Blessings and Woes

  

I’m a Maryland girl. I love it down the ocean, hon. I enjoy a nice bowl of crab soup, especially when it’s cold outside. Show of hands, who prefers cream of crab? Who’s more of a Maryland crab soup fan - with all the veggies? Anyone mix the two? Apparently, it’s very trendy.

 

The cream of crab soup at The Food Market in Columbia, MD, currently has 43 reviews. “Loads of crab meat,” writes one satisfied customer. Steve B. reports, however, that the menu may have overstated the claim that their crab soup was “the best in these parts.” Kayla disagrees. Her cream of crab is “out of this world.” Amanda gives it an A+ and orders an extra cup to take home. Melody enjoys lobster fingers with her soup, which is, by the way, “Amazing.” 

 

Mostly good reviews. I’d try their soup. 

But, while many reviewers have good intentions to share information and advice, some reviews are tough. Reviewers can be fickle. It takes wisdom to sift through the good opinion of others in search of truth.

 

There’s nothing fickle about our readings today. 

 

In language strongly resembling wisdom literature, Jeremiah takes a break from all his prophesying and lamentation about the sad state of affairs in 6th Century BCE. Jeremiah has a lot to say to the people, religious and political authorities, and even to God, and it takes him all of about 50 chapters. The prophet tends to call things as he sees them. Despite a preponderance of doom and gloom, Jeremiah also offers hope and the promise of a brighter future using beautiful poetic language: “Those who delight in the law of the Lord are like trees by a stream, bearing fruit and prospering.” The rest of you, good luck. 

 

The apostle Paul, perhaps discouraged by the divisiveness of the Corinthian Church and their repetitive propensity for getting sidetracked from what’s most important, builds a case for resurrection as the foundation of the Christian faith. Like Jeremiah, Paul also lays it on the line: If Christ has not been raised, our faith is futile. For Paul, Christ is the Wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24) in stark contrast with the foolishness of people.

 

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus and his newly appointed apostles, along with a “great multitude” of new and diverse potential disciples, have gathered to experience the healing power of Jesus. He doesn’t disappoint. And they are treated to a sermon. This is the sermon on the plain, similar but shorter than the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel. Blessed are the poor, the hungry, the grieving, the excluded…Woe to you who seem to have it all; it could all disappear in a flash. All y’all, those who struggle the most, those in need of a miracle, you are blessed. Blessed are you when people say mean things. They did that to the prophets. Woe to you when people build you up and flatter you with praise. False prophets got the same treatment. 

 

If Jesus’ sermon was a restaurant dish, I imagine it might generate these kinds of reviews: “Comfort food with a kick.” “Pretty hard to swallow.” Or, “Amazing,” like Melody.

 

Of course, those were hypothetical reviews. I mean, who disagrees about biblical interpretation? Umm…Seems like - everyone. Have you noticed? 

 

That was rhetorical. Where can we go for wisdom? What sources can we trust? 

 That’s not a rhetorical question. 

 

In the years leading up to the Civil War in America, abolitionist Frederick Douglass, another Marylander whose feast day falls on February 20^th, also found trusted sources to be in short supply, so he started a newspaper, naming it The North Star after the light that guided enslaved people to freedom. The North Star began publishing in 1847 in Rochester, New York, using the slogan:

 

“Right is of no Sex—Truth is of no Color—God is the Father of us all, and all we are Brethren.” Good, right? Douglas believed firmly that nonviolence was key. But when he started to lose faith, an encounter with Sojourner Truth reportedly shook him to the core. In a public antislavery forum, Truth was said to have challenged Douglas’ new resolve with the provocative rhetorical question: “Is God dead?”

[1]

 

I don’t know about you, but I’m hearing similar questions being asked of the church today. 

 

I think it’s wisdom people are seeking. 

 

Jesus, the wisdom teacher, comes down to a level place where he can look his followers in the eyes and speak truth. Jesus knows his words will generate mixed reviews. He knows minds tend to wander and truth can be interpreted differently. He knows the divisiveness of the human heart. Those who listen become the early church.

 

Two thousand years after Jesus preached his sermon, we are the church, still tasked with carrying out a counter-cultural message of love that is just plain hard for this ever-changing, ever less God-centric world to grasp. How do we stay focused?

 

How do we keep a Christ-centered focus as this community grows and changes? You know what we could use? A new slogan to guide us through. Kinda like Frederick Douglas had.

 

I like the way Psalm 36 expresses our utter dependence on God: “In your light, we see light.” How about Psalm 121? God will keep us “in our going out and our coming in.” That’s good too. 

 

There’s always “We’ll leave the light on for ya.” We could borrow that one from Motel 6. Which incidentally also gets some mixed reviews:  

 

“Didn’t get my AARP discount. Customer service excellent. Everyone so nice and helpful. Couldn't find the pool.”

 

Bless our hearts.

 

Blessed are you, church, poor and unmoored, yet still striving to stand up for kingdom principles. 

 

Blessed are you who hunger for justice even while feeding others. You who imagine a world without locked doors or ceilings, without walls or exclusions.

 

Blessed are you who mourn. And blessed are you who mourn the pain of your neighbors. Those who, even in your own grief, show up to pray, smile, sing, embrace, and care for others.

 

Blessed are you when people revile you for your opinion, and you with patience to listen respectfully.

 

Blessed are you, the broken body of Christ, at God’s table. You with crossed fingers during the creed. You who walk humbly in faith, acknowledging doubt, embracing uncertainty, all while answering your individual calls to ministry. 

 

Blessed are you who are anxious yet manage to keep a resurrection perspective, you whose hands stitch together God’s love for others.[2]

 

Woe to you, church, who seek truth among mortals, obsessed with your stats and your “great multitudes,” with wealth over wisdom, status over soul. 

 

Woe to you, church, with your “all are welcome” signs, filled to the brim with people who look and think and vote and pray exactly like you. 

 

Woe to you, with your excellent Google reviews and five-star ratings, you might be laughing now…

 

Hard truths.

 

Remember when Jesus asks Peter, “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” “Of course, I do,” responds Peter. “Then just feed my sheep,” Jesus says plainly (John 21: 15-25).

 

God is love. God is love. God is love. Nothing can ever separate us from that love (Rom 8:38-39). Not our wandering minds or our fragile fickle hearts, though they sure will try. 

 

Can we agree on that?

 

Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[1] Alex Schwartz, “‘Is God Dead?’: Frederick Douglass’s Recollection of a Contentious Moment in Antislavery History,” New North Star: A Journal of the Life and Times of Frederick Douglass 3 (December 13, 2021), https://doi.org/10.18060/25879.

[2] Adapted from: Cláudio Carvalhaes’, Liturgies from below: 462 Acts of Worship; Praying with People at the Ends of the World (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Pres, 2020).

Up Hearts!

 The scripture passages for this practice sermon come from the lectionary, with particular focus on the following Gospel reading. 

 

Luke 13:10-17 

Now Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And just then, there appeared a woman with a spirit that had crippled her for eighteen years. She was bent over and was quite unable to stand up straight. When Jesus saw her, he called her over and said, "Woman, you are set free from your ailment." When he laid his hands on her, she immediately stood up straight and began praising God. But the leader of the synagogue, indignant because Jesus had cured on the sabbath, kept saying to the crowd, "There are six days on which work ought to be done; come on those days and be cured, and not on the sabbath day." But the Lord answered him and said, "You hypocrites! Does not each of you on the sabbath untie his ox or his donkey from the manger and lead it away to give it water? And ought not this woman, a daughter of Abraham whom Satan bound for eighteen long years, be set free from this bondage on the sabbath day?" When he said this, all his opponents were put to shame; and the entire crowd was rejoicing at all the wonderful things that he was doing. 

 

The LORD will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong.

~~Isaiah 58:11

 

“Lift up your hearts,” we hear at the beginning of our Eucharistic Prayer. “We lift them to the Lord,” the congregation replies. This is called the Sursum Corda. Translated, it literally means lift up your heart or “up hearts!” It is the first part of our Eucharist, officially called the Preface, but because I am a yoga teacher, I like to call this the yoga section. It is an invitation to open our hearts toward God. Whether in our hearts and minds or physically or both, we are called to assume a brighter posture as we open to receive Christ into our very being.

 

Good posture is essential to our flourishing. Poor posture can negatively impact us in body, mind, and spirit. Poor posture can affect our ability to breathe well, which nourishes our cells and tissues. It also impacts our balance, our ability to experience a state of equilibrium. When our balance is off, we are more prone to falling. Balance is especially important as we age. It’s something we can work on every day, and we probably should. 

 

As we know, Jesus has a way of knocking the political and religious establishment off balance. Last week it was the crowds of people who had come to hear him. This week he calls out the religious officials in the synagogue. If this were to happen today, someone would likely be in danger of being canceled.

 

In a podcast interview, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg discusses the way ancient Hebrew scriptures are interpreted and modernized by scholars and theologians to better relate to people in their current time and place. It is a wonderful discussion of repentance as given in the Talmud, simplified and made practical, using five steps given by the medieval philosopher Maimonides. The five steps are confession, making amends, beginning to change, apology, and choosing differently. Repentance and forgiveness are healing for individuals and can likewise bring healing to a community. In our current cancel culture, we could certainly benefit from this ancient rabbinic wisdom. 

 

Jesus knows his Hebrew scripture. He knows about the importance of repentance and forgiveness. And he knows about Sabbath as a day to rest in God and with God. Sabbath is a good thing, a healthy practice for individuals and communities. We could use a little more intentional observance of the Sabbath in our fast-paced secular culture. Jesus is teaching in a synagogue when an unnamed, bent-over woman appears. She has suffered from a spinal condition for eighteen long years. It hurts to even think about her condition.

 

As Luke tells this story, the woman had been vexed by a certain “spirit” that caused her crippling posture for a very specific length of time, the past eighteen years. According to Rabbi Alex Chapper, the number 18 has some interesting correspondences. For example, it is written in the Jewish Talmud that there are 18 vertebrae in our human spine. (There are differing theories about how this came to be determined.) In the Torah, religious patriarchs Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned 18 times. The Amidah, the central prayer of every Jewish service, contains 18 blessings. In the Shema, God’s name is mentioned 18 times. It’s also in the 18^th chapter of Leviticus that we read, “You must obey my laws and be careful to follow my decrees and laws…I am the Lord.” In this chapter, there are also lots of laws about inappropriate sexual conduct and the serious repercussion of exile from the community. I imagine Jesus was well aware of this.

 

On this particular sabbath, Jesus notices a woman in the synagogue who is unable to stand upright. She appears to be suffering. Without pausing to ask permission, Jesus calls to her, lays his hands on her, and frees her from her 18-yearlong ailment. Indignant is the adjective Luke uses to describe the reaction of the synagogue leader. The Greek translation of the word is more like grieved or disappointed. How could a person of faith possibly be disappointed knowing that a member of the community has been restored to wholeness? He goes off on a rant about the law about observing the Sabbath, which leads to Jesus’ labeling as hypocrites the whole lot of religious leaders. Religious people can be so touchy! 

 

To be a hypocrite is to put on a false appearance of virtue or piety. Perhaps the religious leaders knew this woman who showed up at the synagogue. We don’t actually know why she was there. Could there be more to this story? What we do know is that Jesus touched her. Finally, she could stand tall. The crowd goes wild. I can just imagine a slow clap that builds to full-out applause. They are enthralled that Jesus heals people. That people take priority over laws, religious leaders, patriarchy, and power. 

 

Remember last week when Jesus spoke of division in families? Here, we encounter it again. This time it's between the religious leaders and the people. Are we not today divided about how best to interpret and enforce our laws? It would be hypocritical to say we are not divided on gender issues, even, and especially, in the church. Where are the marginalized, bent-over folks who could use healing? We don’t have to look far.

 

How can we restore the broken back into the community? It’s much easier to simply ignore or cancel them. What good is a church if it doesn’t make this its mission? The poet Tennyson wrote (indulge my paraphrase) that our reach should exceed our grasp. Or, what’s a heaven even for? 

When we are conscious, compassionate, and courageous, like Jesus, we work to restore our beloved community. This means doing the hard work of repentance and forgiveness continually. Relationships are never static. They are always moving towards wholeness or dissolution. Love requires vigilance and awareness. You’ll recall that when Jesus noticed

the woman, he stopped what he was doing to help. That’s staying awake. We are likewise called to stay awake. Being intentional about Sabbath can help us live more conscious lives. But being obsessive about it will always throw us off balance.

 

You might be thinking this is a lot of work, this being a Christ follower. Lift up your hearts. This is astonishingly good news. Jesus has got our backs. (Pun intended.) Emmanuel, God with us, redeems, restores, and raises us to behold the eyes of the beloved. Jesus is straight up about how we are to do the same. "Love your neighbors as yourselves." He shows us how, by taking time to care for the “least of these,” our neighbors in peril. They are loved. We are loved. We are loved whether we show up every Sunday for church, only at Christmas and Easter, or not at all. We don’t have to ask for this love. It is freely given. 

What is your posture on that? 

 

Here’s a yoga practice for opening the heart.