Sacred texts:

Deuteronomy 25:5-10

⁵ If brothers are living together and one of them dies without a son, his widow must not marry outside the family. Her husband’s brother shall take her and marry her and fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to her. ⁶ The first son she bears shall carry on the name of the dead brother so that his name will not be blotted out from Israel.  ⁷ However, if a man does not want to marry his brother’s wife, she shall go to the elders at the town gate and say, “My husband’s brother refuses to carry on his brother’s name in Israel. He will not fulfill the duty of a brother-in-law to me.” ⁸ Then the elders of his town shall summon him and talk to him. If he persists in saying, “I do not want to marry her,” ⁹ his brother’s widow shall go up to him in the presence of the elders, take off one of his sandals, spit in his face and say, “This is what is done to the man who will not build up his brother’s family line.” ¹⁰ That man’s line shall be known in Israel as The Family of the Unsandaled.

 

1 Corinthians 13

If I speak in the tongues of men and women or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I put the ways of childhood behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

 

Matthew 22:23-40

²³ That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him with a question. ²⁴ “Teacher,” they said, “Moses told us that if a man dies without having children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. ²⁵ Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one married and died, and since he had no children, he left his wife to his brother. ²⁶ The same thing happened to the second and third brother, right on down to the seventh. ²⁷ Finally, the woman died. ²⁸ Now then, at the resurrection, whose wife will she be of the seven, since all of them were married to her?”²⁹ Jesus replied, “You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God. ³⁰ At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven. ³¹ But about the resurrection of the dead—have you not read what God said to you, ³² ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’?  YWYH is not the God of the dead but of the living.”  ³³ When the crowds heard this, they were astonished at his teaching.

³⁴ Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. ³⁵ One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”  ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Sovereign your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

End of sacred texts.

This last week the news has been full of commentary on marriage, well the commentary has been going on much longer than just last week but it reached a fever pitch with the Supreme Court rulings on Section 3 of the Defense of Marriage Act and the court’s decision not to intervene in Prop 8 decision in California.  The basic impact of these decisions, and forgive my simplistic understanding, is that the Supreme Court ruled the congress could not make a law that singled out persons based on gender for special treatment, specifically a law that said two persons of the same gender may not enter into a contract that is available to two persons of opposite gender.  Secondly, the court ruled that the petitioners in the Prop 8 case did not have standing to appeal to the Supreme Court and therefore the court would not rule on the merits of their appeal returning the case to the state courts that had already ruled Prop 8 unconstitutional.  The impact of these decisions was tremendous for those persons in California who had been banned from getting married and for those persons in states and the District of Columbia where same gender marriage is legal.  The rulings validated their marriages and made Federal benefits available to them.  What the rulings did not do was declare that marriage is a constitutional right to all adults regardless of gender attraction.  The rulings avoided the questions as to whether there is a constitutional right for each adult to marry the person of their choosing regardless of the genders expressed or assigned to the persons involved.  Marriage has always been a matter for states to determine and this battle will have to be fought state by state.  People on all sides of the issue have stated that marriage has been forever redefined but I do not believe that is true, great progress has been made but the battle is far from won.  Despite that, some of the religious fundamentalists are certain that we have offended God.  Michael Huckabee declared that Jesus wept at the decision.  It is possible in my theology that this is true, but they would have been tears of joy that humankind was moving toward loving instead of judging each other.  Pat Robertson declared we should be prepared for God to deal with America as God dealt with Sodom and Gomorrah as a result of the decision.  Once again I can agree God has the foundation to deal with us like Sodom and Gomorrah but not for the reason poor demented Pat suggests.  According to Ezekiel 16:49 “”‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.”  I think our present political climate would support that America has some arrogant, overfed, and unconcerned individuals in positions of power who are working to the detriment of the poor and needy.  I am not personally investing is fire and brimstone protective gear as I do not believe God visits punishments in this way anymore if God ever did.  The point is I don’t think anyone is dealing with the clear issue as to what is the foundation of marriage and how do we defend it?

The fundamentalists insist the foundation of marriage is the cleaving of a man to a woman for the purpose of procreation.  The passage from Deuteronomy would seem to support this concept.  Men married women so they could produce offspring and if they didn’t before the man died, then the brothers were obligated to produce an heir for their brother.  This seems to make procreation critical but it doesn’t do much to support the one man one woman requirement.  There is no clear indication that each brother must refrain from marrying until the older brother has produced an heir so it is possible this brotherly obligation did not preclude the brother having another wife, in fact, there are many examples of men having multiple partners in the stories of the Bible and God seems to bless this or at least not condemn it.  There is also the illusion to the Samaritan woman with several husbands and a man she lives with without benefit of marriage, which Jesus does not condemn.  It is just not clear what the correct composition of marriage is and we cannot clearly say what is a traditional marriage.  What is clear is that marriage has not always been about romance and everlasting love.  The romantic notion of marriage is relatively new.  Marriages were most often about finances and power.  Wealthy households arranged the marriage of their children to preserve and increase the wealth.  Sovereigns arranged marriages to expand their territories or consolidate their power.  Common folk didn’t generally have elaborate marriages, or any kind of ceremony at all.  They would simply unite their lives and register their marriage with the parish priest.  For the majority of recorded history, marriage was seen as a property transfer, the woman was the property of her father or eldest brother until she was given in marriage to a man to be her husband.  There was no expectation that either party to this contract would be attracted to the other or even enjoy their company, that wasn’t the point, the point was to create children to carry on the family business whether it was commerce or power.  It was very common during this time for both men and women to have emotional connections with persons outside the marriage.  Only in the last few hundred years did people start selecting their own mate and doing so for romantic reasons.

I do not believe there is one right foundation for marriage.  Certainly God is in the love business but loving comes in a wide array of expressions.  Some people love the person who makes them laugh, or they love the person who enjoys what they enjoy, or even loving the person who can provide them with security, or security for their children.  None of these reasons for loving and marrying another person would seem inherently wrong to me, or outside what God ordains.  I believe God is not concerned about the reasons we wish to marry, much less what the gender expressions of the participants are.  I believe God cares about the honesty of our commitments, the sincerity of our pledges to each other, and the integrity with which we live out the promises we have made to each other.  The foundation for marriage that we need to defend is the commitment the parties make to each other and doing everything possible for them to keep those commitments.  Marriage should no longer be the concern of others to protect wealth, control power, or support religious traditions.  Earthly marriages aren’t related to eternal matters, at least if Jesus is to be believed.  Earthly marriages are about finding the one that will support you becoming all God intends you to be, the one who completes you, not your better or worse half, not your superior or your inferior, not a trophy or a project, but a mate, a partner, a spouse committed to you as much as he or she is committed to themselves.  That is what the whole love chapter is about.  That is what marriage is all about, and that is what we should all be fighting to defend.  Amen.

Sacred texts:

Exodus 19:2-8

² After they set out from Rephidim, they entered the Desert of Sinai, and Israel camped there in the desert in front of the mountain.

³ Then Moses went up to God, and God called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a monarchy of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

⁷ So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all the words God had commanded him to speak. ⁸ The people all responded together, “We will do everything God has said.” So Moses brought their answer back to God.

 

Matthew 8:5-13

⁵ When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. ⁶ “Lord,” he said, “my house-boy lies at home paralyzed, suffering terribly.”

⁷ Jesus said to him, “Shall I come and heal him?”

⁸ The centurion replied, “Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my house-boy will be healed. ⁹ For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and that one, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. ¹¹ I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the monarchy of heaven. ¹² But the subjects of the monarchy will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the centurion, “Go! Let it be done just as you believed it would.” And his house-boy was healed at that moment.

 

John 4:4-30, 39-42

⁴ Now he had to go through Samaria. ⁵ So he came to a town in Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground Jacob had given to his son Joseph. ⁶ Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired as he was from the journey, sat down by the well. It was about noon.

⁷ When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, “Will you give me a drink?” ⁸ (His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.)

⁹ The Samaritan woman said to him, “You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?” (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

¹⁰ Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”

¹¹ “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? ¹² Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his children and his livestock?”

¹³ Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴ but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

¹⁵ The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water so that I won’t get thirsty and have to keep coming here to draw water.”

¹⁶ He told her, “Go, call your husband and come back.”

¹⁷ “I have no husband,” she replied.

Jesus said to her, “You are right when you say you have no husband. ¹⁸ The fact is, you have had five husbands, and the man you now have is not your husband. What you have just said is quite true.”

¹⁹ “Sir,” the woman said, “I can see that you are a prophet. ²⁰ Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you Jews claim that the place where we must worship is in Jerusalem.”

²¹ “Woman,” Jesus replied, “believe me, a time is coming when you will worship the Creator neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²² You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³ Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Creator in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Creator seeks. ²⁴ God is spirit, and worshipers of God must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”

²⁵ The woman said, “I know that Messiah” (called Christ) “is coming. When the Messiah comes, Christ will explain everything to us.”

²⁶ Then Jesus declared, “I, the one speaking to you—I am the Christ.”

²⁷ Just then his disciples returned and were surprised to find him talking with a woman. But no one asked, “What do you want?” or “Why are you talking with her?”

²⁸ Then, leaving her water jar, the woman went back to the town and said to the people, ²⁹ “Come, see a man who told me everything I ever did. Could this be the Messiah?” ³⁰ They came out of the town and made their way toward him.³⁹ Many of the Samaritans from that town believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I ever did.” ⁴⁰ So when the Samaritans came to him, they urged him to stay with them, and he stayed two days. ⁴¹ And because of his words many more became believers.

⁴² They said to the woman, “We no longer believe just because of what you said; now we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”

 

End of sacred texts.

 

Everything comes down to relationships; our relationship with others, our relationship with ourselves, our relationship with the rest of creation, and our relationship with God.  Relationships are foundational to the function of religion.  The obvious relationship with an external force believed to have the power to control our circumstances.  Every society as far as we can know has some form of religion, meaning an organized method of relating to the forces around us.  Societies developed ritual practices in an attempt to either please or control the force and most likely a little bit of both.  These religious practices quickly developed rules to control the relationship between people and to define the relationship between humankind and the rest of creation.  It is not always clear to us how the desire to be in relationship with the Divine force evolved into controlling each other.  It is clear that most religions have changed radically when they went from being persecuted by societies and governments to being the agents of society and government.

Political leaders have always sought to claim connection to the Divine as a way of maintaining control and punishing those who behaved outside the rules of the religion.  During the time of the Original Testament nations had their own god and the gods of different nations and societies were expected to enter into the battles that were the result of human disputes.  The power of a god was measured by the success of those who claimed that god as their own.  Conquered people were subjugated to the authority of the god of the conquering people and they were forced to adopt that religion.  One of the challenges for people of faith is to reconcile the stories of a national god with our understanding of the one God.  The struggle is made more difficult by the vested interest of political authorities to claim God as being on their side.  Abraham Lincoln is reported as having been asked if God was on the side of the Union and he replied the more important question was whether the Union was on God’s side.  Similarly some have said it is more important the America blesses God than to ask God to bless America.  If we seek to understand our relationship with God as one of our seeking to know and follow God then our religion and its impact will be very different than if we think of God as a source of giving us particular blessings withheld from others.   The Exodus passage for today comes from the Hebrew tradition of being God’s chosen people, a treasure among the nations.  Today, Christians read this passage as not a national treasure but as the treasured status of Christians over other faith traditions.  I would suggest the passage teaches us about God’s love for one who hears God and seeks to obey God’s commandments regardless of what faith tradition has introduced one to God.

The word used in the oldest version of this passage we have today refers to the eagle using the feminine form.  God is described as a mother eagle who teaches her young to fly by carrying them  on her wings until they could soar as eagles themselves.  God is portrayed as teaching us how to fly by example, by giving us commandments on how to live together in harmony, not as superior or inferior to each other or to creation but as one creation.  It is only in finding this harmony with the rest of creation that we can find our harmony with God the Creator.  We are challenged to give up the need to control others or the environment in our sense of superiority but to understand it is only when we live in harmony with each other and with the environment that we can live a truly peaceful and safe existence.

The two stories from the Gospels also talk about relationships.  The first is the relationship of the Centurion and his companion.  The original Greek words translated as servant were a combination of boy and servant and are best translated as house-boy because the words imply a greater level of intimacy than one would have with a servant.  We cannot know if this companion was actually a sexual partner for the Centurion, they may have had a father/son type of relationship but they were clearly very close.  Jesus honors this relationship without question.  Jesus is impressed by the faith of the Centurion and his compassion for his house-boy.  Jesus feels no need to clarify the relationship or judge whether the Centurion should have a house-boy or whether it was appropriate for there to be love between these two persons.  Clearly to follow Jesus we need to be less concerned about whether we approve of a relationship and more concerned about bringing the power of God’s healing to the relationship.

This concept is even clearer in the story of the Samaritan women.  On the surface, Jesus challenges the concept that Samaritans and women are outside of God’s compassion.  If God were the God of the Jews, then Jesus would have nothing to do with a Samaritan.  If God believes women are inferior to men, Jesus would not have brought the news of Messiah to a woman in a Samaritan village.  Have you ever notice how often God has used women to announce God doing a new thing.  The Samaritan women tells the village the Messiah is at the well and Mary tells the disciples that Jesus has risen.  God clearly has a very trusting relationship with women and women are clearly open to hearing God tell them good news.  This person is an outcast in an outcast community.  The Samaritans are outcasts and she has had five husbands and is living with a man who is not her husband which would have made her outcast in the Samaritan culture of the day.  I have been told the reason she came to the well at noon is because it would have been unsafe for her to come at other times when it would be cooler and others would be present.  I can believe Jesus stopped at the well at this time knowing this woman needed to hear the good news of God’s love for her.  Jesus did not condemn her for being a Samaritan nor did he condemn the fact that she had been in numerous intimate relationships.  How often we miss the fact that Jesus does not tell her to get herself into a committed monogamous relationship so she can receive life giving water of God’s love.  He doesn’t even tell her to go and sin no more.  Jesus does not see this as an opportunity to tell us about the evils of intimacy with more than one person or the evil of living in a relationship not recognized or condoned by the moral or legal authorities of the day.  Instead he uses this as an opportunity to share with her and through her with the rest of us God’s desire to satisfy our thirst.  Maybe there is a couse and effect between her numerous relationships and the thirst Jesus seeks to quench.  Maybe that is another sermon topic but for today it is only important that we recognize that Jesus accepts her and her relationships without judgment.

How does God view relationships?  God views them as critical to our survival in this world as God created it.  God has not created us to put us in dominion over each other and the environment.  God has instead created us to be in relationship with the Creator and through that relationship to find our harmony with all of creation so we may live in peace and safety.  Amen.

Sacred texts:

Luke 2:41-50

⁴¹ Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. ⁴² When he was twelve years old, they went up to the festival, according to the custom. ⁴³ After the festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. ⁴⁴ Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. ⁴⁵ When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. ⁴⁶ After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. ⁴⁷ Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. ⁴⁸ When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”

⁴⁹ “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Parent’s house?” ⁵⁰ But they did not understand what he was saying to them.

Matthew 12:46-50

⁴⁶ While Jesus was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers stood outside, wanting to speak to him. ⁴⁷ Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to speak to you.”

⁴⁸ He replied to him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” ⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For whoever does the will of my Parent in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

John 19:25-30

²⁵ Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. ²⁶ When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished, and so that Scripture would be fulfilled, Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

End of sacred texts.

The readings for today come from the gospels and they provide us with insight into how Jesus understood family.  I am quite confident these readings are more easily understood by persons who have been pushed away by their biological families.  The dominant culture portrays an idyllic image of biological families as places where we are loved and protected.  Today we celebrate Father’s Day with all the sentiment of all we owe our fathers.  Unfortunately, these messages are often gender normative suggesting our fathers are the ones who provided for us by earning the household income, or our father’s taught us to be strong, or taught us how to be a man.  The reality for many is that their father did none of these things, and they may still have been a very important part of the child’s life.  Dads don’t have to earn money, or have to be macho, or even have a strong understanding of what it means to be a man in this culture to be good fathers.  There is also the reality that some men who participate in the conception of a child never do anything to father that child.  Some men are nothing more than a sperm donor and some women are all the father a child could ever need.  It is interesting that in the patriarchal culture of the Christian Testament era, there is no other reference to Joseph after the Holy Family returns from Egypt than the one for today when Jesus stays behind in Jerusalem and even that is pretty much a passing reference.  Mary does all the talking for the parental unit.  No one felt it important to record stories of Joseph teaching Jesus the carpenter trade or teaching him how to be a man, no record of Jesus’ bar mitzvah, not even a mention of Joseph’s death.  Clearly Joseph was not perceived as a major influence in the life of Jesus and Jesus did not live in a traditional family.  Those who grew up in homes that do not fit the image culture holds up as the traditional two opposite gender parents lovingly providing for, caring for, and loving their children can much easier relate to Jesus who redefines family relationships.

The story of Jesus redefining who are his mother, brothers, and sisters is seen by some as a harsh rebuke of Mary and siblings but it can also be seen as an expansion of his family rather than a rejection of his biological family.  Clearly Jesus still had great love for his mother as demonstrated in his final breath he arranged for her to be taken care of the rest of her life by the disciple he loved.  Jesus did not say he was rejecting Mary as his mother or denying his brothers and sisters, he said anyone who did the will of God was brother, sister, and mother to him.  Mary and her children could be his mother and siblings as long as they were working in support of what God had for Jesus to do.  It is possible Mary had come to Jesus with his siblings to plead with him to stop making powerful people mad at him.  They may have been concerned for his safety, maybe they were having a rough time because they were related to Jesus.  Perhaps Jesus was saying I will recognize them as my family unless they want me to deny who I am and what I have been called to do.  This understanding of this story would certainly resonate with those who have been forced to choose between being true to who they are and how they have been called to live and remaining in their biological families.  

Too often, even today, children are seen as property to be controlled by their parents.  Rather than experiencing unconditional love in the family unit, the children are taught early their parents’ love for them is very much conditioned on the child’s performance and obedience to parental rules and expectations.  Is it any wonder that many of the marginalized that come to our churches react so negatively to the image of God as father, or as parent at all?  A great deal of work must be done if we are to salvage that image for those who have been brutalized, humiliated, and rejected by their parental figures.  We as spiritual leaders and members of faith communities must redefine what father, mother, parent means as Jesus did when we offer those titles as descriptors of God and when we define our communities as families.  One of the greatest push backs I receive as an intentional interim specialist in churches is when I suggest we stop calling our congregation and family and call ourselves a community instead.  The concept of family is so often exclusive of those who are different, intolerant of disagreement, difficult to join.  Communities are more often diverse, full of different ideas, and allow relative ease of moving in and moving out.  If we are going to be God’s family, then it must be on Jesus’ terms, the only deciding factor is whether a person seeks to know and do God’s will.  Differences in appearance, ideology, even theology must be tolerated in our church families.

We speak of our family of choice and there is legitimacy in having that circle of people you know you can trust, the people who will always love and accept you without condition.  Some of us are blessed to include our biological relatives in our family of choice.  In our faith however, the family is not our family of choice, it is God’s family of choice and we are so blessed when we realize God has chosen us.  The world is blessed when we realize God has chosen everyone!  Amen.

Ruth 1:1-19a

In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land. So a man from Bethlehem in Judah, together with his wife and two sons, went to live for a while in the country of Moab. ² The man’s name was Elimelek, his wife’s name was Naomi, and the names of his two sons were Mahlon and Kilion. They were Ephrathites from Bethlehem, Judah. And they went to Moab and lived there.  ³ Now Elimelek, Naomi’s husband, died, and she was left with her two sons. ⁴ They married Moabite women, one named Orpah and the other Ruth. After they had lived there about ten years, ⁵ both Mahlon and Kilion also died, and Naomi was left without her two sons and her husband.  ⁶ When Naomi heard in Moab that God had come to the aid of the people by providing food for them, she and her daughters-in-law prepared to return home from there. ⁷ With her two daughters-in-law she left the place where she had been living and set out on the road that would take them back to the land of Judah.  ⁸ Then Naomi said to her two daughters-in-law, “Go back, each of you, to your mother’s home. May God show you kindness, as you have shown kindness to your dead husbands and to me. ⁹ May God grant that each of you will find rest in the home of another husband.”  Then she kissed them goodbye and they wept aloud ¹⁰ and said to her, “We will go back with you to your people.”  ¹¹ But Naomi said, “Return home, my daughters. Why would you come with me? Am I going to have any more sons, who could become your husbands? ¹² Return home, my daughters; I am too old to have another husband. Even if I thought there was still hope for me—even if I had a husband tonight and then gave birth to sons— ¹³ would you wait until they grew up? Would you remain unmarried for them? No, my daughters. It is more bitter for me than for you, because God’s hand has turned against me!”  ¹⁴ At this they wept aloud again. Then Orpah kissed her mother-in-law goodbye, but Ruth clung to her.  ¹⁵ “Look,” said Naomi, “your sister-in-law is going back to her people and her gods. Go back with her.”

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if even death separates you and me.” ¹⁸ When Naomi realized that Ruth was determined to go with her, she stopped urging her.  ¹⁹ So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem.

2 Samuel 1:17-27

¹⁷ David took up this lament concerning Saul and his son Jonathan, ¹⁸ and he ordered that the people of Judah be taught this lament of the bow (it is written in the Book of Jashar):

¹⁹ “A gazelle lies slain on your heights, Israel.
    How the mighty have fallen!

²⁰ “Tell it not in Gath,
    proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,
    lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice.

²¹ “Mountains of Gilboa,
    may you have neither dew nor rain,
    may no showers fall on your terraced fields.
For there the shield of the mighty was despised,
    the shield of Saul—no longer rubbed with oil.

²² “From the blood of the slain,
    from the flesh of the mighty,
the bow of Jonathan did not turn back,
    the sword of Saul did not return unsatisfied.
²³ Saul and Jonathan—
    in life they were loved and admired,
    and in death they were not parted.
They were swifter than eagles,
    they were stronger than lions.

²⁴ “Daughters of Israel,
    weep for Saul,
who clothed you in scarlet and finery,
    who adorned your garments with ornaments of gold.

²⁵ “How the mighty have fallen in battle!
    Jonathan lies slain on your heights.
²⁶ I grieve for you, Jonathan my brother;
    you were very dear to me.
Your love for me was wonderful,
    more wonderful than that of women.

²⁷ “How the mighty have fallen!
    The weapons of war have perished!”

End of sacred texts.

Everything you desire is the other side of fear.  I could not find the author or source for this statement.  It is on several motivational posters and motivational sites, I first saw it on Facebook.  It is for me a profound insight.  We are indeed kept from what we desire by our fear.  We don’t approach another person for a possible friendship or relationship because we are afraid of rejection or appearing foolish.  We don’t pursue and education or a employment opportunity for fear of failure or fear of being told we are not qualified.  We even let fear keep us from doing what we might enjoy.  We are afraid we will get hurt, or we will fail, or it will cost us too much in money, time or other resources.  The truth that fear is a powerful motivator is not lost on those who wish to control us, particularly those who wish to control us when they have no legitimate reasons for control.  I remember when I was growing up in a company town some citizens expressed ideas contrary to the position of the company and so the company released statements that it as considering a relocation of the plant which would have devastated the local economy.  They were not arguing the facts of the issue, they were arguing out of fear.  The locals capitulated on the issue rather than risk losing the economic base.  I have sensed that our recent elections have also been more about fear than a reasoned debate about the issues.  Each candidate or political action group trying to convince us the consequences will be dire if their opponent or the issue they oppose is elected or approved.  The ultimate effect is that we live in fear no matter who is elected or what proposal is passed or defeated.  We have an underlying culture of fear.

The natural outcome of fear is distrust.  We don’t trust government, we don’t trust organizations, we don’t trust corporations, we don’t trust each other, and we don’t trust religion.  This culture of fear results in withdrawal, we move toward greater isolation to isolate ourselves from those who are different or just not us.  The increase of cybernetworking and other electronic means of connecting with each other is a symptom of our increasing isolation.  I have heard people say in crisis they prefer to be alone and connect with others by their cell phones or computers than to be with others.  I think this is so very sad.  Fear has created
this need for isolation that comes from desire for security.  Fear divides us.  Fear is what feeds the irrational rejection of the value of treating those who are different from us as being equal to us.  There is no rational reason to believe that the marriage of two same gender persons will adversely affect the marriage of opposite gender persons.  There is no rational reason to believe allowing adult mentors of youth to be open about their gender affection will increase the likelihood a child will be molested.  It is the secrecy and the shame that allows predators to function in youth organizations whether they are preying on same gender youth or opposite gender youth.  There is no rational reason to believe that an elected leader who is a person of color is going to fail to represent all persons or give preferential treatment to persons of color, at least no reason to believe this will happen any more than it as with Caucasian elected leaders.  There is no rational reason to believe a female in a position of authority is going to be any less rational in her decision making or any more emotional than her male counterpart.  There is no rational reason to believe that a person of a different faith is going to me anymore violent, or exploitive than a person that professes to be Christian.  There are violent and exploitive persons who claim to be Christian with the same frequency as there are in other faith traditions.  And yet we are encouraged to believe these irrational claims and too many of us do.  We are taught to fear these differences so as to divide us, to distract us to the real threats to our security and our happiness.  The threats that are posed by the destruction of our climate, the threat of our food and water becoming toxic, the threat of our economic survival being concentrated in the hands of a very few, and the threat of violence unrestrained by any sense of connection with the other.

The opposite of fear is not courage or confidence, the opposite of fear is love.  Because love casts out all fear.  When we love and know we are loved, we don’t believe the fear mongers and we don’t embrace the isolation.  Consider the story of Naomi and Ruth.  Naomi is afraid.  She is a widow without sons and a woman without a male in her time is very vulnerable.  Naomi’s fear drives her back to her homeland where she intends to cast herself on the mercy of her kindred.  Her fear causes her to drive her daughters in law from her.  She cannot protect them, they will be not only woman without a husband protector, they will be foreign woman of a different faith and she pleads with them to go back to their homes where they will be safe.  Ruth responds out of love.  Ruth’s love for Naomi is so profound it is a common reading at weddings, it is written on tokens and exchanged between lovers.  Her love drives out not only her own fear but Naomi’s fear.  David and Jonathan are separated by fear, Saul fears David and fears his dynasty will be destroyed by David.  Saul’s fear drives him to seek the destruction of David and causes a war between the followers of Saul and the followers of David.  In the war, Saul and Jonathan are killed.  David’s love for Saul, and even more for Jonathan prevents him from celebrating the death of Saul and Jonathan.  He laments the loss of what could have been had fear not driven them to hostility.  It is love that brings us together to achieve what we desire.

We are not called to be a people of fear.  We are told that we will be known as followers of Christ by our love, not by our fear.  Jesus did not bring us a message of fear, not fear of each other, not fear of those who have control over us, not even fear of God.  Jesus taught us to approach God as a loving parent not a wrathful and vengeful judge.  The most common greeting messengers of God bring us is to “Fear not.”  When we trust in the love God has for us just as we are, in all of our diversity, we are then able to love others in all of their diversity, to see in their differences our strength and not a threat.  The only hope we have to come together and realize our dream, our desire to live in peace together is give up the fear that divides us and embrace the hope that unites us.  Amen. 

Esther 1:1-19

This is what happened during the time of Xerxes, the Xerxes who ruled over 127 provinces stretching from India to Cush: ² At that time King Xerxes reigned from his royal throne in the citadel of Susa, ³ and in the third year of his reign he gave a banquet for all his nobles and officials. The military leaders of Persia and Media, the princes, and the nobles of the provinces were present.

⁴ For a full 180 days he displayed the vast wealth of his kingdom and the splendor and glory of his majesty. ⁵ When these days were over, the king gave a banquet, lasting seven days, in the enclosed garden of the king’s palace, for all the people from the least to the greatest who were in the citadel of Susa. ⁶ The garden had hangings of white and blue linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. ⁷ Wine was served in goblets of gold, each one different from the other, and the royal wine was abundant, in keeping with the king’s liberality. ⁸ By the king’s command each guest was allowed to drink with no restrictions, for the king instructed all the wine stewards to serve each man what he wished.

⁹ Queen Vashti also gave a banquet for the women in the royal palace of King Xerxes.

¹⁰ On the seventh day, when King Xerxes was in high spirits from wine, he commanded the seven eunuchs who served him—Mehuman, Biztha, Harbona, Bigtha, Abagtha, Zethar and Karkas— ¹¹ to bring before him Queen Vashti, wearing her royal crown, in order to display her beauty to the people and nobles, for she was lovely to look at. ¹² But when the attendants delivered the king’s command, Queen Vashti refused to come. Then the king became furious and burned with anger.

¹³ Since it was customary for the king to consult experts in matters of law and justice, he spoke with the wise men who understood the times ¹⁴ and were closest to the king—Karshena, Shethar, Admatha, Tarshish, Meres, Marsena and Memukan, the seven nobles of Persia and Media who had special access to the king and were highest in the kingdom.

¹⁵ “According to law, what must be done to Queen Vashti?” he asked. “She has not obeyed the command of King Xerxes that the eunuchs have taken to her.”

¹⁶ Then Memukan replied in the presence of the king and the nobles, “Queen Vashti has done wrong, not only against the king but also against all the nobles and the peoples of all the provinces of King Xerxes. ¹⁷ For the queen’s conduct will become known to all the women, and so they will despise their husbands and say, ‘King Xerxes commanded Queen Vashti to be brought before him, but she would not come.’ ¹⁸ This very day the Persian and Median women of the nobility who have heard about the queen’s conduct will respond to all the king’s nobles in the same way. There will be no end of disrespect and discord.

¹⁹ “Therefore, if it pleases the king, let him issue a royal decree and let it be written in the laws of Persia and Media, which cannot be repealed, that Vashti is never again to enter the presence of King Xerxes. Also let the king give her royal position to someone else who is better than she.

Acts 8:26-40

^26-28 Later God’s angel spoke to Philip: “At noon today I want you to walk over to that desolate road that goes from Jerusalem down to Gaza.” He got up and went. He met an Ethiopian eunuch coming down the road. The eunuch had been on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem and was returning to Ethiopia, where he was minister in charge of all the finances of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He was riding in a chariot and reading the prophet Isaiah.

^29-30 The Spirit told Philip, “Climb into the chariot.” Running up alongside, Philip heard the eunuch reading Isaiah and asked, “Do you understand what you’re reading?”

^31-33 He answered, “How can I without some help?” and invited Philip into the chariot with him. The passage he was reading was this:

As a sheep led to slaughter,
    and quiet as a lamb being sheared,
He was silent, saying nothing.
    He was mocked and put down, never got a fair trial.
But who now can count his kin
    since he’s been taken from the earth?

^34-35 The eunuch said, “Tell me, who is the prophet talking about: himself or some other?” Philip grabbed his chance. Using this passage as his text, he preached Jesus to him.

^36-39 As they continued down the road, they came to a stream of water. The eunuch said, “Here’s water. Why can’t I be baptized?” He ordered the chariot to stop. They both went down to the water, and Philip baptized him on the spot. When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of God suddenly took Philip off, and that was the last the eunuch saw of him. But he didn’t mind. He had what he’d come for and went on down the road as happy as he could be.

⁴⁰ Philip showed up in Azotus and continued north, preaching the Message in all the villages along that route until he arrived at Caesarea.

Mark 11:15-19

^15-17 They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple. And then he taught them, quoting this text:

My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations;
You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.

¹⁸ The high priests and religion scholars heard what was going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.

¹⁹ At evening, Jesus and his disciples left the city.

 

The month of June is Pride Month and some choose to celebrate it, some choose to minimize its value, and some believe it to be an abomination leading to God authored calamities.  Those who reject a month of pride often cite Proverbs 16:18: “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall.”  So, are we wrong to be proud of who we are, to celebrate the wide diversity of gender affection and gender expression found in humankind?  And what does the story of Vashti have to do with this?

Most of us have read the story believing Vashti was haughty and this is what led to her fall.  She would have had to be not only haughty but foolish too.  As queen she had no power beyond what King Xerxes granted her.  It is possible we have missed the point of the Vashti story because it has been so sanitized so as to make it acceptable to Victorian sensibilities.  A cultural historian has suggested and the text supports the possibility that King Xerxes’ request was not as innocent as we have been led to believe.  Consider that the king has been hosting a drunken party for a week and he decides to invite Queen Vashti to come to the party.  He specifies she is to wear her royal crown so that all might be able to see her beauty.  The suggestion is that the king wanted her to wear only her royal crown and parade naked in front of his drunken guests.  If this is the situation, then it is much easier for us to understand why the queen would risk all she had, even her life to defy the king.  She responded not out of haughtiness but out of a deep sense of her personal value and unwillingness to be debased for the king’s pleasure.  You might even say she responded out of her pride.  This way of telling the story is further supported by the way King Xerxes responded when his head cleared enough to realize what he had done and how Vashti had responded.  We are told that those who annoyed the king were regularly executed so it would have been expected that Vashti would be killed.  Instead he councils with his think tank to come up with another solution.  It is even possible that he wanted to overlook the whole matter but his think tank was concerned about the empowerment such an action might give the marginalized women of the kingdom.  Read this way the story has much to say about those who are marginalized and the importance of pride in confronting their marginalization.

June became Pride month to remember a group of cross dressing men who stood up and said they weren’t going to be treated as powerless victims any more.  One of the saddest things for me in contemporary pride celebrations is the people who wish the drag queens, the dykes on bikes, and the disco boys would tone it down.  If it weren’t for the radical misfits that couldn’t blend into society, we would have no pride celebrations and many of us would still be hiding in our closets hoping no one would guess that we are different.  We are tempted to believe our safety is in staying under the radar when the truth is we are never safe until we are safe being just as God created us.  The clearest message I find in the sacred texts is the message of God’s love for us just as we are.  God created the diversity and God loves our diversity.  In the time of Jesus, eunuchs were thought to be unclean and outside of God’s love.  Certainly Philip would have been taught to avoid contact with a eunuch as contact would make him ceremonially unclean and yet the Spirit tells him to go where the Ethiopian eunuch was traveling and get right in the chariot with him.  Philip knew the eunuch was worthy of hearing about Jesus and he baptized the eunuch right on the spot.  We claim this story because it speaks so clearly to God’s love and acceptance of those marginalized by their sexuality and their sexual expression.  Philip did not pray for a healing of the eunuch or insist he attend eunuch conversion classes before he could be baptized into the community of Jesus.  Clearly there is much in these stories to commend our taking pride in the way we are, how God has created us, and not letting anyone treat us as though we are unworthy of being treated as God’s beloved children.

Does this mean the Proverbist got it wrong, there is nothing wrong with pride?  I think the problem is the word pride can mean very different things.  When the word is paired with haughtiness, it carries the connotation of superiority.  Being proud of the way we are and how God has made each one of us does not mean we consider ourselves superior to others.  Imagine the story of the eunuch and Philip had the eunuch considered his position in the court of Candace made him superior to Philip so that he would not invite him into his chariot?  He would have missed the opportunity of hearing the Gospel message and receiving his baptism.  The story of Jesus clearing the temple is also a story of the pride of superiority.  We often hear the story as a condemnation of buying and selling in churches.  Jesus’ anger wasn’t about the marketing that was going on, his anger was about the dishonesty, the cheating, and the superiority of those who took over the temple for their purposes.  To understand Jesus’ rage, you need to understand about the temple.  The temple was designed with several distinct areas.  The outer court was open to all, including Gentiles.  The other areas were restricted to Jews.  Jewish women could enter only one of the inner areas of the temple.  Men could enter all areas of the temple but some areas were restricted to only priests who were only men.  The Holy of Holies was entered only once a year and only by the high priest.  What had happened was that these Jewish merchants had taken over the outer court making it difficult for the gentiles to have access to the worship of God.  Jesus was angered that they were acting out of their sense of superiority and ownership of God’s temple.  This is why he quoted this scripture, “My house was designated a house of prayer for the nations; you’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.”  They had driven out the aliens from God’s temple because of their sense of privilege. 

We do not need to worry about our fund raising activities in the church, we need to worry about the ways we push the aliens out of worship.  The sin of pride is when we feel some people are not worthy to worship with us.  Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship but doesn’t dress the way we dress, perhaps they come in poor clothing or perhaps they come in finery that we think is off putting.  Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship but doesn’t worship the same way we do, perhaps they are too loud or perhaps they are too quiet.  Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship and sits where you have always sat in worship.  Perhaps it is the person who comes to worship with new ideas about how we could be church together.  Perhaps it is someone who comes to church and does something that you consider to be your job.  Perhaps it is someone who comes to church and you feel they are exuding too much male privilege or perhaps someone who is a bit too aggressive woman.  Perhaps it is the person who attends and we aren’t clear on what gender they are expressing and they don’t feel the need to clarify for us.  Perhaps it is the person who comes but expresses political ideas that are too conservative or too liberal for our taste.  Perhaps it is the person who attends with clear emotional or intellectual deficits that make us uncomfortable.  It is not for us to determine the worthiness of anyone to come into God’s Holy temple to worship.  It is up to us to make a space for them because our pride gives us the confidence to serve others with the humility with which Jesus came to serve them and the acceptance that God had for us even when others considered us to be unworthy.  Amen.