Make a Home in Us

May 22, 2022
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Acts 16:9-15; John 14:23-29[1]

When a word in a book is really important, there are ways to make readers pay attention. You can write it in all capital letters. You can underline it. Some people use highlighters to make important words stand out. Or you can repeat the word; use the same word twice to show how important it is.

In Deuteronomy 16:20, the same word is used two times in the same sentence to show how important it is. “Justice, and only justice, you shall pursue.”[2]

Justice is one of the most important things to God, which is why the word is used two times in this sentence. The word “justice” is used 129 times in the Bible. Why does justice matter so much to God? Why should it matter to us? Justice means making things fair – especially for people who are having the hardest time – because they are very young or very poor or others don’t respect or care about them. But God loves even the very young, or very poor, and loves even those whom others disrespect or treat with indifference or hatred. Justice is so important to God that, in this single verse, God’s people are told twice to work hard for justice.

But if we are to pursue justice for God’s people all around the world, we have to start someplace. We have to start where we are, in our homes, in our relationships, and in our own hearts.

Our homes are where we and our families live. Home is more than the physical space where we live. A house is just a building, but a home implies the relationships between the people living together. Home is where we grow and learn the most important life lessons of unconditional love, respect for one another, taking care of one another and of the things around us, and how to be fair.

Home is where children become adults, citizens of the community. Home is where faith is kindled, explored, and encouraged. Faith is born as we pray together before a meal, or at bedtime, and as parents answer the deep questions from children of life and death and what it all means. Home is where two people who love each other will share a meal every day, sometimes for more than fifty years.

The home can be a sacred place. When we consider something blessed, worthy of spiritual respect or devotion, or as a place where God can be found, we say that it is sacred. Can God be found in our homes? In Revelation, the story of the New Jerusalem tells us that “The home of God is among mortals.”[3] Jesus told the disciples, “Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”[4] God is at home in our homes, in our relationships, and in our hearts.

It is important then, if God is living with us in our homes, that we make God feel welcome. How should we welcome God into our homes? This may be easier than we think. There was a time, long ago, when God didn’t have a home. When the Hebrews, the Jews, first escaped from slavery in Egypt, and settled in the Promised Land, they worshiped God in a big tent called a Tabernacle. Did you know that there are at least 29 chapters in our Bible – in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers – that talk about how the Tabernacle was built, decorated, and used?

God spoke with King David, and his son, King Solomon, about having a house built to replace the tent. This house was called the Temple. Solomon built this Temple, and there are at least 8 chapters of the Bible that talk about the building, decorating, and use of the Temple. There are 11 more that talk about rebuilding the Temple after it was destroyed. All told, that is 48 chapters of the Bible talking about making a home for God.

But we don’t need to do all of that building and decorating in order to welcome God into our homes. We only need to love Jesus and to make our homes a place that is worthy of blessing. If we want God to be at home with us, then we only need to show love and justice to one another.

A big part of showing love and justice is recognizing that through Christ we are members of God’s family. God’s family includes children of every race and every song. God’s family includes people who are refugees, hungry, poor, and oppressed. God’s family includes you, and me, and everyone we know. Some of us have a better and easier life than others. Some of us struggle every day to survive. And that is not fair, that is not just.

It is not fair that there are over 72 million children in this country living in poverty,[5] and millions without health care, without a spot in Head Start or child care, and countless children who go to bed hungry. But God knows each of their names, their faces, their stories. This is but one example of injustice in our country and in our world. And God calls us to go in pursuit of justice on their behalf. “Justice, only justice, shall you pursue.”

If we are to pursue justice, then we must begin where we are. We must begin with ourselves, our neighbors, our families, and our children, and show them love and justice. We must recognize that every person is a unique and sacred child of God. And we must learn and teach our children to recognize the sacredness of others. Perhaps in doing so, we will spark the desire for justice in their hearts, and in ours.

I want to end with these words, written by Spanish cellist and composer Pablo Casals. I think they sum up what is vital for us to do on behalf of children everywhere.

Each second we live is a new and unique moment of the universe, a moment that will never be again. And what do we teach our children? We teach them that two and two make four, and that Paris is the capital of France. When will we also teach them what they are? We should say to each of them: Do you know what you are? You are a marvel. You are unique. In all the years that have passed, there has never been another child like you. Your legs, your arms, your clever fingers, the way you move. You may become a Shakespeare, a Michelangelo, a Beethoven. You have the capacity for anything. Yes, you are a marvel. And when you grow up, can you then harm another who is, like you, a marvel? You must work, we must all work, to make the world worthy of its children.[6]

God, help us to love you. Help us to keep the word of Jesus and learn to love. Make your home in us. Amen.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] Deuteronomy 16:20.

[3] Revelation 21:3.

[4] John 14:23.

[5] https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?q=u.s.%20population%20poverty&tid=ACSST5Y2020.S1701.

[6] Pablo Casals, Joys and Sorrows (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974).

The Way of Peace

November 28, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Jeremiah 33:14-16; Luke 1:57-80[1]

The Greeks had already conquered Palestine, and now the Romans had taken over.  The land of the Jews was occupied by enemies, by people who hated them and tried to turn them away from serving God.  The people of God sat in darkness, in the shadow of death.  Luke tells us that it was in the face of these circumstances that hope was born, a sign of salvation was given to the people.  Elisabeth and Zacharias, in their old age, gave birth to John, who would be known as the Baptizer.  This child would be called the prophet of the Most High and would go before the Lord to prepare his ways.

The sign of the coming of God into the world, the herald announcing the coming of the Christ was this child.  The promise of God, the holy covenant, the oath sworn to our ancestor Abraham was to be fulfilled.  The knowledge of salvation and the forgiveness of sin would break from on high like the dawn, and the first proclamation of the coming of God into the world was made at the ceremonial blessing of a child – the circumcision of John.  This ancient sign of God’s covenant with the Jews would be transformed into a blessing of water and spirit – baptism – symbolizing the grace of God, the new life that we have in Christ.

In the ceremony of baptism, we remember the covenant of God’s grace and we promise to help our children to be faithful members of the church of Jesus Christ, by celebrating Christ’s presence and by furthering Christ’s mission in all the world.  We promise on behalf of our children until they are ready, in the act of confirmation, to affirm their baptism and take on that responsibility for themselves.

In this day and age, it seems strange.  We bring our infants to the church and in front of everyone we promise that they will continue Christ’s mission!  Why do we do that?  Could it be that we see something in them?  Could it be that they symbolize something?  Could it be that children are a powerful symbol of hope?

I know that I have hopes and dreams for my children. I don’t know that they will become prophets of the Most High God, but I do hope they will make the world a little better. There are already signs, like the way the both helped with the packing and moving of my in-laws this past week. “How can I help?” is more than a simple offer of labor. It is our opportunity to allow young people to participate in what we’re doing. In the church, it is our opportunity to welcome them into the mission of the church.

And what is that mission?  Well, the prophecy of Zacharias said that Christ would guide our feet into the way of peace.  In a troubled time, what a powerful message of hope!  God has shown us mercy and will guide us to peace.  We surely need peace to come in our time.  Tensions between nations continue to concern us, and at home we are wrestling with one another over masks, vaccines, and anything else we can come up with.  We need help finding the way of peace.

To guide us in the way of peace – you mean these children?  They are supposed to lead us?  Toward peace?  Well, yes.  And I think they might be good at it.  After all, Jesus himself said that we must become like children in order to enter the realm of God.  They must know something we don’t.  Or maybe it’s something we’ve forgotten.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”  We ask that question of all children, many times, and we laugh and we marvel at their plans and their dreams.  But what is it that we are really doing?  We are asking them to envision the future.  Having a vision is crucial for the vitality of a church or any organization.  As adults, however, we don’t ask each other about our visions for the future very often.  That’s something for the planning meeting.  But we ask our children about their vision all the time.

That question about growing up could also be phrased, “What is your vision for the future?” or maybe “Where will your feet take you?”  If the feet of our young folk are walking in the way of peace, are we willing to follow?  If we risk the unthinkable, and follow where the little child leads, we might discover a way both familiar and strange, a way of peace, hope, and love.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

A Better Tomorrow

October 24, 2021
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Mark 10:35-45[1]

This is the 30^th year of the National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths. Across this nation, people of faith are turning their attention to the urgent problems facing children across our nation and around the world, and responding in many different ways to improve children’s lives. Official poverty data released by the U.S. Census Bureau on September 15, 2020 show nearly 10.5 million children in America lived in poverty in 2019.[2] Although 2019 data showed a decline in poverty numbers from 2018, these estimates do not reflect what has happened since the COVID-19 pandemic.

It is painful to think about children who are hungry or homeless, who have no access to health care, who are abused or neglected, who are victims of gun violence, who are left alone because of a lack of money for child care, or who are denied access to safe and affordable schools. Despite efforts to make schools safer, school shootings are still all too common. On August 13 of this year, a 13-year-old boy at Albuquerque’s Washington Middle School was taken into custody Friday afternoon after police say he shot and killed a fellow student during a lunch break on campus.[3]

Closer to home, in 2020, more than 183,000 pounds of food passed through the M.O.R.E. Center.[4] The M.O.R.E. Center also distributed 125 new children’s coats last year. During the 2020 fiscal year, Home of the Sparrow directly served over 500 women and children, including 216 children.[5]

Why is it important for us to give our attention to the plight of children, to focus in worship on the lives of poor children? God calls us to seek justice for children, especially the most vulnerable, the orphan. It is a law written in Deuteronomy: “You shall not deprive a resident alien or an orphan of justice; you shall not take a widow’s garment in pledge.”[6] It is a command from Isaiah: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, rescue the oppressed, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.”[7]

The Rev. Dr. Shannon Daley-Harris, Director of Religious Affairs for the Children’s Defense Fund explains the importance of this day. She writes:

Our children only get one shot at childhood. If we leave them mired in poverty and robbed of the enrichment for which their minds, bodies, and spirits thirst; sick or dying for lack of care we could have ensured they had; or locked up and out of sight in prison, they will never get that lost childhood back. The effects of having their childhood robbed will remain with them—and us— for a lifetime.[8]

Jesus said to the disciples, “Let the little children come to me… for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs.”[9] Jesus has concern for the “least of these” – people who are young, poor, and in need of healing – and those who follow him are called to share that concern. But too often we get caught up in the struggle for power, in competition to be the “biggest” or the “best.” Even the disciples miss the message of Jesus over and over, and instead focus on securing positions of power in the coming kingdom. “And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory’” (Mark 10:37).

Of course, those of us who know how the story ends find this request by James and John to be silly, or naïve at best. “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink?” (Mark 10:38). This is a cup of suffering; this is the way of the cross. Do they really know what they are asking? And yet, in the end, they will remain faithful disciples, true followers; they will share the cup of Christ and live the way of the cross. They might not receive the seats of Moses and Elijah, but they will have seats at the table.

The way of Jesus is the way of the cross. The professor and theologian, Walter Wink, wrote that the way of the cross is the way of resistance to the Domination System,[10] which is characterized by power exercised over others, control of others, ranking as the primary principle of social organization, hierarchies of dominant and subordinate, winners and losers, insiders and outsiders, honored and shamed.[11] It is this system of domination that keeps the weakest and most vulnerable members of society, primarily children, trapped in the web of poverty.

True discipleship is the way of service and self-sacrifice. A Biblical scholar, the Rev. Dr. Lamar Williamson, Jr. wrote, “True discipleship is characterized by a costly pouring out of one’s life for another, whether it be an aging parent, a difficult spouse, a special child, another member of the Christian fellowship who has unusual needs, or any person whose situation elicits neighborly service at personal cost.”[12] Christian discipleship calls us to a life of service to the least of these, to children in need.

The prophet Isaiah’s words give us hope that things can be different. “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them.”[13] The Lord seeks justice for children, and with God all things are possible.

The service to which we are called is not only to reach out in charity, but also to change the structures and systems that are hurting and failing children. When children are the poorest group of Americans, when millions of children are poor, there is a need for change to our nation’s structures and systems. When nine million children do not have health coverage, there is a need for change on a national scale. When the odds are stacked against our nation’s Black, Latino, and poor children, sending so many of them into prison or an early grave, there is a need for change and for justice in the system that works against them.

The Zebedee brothers, James and John, perhaps think the system is good, it’s just that the wrong people are in the places of power; once they come into their own, alongside Jesus, everything will be fixed from the top down. Meanwhile, Jesus is turning over the tables and paying far more attention to serving than being served.

In our day, as it was in Jesus’ day, those who are young, poor, and without power are likely to be trampled in the stampede for the best seats, the most power, the most privilege, the most wealth, the greatest advantage. James and John, the sons of Zebedee, want to be great, and risk getting caught up in the Domination System. But Jesus calls them, and us, to servant-hood. “You know that among the Gentiles those whom they recognize as their rulers lord it over them, and their great ones are tyrants over them. But it is not so among you; but whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant” (Mark 10:42-43).

The needs of children in poverty, without access to health care and at risk of imprisonment, call us to demonstrate true greatness through servant leadership. And we cannot afford to look the other way, hiding from our calling or feeling that we are not equal to the task. These words of Martin Luther King, Jr. are a helpful reminder:

Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don't have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don't have to know Einstein's theory of relativity to serve. You don't have to know the second theory of thermodynamics in physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love. And you can be that servant. [14]

Together, let us bring a message to all children who suffer that God knows and shares their pain; God is present with them and will not abandon them even in their most painful times. “Then Jesus said to them, ‘The cup that I drink you will drink; and with the baptism with which I am baptized, you will be baptized’” (Mark 10:39) We can be great. We can answer the call of Jesus Christ to be disciples by serving others in the world, and we can promise to the children of the world a better tomorrow.  Amen.

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[1] The scripture quotations contained herein are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

[2] U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey. 2020. “2019 Annual Social and Economic Supplement,” Table POV-01 (Below 100 percent and 50 percent of poverty, all races). https://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/data/tables.html.

[3] https://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/one-teen-killed-another-arrested-in-shooting-at-albuquerque-middle-school/article_05311a2a-fc87-11eb-95ad-23b73065d32c.html.

[4] http://marengomorecenter.org/index.shtml.

[5] https://www.hosparrow.org/about/statistics/.

[6] Deuteronomy 24:17.

[7] Isaiah 1:16-17.

[8] Shannon Daley-Harris, Create Change for Children Today: Bring Hope and a Better Tomorrow – National Observance of Children’s Sabbaths® Manual – A Multi-Faith Resource for Year-Round Child Advocacy, Volume 18 © 2009 Children’s Defense Fund, p. 12.

[9] Mark 10:14.

[10] Walter Wink, Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 33-104.

[11] Charles L. Campbell, Homiletical Perspective on Mark 10:35-45 in David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor, editors, Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary, Year B, Volume 4 (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 193.

[12] Lamar Williamson Jr., Mark: Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching (Westminster John Knox Press, 1983).

[13] Isaiah 11:6.

[14] The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “The Drum Major Instinct,” Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, February4, 1968.

Prepare the Way of Peace

December 8, 2019

St. John’s United Church of Christ, Union, Illinois

Isaiah 11:1-10; Matthew 3:1-12

Most of us here have known peace for most of our lives. There have been periods of war, to be sure, and some here have served in combat. Children born after 2001, however, have grown up in a time of war. Children born when we entered Afghanistan and Iraq are graduating from high school. For some of us it is very close to home. We know someone who is serving over-seas. We know someone who has given their life in the line of duty.

And, yet, for others this war has been distant. The war on terror, the endless battle focused mainly in the middle east, is no longer constantly in the news, on the radio, on the internet, and in our minds. But it continues. Many of us have been largely unaffected by the war, except for fluctuations in gas prices, and perhaps the psychological anguish of knowing that terrible things are happening over there and no end is in sight.

For young people today, the war has been something distant – “above their pay grade” so to speak. Adults, parents, or older relatives might talk about war, but children should be protected. They should be playing, learning grammar, algebra, and history. Children should know peace, not war.

Children should know peace, but the unfortunate reality is that they are often faced with the absence of peace. There is always a bully on the playground, it seems, or some disagreement that seems easier to solve with fists than with words. There are drugs and guns in the schools, despite our best efforts to keep them out, and children who see no alternative but to use them. There are bad influences, and bad neighborhoods. There is music that glorifies violence, first-person-shooter video games, and active-shooter drills in elementary schools. And when there is war, there are always children who lose a parent, or a home, or a life. For children, for our children, the lack of peace is too often what they know.

Lack of peace is the reality that we face. We live in troubled times, and our children are growing up in troubled times. We can’t always protect them from the troubles of the world. All we can do is try to prepare them to face those troubles when they come, and teach them that there is hope, there is peace to be found.

Israel was a land and a people that knew war. The Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Greeks, and, most recently, the Romans had waged war in that region. The land of the Jews was occupied by enemies, and peace was maintained with the sword. The people of God yearned for a time so well described by Isaiah: “The wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid, the calf and the lion and the fatling together, and a little child shall lead them” (Is. 11:6). One day, peace would reign. “They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain; for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Is. 11:9).

As Matthew’s Gospel tells us, it was in these circumstances that hope appeared in the wilderness. John the Baptist, the one of whom Isaiah spoke, had come preparing the way of the Lord. “In those days John the Baptist appeared in the wilderness of Judea, proclaiming, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near’” (Mt. 3:1).

The sign of the coming of God into the world, the herald announcing the coming of the Christ was this wild man who wore clothing made of camel’s hair, and whose food was locusts and wild honey. The promise of God, that “a shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse” (Is. 11:1), was being fulfilled. The baptism by John, a sign of repentance, would become the blessing of water and the Holy Spirit that we know, symbolizing the grace of God, the new life that we have in Christ.

In the ceremony of baptism, we remember the covenant of God’s grace and we promise to help our children to be faithful members of the church of Jesus Christ, by celebrating Christ’s presence and by furthering Christ’s mission in all the world. We promise on behalf of our children until they are ready, in the act of confirmation, to affirm their baptism and take on that responsibility for themselves.

If you think about it, it sounds a little crazy. We bring our infants to the church and in front of everyone we promise that they will continue Christ’s mission! We then have this ceremony symbolizing death and resurrection. Why do we do that? Could it be that children are an embodiment of hope? Perhaps when we invite our children to join us on our mission, we are showing our faith that the mission has hope of success, that there just may be peace on the horizon.

Now, to hear John tell it, Jesus came to do battle, with his winnowing fork in his hand, burning the chaff with unquenchable fire. Yet we also know that Christ came to guide our feet into the way of peace. In a troubled time, what a powerful message of hope, to know that there one who is more powerful than the wicked, who comes to seek out and save the lost! God has shown us mercy and will guide us to peace. It might not be easy, but we will get there.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” We ask that question of all children, many times, and we laugh and we marvel at their plans and their dreams. But what is it that we are really doing? We are asking them to envision the future. We are asking them to tell us about hope. Having a vision is crucial for the vitality of a church or any organization. As adults, we don’t ask each other about our visions for the future very often. We hardly allow ourselves to dream of something better. But we ask our children about their vision all the time.

I think we could take time this Advent to prepare for the future. I believe that we have it in us to envision a better future for all, where there is peace and hope and joy. I am sure that one day they will not hurt or destroy on all God’s holy mountain. I know that with Emmanuel, God with us, the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord. Let us prepare the way of peace, and cry out that the kingdom of God has come.  Amen.