Mode 33

You can do your own math
Art doesn't work alone
It doesn't create something new
An understanding never intended
Math doesn't need an audience to be discovered
How we would talk to unknown intelligence

A golden record of mostly math floating through the cosmos

Down certain ravines there are answers

From certain height we can see

I need a sunny day

Flower to fill my poems

A woman no one dreams of

Starlights to set the scene

Nothing I need to understand

This moment I steal myself

No contradictions to resolve

Bosnian Siren

Siren sounds so beautiful
Children won't you cry
And it's so lovely to see
Which eye could be dry

Laughter and the thunder falls

Sorrow to the sun showers down

What could be done to the rain

Who will now take their pain

Further then you will go

Closer then you'd like to know

Hello, Again Hello

I am still standing here
Waiting and hoping still

Moving on just to say hello

I walk away just to return

All my roads still turn again

Ever more I am just the same

Learning more to learn again

I live now just to be alive

I am still standing here

Dreaming and waiting still

Continuing on just to share more

I walk away again today

Moving on just to say hello

I walk away just to return

No Past

It was the great fire
I could see nothing else

It was the right fire

Burning into me

And I could see

And I could feel

It was the light on me

They said it couldn't burn forever

But I don't know what that means

With my fire still raging

There's no end to my sight

And if it leaves

It will be no more

That's all it will be

It is the great fire

That has no past

And all you can say is it won't last

Walt Whitman Passed my Window

There is a road outside my window
I have watched it with interest

In the shadows I spied a wonderful parade

Those of wisdom and ignorant of themselves

I only dream of where they continue to

I looked out my window long enough

I will chase after everyone I have seen

No matter how far away they have been

I will not watch one more pass me by

There is no house that has enough comfort for me

No mattress has any wonder to hold me still

They have not built the building to my dreams

My dreams were built around their buildings

Don't talk to strangers

The moon and stars are strange and strangers

What of this Earth is not my brother

Who of this universe is not my sister

Where on this road is not a miracle

When will a miracle ever fail me

I'll sing of the open road with him

And I shall stick by him long as I live

Hallow Brown

Would one more word be
Alive fill in where void

Meaningless waters the sun

Grey upon the skies

That travel homeward

Searching of lost phrases

Ones I must have been

Would there collapse

Leave rushing to the scene

Fill places of sun

End nights they follow here

With words I could describe

Searching for lost words

Ones there must have been

Phrases of clear colors

That travel homeward

Grey upon the skies

Meaningless waters the sun

White Christmas

The first roller coaster entitlement and guilt

Whiter even more than snow

When you don't know just believe that you do

We learn a hard way

What teaches me is resources

Why they preach scarcity tells you all 

We have enough for everybody

Not everybody wants 

Most of them are white

Thanks Giving

Welcome to advent.  It has been quite a week.  With our holiday season in full blossom.  We seem to be back at full sprint.  This first week we remember our hope in the return of our savior.  We will work towards our great celebration of his birth, but today we pause to remember that no one knows the time.

There are three kinds of giving: grudge giving, duty giving, and thanks giving.  Grudge giving says, "I hate to," duty giving says, "I ought to," thanks giving says, "I want to."  The first comes from constraint, the second from a sense of obligation, the third from a full heart.  Thanks giving is an open gate into the love of God.

There has always been a difficulty with Jesus.  We always seek resolution because we often find pain.  Our troubles we often feel are the center of the universe like those early Christians.  We find it difficult to wait.  We find it difficult to know what to do.  It can often seem like we are going in circles.

Earth on its axis.  Around the sun.  Around the center of the galaxy.  Around our cluster.  We are going in circles.  We have been places.  We are going places.  You can be angry about this, but your body will think you are in danger.  Everything is designed to protect us, even anger.  There is a time and place for everything.  Sometimes a great cost is required.  You have more in reserve than your own body will tell you.  We can run quite a distance on empty.  So far it is difficult to measure.  The body has simple goals.

Anger is costly. Lying is difficult.  Deceit stressful.  There is no pillow so soft as a clear conscience.

Joy should not be blind as pain often is, being good is good for you.   Helping someone your body will not think you are in danger.  Helping is a luxury.  In danger or in want you will find it difficult to help.  Never impossible, but of greater and greater challenge.  Stress is really what I am talking about.  The more you are stressed the less you can help.  The more you help the less you are stressed.

Why it is a greater responsibility 

Responsibility is a word that does fine on its own

How we make a holiday

Life without guarantee

No one to complain to we have someone to pray to.  We often seek to change the plans of our creator, but they do not change.  The more distance we find ourselves the more stressed we find ourselves.  

Joy should not be blind

There is so much to do

Endless work is a reward

In Isaiah chapter  2, verse 3-5 we hear something of this future:

3 And many peoples shall come and say,

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

That He may teach us His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For the law will go out from Zion

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

4 

And He will judge between the nations,

And will mediate [disputes] for many peoples;

And they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.

Nation will not lift up the sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

5 

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

In the light of the Lord we will be less stressed but not less busy, swords into plowshares, spears into pruning hooks.  It is telling that the tools of war do not go away they are just transformed.  Much as we will be for we are the ultimate tool of war.

Matthew 24:36-44, speaks directly to this hope of the first week of advent and forever:

36 “But of that [exact] day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son [in His humanity], but the Father alone. 37 For the coming of the Son of Man (the Messiah) will be just like the days of Noah. 38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the [very] day when Noah entered the ark, 39 and they did not know or understand until the flood came and swept them all away; so will the coming of the Son of Man be [unexpected judgment]. 40 At that time two men will be in the field; one will be [a]taken [for judgment] and one will be left. 41 Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken [for judgment] and one will be left.

The one taken is taken for judgment just as the wicked were taken by the flood in Noah’s day. The one left is left to enter the kingdom that Christ will establish.  In many cultures and many places we hear of great floods.  

Too many Christians are content to pray a little, read a little, and surround themselves with other believers who enjoy discussing the things of God over a cup of coffee.  We rationalize this withdrawal from the core of life by humbly acknowledging our own personal limitations and surrender the privilege of soul-winning to leading laymen, pastors, and missionaries. This is a sad commentary on the Christian church today.  We desperately need a revival of Christian zeal in the cause of soul winning.

Be Ready for His Coming

42 “So be alert [give strict attention, be cautious and active in faith], for you do not know which day [whether near or far] your Lord is coming. 43 But understand this: If the head of the house had known what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. 44 Therefore, you [who follow Me] must also be ready; because the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not expect Him.

So we find this great hope again in this first week of advent.  We pause as we begin again.  The question becomes how long and what shall we do.  The first question the answer is clear: there is no way to know.  To even calculate pure folly.  How many people have wasted their lives on folly?  Certainly more than have served the will of God.  It is a miracle that we have made it this far.

So we can help or we can hurt.  For how long?  We will know.  This is how it works.  For now we can only say we will know.  Like any great flood we will long talk about it.  The question is not even about helping others.  You must help yourself to have the luxury of helping others.  Being good is good for you is what I tell my students.  I used to worry about those kids with good self control who I could never give enough attention to.

Then I realized I was those kids with good self control that never got enough attention.  I was fine I had advantages many did not.  I had strategies.  These were taught to me.  I had ways beyond anger and fear to respond.  Being good was good for me.  Being good is good for them.  Being good is good for you.  

If you were a truly selfish person and could see what was happening in the world you would help people because you want to help yourself.  There is in this vast, complex and rapidly changing world of ours a desire on the part of all people to be happy and successful.

The big question is how does one measure happiness and success. In trying to answer this question as simply as possible if we look into the word of God - The Bible - and examine the life of Jesus we would find our answers. His life demonstrated and his teachings showed that it is when we are working for the good of mankind that we really show our love for God and are happy and successful in all our undertakings. This is what life is all about, -- and if we don't plan our day's activities in the light of the commandments of Jesus we can not expect to be truly happy and successful.

Everybody is a wonderin' what and where they all came from

Everybody is a worryin' 'bout where

They're gonna go when the whole thing's done

But no one knows for certain and so it's all the same to me

I think I'll just let the mystery be

(Let The Mystery Be

Song by Iris DeMen)t

Let Us Pray

Great creator

Our heavenly Father, who by thy love hast made us, and through thy love hast kept us, and in thy love wouldst make us perfect:

Thank you for your good work

Thank you for the truly selfish

We ask you to forgive us for not seeing ourselves in your design

We have failed to see where we were needed

We ask that you do not give up on us

We wait for that time that no one knows

We want to help

We humbly confess that we have not loved thee with all our heart and soul and mind and strength, and we have not loved one another as Christ hath loved us.  Thy life is within our souls, but our false selfishness hath hindered thee.  We have not lived by faith.  We have resisted thy Spirit.  We have neglected thine inspirations.

Forgive what we have been; help us to amend what we are; and in thy Spirit direct what shall be; that thou mayest come into the full glory of thy creation, in us and in all men; through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen

Benediction

Go do good for others and yourself

Joy should not be blind

There is so much to do

Endless work is a reward

Go do your part

Nottingham UMC 11/27/2022

Thanksgiving

Joy should not be blind as pain often is
Being good is good for you

Why it is a greater responsibility 

Responsibility is a word that does fine on its own

How we make a holiday

Life without guarantee

No one to complain to

Family a time travel machine

More enjoyable seen as such

Joy should not be blind

There is so much to do

Endless work is a reward

Be Different

Today we find ourselves in the 18th chapter of Luke.  We have the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector.  We are told Jesus was teaching about some people who trusted in themselves.  This is a common theme that often confuses people.  We should trust in ourselves after all shouldn't we.

Well the context of our scripture helps us to understand this better.  Right after this parable ends people bring babies forward for Jesus to bless.  It is hard to miss the juxtaposition of these humans.  If you know anything about babies they don't trust in themselves.  If they did this crying strategy would have never developed.  If there is something a baby must trust in it is the kindness of strangers.

“Allow the children to come to Me, and do not forbid them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. 17 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God [with faith and humility] like a child will not enter it at all.”

Before our parable Jesus talks about the importance of prayer, perhaps that what crying is in the end.  We hear of a judge who gives justice because it is easier; ‘Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow continues to bother me, I will give her justice and legal protection; otherwise by continually coming she [will be an intolerable annoyance and she] will wear me out.’  

This is rather a remarkable clue to life.  Justice is easier.  This is why I believe what Martin Luther King Jr once said, “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”  In my mind this is also shown by the fact that there is more matter than anti-matter in our universe.  Reality is biased towards existence.  Peace is the way because it is easier in the end.

On either side of today's scripture we are given two images.  One of someone who thinks they have control.  One of someone who knows they have no control.  So in between we are confronted with this idea of trust in themselves, which doesn't sound like a problem.  Would it be better to not trust in ourselves?  This is not what seems to be the idea.  Really it is about trusting that there is something larger than you.

In the end of our searching for meaning in life.  This is what we are confronted; is there something larger than myself.  To believe there is no God and that things happen by chance the answer would seem to be no.  The super galaxy structure that seems to defy entropy would be transitory.  In any case it probably is that way.  Did the universe make something greater in you or is the universe greater than you?

Jesus almost seems to tell each person that he meets that they are greater than the universe.  We learn how he treats people.  We learn how confused people are by him.  It is a real paradox how Jesus is so clear to his audience and at the same time missed.  When Jesus speaks of a tax collector this is a shorthand for the worst of humanity.   His audience would certainly believe.  Collaborators.  Profiteers.  All the bad words of commerce.

Juxtaposed again with the Pharisee.  Two thousand years later our dictionaries spell it right out: a member of an ancient Jewish sect, distinguished by strict observance of the traditional and written law, and commonly held to have pretensions to superior sanctity: a self-righteous person; a hypocrite.  People listening to Jesus needed no definition, but they would have thought of the tax collector as the hypocrite.

Jesus takes what people know and turns it upside down.  Without God we are like fish out of water.  More than ridiculous.  Unsustainable.  There are no stories of Jesus about what is right in the world, beyond the children.  Luke 17: I assure you and most solemnly say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God [with faith and humility] like a child will not enter it at all.”

Failure brings us here even more success

Bottle necks have function

They are crafted in the end

Billions of years trillions of things did not work out

You are different

The bottleneck effect describes the phenomenon when a population has a sudden reduction in the gene pool due to natural environmental events, natural disasters, disease, or human involvement. This reduction in the gene pool will likely cause a bias that did not exist in the original population.

Some people can be distressed when someone mentions evolution or genetics in church.  I find it rather funny.  Do you doubt that the universe is larger than it seems to need to be?  Comes down to the question of what is hard for God.  Evolution certainly doesn't seem too difficult for God.  Maybe giving up and losing one person might be hard, why else would it take so long?

In Colossians 1:16 and17 we read:

16 For by Him all things were created in heaven and on earth, [things] visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities; all things were created and exist through Him [that is, by His activity] and for Him. 17 And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. [His is the controlling, cohesive force of the universe.]

We are to the point now that human involvement is becoming the dominant force in our environment.  We recently had what politicians in Florida said was a 500 year storm.   We need new vocabulary for what is happening in the world.  

What I want to say is all our problems are created by us and all our salvations are created by Jesus.  And here between the unjust judge who is just because it is easier and the child which is completely dependent upon others for life we find our scripture for today.

 Luke 18, 9-14 I read from the Amplified Bible:

 

 9 He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves and were confident that they were righteous [posing outwardly as upright and in right standing with God], and who viewed others with contempt: 10 “Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood [ostentatiously] and began praying to himself [in a self-righteous way, saying]: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men—swindlers, unjust (dishonest), adulterers—or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’

Trust in ourselves here we see some redeeming qualities.  The real problem is viewing others with contempt.  God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men.  Well I often find myself thinking almost something similar.  God, I thank you that I do not have to live their life.  In my mind there is no contempt for my fellow man, but a joy that I get to live with my decisions.  I get to be a fish in water.  You can argue that there are other ways, but I don't have to live them.

In Romans 8:28 we are reassured: And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.

13 But the tax collector, standing at a distance, would not even raise his eyes toward heaven, but was striking his chest [in humility and repentance], saying, ‘God, be merciful and gracious to me, the [especially wicked] sinner [that I am]!’ 

Whatever can be said about this man, his prayer was about him and God.  This is what the hypocrite misses I think.  When we come to the thrown of the creator of the universe we come alone.  It does not matter what anyone else has done.  Now I would agree that we are connected and in many ways in this together, but in a real sense we are reminded we are in real ways also alone to choose.

Jesus highlights this tax collector as people would instantly see the evil, but in hearing the story would understand that each person is redeemable in the eyes of our creator.  This is a very profound thing to understand.  I think it supports the idea that God really would have a preference to save us all.  Seems to me as I have mentioned many times if there was some elect only then it would not take nearly as long.

14 I tell you, this man went to his home justified [forgiven of the guilt of sin and placed in right standing with God] rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself [forsaking self-righteous pride] will be exalted.”

We can leave behind types of people mentioned here.  We have in our world moral tax collectors.  We have in our world moral religious leaders.  We have the luxury to study Jesus.  Those being taught were like a bottle neck for the message of Jesus.

It needed to get through a tough time when it could have easily been lost.  Seems the choices made by Jesus to bring the importance of being earnest.  These almost cartoon characters were used to hammer a message into the world.  It had to stick.  Now after hard fought and often lost times we have this luxury to see the message below the true propaganda.  

Failure brings us here even more success

Bottle necks have function

They are crafted in the end

Billions of years trillions of things did not work out

You are different

So be different and worry about yourself.   Let's remove the plank from our eye.

I think it is a simple message we have here today.  It doesn't really matter what you do if you turn to God you are alone.  As it really doesn't matter what you do, only less important can be what others do.  Each person a chance for God to love forever.  We are given this free choice for reasons I don't fully understand, but seems rather silly to ask a fish do you want to live in water?  Be different: don't make the simple complex.  

Let Us Pray

Creator of the Universe

(Jeremiah) 20 We know and acknowledge, O Lord,

Our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers; for we have sinned against You.

21 Do not treat us with contempt and condemn us, for Your own name’s sake;

Do not disgrace Your glorious throne;

Remember [with consideration] and do not break Your [solemn] covenant with us.

Help us see the choice before us

Help us to learn in this luxurious time we live

Help us to see our lives in your will

Help us to leave our judgements of others behind

Help us to see the simple messages of creation

We ask for your continued help in all we do

We ask in the name of our savior Jesus

Amen

Benediction

Go in the world

Failure brings us here even more success

Billions of years trillions of things did not work out

You are different thanks be to God

You are a servant thanks to God

Go Serve to the glory of our lord

Amen

Nottingham UMC 10/23/2022

Be Different

Failure brings us here even more success

Bottle necks have function

They are crafted in the end

Billions of years trillions of things did not work out

You are different

Sarajevo Dreams

You can walk in on your dreams

In different places they tell similar stories

We don't hear the same

I remember this window out on to the city scape

Not yet in dreams they said your first one here would come true

I had never heard this story

Dreams were something to break you where I came from

Here they said the first one you had would come true

Cubism

There is an interesting tradition in art.  Often the insults hurled land so well.  They become the name.

Every time there is something new.  There are people to say this is not how it is done.  This is what time is around in circles.

Cubism is what they called it because that was all they could see.  What it was at its heart was an attempt to bring more than one perspective to one picture.  I think it was the development of the camera that pushed artists to be something more.  A camera could take a picture from any perspective, but it took an artist to show more than one at a time.

In literature Crime and Punishment had already began what almost seems like it has been around forever: the multiple perspectives of different narrators.  We can look at things from different perspectives, but what is different is how we see not what we see.  There are those perspectives of reality the camera catches and then there are those ones the artist creates.

In our scripture today the man wears purple as a sign that he was the most important.  You couldn't buy purple on the clearance rack like I did two day ago.  Why purple? The first shade of purple produced was Tyrian purple, created from Bolinus brandaris sea snails. Dye makers harvested mucus from the shell and heated it in an alkaline solution. They dipped yarn in this solution and exposed it to sunlight, turning it purple.  In other words it was the hardest color.  It was pure extravagance.

19 “Now there was a certain rich man who was habitually dressed in expensive purple and fine linen, and celebrated and lived joyously in splendor every day. 20 And a poor man named Lazarus, was laid at his gate, covered with sores. 21 He [eagerly] longed to eat the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores. 

Luke knows how to set a scene here in chapter sixteen.  There was a color to extravagance.  A short hand here told we were talking in two extremes.  The two perspectives we find at the end of the spectrum of us.  Celebrated and lived joyously, even the dogs were coming and licking his sores.  Some might even imagine the dogs bringing comfort, but in reality they brought more infection.  We imagine that we can understand the situation of both.  These two extremes speak to us in the middle.

22 Now it happened that the poor man died and his spirit was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom (paradise); and the rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise). 24 And he cried out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in severe agony in this flame.’

We leave here something familiar.  We have a story of an afterlife.  We have this common name we remember from Greek tradition.  Hades is "the place or state of departed spirits", borrowing the name of Hades, the Greek god of the underworld. It is often associated with the Jewish concept of Sheol.

Near the end of the Old Testament, God declared that there will be a resurrection of the dead. Sheol will devour no longer; instead, God will swallow up Death. The faithful will be rewarded with everlasting life while the rest will experience eternal contempt. This theology developed further before the New Testament era began.

“But your dead will live, LORD; their bodies will rise— let those who dwell in the dust wake up and shout for joy— your dew is like the dew of the morning; the earth will give birth to her dead.” we find in Isaiah 26:19 NIV

 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things [all the comforts and delights], and Lazarus likewise bad things [all the discomforts and distresses]; but now he is comforted here [in paradise], while you are in severe agony.

We arrive somewhere familiar.  This then in many ways is what forever attracts the powerless to Christ.  They are given a promise that worlds will be flipped on their heads and roles will be reversed.  This is what people were looking for when they thought the Romans would no longer be in charge.  But Jesus had come to end the rule of a greater one: death.

26 And besides all this, between us and you [people] a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to come over from here to you will not be able, and none may cross over from there to us.’

Explicit instruction is what I use at school.  Research has shown that what people learn first often sticks the most.  Our goal is to be precise in what we are teaching.  Asking my students to guess something was always enjoyable to me, but under this system we recognize that as distraction.  A child might remember more what another child guessed than what I have to teach.  In this sense we want to be explicit in what we teach as we recognize the way people learn.

Explicit instruction is underscored by a learning theory known as the information processing model. It is based on the assumption we only remember what we think about, and keep thinking about.  Explicit teaching involves directing student attention toward specific learning in a highly structured environment. It is teaching that is focused on producing specific learning outcomes. Topics and contents are broken down into small parts and taught individually. It involves explanation, demonstration and practice.

You would be surprised, we don't even ask children to raise their hand anymore.  It makes the job harder, but the results better.  We use nonverbal as much as verbal.  We take polls.  We get everyone involved.  It can take longer so we plan backwards.

"While you are in severe agony."  This as a child I thought about quite a bit.  Everything was love it seemed up to a point, but I remember what I was first told.  I talked about many things with my father and explained many things to him.  There were things he explained to me which I still remember.  I certainly had trouble with this popular concept of hell.  I liked that bad people would suffer, but would wonder about good people who never knew Jesus.  It was enough for a wide ranging conversation.

The thing about suffering is that it is very personal.  We like to imagine the suffering of those who persecute us.  I certainly enjoy the confusion God often sews in our enemies mind.  But this confusion in my mind was put aside by a simple question, where does the suffering derive from?: separation.

A great chasm has been fixed.  Imagine that God could not be reached.  I don't think you can imagine.  I think your here because you can feel the presence of  God.  People in great trouble always know where to look.  God does not hide, we do.

 27 So the rich man said, ‘Then, father [Abraham], I beg you to send Lazarus to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—in order that he may solemnly warn them and witness to them, so that they too will not come to this place of torment.’ 

What is torment.  In this context it is being cut off from God by their own actions.  I imagine there are people who have never noticed God and they still do not in the end.  We are given chance after chance after chance.  It is never too late I believe, but their are people that never see a choice and suffer.  Is their skin peeled from their bodies?  Well what suffering would compare to being forever separated from the creator of the universe and what would be the point?

I think of baby Sea turtles hatched rushing to the Sea, extravagant joy of those who make it and those who make a meal.  Nature tells us something about God.  There is an equation that we are equal to.

We read from Timothy 6,6-19 AMP

But godliness actually is a source of great gain when accompanied by contentment [that contentment which comes from a sense of inner confidence based on the sufficiency of God]. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so [it is clear that] we cannot take anything out of it, either. 8 But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. 9 But those who [are not financially ethical and] crave to get rich [with a compulsive, greedy longing for wealth] fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction [leading to personal misery]. 10 For the love of money [that is, the greedy desire for it and the willingness to gain it unethically] is a root of all sorts of evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves [through and through] with many sorrows.

Again we find ourselves talking about separation and this ultimate perspective to avoid.

11 But as for you, O man of God, flee from these things; aim at and pursue righteousness [true goodness, moral conformity to the character of God], godliness [the fear of God], faith, love, steadfastness, and gentleness. 12 Fight the good fight of the faith [in the conflict with evil]; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called, and [for which] you made the good confession [of faith] in the presence of many witnesses. 13 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God, who gives life to all things, and [in the presence] of Christ Jesus, who made the good confession [in His testimony] before Pontius Pilate, 14 to keep all His precepts without stain or reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, 15 which He will bring about in His own time—He who is the blessed and only Sovereign [the absolute Ruler], the King of those who reign as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords, 16 He alone possesses immortality [absolute exemption from death] and lives in unapproachable light, whom no man has ever seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal power and dominion! Amen.

17 As for the rich in this present world, instruct them not to be conceited and arrogant, nor to set their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly and ceaselessly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. 18 Instruct them to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous, willing to share [with others]. 19 In this way storing up for themselves the enduring riches of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life.

With God in our lives we can almost say it isn't as important what we do as why we do.  We don't turn to God to avoid suffering.  We turn to God because we suffer without.  We like to often talk and think about how people suffer.  We like to put on our passion plays and think about how Jesus suffered.  We think suffering is important.  In the end I think that is God suffering in the loss of every single creation that turns away.  I guess there must be apart so we could know together.

29 But Abraham said, ‘They have [the Scriptures given by] Moses and the [writings of the] Prophets; let them listen to them.’ 30 He replied, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent [they will change their old way of thinking and seek God and His righteousness].’ 31 And he said to him, ‘If they do not listen to [the messages of] Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

Or if they did not want to listen to Jesus that day or this.

Ebenezer would certainly agree.  Well we have someone returned from the dead, in fact the person teaching here we have returning from the dead.  We have this holy spirit as well to test everything we think and feel.  Are there people or will there be people suffering in a place called hades?  I don't know, but I can imagine no greater suffering than to be separated from God.  Even the worst things I know people have been through there was God.  Paradise is knowing and seeing and turning to God that much is clear.  

Backwards only would seem to matter to us

But we all know where we are going

You may not find the words to tell me

The new insults for the new art give name

Art is a voracious consumer and the only commodity

We have many hold overs from ancient Greece like: "the gods help those who help themselves."  This is one of the widest supposedly know verses of the bible.  Problem is it isn't in the bible.  What people mostly think the bible is about it is not.  Our God helps everyone with an offer of grace and the holy spirit.  Jesus does not save the select few.   It can take longer so we plan backwards.

God helps those created who are given to suffer so they will know its end. 

Let Us Pray

Creator of the Universe

Keep us from suffering more 

Keep us from wandering too far

Help us to understand your will for our life

Help us to find comfort in comforting

As your creation we celebrate 

Help us bring more to your feast

Help us to see the equation and know what we are equal to

We ask today in the name of Jesus our great teacher

Amen

Benediction

Go and listen

Go and help

Bring your soul with you

Share your gifts to God's glory

Nottingham UMC 9/25.2022

Cubism

There is an interesting tradition in art
Often the insults hurled land so well

They take to name for the centuries

Every time there is something new

There are people to say this is not how it is done

This is what time is around in circles

Backwards only would seem to matter to us

But we all know where we are going

You may not find the words to tell me

The new insults for the new art give name

Art is a voracious consumer and the only commodity

Life as Fire 3

Born to many languages
Would she ever love anything as much as watermelon

When the Doctor first scheduled my son September 11 I thought of her

Been a good day longer than bad

The Nazi tanks separated her from her mother

It took a Village

Opportunity would separate them again

And bring her watermelons beyond her dreams

Uncle at the News paper and the best house in town

There was something I could relate to

Evacuated again from where she raised her own children

Not another language but some extra sounds

Imagine me with all my relatives fighting in all those wars

Finally again to her shores

NATO bombed the hospital her granddaughter was just born

We had a trust forged and we just shared our concerns

Never made it to the bomb shelter before they stopped but that once

I would never think I could not go to my granddaughter's wedding

There are many things I cannot relate to

But to the fire or the vinegar she could take 100 kinds of mushrooms

I could not count the variety

I could eat them

I could enjoy them

All to this trust we had forged

Happy Birthday

Rođen na mnogim jezicima

Da li bi ikada volela bilo šta kao lubenicu

Kada je doktor prvi put zakazao mog sina za 11. septembar, pomislio sam na nju

Bio je dobar dan duže nego loš

Nacistički tenkovi su je odvojili od majke

Trebalo je selo

Prilika bi ih ponovo razdvojila

I donesi joj lubenice van njenih snova

Ujak u novinama i najbolja kuća u gradu

Postojalo je nešto sa čime bih se mogao povezati

Ponovo evakuisana odakle je odgajala sopstvenu decu

Ne drugi jezik, već neki dodatni zvukovi

Zamislite mene sa svim mojim rođacima koji se bore u svim tim ratovima

Konačno opet na njene obale

NATO bombardovao bolnicu njena unuka je tek rođena

Imali smo povjerenje i samo smo podijelili naše brige

Nikada nisam stigao do skloništa prije nego što su stali, ali to jednom

Nikad ne bih pomislila da ne mogu da odem na venčanje svoje unuke

Postoje mnoge stvari sa kojima se ne mogu povezati

Ali na vatru ili sirće mogla je ponijeti 100 vrsta gljiva

Nisam mogao da prebrojim raznolikost

Mogao bih ih pojesti

Mogao bih uživati ​​u njima

Sve ovo poverenje koje smo stekli

Sretan rođendan

Life as Fire 2

When we see the movie the mistakes are never a mystery
What those first theaters discovered

Up was far and down was near

Not what we talk about

What we are

Aflame to the future

We can add to the refining

There is more than one way

The fire loves its children too

What is brought forever now

People debate many things

People do not know what time is

When we live the mistakes are never a mystery

We each have our own relations

You have only an approximation of me as do I

Like I see the fire

Life As Fire

I often think one of the goals of a sermon is to be as radical as possible.  In the end I always find it impossible to be more radical than the ministry of Jesus.  Often when I am working on a message I allow my self to be distracted.  This concept of life as fire is something that I recently came across.  This idea that life has many similarities to fire.  

Both require fuel.  Both can burn themselves out.  They can last long or end abruptly.

Time is after thought

Long and short are judgement

Before is a fire already burning

We have this theory of entropy that seems to hold true in most case.  It is a measure of chaos.  We find it always seems to increase within a closed system.  The milk spilled and glass broken do not go back as they were.  The largest things we can see in the universe seem to show an increase in order that we find hard to explain.

Much is after little

The super galaxy cluster not heard of entropy

Our theories of little concern

Plenty of room for God within our understanding of the universe.

Jeremiah 2:13 from Amplified Bible point us in a direction

“For My people have committed two evils: They have abandoned (rejected) Me, The fountain of living water, And they have carved out their own cisterns, Broken cisterns That cannot hold water."

People often think God is about the first evil.  God seems petty to many people.  So much so they see different Gods in our testaments.  There were times I wondered myself.  The prophets speak of this God that doesn't want us to fail.  Not that we choose the wrong thing, but we don't see that there is only one way.  It makes God motivated it seems to me to value each of his creations and come the long way.

This verse I come upon because of our liturgical calendar which we share with many others.  The web page I check also contains references to other books,  Today many will read from the book of Sirach.  This I was distracted to be sure.

Sirach is accepted as part of the Canon by Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and most of Oriental Orthodox Christians. The Anglican tradition, from which we come, considers Sirach among the apocryphal books, and read them "for example of life and instruction of manners; but yet [do] not apply them to establish any doctrine."

Sirach is not part of the old testament it seems due to its late authorship, although it is not clear that the canon was completely closed at the time of Ben Sira.  Others have suggested that Ben Sira's self-identification as the author is what stopped it from attaining canonical status, which was reserved for works that were attributed to the prophets, but we know it was embraced by the early Christian community.

According to the Greek version, the author traveled extensively and was frequently in danger of death.  He speaks of the perils of all sorts from which God had delivered him, although this is probably only a poetic theme in imitation of the Psalms.  The only fact known with certainty, drawn from the text itself, is that Ben Sira was a scholar, and a scribe thoroughly versed in the Law, and especially in the "Books of Wisdom."

Sirach 10:12-13 from  the New Revised Standard Version, because there is no amplified version:

12 The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker.  13a For the beginning of pride is sin,

    

Now fully distracted I found it interesting to contemplate this remnant of of our Anglican history.  This book much respected for its practical guide to living.  Turns out this is the only part of the bible, if you will allow the term or how you might define that term, that actually recommends you go to the doctor.  Something resonated with me and the many prayers I have heard in this congregation.  So a little interlude if you will allow.  A tangent from our liturgical calendar.

From chapter 38: Give doctors the honor they deserve, for the Lord gave them their work to do. 2 Their skill came from the Most High, and kings reward them for it. 3 Their knowledge gives them a position of importance, and powerful people hold them in high regard.

4 The Lord created medicines from the earth, and a sensible person will not hesitate to use them. 5 Didn't a tree once make bitter water fit to drink, so that the Lord's power might be known? 6 He gave medical knowledge to human beings, so that we would praise him for the miracles he performs. 7-8 The druggist mixes these medicines, and the doctor will use them to cure diseases and ease pain. There is no end to the activities of the Lord, who gives health to the people of the world.

9 My child, when you get sick, don't ignore it. Pray to the Lord, and he will make you well. 10 Confess all your sins and determine that in the future you will live a righteous life. 11 Offer incense and a grain offering, as fine as you can afford. 12 Then call the doctor—for the Lord created him—and keep him at your side; you need him. 13 There are times when you have to depend on his skill. 14 The doctor's prayer is that the Lord will make him able to ease his patients' pain and make them well again. 15 As for the person who sins against his Creator, he deserves to be sick

I hope that you find some practical advise there as we turn back to this message of our liturgical calendar this week.  A couple verses, Proverbs 25:6-7 from the Amplified Bible put us back on track: 6 Do not be boastfully ambitious and claim honor in the presence of the king, And do not stand in the place of great men; 7 For it is better that it be said to you, “Come up here,” Than for you to be placed lower in the presence of the prince, Whom your eyes have seen.

For the beginning of pride is sin.  We come to our gospel message distracted.  Verses from Luke 14:1 & 7-14 I read from the Amplified Bible

14 It happened one Sabbath, when He went for a meal at the house of one of the ruling Pharisees, that they were watching Him closely and carefully [hoping to entrap Him].

Time is after thought

Long and short are judgement

Before is a fire already burning

Jesus this fire of life that so many wanted to burn.  Hoping to entrap him.  We take this as it is because we are so used to this story.   Adversarial  Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.

7 Now Jesus began telling a parable to the invited guests when He noticed how they had been selecting the places of honor at the table, saying to them, 8 “When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down [to eat] at the place of honor, since a more distinguished person than you may have been invited by the host, 9 and he who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your place,’ and then, in disgrace you proceed to take the last place. 10 But when you are invited, go and sit down [to eat] at the last place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher’; and then you will be honored in the presence of all who are at the table with you. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled [before others], and he who habitually humbles himself (keeps a realistic self-view) will be exalted.”

In understanding our limited nature.  Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.  We can find our strength.  We have not only the idea to avoid the exalted position but to also seek the lowly one.  This virtue of humility is what Jesus is pointing us to and what is lacking in this world.

These high places and low places were obvious to the people of Jesus' time.  The virtue of humility is forged in fire.  The high places and low places are obvious to us.  We are taught here to not only avoid the high but seek the low.  Seems hard to imagine something that could be as opposed to human nature.  In here we have the real limitations of our free will.  We can choose right or we can choose wrong, but we can not make the wrong choice right.  Broken cisterns cannot hold water

12 Jesus also went on to say to the one who had invited Him, “When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or wealthy neighbors, otherwise they may also invite you in return and that will be your repayment. 13 But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind, 14 and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (the just, the upright).”

It is hard to get past this idea of Jesus that we need to end the system of giving to people who can repay us.  This had been the basis of everything that had ever been.  We used to think that towns brought religion, but currently we believe religion brought towns.  Reciprocation was what the world was founded upon.  Jesus had arrived to take us beyond.  

In understanding our unlimited nature. Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.  We find our weakness,  there are some fiercer sounding verses but I will submit to you now that 13 and 14 are the single two hardest verses to follow.  There are things I do that I will never get repaid for but they are more from what the grace of God brought me than any decision I have ever met.  Who do you know that regularly follows verse 13 and 14?  We don't listen enough and we argue.  If half of us would I'd say it would be enough.  Maybe we could take turns?

But still some worry

About things to be worried about

Anxiety's opposite

This planet already caught in the fire of our sun

Solar winds but a prelude

Red giant contamination we may only be

I don't know if we will make it past

I know most would not

Life as fire

From Luke 14:23 Then the master told the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and along the hedges, and compel them to come in, so that my house may be filled [with guests].

We have carved out our own cisterns, Broken cisterns That cannot hold water.  We need their help.  

Time is after thought

Long and short are judgement

Before is a fire already burning

Let us pray......

Our dear Heavenly Father---  Father and Mother of all creation, whose being is from the beginning of time, speak to us.  Raise us above the storms of our generation and above the barriers with which we seek to surround ourselves.  Fill us with the love and understanding that embraces all people and is not bound by nation, race, or creed.  Forgive us our little goals and narrow visions.  Lead us to dedicate ourselves to the work of thy kingdom.  Make us willing to be disciples of Jesus Christ.  Though our minds cannot fully grasp His Call to us give us the will to follow Him,  accepting Him as the Savior of man and the hope of the world.

Amen......

Benediction

Now may the Grace of our Lord Jesus, the Love of God, the communion and fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you now and remain with you always.

Amen

Nottingham UMC 8/28/2022

Life as Fire 1

Time is after thought
Long and short are judgement

Before is a fire already burning

Much is after little

The super galaxy cluster not heard of entropy

Our theories of little concern

But still some worry

About things to be worried about

Anxiety's opposite

This planet already caught in the fire of our sun

Solar winds but a prelude

Red giant contamination we may only be

I don't know if we will make it past

I know most do not

Life as fire

Explosive

Sometimes things are not what they should be about

What is about can be what is important

You can do something one million times

And then it can be different

Words a beautiful container

Life explosive cannot be contained

I would like to tell you about this experience

Put it away in containers 

Should be about what is important

One million times different

Not hard to know what to do

Just that you will only once be through

She was something like a sunshine or a sunrise

But new upon my scene but something like home

A feeling I cannot forget or describe you know comfortable

Belonging belonged a million times 

A gravitational lens at burger king
Everything on fire creates order

Entropy increasing yet large structures born

Probably should have said something more

Comforting to know the universe does not make sense

Bea a Prayer

Our sculpture today brought to mind something I have been doing here for a number of years.  Our Bea a reader program.  We have been giving away books for several years and I always like to have a collection for all types and all ages.  I finally started giving my own books away instead of collecting for the first time in my life and I always watched where those went.

Some of the best books I had came from a book drive my sister did in her yoga class for a local women's prison.  Now why did I have them?  The books were mostly about philosophy as these women seemed all to reach the same conclusion about what women in prison needed.  The administrator of the prison rejected them without much comment.  So I had those great books.

There is a children's book bank in our area that gave me some very good books and people would donate books to me all the time.  First we set up in the food pantry here then we took it out on the road at farmer's Markets.  We did Coit Rd the most, but were also were in South Euclid a few times and down at the westside market.  Mostly me and Marko.  This last year we had bags thanks to our anniversary and that was a very nice addition.

We told people mainly we were looking for good homes for books.  My favorite was when someone would take a book for a neighbor.  Originally we said there was a 1 book limit which we later changed to a 1 book minimum.  Marko figured that one out.  Sara did the original sign it is hard to remember how many years we have been doing it.  It has been some time.

People approached the table of books in many different ways.  I think everyone thought people all approached it the same.  Some people you would have to convince to take a book others were happy too.  A significant percentage offered to pay.  I did take one donation because it was a friend of a friend at Nottingham.  Throughout the community there are connections out from here.  At the westside market spoke a long time with two men who used to do the floors in the educational wing.  They didn't really want anything they just wanted to talk to somebody who knew about Nottingham.

One guy I remember stopped in his tracks and just looked at a Artimas Fowl book.  Clearly it was something he had read less than ten years ago cause he wasn't very old maybe late twenties.  There was a rush of things that came back to him that he had lost or repressed.  It was something and he took a rest for quite a bit at the table.  I told him several times he needed to take the book if just to pass it on.  He didn't.  It was one of the most visceral responses I saw, but every single person had their own relationship with books.

I liked to tell people we were working to make the world a more tangible place.  I don't know if books will always have a place in our world, but they do now.  It was really as if every single person responded differently and had this expectation that most people were like them.  I have often preached how similar we are this is a story of how different we are; that is the way it was with prayer.

Island of the Blue Dolphin was one I always accumulated to my delight.  I liked the classics and diversity of voices the most.  All the places these books would go.  Each a world.  The last one I gave out to a kid at the summer lunch on Friday.  His Grandma was yelling at him because he didn't open the juice the right way.  I showed him the arrow and where it said open I pointed to.  I ask him you can read to which he shook his head.  I asked which grade he was going to and he said Kindergarten.

I got a book for him and showed him asking him to read the title.  His grandma added he was repeating the grade.  I said that's alright it has been a tough couple years.  I read it to him, "Splash into Kindergarten."  It was kind of hard to read as it was done in coral and sea horses and sea stars.  He took that book in two hands and had a mission.

His grandma said mom would read it to him and he smiled.  Had all the things you need to know for kindergarten and he had already been around once.  Things were looking up for the little man.  He was little too.  They had left before I realized he had left his extra chips and salsa behind.  I just though thanks little man and knew why he left them behind.  Well he has some more in front of him, but it was a hopeful moment and a look of determination I will not soon forget with two hand on the book.

We all don't get moments to leave things behind.  We approach everything differently.  The followers of Jesus would approach one thing the same prayer.  To be a prayer meant many things.

Our scripture today is Instruction about Prayer from Luke 11:1-13 Which I read from the Amplified Bible:

11 It happened that while Jesus was praying in a certain place, after He finished, one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray just as John also taught his disciples.” 2 He said to them,

“When you pray, say:

‘Father, hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

3  ‘Give us each day our daily bread.

4  ‘And forgive us our sins,

For we ourselves also forgive everyone who is indebted to us [who has offended or wronged us].

And lead us not into temptation [but rescue us from evil].’”

Prayer is religion in action.

Prayer is as old as civilization itself.  Man has always found much which perplexed him, natural phenomena he could not explain.  To help release himself from the fear of the unknown, primitive man often placed his faith in ONE who could help.  In the beginning he prayed to fire, wind, the moon and the sun; thunder lightning streams, lakes, mountains, and trees.  He attained communion with "another" who could bring about something that man alone could not achieve.

Man today is still beset by problems, anxieties and fears fears as binding as those man has faced through the ages.  Although science has given him many answers, he is still surrounded by much that bewilders him.

This was the condition of the disciples in out scripture reading.

The disciples seeing and realizing that Christ spent much time in prayer, and witnessing the fact that Christ received great spiritual strength from his communion with the heavenly Father, desired also to pray after this manner.  On various occasions they desired that Christ should teach them to pray.  It is natural that they should have this desire, for all men should pray.  God made man to be in communion with Himself, He did this first of all because He cherishes that communion.  But the importance of prayer lies in the further fact that man is dependent upon God. 

Jesus first of all set the pattern for prayer.  We are not to stand and pray to be seen of men.  Rather we are to pray to our father in secret.  He tells us our prayers should be communion with God not just a recital.  And he tells us our Father knows our needs and will honor the fervent prayer of a righteous man.  Prayer is not to inform God or persuade him.  He knows and loves us, but he has set prayer as a mysterious law of approach to him.  It has something that prepares the way for the answer.  The important distinction in this connection is that, although we should pray, we must put our trust in God rather than trusting in prayer.  The question may follow, why should we have to ask him or tell him if he knows?

The simple answer is that God has made it a law, in a sense as truly a law as the law of gravity.  It is a prescribed method of approach to our Maker, and we may assume that there is something in the very effect of prayer that prepares us to receive the blessing we seek.  Two of the universal requirements for victorious prayer are clean hands and a humble heart.  In I John 3:22 we read that we have a standing access to answered prayer, if we keep his commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.

The prayer begins by declaring God as our heavenly Father.  This was Christ' usual address to God when he prayed.  he establishes God as the divine Ruler and Maker and enthrones his name with the words "hallowed be Thy name".  Our Father is the highest and dearest name we know, embracing both father and mother and embodying both justice and mercy.  Our first petition then is-- Hallowed be Thy name.  The second and third petitions-- Thy kingdom com, Thy will be done.

God's kingdom cannot come to man until man does God's will.  Thus we petition that God's will be accomplished in our lives that His kingdom may come.  This should be a joyous petition, for the kingdom of God is righteousness, joy, and peace.

The fourth petition-- Give us this day our daily bread.--  This prayer is concerned with our day by day needs both temporal and spiritual.  The bread that we seek is bread for the body and bread for the soul.  This is supplied to us in direct proportion to our submission to God's will.

The fifth petition-- And forgive us our debts, as we forgive or debtors.--  We seek in this prayer forgiveness of sin, both sin against God and sin against our fellow-man.  Forgive us our debts-- but along with this is the prayer, as we forgive or debtors.  The two forgivenesses go together, we cannot hope to obtain forgiveness if we refuse to forgive.  An unforgiving spirit closes God out of our lives.  He is ready to forgive but often we are not ready to be forgiven.  Eph. 4:32 tells us: "Be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted forgiving one another, even as God for Christ' sake hath forgiven you."

The sixth petition-- And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  This prayer is probably best explained as the plea of conscious weakness.  We do need testing.  It is no sin to be tempted, it is sin only when we fall prey to temptation.  This prayer admits our weakness and asks God's help for deliverance.

5 Then He said to them, “Suppose one of you has a friend, and goes to him at midnight and says, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves [of bread]; 6 for a friend of mine who is on a journey has just come to visit me, and I have nothing to serve him’; 7 and from inside he answers, ‘Do not bother me; the door has already been shut and my children and I are in bed; I cannot get up and give you anything.’ 8 I tell you, even though he will not get up and give him anything just because he is his friend, yet because of his persistence and boldness he will get up and give him whatever he needs.

9 “So I say to you, ask and keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 10 For everyone who keeps on asking [persistently], receives; and he who keeps on seeking [persistently], finds; and to him who keeps on knocking [persistently], the door will be opened. 11 What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish? 12 Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? 13 If you, then, being evil [that is, sinful by nature], know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask and continue to ask Him!”

The beauty of the passage reminds us that Luke borrows.  An oasis.  Keep on asking, and it will be given to you; seek and keep on seeking, and you will find; knock and keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  What father among you, if his son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead of a fish?  There are many hard things in life.  These here are things we can all do.   Keep on asking, keep on seeking, keep on knocking, these are things I can do well.  Jesus doesn't say find, he says, "you will find." 

So I thought we might expand that program to something we can all approach in one way together.  Bea a prayer. 

Let us join in prayer-- 

Dear Lord, who makest all the commandments of the law to consist in love toward God and toward man, grant to us so to love Thee with all our heart, with all our mind, and all our soul, and our neighbor as ourselves, that the grace of charity and brotherly love may dwell in us, and all envy, harshness, and ill will may die in us.  And we beseech Thee, so to fill our hearts with true affections that by constantly rejoicing in the happiness and good success of others, by sympathizing with them in their sorrows, and by putting away all harsh judgments and envious thoughts we may follow Thee, who art the Way the Truth and the Life.  In Jesus name--

Amen.

Now may the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit and go with you.

Amen.

Nottingham UMC 7/24/2022

with some help:

 http://wfmsermons.blogspot.com/2010/10/teach-us-to-pray.html

Nottingham Methodist Church 7/14/1963

Land Acknowledgement

One of the first Indigenous peoples to live in what is now known as Cleveland were the Erie people. The Erie inhabited most of the southern shore of Lake Erie, and they were wiped out by a war with the Iroquois Confederacy in 1656.

There is a practice I recently was exposed to during the meetings I attended to fund our green space initiative.  They did what they called a  Land Acknowledgement.  This may be something you are familiar with in your life.  The practice of Land Acknowledgement stems from Indigenous tradition and today’s protocol for public gatherings.

"In recognizing the land upon which we reside, we express our gratitude and appreciation to those who lived and worked here before us; those whose stewardship and resilient spirit makes our residence possible on this traditional homeland of the Lenape (Delaware), Shawnee, Wyandot Miami, Ottawa, Potawatomi, and other Great Lakes tribes (Chippewa, Kickapoo, Wea, Pinakahsw, and Kaskaskia). We also acknowledge the thousands of Native Americans who now call Northeast Ohio home.  The greater Cleveland area occupies land officially ceded by 1100 chiefs and warriors signing the Treaty of Greenville in 1795."  *Prepared by Susan Dominguez for Social Justice Institute at socialjustice@case.edu.

This Treaty was a short lived agreement that was designed to solve problems that expansion would soon make moot.  The first thing I thought about was how native people seemed to look at the land differently than the European arrivals.  In many ways it was this difference in thinking about the land that let a mostly Christian people steal land they would often say people were not using correctly.  Well we certainly civilized this nation is all I will say at this point as I want to move towards more productive discussions.

Thirteen thousand years ago is the first evidence we have of people in Ohio.  They hunted the last of the giant ground sloths.  Upon receiving bones to analyze, first found in West Virginia, Jefferson did not attempt a definitive taxonomic classification and kept an open mind, writing “Let us only say then, what we may safely say, that he was more than three times as large as the lion”  There is a funny story to me here.  Jefferson felt there were not enough big animals in America.  Europeans inferred that there was something lesser about the new world.  These bones were compared to the king of the jungle for a specific reason.

They were just bones of a long extinct creature and don't really prove anything about America.  Do you think they knew it was over.  The avocado sure misses them.  That big seed was not big for those ground sloths.  Would go right through them and accumulate fertilizer along the way.  Wonderous was our world created.  Beyond counting the number of ways it has been broken.  They are not hard to see.

Three thousand years ago the mound builders arrived.  An effigy mound is a raised pile of earth built in the shape of a stylized animal, symbol, religious figure, human, or other figure. The largest in the country is in Ohio: Serpent Mound.  

I am not simply trying to romanticize the other.  Which I have a natural tendency to do.  The native people are not perfect.  Simple is not always right, but it is more than it is not.  Europeans did not bring the first problems to America.

When the Iroquois Confederacy depleted the beaver and other game in its territory in the New York region, they launched a war known as the Beaver Wars, destroying or scattering the contemporary inhabitants of the region. During the Beaver Wars in the 1650s, the Iroquois nearly destroyed the Erie along the shore of Lake Erie. Overall, they managed to expand their territory through the North shore of Lakes Ontario and Erie, throughout Ohio, Indiana and southern Michigan and south from their original Homeland in New York, all the way to the James River in Virginia when the war seems to have officially ended in 1701, but the French began aiding other native people's who had fled west and took nearly all of that land for themselves, naming it the Illinois Colony.

There was a conflict for me that we miss the point that we could take it because they never understood the European idea to own.  Maybe a better term to use is western culture.  This mix of Christianity and Rome.  There is another native story here in many ways lost of my people: the Celts.   Many know that Rome defeated us in Gaul, but the real story is that we were everywhere on that continent.

We  talk of Galatia which you may not know was a Celtic Kingdom Paul arrived to.  They already believed they would be going to a better world.  Like the native Americans these Celts expected each man to lead his own way.  Most battles in Europe had Celts on both sides.  They were who Roman mother's scared their children with to go to bed on time.  They were great warriors because they knew they were going to a better world already.  They also had no leaders, but those who earned respect.

The greatest Celt and Native American leaders had only their words to draw others to them.  People voted with their feet.  Rome won with a new model: one god one emperor one way.  It is hard to say which gained more.  If Rome does not adopt Christianity does it make it to us here today?  For me this question is essential.  Democracy would come through, but freedom?

I don't need to judge anyone, but personally I need somehow to understand.  As a part of generation X, I was looking for a generation why.  W-h-y not just the letter y, but we have moved quickly on to gen Z.  We dismiss each generation.  They will soon dismiss us.  We go round and round the generations distracted each in their turn.  

Who owns this place is the question I find confronting me as we turn to our scripture.  There are many things that I do not control, but how I make decisions is something I can control.  Things can go in different ways, but I hear this message that if I can live with how I make decisions I can live with the consequences.  Our story from Luke 9:51-62 here I read from the Amplified Bible.

51 Now when the time was approaching for Him to be taken up [to heaven], He was determined to go to Jerusalem [to fulfill His purpose]. 52 He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went into a Samaritan village to make arrangements for Him; 53 but the people would not welcome Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem. 54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?” 55 But He turned and rebuked them [and He said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are; 56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.”] And they journeyed on to another village.

Samaritans a people they disliked so much they had a story about the one good Samaritan. 

“Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and destroy them?”  I laugh at the humanness on display here.  Our political debates today can seem as clear as they were to these people two thousand years ago.  I felt this week to rain down fire I can tell you.  Beyond that there is just the idea that this seemed like a question to ask Jesus.  Had they recently rained fire down?  Was this one story Luke did not collect.

Well there seems to be a type of story here.  Even to the stories about Jesus as a youth that still remain around.  These followers got their answer.  Many people would rain down fire in the name of Jesus.  And just as these followers they did not see any reason not to.

The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.  If only his followers taking over Europe and North America would have this first in mind.  It is complicated and I can even accept that people believed they were making people's lives better.  People today still usually believe they are trying to make their lives better.  They need believed in when they should just believe.  Following Jesus is an  exacting Discipleship:

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to Him, “I will follow You wherever You go.” 58 And Jesus told him, “Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

Here we have something beautiful.  Partisan.  

59 He said to another, “Follow Me [accepting Me as Master and Teacher].” But he said, “Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father.” 60 But He said to him, “Allow the [spiritually] dead to bury their own dead; but as for you, go and spread the news about the kingdom of God.” 61 Another also said, “I will follow You, Lord [as Your disciple]; but first let me say goodbye to those at my home.” 62 But Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back [to the things left behind] is fit for the kingdom of God.”

Here we are confronted with a simple truth.  People are living different lives.  There is only one way to go.  There are many things you can do.  You can delay.  You can distract.  You can justify.  You can neglect.  You can imagine.  But in the end there are things that go together and things that do not.  Freedom from loss.  Freedom from pain.  Freedom from making good decisions will lead no where.

In Galatians 5:1 again from the Amplified Bible, we see something of this Celtic Kingdom in Anatolia that Paul was sent.  They knew to walk by the spirit, they got him:

5 It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed].

I think we yoked ourselves too much these last two thousand years, but here we are.  It is not too late.  

Continuing  in Galatians 5:13-25

13 For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through love serve and seek the best for one another. 14 For the whole Law [concerning human relationships] is fulfilled in one precept, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself [that is, you shall have an unselfish concern for others and do things for their benefit].” 15 But if you bite and devour one another [in bickering and strife], watch out that you [along with your entire fellowship] are not consumed by one another.

In my darkest moments I recognize that we may have already lost.  Maybe already too much pollution.  I don't remember the last bug I cleaned from the windshield of my car.  I remember it was different.  The opportunity of new worlds became opportunities for the sinful nature so far.  This is what the kingdom of God brings to end with your help.  This is why it takes so long.

16 But I say, walk habitually in the [Holy] Spirit [seek Him and be responsive to His guidance], and then you will certainly not carry out the desire of the sinful nature [which responds impulsively without regard for God and His precepts]. 17 For the sinful nature has its desire which is opposed to the Spirit, and the [desire of the] Spirit opposes the sinful nature; for these [two, the sinful nature and the Spirit] are in direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict], so that you [as believers] do not [always] do whatever [good things] you want to do. 

In direct opposition to each other [continually in conflict] - in so few words an explanation.

18 But if you are guided and led by the Spirit, you are not subject to the Law. 19 Now the practices of the sinful nature are clearly evident: they are sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality (total irresponsibility, lack of self-control), 20 idolatry, sorcery, hostility, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions [that promote heresies], 21 envy, drunkenness, riotous behavior, and other things like these. I warn you beforehand, just as I did previously, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 

Here we are at peril.  Often we think the clearest sounding parts of the scripture we understand the best.  We can each make our own definitions.  How can we know which is the right ones.  Defining sorcery is not that far off from a description of what we do today.  These phones we each carry now tell me this is not sorcery.  Strife, well there are entire universes here.  You can define these things how you wish.  I would only say that if it seems easy you might look closer.  If there is one thing the last two thousand years tells us: it is not easy.

22 But the fruit of the Spirit [the result of His presence within us] is love [unselfish concern for others], joy, [inner] peace, patience [not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting], kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.

25 If we [claim to] live by the [Holy] Spirit, we must also walk by the Spirit [with personal integrity, godly character, and moral courage—our conduct empowered by the Holy Spirit].

But the fruit of the Spirit.  But God it does not seem like we are going anywhere.  We Acknowledge that the land has a date with history as we do.  Looking forward there is no future for this planet.  We look back and we find difficulties and we look forward and we find even more.  

Do things happen for a reason or do they not?  This is the real question.  Did Jesus use Rome to spread the word.  Did Rome use Christianity to consolidate power?  They weren't doing many bible studies.  These words we read were used more as weapons than the meditations they are.

It is not clear who has used who, but we are here.

Here are many things that I do not control, but how I make decisions is something I can control.  Things can go in different ways.

“Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head.”

 Patience: not the ability to wait, but how we act while waiting.

-  (Summer Solstice by Roger Echo-Hawk)

In our retellings I suppose we don’t much bother

Keeping straight the bent details, crooked roads

In one tale after another, how we handed down

Sidelong versions of whatever happened next

Under ebbing oceans an ancient underground

Somewhere in the receding past they kept saying

Their slippery sense of community mattered, it

Shaped them, their history, the story they filled

Themselves with every day, waking their minds

Connecting to the history of memory as if it all

Felt real, seemed specific enough, logical enough

Those changing details that give rise to the world

In our retellings of the tale along a crooked road

Let Us Pray:

Great Creator

We have trouble even to define our words

We have trouble even to deal with the past

We have trouble even to deal with the future

Thank you for this Now

Be with those within any radius of our building

Be with us here in our circle that struggles to close

You have brought us so far

We just ask that you bring us all home

As long as it takes please don't miss one

Amen

Benediction

We are waiting

We are going

We are called to act

We make decisions that make the world

Here we have something beautiful.

Partisan. 

Nottingham UMC 6/26/2022