is not the King we learn about in the Gospels, who shows us the way of hospitality, loving your neighbor as yourself, and God’s power, emptied on the cross, for the life of the world.  Darby’s Jesus, is calculating and exclusivist, a kind of, wild-west-Cowboy-Jesus.
 
Another thing I learned in Israel-Palestine, while I was there, is that Israel is happy to take Hagee’s money.  But that doesn’t mean they believe in the end-of-the-world-Left-Behind-theology, which necessitates God’s violent destruction of Israel, and all Jews who don’t convert. 
 
The king that Hagee and his crowd worship, is not the boy-child of Bethlehem, the teacher of the Beatitudes, and the servant who washes our feet.  His king is more like a conquering, compassionless, well – King Herod.  A despot and danger to the kingdom and will of God, that we, here, pray for, ‘to come on earth as it is in heaven.’  Unfortunately, I’m sure we can all think of leaders like this in our world today.  Those who envision themselves as the next King – like Herod. 
 
But the king we seek is born under the Bethlehem star, born humbly to unite all under a banner of justice and peace.  A Shepherd-king, who prioritizes care for those in need, grants us rest in green pastures, who turns fear into goodness and mercy.  A universal king, who is not limited to one place, but is the living Body of Christ in the world, and available through the Holy Spirit everywhere, and at every time, to all, who desire salvation. 
 
What king do we seek!?  Herod, or, Jesus?
 
The choice is easy.  But the journey is life-long, winding, and a road less-traveled.  Let us be prepared to say NO to the demands of Herod.  And let us stand with our Christian siblings who today are under threat in Palestine and the Middle East, for our fate is tied to theirs.  Let us join the Magi caravan, eyes fixed on the Bethlehem Star, bodies engaged in the work of God’s justice, hearts transformed so that we may ever pay him homage – and with overwhelming joy, let us gather our prayers together boldly, as the Body of Christ, and the people of God.  

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. 

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. 

Readings for 10th Sunday after Pentecost | July 25, 2021

• 2 Kings 4:42-44 and Psalm 145:10-18  
• Ephesians 3:14-21  
• John 6:1-21 or Mark 6:34-44

Mathematical Miracle, sermon by Rev. Fred Kinsey
I think we can call the Feeding of the 5,000 a Mathematical Miracle!  It is, a miracle story, in the vein of the coming Kingdom or realm of God, revealing to us the singular generosity of God who desires all to be fed, in a world that has ‘enough for all.’ 
 
It’s also symbolic in its math.  5 loaves and 2 fish, equal the number 7, or perfection, in Jewish symbolism.  The 12 baskets of bread left over, symbolize the fruitfulness of the 12 tribes of Israel, in the new order that Jesus is ushering in.  And the 5,000 represent the multiplication of the 5 books of Moses, the Torah, or the greatest gift of God to humanity.  (Joel Marcus, Mark 1-8, Anchor Bible, pg. 419)
 
It’s no wonder, that, besides the Passion narrative at the end, and the Baptism of Jesus in the beginning, the Feeding of the 5,000 is the only other complete story that is recorded in each of the four gospels. 
 
This is also the story we picked to go with our Unity Vision Statement.  “Unity’s vision is to be an urban green space, welcoming everyone into a holy encounter, where we are changed, that all may be fed, as Jesus feeds us.” 
 
In the next four weeks we’ll be reading from the Gospel of John, as he unpacks the meaning of, food, eucharist, Torah, manna, welcoming, bread enough for all, and much more, in what’s called the Bread of Life series. 
 
In this Mathematical Miracle we’ve read from Mark today, the first thing that Jesus does is, he takes stock of the way things are: “How many loaves of bread do you have” Jesus asks the disciples?  The twelve wanted Jesus to send the crowd away, all 5k+ of them, to go and fend for themselves at the nearest fast-food establishment!  What are we supposed to do, they ask?  We don’t have any money; and we’d need a half year’s salary to be able to buy enough, for even a meager meal, for all of them! 
 
So, the second thing Jesus does, is to organize them.  After he takes stock of ‘the way things are,’ he doesn’t panic when he finds out it’s only 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish!  He knows, “we” are the ones who will care for our people, the people of God.  “And he commanded the disciples to make them all recline, eating-group by eating-group on the green grass.  So, the people sat down, cluster by cluster, in groups of, a hundred, and in groups of fifty…”  That’s what organizing people, Jesus-style, looks like!  Which comes from, believing in what is right, and just, and heaven sent. 
 
This is a story, a Mathematical Miracle, about God providing enough.  About feeding regular everyday hungry families.  And living in the presence of the kingdom and realm of God, together. 
 
But acceptance of, ‘enough for everyone,’ is threatened by what we might call, Mathematical Misappropriation(malevolence)  – the message, and false belief, that we must compete for limited or scarce resources.  Mathematical Misappropriation indoctrinates us into an acquisitive competition, that anyone can be a millionaire if they try hard enough.  And, if for some reason you’re not, it’s your own darn fault.  As if we aren’t already working our tails off!  When we buy into this message, we have been co-opted by, Mathematical Misappropriation.  But, the millionaires have set up the rules to favor their own advancement, and any concern for ‘enough for everyone’ is somewhere way down the list, subordinate to, self-enrichment. 
 
We are all caught up in it to some extent, unless, we’re actively working against it.  Even then, it’s darn near impossible to escape, unless we’re organized to sit people down together, to expect, and demand what God wants to give us – the Mathematical Miracle. 
 
The reason I’m on this hobby-horse this week, is the one, very large example, of, this Mathematical Misappropriation.  And that’s, Billionaires blasting off into space!  Which is, of course, an amazing mathematical feat, a spectacular achievement, a testament to working hard, like we all do, but in this case, there are only three in the club: Branson, Bezos, and Musk. 
 
Maybe you’ve followed these stories, and are an admirer.  And once again, I say, totally spectacular achievement!  Miraculous!  But for me, I can’t square the gospel circle. 
 
Jeff Bezos, the most recent space traveler, who is 57, has a vision for what he’s doing.  It includes creating solar energy to be sent back to earth.  Which sounds good, but the reason, he says, is “I’m pursuing this work, because I believe, if we don’t, we will eventually end up with a civilization of stasis, which I find very demoralizing. I don’t want my great-grandchildren’s great-grandchildren to live in a civilization of stasis. We all enjoy a dynamic civilization of growth and change,” he says.  But is that really true?  Isn’t he talking more about himself?  More about a relative few, these days, who get to ‘enjoy the growth and change of a dynamic’ society, a lot more, than most of us!    “[S]tasis would be very bad, I think,” Bezos said.  And this is where I get very nervous!  When one famous person starts to decide what our values should be, all by himself.

In another interview at Cape Canaveral in 2017 he admitted, “I have won this lottery. It’s a gigantic lottery, and it’s called Amazon.com. And I’m using my lottery winnings to push us a little further into space. I feel incredibly lucky to be able to do that.”
 
Upon returning to earth Bezos, the richest man on the planet, who’s been cashing in a billion dollar’s of stock a year to pay for his space program, awkwardly thanked "every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this. Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart very much. It's very appreciated," he continued. 
 
Of course, Amazon employees, like the rest of us, don’t have any choice in Bezos’ decision to spend his riches on a tourist ride to space.  Neither has Bezos entered into dialog even with his own workers for their pleas for better working conditions, like time enough for a bathroom break, or the ability to form a union.  Instead of trusting and organizing together, Amazon surveils its drivers and warehouse workers; and workers quit at nearly twice the rate of other retail jobs. 

Bezos is a convenient target, of course.  The richest man in the world.  And, truth be told, we’re all beholden to the same Mathematical Misappropriation system, to some extent.
 
So, the gospel message I want to convey is that, we can do something different, something gospel oriented, together.  We can listen, and hear, what Jesus is telling us about the Mathematical Miracle that comes from organizing ourselves.  First, we have to believe in the Son, the favored child of God, and the Good Shepherd’s goal of “enough for everyone.” 
 
Too often we’re like the disciples, fearful of a world that is hungry, or worse, blaming them, for their plight.  Our answer then, is, go away.  You can buy something in town if you’re hungry.  Why should I help?  I’m poor too! 
 
So, following Jesus is full of hard decisions.  Believing he is ‘the bread of life’ is more than just ‘liking’ it, on social media.  It has to be how we live, and what we live for, too. 
 
Instead of panicking, Jesus organizes us.  I’m sure Bezos, Brandon, and Musk have lots to organize in their high-tech quest for space exploration.  But that’s not the kind of organizing Jesus is talking about.  Billionaires have lots of freedom and little accountability.  At least in the 1960’s and 70’s the space race seemed like a national community effort and was paid for by our common fund, the national budget.  Private space trips, on the other hand, are not held to any accountable standard, by the people.  There is no conversation going on about their singular decisions. 
 
Organizing by Jesus, is community organizing.  It comes from the grassroots, who are invested, in our case, in the enterprise of becoming followers, those who are on the way to the cross and resurrection of Jesus. 
 
And so, in the story of the feeding of the 5,000, we can see that, at first, the people arrive in disarray.  They’re looking for a shepherd to lead them.  The disciples are not quite ready to be organizers yet, so Jesus organizes them, sitting them down, eating-group by eating-group, on the green grass – like the grassy hill of Psalm 23, where the sheep are organized and cared for by the Good Shepherd.  Jesus’ order is further envisioned by Mark when he describes the eating-groups as reclining, cluster by cluster, in groups of, a hundred, and in groups of fifty, lined up like those ready to study Torah, God’s Word. 
 
And so, following in the mold of Moses, who organized the Israelites to stay together 40 years on the way to the Promised Land, Jesus organizes us to come together and support one another, to share our food, and trust and know, that God provides enough for all. 
 
In Toni Morrison’s book, Beloved, she describes the transformative power of this belief in a Good Shepherd: “She gather me, man. The pieces I am, she gather them and give them back to me in all the right order.” 
 
St. Teresa of Avila said, “God has no hands but our hands.”  Which is a lot like our ELCA slogan: God’s Work, Our Hands! 
 
Let us organize ourselves into clusters of eating, and living, and advocacy-groups, believing and trusting in the Mathematical Miracle, of the Feeding of the 5,000, that all may be fed as Jesus feeds us.   

Readings for Pentecost 4B, Sunday June 20, 2021

• Job 38:1-11 and Psalm 107:1-3, 23-32  
• 2 Corinthians 6:1-13  
• Mark 4:35-41

Sermon: "Margins of Our Lives" by Pastor Fred Kinsey
We now have two Independence Days in our country.  Finally, a celebration for blacks, as well as whites.  A Holiday, not just for those with an abundance of power and privilege, but also for those who have been marginalized.  And indeed, the crossing from one shore to the other, may be more passable, with the passage of Juneteenth Day, here in Illinois, and on the federal level, just this past week! 
 
Jesus, in our gospel today, loads his Disciples into a fishing boat to make a passage, to the other side of the Sea of Galilee.  It’s a voyage of great intentionality for the Master.  Mark’s gospel envisions bridging this chasm, despite the fear of the journey, from the comfortable center of the home shores, to those on the margins – in this case, the Gentiles, those who live east of Lake Galilee and the Jordan River, on the outer edges of Israel. 
 
In the boat, Jesus, tired, after healing and teaching in parables, finds a cushion to stretch out on, and immediately falls asleep.  Afterall, four of his disciples come from a fishing background on this very lake, and who better to leave the skipper responsibilities to?! 
 
But, as can happen on the Sea of Galilee, a great windstorm arose, almost more than the fishing boat could handle.  They were taking in water, and large waves and swells were causing great alarm.  The Disciples, their worst fears realized, call out in a panic, sure they are about to capsize.  And seeing Jesus still enjoying his nap, without a care, they were all the more aggravated and annoyed.  They actually had to shake him up out of his slumber, like a sleeping teenager, to get his attention and plead with him to save them.  Jesus then, immediately exorcised, the demon-waves, crying out to the sea, “Peace, Be still!” 
 
Jesus amazes his Disciples with his divine power.  But what I’m mostly interested in today, is how closely this story follows, the Jonah and the Whale story.  For the disciples, as it turns out, are eerily, mirror-images of Jonah, the reluctant prophet.  The obstinance of Jonah, had grown out of his low regard for the people of Nineveh, his Gentile neighbors.  He is far from convinced that he must go and preach repentance to them.  They are, admittedly, wicked and not God-fearing, and way too far on the margins, thinks Jonah, for him to be concerned with them. 
 
So Jonah hops a boat going in the opposite direction from Nineveh, away from where God was so purposefully directed him to go.  And so, with Jonah, the same thing happened to him that happens to the Disciples.  A great windstorm arose and threatened to swamp the boat.  And God eventually has to save Jonah. 
 
The Disciples, of course are saved by the Son, by Jesus.  Not just because it’s what the disciples want and plead for, but because God has a mission on the margins, for them, just like God did for Jonah.  Jesus is focused-in, on going to the other side, to save and reconcile with the wrongly enslaved, in Gerasene, of the Decapolis – present day Jordan. 
 
Conquering our fear of the evil Sea monster, and raging storm, is all part of the journey.
 
In 1776, when the Declaration of Independence was finally published – the Revolutionary War, of course, already underway – the beauty and clarity of the right to freedom was forever enshrined, in its words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” 
 
Fine rhetoric by the Founding Fathers, except that, men meant men, and not women.  And as was defined a decade later in the Constitution, men also meant white men, and not negro slaves.  Independence, freedom, and democracy, were only applicable to the monied few, a minority of citizens, at the birth of our country. 
 
July 4th was never a holiday, and day of celebration, for African Americans in the U.S., for the most part.  And that is why, the long struggle to make Juneteenth a national holiday is so important. 
 
It was on June 19, 1865, nearly three years after President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation that “a” last group of slaves in Galveston, TX received the news that: “all persons held as slaves … shall be then, thenceforward and forever free…”  Major General Gordon Granger, had taken a long time, traveling as he was by horseback, to get the word, all the way out, to the margins.  He read the proclamation at a number of locations, including “the Negro Church on Broadway, as Reedy Chapel-AME Church was referred to then.”  And Reedy Chapel, held perhaps the first Junteenth celebration the very next New Year’s Day!   (https://www.galvestonhistory.org/news/juneteenth-and-general-order-no-3)
 
Slowly but surely, the celebrations spread across Texas, and the whole country.  And forever after, black Americans have celebrated Juneteenth as their Independence Day.  Their, Freedom, Liberation, and, Emancipation Day.
 
God, in Jesus, calls us to the margins, to continue the work of liberation.  To set the captives free, to proclaim the year of our Lord, a Jubilee Year.  The aim is to lift up the downtrodden, and bring low the mighty.  To make a level playing field, where no one is denied equity. 
 
Jesus knew that didn’t mean aiming for, a color-blind society, because that is a society which, in and of itself, is blind to institutions and systems of racism.  Jesus’ quest to travel to the margins, was embarked upon with, open-eyes, and there he declared liberation and salvation, in word and deed, teaching and healing. 
 
Also on the margins, I think we could say, especially as we celebrate Pride Month, was Angel Haynes, a transgender woman, murdered because of her identity, this past October, and who we have been praying for every Sunday.  “Angel was taken away from her mom, grandmother, uncle…she was taken away from all of us unexpectedly,” said her best friend, Takia Weddle.  She was just 2 months shy of her 26th birthday. “She was a caring, determined, funny, smart and, giving woman. Unfortunately, our time with her was cut very, very short,” added Takia, at her vigil, the weekend after. (https://avp.org/ncavp-mourns-the-death-of-angel-haynes-25-year-old-black-transgender-woman-memphis/) 
 
Jesus faced great opposition in going to the margins, as we see in his boat ride with his Disciples, across the Sea of Galilee.  Just as Jonah’s uncaring attitude, landed him in the storm, needing to be saved by a big fish, so the Disciples needed saving by Jesus from their unfaithfulness to those on the margins. 
 
We know that the wind and the waves were against Jesus’ mission.  But more significantly perhaps, so were the Disciples.  They had little regard for the Gentiles on the margins, on the other side, even though Jesus had taught them to love your enemies.  They were afraid, not just of the rough seas, but, of what they would find on other shores.  They never would have gone, without Jesus as their slumbering, all-powerful, captain!  
 
Jesus calls us, to the margins, especially from our privileged positions of dominion.  I am confident, that -we here- are not counted among the Insurrectionists, who are the wind and waves of evil.  But: ?Are we regularly traveling with Jesus to the margins, on the other side?  Do we walk as allies with Black Lives Matter?  Are we speaking up against the historic and invisible barriers of racism, that persist, and still regularly occur, each and every day in our land? 
 
The storm that threatened to swamp the boat with Jesus and his disciples, was indeed the raging battle of evil that surrounded them.  But like Jonah, the disciples had gotten into deep waters because of their complete lack of concern for the Gentiles, those on the margins.  And, it was their silence, that invited the specter of death. 
 
This is our battle today, too.  Silence is complicity.  Silence, and in-action, will swamp our boat.  The boat we are all in together. 
 
Let us forego Jonah’s boat, that is fleeing responsibility, and our call, to follow God’s ways.  And let us get in the boat with Jesus, however fearful it may seem to cross over.  And let us head, directly and purposefully, to the margins of our lives.  Let us go to the other side, knowing that our liberation and salvation, cannot be found without enrolling in our baptismal calling, and taking the voyage, every day. 
 
Let us trust in God’s beloved Child, our slumbering Savior, who commands the wind and waves!  

Readings for Fourth Sunday of Easter

• Acts 4:5-12 
• Psalm 23  
• 1 John 3:16-24  
• John 10:11-18

"Our Cornerstone," Rev. Fred KInsey
Peter and John, and all the disciples, were building their lives anew, in Jerusalem.  Jesus had told them to wait there, the day he ascended to the clouds, and they would receive a ‘new’ kind of power.  And after Pentecost, it started to come together.  They had built their lives on following Jesus, during his life.  But what were they to build their lives on, after he died and was raised, and on the 40th day, ascended to God’s right hand? 
 
In our reading from, The Acts of the Apostles, today, we see Peter and John filled with a new confidence in their building project.  A confidence they never quite had with Jesus, in the flesh. 
 
Sometimes, they had asked for power, like when John and James, the sons of Zebedee, who were once part of the family fishing business, asked for special places, to sit, one on either side of Jesus, in the kingdom to come; in their visions of that victorious Davidic kingdom! 
 
Peter had confidence too when he correctly named Jesus as the Messiah, in the midst of that swanky Roman resort town, on their northern border.  But all those moments of braggadocio, were short lived, as Jesus necessarily, and decisively, dashed their hopes, and corrected their false expectations.  All their dreams of being on easy street, becoming royalty and princes in a Davidic Shepherd-King monarchy were misplaced. 
 
Jesus didn’t even try, really, to let them down easy, but told them boldly, and directly, that these were visions of earthly kingdoms, built on faulty foundations.  Yes, they would learn more of the heavenly built kingdom if they continued to follow Jesus.  But they should know, his, was a servant-based model.  A kingdom and realm that challenged the earthly powers, built on human-made power, with the subversive power of God, built on communities of justice and love, and constructed in solidarity and faithfulness, with communal banquets for the poor, the humble and meek. 
 
John and Peter, once they received Jesus’ Spirit at Pentecost, the spirit of life, in this alternative, sharing, prophetic movement, spoke in a new way, now, says the writer of Acts.  They spoke, boldly!  Nothing enrages the earthly powers more than bold prophetic speaking, especially when it stirs up, and ignites, God’s people; when it, gives them, hope! 
 
Take Alexi Navalny!  He knew full well when he returned to Russia he would be arrested and thrown into jail.  Even though it was the Kremlin who tried to assassinate him by poisoning, not too long ago.  But because Navalny speaks boldly against the sins of Putin, against his falsely earned riches and the Herod-like power he wields, nothing could be more challenging.  Bold speech aimed in the right direction, can have the power of creation itself. 
 
And Navalny is not only popular at home but around the world.  His spirit, is much greater, than his fleshly existence.  As soon as he walked off his Lufthansa flight, he was arrested and put in a Soviet jail, and apparently, they are trying to poison him again, in there.  But world pressure has come to his rescue, at least for the time being.  Death and resurrection, takes many forms.
 
Peter and John are thrown into jail for speaking boldly about the power of, resurrection, forgiveness, and new life; and because all the people of Jerusalem were listening and thousands believed.  And the people believed, because, Peter and John healed a man that couldn’t walk, like Jesus had done. 
 
It was late in the day when they were arrested, so the authorities waited until the morning to bring them before the high court, and they asked Peter and John, not about resurrection, but about what power, what name, did they use to do this healing?  Because first of all, they couldn’t believe that Peter and John were speaking so well, so boldly, knowing that they were “uneducated and ordinary men.”  And secondly, where did they get this power, a power that was so very threatening to the high courts’ existence.  This was an ‘existential problem’ for the priests. 
 
But the power, “the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,” the crucified and raised one, Peter, was happy to tell them!  If it were, you and I, we might think we were being more crafty, if we didn’t say that, so, directly.  We might realize how it could get us in trouble in that situation – you know, if we spoke too boldly.  But Peter knew what he was doing.  He knew it was an existential problem, and that it could cost him.  He didn’t do it foolishly, but confidently.  Boldly, as a new servant-leader.  This name of Jesus, this power of Jesus, his Spirit, his gift and promise of resurrection for all, was so much greater than any threat, from the offended, confused, high court, that Peter was happy to talk about it, all day long. 
 
And so he did, inspired now, quoting Psalm 118: “this Jesus is ‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders’…” that is, the high court that Jesus had roundly criticized for its worldly thinking and hypocrisy – the same rulers who were caretakers of the temple building.  And, “this stone that you rejected,” said Peter, still singing from his Psalm book, “has become the cornerstone,” a new foundation of a living building, the one by whom all “mortals,” of every nation, may find healing and salvation. 
 
And here, the high court had thought, in rejecting him, that they had saved their jobs and positions.  But now, the crucified one was clearly back, in a whole new form.  The spirit of Jesus had risen and taken residence in his disciples, and thousands of followers. 
 
So, Peter and John were, once again, following their Master and Lord.  Only now, finally, it was in spirit and truth, not with eyes closed, but with new eyes altogether, fixed on the for-real prize.  Peter and John were building their house, their lives, on the cornerstone, the cornerstone that they too, had rejected, not too many days before. 
 
Yet, that’s how they knew to, share the good news, to invite others, boldly – these priests included.  For like them, Peter and John had mistaken Jesus for a rival political power, but they had come to find, that the true Messiah was a cornerstone of a whole new building, of a new power rarely seen on earth, because its origin was from the heavenly realm, the Lord of Life – one who didn’t need to be in rivalry with anyone, or anything, else. 
 
Jesus is the stone that is a stumbling block for so many, who exposes false earthly-powers, but who is also at the same time, the foundation of a new temple, whose stones cannot be thrown down – a new spiritual construction that has no ending.  Jesus is that new cornerstone, that new temple.  If we follow, we build our lives on this crucified Messiah, the Savior of the world. 
 
For Peter and John, it was existential too.  It was life and death.  The authorities of this world could order them, to be crucified too, but Peter and John rested in the promise of, life in the new age, the promised resurrection that was already holding them up, and sustaining them every minute, of every day; the foundation and cornerstone that was their rock and their salvation; the new temple that they rejoiced in, and at whose feet they worshipped, and who they could talk about, without end. 
 
Let us build our lives on the sure foundation, the stone that is so often rejected, but which God has made the cornerstone of our very existence.  The foundation that holds us up, and lives and breathes, everywhere we go.  Jesus Christ of Nazareth, our life and our salvation.  

Readings for 3rd Sunday of Easter, 4/18/21

• Acts 3:12-19  
• Psalm 4  
• 1 John 3:1-7  
• Luke 24:36b-48

"Innocent Victim," Rev. Fred Kinsey
We kind of stumbled into the protest rally for Adam Toledo on Friday evening in Logan Square.  I thought it was supposed to be on Saturday, but the hoards of people walking down the boulevard past our apartment carrying, Justice for Adam signs, was unmistakable. 

We had already ordered our pizza from Reno, a restaurant right across from the Monument and public square where the protest rally was getting underway, so we quickly put on our coats and rushed out the door to join in.  Not ideal, but we had a half hour before our pizza was ready to pick up! 
 
It was by far the biggest rally I’d seen in Logan Square.  Bigger than last year’s BLM protests in the same spot.  Though, I would say, this was a continuation of that movement.  And, part of the growing attraction here, has been, you can easily march to Mayor Lightfoot’s house, which is just a few blocks away. So, this particular gathering wasn’t just 50 or 100 people scattered on one side of the LGSQ Monument, but was filled all the way around, and spilling out into the round-about street circling the Monument, where Milwaukee Ave, Logan Blvd, and Kedzie intersect. Police were out, redirecting traffic, all around, for blocks.  Most people were wearing face coverings, but around the Monument protestors were packed-in pre-pandemic style, and social distancing was scarce, except towards the fringes, where Kim and I found space. 
 
As we gazed at all the protest signs: No Justice, No Peace; Defund the Police, and Justice for Adam, amongst others, Kim reminded me how Daunte Wright’s mother had said, “there’s never going to be justice for us. [to me] Justice would bring our son home to us.”  And I recalled, that after Adam Toledo’s family had viewed the video, of his last moments of life, earlier in the week, the thing they urged Chicago to do now, was to focus on changing the systems that killed Adam: “The Toledo family implores everyone who gathers in Adam’s name to remain peaceful, respectful and nonviolent, and to continue to work constructively and tirelessly for reform,” as they stood in front of cameras they had never wanted to see.
 
The unyielding resoluteness, to yet another senseless death, this time of a young teenager, 13 years old, seemed to pervade this gathering, like a vigil as much as a protest.  Just a day after the tragic video was publicly released of the needless death of Adam, city officials were framing the shooting in ways to protect the police and demonize the child. 
 
But traumatized protestors were disbelieving.  Jasmine Rubalcava, who lives “minutes away” from where Adam Toledo was shot in Little Village, brought her four-year-old son to the [LGSQ] protest. Like many Chicagoans, she opted out of watching the footage, saying, “no matter what’s in the video, he didn’t deserve to die.”  (https://blockclubchicago.org/2021/04/16/thousands-march-in-chicago-to-protest-police-killing-of-13-year-old-adam-toledo-adam-deserved-to-live/ )
 
Karina Solano, an organizer with Únete La Villita, said, “Nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing excused CPD having shot and killed him. Nobody deserves to die at the hands of the police, especially not kids. We don’t need to see the video to know that Adam deserved to live,” Solano said.  (ibid.)
 
It is this idea of ‘the innocent victim’ that theologian James Alison identifies in the gospels, and in our Gospel Reading from Luke today.  Jesus, the innocent victim, having been raised on the third day, just as he said he would, has revealed in his death and resurrection, the victory of love and peace and justice.  Nothing, nothing, nothing, can excuse the death of Jesus, the innocent victim.  Just as Peter says in his sermon from our Acts reading today: “Jesus…,” “the Author of life,”  whom you handed over and rejected… though he… [deserved] release,” you killed, and instead let go, a guilty man, Barabbas, in his place.  This is the fear of the families of George Floyd, Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo, but also of black and brown families everywhere, in America.  The fear of their sons, becoming ghosts.
 
When Jesus appears to the disciples, in the evening, on Easter day, according to Luke, they are still confused and not yet, the believing Apostles, as we think of them today.  Out of nowhere, Jesus suddenly stands among the disciples, like a ghost. And the first thing he says to them is, “Peace be with you.”  Because, they are startled!  You and I couldn’t do that, suddenly appear.  But Jesus addresses their fear, and the inner dialog they are having with themselves, still so full of confusion on this Easter resurrection evening. 
 
So, to assure them he’s not just a ‘spirit, a ghost,’ as was fairly common for people to do, then, and now, Jesus asks for something to eat to demonstrate he is more than a scary apparition.  They gave him a piece of broiled fish, which he chewed and digested before them. 
 
But his appearance as a New Being, an eschatological promise of new life, and the first-fruits of ‘the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come,’ had more meaning than the prosaic debate between, spirits and physicality. 
 
Jesus has returned like this, to confirm to them that he is the Messiah, the one who is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and thus, be our Lord of Life.
 
As Brian Robinette says, “The resurrection awakens true memory. It unseals the collective amnesia that has allowed us to suppress the injustice of our violent exclusions and expulsions,” as we did with Jesus, and like the world would have us do with Adam Toledo and Daunte Wright, and like we sometimes do to any person who is not allowed in as a full human-being, but is victimized.   
 
But, Robinette continues, “the risen One appears to [us] in the midst of an unbreachable divide to restore communication … and offer [us] a renewed innocence, a second innocence. This new innocence is the offer of forgiveness. Just as Peter welcomes those responsible for Jesus’ murder to embrace the forgiveness offered to them by God, so too do we find running[,] throughout the New Testament[,] the intimate association of resurrection, forgiveness, and newness of life.” 
 
And so precisely in our gospel today, the innocent victim, Jesus, inspires Luke to encourage us, “that repentance and forgiveness of sins are to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.” 
 
Why is it that the families, and especially the mothers of their black and brown sons, are the ones calling for peace, even amidst receiving the news of their own sons’ becoming “innocent victims?!” 
 
There is something that the mother’s, and families, and now even spreading to Chicagoans, and dare we say beyond, have experienced, in the loss of such unnecessary lynching’s.  The transformation through death and deep grief, comes only in walking through, anger, denial, depression and every other emotion, that creates in us a holy resolution, to somehow move forward, to demand not just justice, but, new life, a new reality, a well-deserved healing and peace, a new way of being. 
 
Never again do we want to see innocent victims!  And so, it’s on all of us to demand and create the change Jesus came to give us.  We can’t opt out because of white privilege; we can’t opt out even when our own dear child has been taken.  We can’t rest on our laurels, knowing that Jesus gave his life for us 2,000 years ago.  The ‘new life’ is a gift from God, but only if we make it into who we are, if we pray and work for it to come equally for all of us. 
 
As we see in our Gospel reading today, it’s almost impossible to understand Jesus in his resurrected body, that first-fruit of the new creation God is making, already, now, through him.  Was he spirit or flesh?  Ghost or person?  How could he be like us in the ordinary function of eating, but so unlike us in appearing and ascending? 
 
But what is possible, is to love Jesus and love the Word of God, and thus to share in the journey of ‘understanding’ how he is ‘fulfilling scripture’ as our ‘suffering’ Savior, and our risen “innocent victim.” 
 
In the midst of gathered communities every week, God is opening our hearts and minds to understand “that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations... You are witnesses of these things.”