Wednesday, August 27, 2014

A birth plan

Exodus 1: 8 – 2: 10 
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
August 24, 2014

 
"Born of Star Dust"


                 

            This is one of those weeks when speaking one’s truth does not feel the same as telling the truth.  Crises like the death of Eric Garner in NY and the death of Michael Brown and the protests in Ferguson, MO; Israel, Palestine, and Gaza; Ebola in Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Nigeria; ISIS in Iraq; the death of journalist James Foley and the meaningless deaths of countless others demand that we tell the truth.  From where I’m standing, my seemingly inexperienced, small truth doesn’t stack up against the truth of hatred, rage and violence, fear and injustice.

             



            But if I was listening to a colleague or one of you saying those words, I’d tell you, “Speak your truth.  You’ll get to the deeper truth eventually.  If God is still speaking, God’s gotta start somewhere.”  So.




            We are often led to think that our individual lives and how we live them do not have much impact on global systems, national events, the human line.  And yet I do believe that our smaller stories do have something to say about the larger human story.  Our attitudes, beliefs, how we treat one another, even how we bring life into this world, do make a difference on a wider scale.




            Almost 18 and 15 years ago, along with David, it was midwives who helped bring our daughters into this world.  Years ago, one of my neighbors delivered her daughter at home, and it was her example that convinced me that we were made for this, for natural childbirth.  It wasn’t until our society became more industrialized that birth became a medical event rather than a normal part of life.  Over time, power and authority in the birth process migrated from the company of women to the medical profession.  Within the last forty years or so, the pendulum has begun to swing back in the direction of nurse midwives and women with their partners directing the birth process.




            In this morning’s reading from Genesis, the Egyptian king or Pharaoh tries to use his power to influence the midwives who attend the births of both Egyptian and Hebrew women.  Midwives may have power in the birthing room, but the Pharaoh ably reminds them that he has power to take life as well as give it.  Yet these midwives, called by name—Shiphrah and Puah—are wily creatures, shrewd in their obedience.  Hebrew women are vigorous, Hebrew babies are slippery, like the truth these midwives tell.  They fear God more than they fear Pharaoh, that is, they love life more than they fear death.  And so these boy babies live and thrive, thus Pharaoh must resort to even more ruthless means of controlling these Hebrew slaves, this immigrant population.




            Throughout human history, as populations of people have thrived, one group, tribe, or nation has sought to control, subjugate, forcibly remove another group, tribe, or nation, using violence to dehumanize them, based on skin color, gender, sexual orientation, social class, ethnicity, religious belief, age, and so on.  We feel as though we as a human race have never lived through a time as the one we are living through now, with climate changes not only in the environment but also between peoples and nations.  Yet every generation cries out “How long, O God?  How long must I bear pain in my soul?” (Psalm 13)








            As sorrowful and painful these recent days may be, there is also a truth of another kind being born.  The truth of equality and justice.  The truth of the co-existence of differing beliefs.  The truth of compassion, kindness, and generosity.  Every day these ideals are emerging and striving to take hold amidst the chaos, violence, and terror that compete for our attention, our values, and our money.  What if what we are hearing in these forces of evil are the death throes of the old order of domination?  What if the pain we are feeling are the birth pangs of the new way, the truth of our interconnectedness?




            Birth is birth, whether it is a woman’s body and a baby, or a community and a new way of being, or a whole world and its place in the creation.  There is a point in labor called transition, when a woman’s body moves from the early stages of labor to active labor.  On a pregnancy information website I found this little tidbit:  “If you're laboring without an epidural, this [transition] is when you may begin to lose faith in your ability to handle the pain, so you'll need lots of extra encouragement and support from those around you.”  Translation, if you’re doing this without drugs, what were you thinking?




            Seriously, though, we have whole industries built around the belief that we do not have the ability to handle pain, that life should be painless.  And yet we who follow Jesus are called to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and go wherever he goes. This calling also includes anyone who has ever loved someone, loved life, loved this world.  If we choose to love this world, really love it, at some point it will hurt and we may lose faith in our ability to handle this pain.  And there really is nothing for it, no escape.  Henry David Thoreau once wrote that there is no remedy for love but to love more.  We are going to need lots of extra encouragement and support if we’re going to love and give birth to this new world without numbing ourselves to the pain that comes with it.








            This is why midwives ask families, not just the mother, but both parents and everyone involved, to have a birth plan: coping techniques such as visualization, massage, soaking in a tub, music, a movie, certain foods or drink; who is to be in the room; lighting and temperature of the room.  It’s not necessarily about comfort so much as what will allow the mother and those helping her to focus her attention.




            When I was laboring with Andrea, I can very clearly remember a point in the wee hours of the morning when I was ready to give up.  I had been up since the day before, contractions beginning in the afternoon.  I was so tired, I was done in, there was no way I could go on.  But I had been forewarned by my nurse midwife that this might happen.  So in my birth plan I had written “Isaiah 43: 1-3b”.  The midwife asked me, “Would you like me to read that passage from Isaiah?”  I nodded my head and closed my eyes.




“But now thus says the Lord, the One who created you, O Jacob, the One who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.”




            As God is midwifing this new world, stretching her hands out to deliver us, as we are feeling the birth pangs, we need a birth plan that will help us not give up on ourselves and focus our attention.  We need to be giving each other lots of extra encouragement and support.  As a Body of Christ, worship is a major part of that birth plan: a time for us to receive and give support, to focus our attention on our relationship with God, to tell our story of faith, our slant on the truth of living, and to hear the same from others.




            Each of us has our own birth plan and no one can write it or live it out for us.  And collectively as a church we need to have a birth plan: ways of caring for each other, praying and celebrating and commiserating, times when we have everyone in the room and times when we are in small groups sharing with one another, and times when we leave the room to help others.




            It’s also important to remember that sometimes the birth plan goes out the window.  I had one for Olivia but she came so fast I didn’t get a chance to use any of it.  I couldn’t even make it to the birthing chair in the other room.  I’m sure that Moses’ mother couldn’t have foreseen she would need to place her baby boy in a small basket and set him afloat on a mighty river.  Essentially, she gave him back to God.  Through his older sister Miriam’s watchful eye and cagey dealing with the Pharaoh’s daughter, we can see the subtle hand of God giving Moses back to his mother.  There will be times we will have to let go of the outcome, reach out and trust that God will deliver us.





            But the most important thing to remember is that we were made for this.  We were created with the right stuff for equality and justice, the co-existence of differing beliefs, the right stuff for compassion, kindness, and generosity.  We were made to endure the pain of this transition, not alone, but together, with lots of extra encouragement and support.  We can be like Miriam was for her brother; watching and listening, stepping in with courage and giving what we can to each other and to those outside these four walls.




            What helps you keep your focus and keeps you grounded?  How do you deal with pain, the pain of striving with people different from you, the pain of violence, loss, and hatred, the pain of loving and living?  What are the words of encouragement that you need to hear, that you need to give?   Who are the people you need in the room with you and what do you do when they can’t be there?  What are some outcomes you need to let go of and trust that God will deliver?




            Comedian Steven Wright joked that you really can’t tell he was born via Caesarean section, except when he leaves the house, he always goes out the window.  We can’t yet tell how this new world of equality and justice is going to be born but we need to trust and trust hard that it will be.  God has a birth plan for us, and God won’t throw it out the window.  We were made for this.  We are vigorous and slippery, and so is our God.  We are wily and shrewd, and so is our God.  We love life more than we fear death.  We belong to God.




            Amen.



(Some gallows humor.)

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

"Reality...what a concept."


Genesis 45: 1-15
New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE
August 17, 2014






            One of my all-time favorite comedy albums is Robin Williams’ 1979 recording entitled “Reality…what a concept”. It was a live show at the Copacabana in New York, right at the height of his success on the “Mork and Mindy” television series. Many times during the performance, Robin would improvise with sheer genius, using disparate cultural themes like Shakespeare and disco, even inviting the audience into his creative, quirky thought-process, like a tiny bug in his brain, and getting laughs all the while.




            At one point he asked the audience to supply the seeds of inspiration for an improvisation, and the crowd began to chant “Mork, Mork, Mork!” Robin let loose a colorful invective. The crowd continued. Finally, Robin had to explain that he did these club shows so that he could do something else besides his “Mork from Ork” character, which was beginning to wear thin for him.


           Yet it was that very television show that brought together my mother and brother and I after my parents had divorced. For a brief half hour, once a week, we would sit together, laugh ourselves silly, and allow ourselves to let go of some the anxiety and tension between us.


            It was his tremendous heart as well as his manic craziness that somehow managed to set us free from our worries for a while. Robin once said that we’re all given a little spark of madness and that we mustn’t lose it. One of the miracles of his comedy and his acting, in spite of his inward pain, was that our little spark and his recognized each other, revealing us as kindred spirits, and in that vulnerable moment we knew we weren’t alone.


Let your little light shine, shine, shine
Let your little light shine, O my Lord
There might be someone down in the valley
Tryin’ to get home
Let your little light shine, shine, shine
Let your little light shine, O my Lord
There might be someone down in the valley
Tryin’ to get home 




            

          When we left off with Joseph last week, he was far from home and very much alone. His brothers sold him to traders who carted him off to Egypt, his father thinking he was dead. To make sense of the lectionary reading, the rest of the story needs to be told. Joseph’s life then begins to sound like a Russian fairytale. He endures his captivity yet he also prospers in small ways. He is put in charge of his master’s house but is thrown in prison when his master’s wife accuses him of hitting on her. Yet he also gains favor with the chief jailer because God is with Joseph. Instead of having dreams of his own, Joseph interprets the dreams of others, the chief cupbearer to the Pharaoh and his baker. When the cupbearer’s dream turns out to be favorable for him, Joseph asks him to remember this kindness by mentioning him to the Pharaoh so that he might be released from prison. But the cupbearer, in his good fortune, forgets Joseph.


        Two years later, when the Pharaoh is disturbed by dreams which none of his yes men can interpret, the cupbearer finally remembers the promise asked of him by Joseph. Hearing that this young Hebrew has talent and vision, Pharaoh sends for Joseph to decipher these strange dreams of seven thin cows swallowing up seven fat cows, of seven blighted ears of grain eating up seven plump ears of grain. Joseph points not to his own insight but to God, that it is God who is speaking through Pharaoh’s dreams.


        Joseph informs Pharaoh there will be seven good years of plenty followed by seven years of famine, and that all this is God’s doing, as a way of saving Pharaoh’s people and his empire. Joseph advises Pharaoh to store up the surplus grain in these next seven years so that there will be a supply during the years of famine. Pharaoh admires Joseph’s wisdom and chutzpah and puts him in charge of his household, making him overseer of the whole of Egypt, save for Pharaoh on the throne. In Cinderella fashion, Joseph rises from being a slave and a prisoner in a foreign land to one with great authority and power. Forgotten are his hardships and his father’s house, now that he is successful in the land of his misfortunes.


        When the years of famine come, Joseph then sells the grain not only to Egyptians but to peoples from many countries, because the famine is so severe. Jacob and his family are also suffering in Canaan, so Jacob sends ten of his sons to Egypt to buy grain, keeping the youngest, Benjamin, at home because he is afraid something will happen to him.


        When the brothers come to buy grain, Joseph recognizes them but they do not recognize Joseph; all they see is an Egyptian governor. Joseph remembers his dreams about his brothers and treats them harshly, accusing them of being spies and throws them in prison. The brothers say that they are only twelve brothers trying to save their family, one still at home and another gone. Joseph orders one of them to bring back the youngest brother; until they do, the rest of the brothers must stay in the prison. They say to each other, “Now we are paying for what we did to Joseph.”


         To make a really long story a wee bit shorter, Joseph sends them all away with bags of grain, except Simeon who remains in the dungeon, while the rest are to go home to get their brother. The brothers return with Benjamin, even though Jacob is terrified that he may never see him again. When Joseph sees Benjamin, he can hardly contain himself, asking about their father to see if he is alive, leaving the room to shed his tears. After a few more scenes of family drama, Joseph finally can take it no more. He comes clean and reveals himself to his brothers, unable to control his weeping any longer, streaks of dark black kohl running down his face.


        All of these power struggles, rivalry, and uncertainty make this family into one hot mess, yet even in the midst of this turbulence, God’s presence and care are revealed and that God’s purpose is to save rather than to condemn.



 
It might be me or it might be you
Might be my brother or my sister too
There might be someone down in the valley
Tryin’ to get home
It might be near or it might be far
By morning sun or the evening star
There might be someone down in the valley
Tryin’ to get home




        It’s not easy revealing oneself, being vulnerable, allowing others to see one’s true self, especially when someone’s feeling like a hot mess or even more so, the pain and isolation of depression and other mental illnesses. We expect so much of ourselves and each other; often the world around us doesn’t appear to be a safe place. None of us want to be found lacking or to disappoint others.



       At one point in his improv routine on that Copacabana stage, Robin Williams invited the audience to come into his mind when a comedian “eats the big one” as he put it. We hear different voices, the ego, the critic, the rational mind, and the subconscious (which sounds like a beast gnashing its teeth). The ego, reduced from oversized to pitiful, cries “Help me!” while the subconscious has the last word, demanding of the audience, “What do you want from me anyway?!” And though the crowd laughs loud and long, we wonder if we have seen some truth about Robin’s inner reality and our frail, flawed humanity.



       Joseph carried himself beyond reproach for so long that when he was confronted with his brothers, the oldest ones middle-aged men now, the boy who was abandoned could not hold himself back. His leadership persona crumbled before them, and he wept so loudly his cries could be heard beyond the walls of the room. Because his heart was tender and not hard, Joseph and his brothers were mended, and the family reunited. Because he understood himself to be working for God’s purpose of salvation and liberation, Joseph was able to reveal himself, be vulnerable, allow his true self to be seen.



       Author Marianne Williamson wrote, “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”



       Robin did not play small; neither did Joseph. Each of them knew in their own way what it means to live with pain and the toll it can take on a human life. And the church is called to be the safe place, the people where we can reveal who we really are, our pain, our deepest fears, AND our brightest light so that others may find hope among us. God is working out that very purpose of salvation and liberation through us and our life together. That we are powerful beyond measure is a reality we have not fully grasped. What are we willing to do for the next Robin Williams who might walk through our doors? Maybe he’s already here.




 
Let your little light shine, shine, shine
Let your little light shine, O my Lord
There might be someone down in the valley
Tryin’ to get home
Let your little light shine, shine, shine
Let your little light shine, O my Lord
There might be someone down in the valley
Tryin’ to get home



Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Good dreams in bad times


Genesis 37: 1 – 4, 12 – 28

New Ark United Church of Christ, Newark, DE

August 10, 2014


          

             I am a big believer in dreams: the ones we have at night with our eyes closed and daydreams, the ones we have while our eyes are open.  I’ve shared with you the dream I had that turned my life around and called me to ministry.  I had dreams about my daughters before they were conceived, that they were on their way and what their names would be.  I’ve had dreams about other people’s lives, spelling out their internal landscape.  I’ve dreamt of people I love who have passed on, letting me know that a relationship continues after death.  I’ve had waking dreams, dreams that had me walking and talking in a half-sleep, that helped me realize how stressful a certain situation was to my body, mind, and spirit.  In my childhood with an alcoholic parent, my dreams confronted me with how lonely and insecure I was.  And I’ve had dreams that rattled my then-present circumstances and announced in no uncertain terms that it was time to return to full-time ministry.




            To me, any dream is a good dream if it conveys truth and we are willing to listen and interpret that truth in the way we live our lives.  Good dreams can be warnings, wake-up calls as well as a source of reassurance that everything will be alright.



            In the book of Genesis we have the Bible’s first dreamer.  Joseph’s dreams seemed more like an outgrowth of his ego rather than anything revelatory from God.  His brothers already hated him because their father Jacob loved Joseph more than they and openly so by giving him that Technicolor dreamcoat.  But then Joseph had a dream that he and his brothers were binding sheaves in wheat in the field, and his brothers’ sheaves bowed before Joseph’s.  You can almost hear them saying, “You little brat!  You’re not the boss of us!”  But Joseph heaps it on with another dream, over the top, with the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing before him.  He not only inflames his brothers’ jealousy, his father rebukes him as well.          


          But it doesn’t stop Jacob from sending Joseph to spy on his brothers and see what they’re up to.  These are hotheaded boys who slaughtered Shechem, a local prince, his father Hamor, and every male in the city, then plundered the city because their sister Dinah had been defiled by Shechem.  So perhaps Jacob was worried his sons might be up to no good.



            The only thing that goes right that day is that someone gives Joseph directions to where his brothers had gone.  After that, it all goes to pot.  His brothers conspire to kill him, they had become so sick of this dreamer.  Lucky for Joseph, Rueben’s oldest-brother-guilt kicks in and persuades his brothers to lower Joseph into a pit so that Rueben can come back and rescue him later.  So they strip him of that colorful dreamcoat, throw him in the pit with no water, and then, of all things, they sit down to a picnic.



            Imagine what must have been going through Joseph’s head.  Those dreams were nothing but trouble.  His brothers just might leave him in that pit to die.  A hole is a hole, no matter if someone throws us in it, or we dig it ourselves.  It’s hard to look up and think we’re ever going to get out.





Hold on, just a little while longer

Hold on, just a little while longer

Hold on, just a little while longer

‘Cause everything is gonna be alright





            But it’s not enough to torture Joseph for a little while; his brothers truly want to be rid of him.  So they sell him to some traders, and not just any traders but Ishmaelites, the other sons of Abraham, from the one son Ishmael who was thrown out of the house with his servant mother Hagar.  Joseph too is thrown out, his fate now in the hands of men who see him only as money to be made.



            Where Rueben went, the text does not say.  He returns to haul Joseph out of the pit but he is too late.  Joseph is long gone.  So his brothers kill a goat, stain his robe with its blood, and rather than tell their father, allow him to come to the conclusion that a wild animal killed Joseph.  Jacob, who tricked his father into blessing him instead of his older brother Esau, wearing the skins of a hairy animal, has been tricked himself into grieving his beloved son.  Jacob refuses to be comforted, declaring that he will join his son in Sheol, taking his grief to the pit that waits for all of us.  Meanwhile, Joseph is carted off to Egypt, the lectionary leaving us at loose ends.


"Joseph Being Sold into Slavery" Károly Ferenczy - 1900


            These are bad times for Joseph, for his brothers, his father and wives, as this violent episode is followed by the land of Canaan heading straight into a famine.  In this story of jealous, angry brothers we can hear the millennial bad times of Israelis and Palestinians, Iraqis and Syrians.  We hear the bad times of Ukrainians and Russians, and closer to our home, bad times in neighborhoods like those of Wilmington and other cities in our own nation—all of these brothers and blood relations out to kill the other’s dreams, their own dreams shot down long ago by systems intended to exclude and push down.  And the bitterest irony of all—isn’t it every human being’s dream to live in peace?



            It is the hardest work of faith to hang on to our dreams in bad times.  And I know that my bad times are nothing compared to others.  I have had cushions of family and friends and church to fall back on.  I’ve had good health and affordable health care to hold me up.  I’ve got an education and a calling that keeps me going forward.  If I’ve been in the pit, it hasn’t been for very long and there was always a rope to pull me up.  But what the pit does to each of us, hopefully, is that it teaches us to pray, to surrender like we never have before, and to turn our lives over to God, because there’s nothing else left.





Pray on, just a little while longer

Pray on, just a little while longer

Pray on, just a little while longer

‘Cause everything is gonna be alright.





            There are some who say faith is a pipe dream, that prayer is like talking to a wall, that the Bible is just a bunch of stories, and that rising from the dead is impossible.  Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor imprisoned and executed for conspiring to assassinate Hitler, who knew a great deal about that pit, said a Christian’s calling is to cling to the resurrection, not to explain it.  Our calling is to cling to our dreams of new life, of justice and peace, of impossible possibilities and irrational hope.  Our calling is to rebel against those bad times, in the words of the poet Wendell Berry, to “be joyful though we have considered all the facts.”




            Author Chris Hedges wrote “Faith…should be our natural state. [Faith] is a belief that rebellion is always worth it, even if all outward signs point to our lives and struggles as penultimate failures. We are saved not by what we can do or accomplish but by...our steadfastness to the weak, the poor, the marginalized, those who endure oppression. We must stand with them against the powerful. ...[The] struggle to lead the moral life is worth it."



            When we think about it, most of our living is a cliffhanger.  We don’t know how the story is going to move forward, how our story will end, even when our lives feel predictable or monotonous or even hopeless.  And it IS harder to look up or look around at who might be with us than it is to look downward and see nothing but that pit.  Having faith means the pit does not have the last word.  Resurrection means surrender, even death is a doorway, a threshold to another way of living.  If we, the Body of Christ, cannot cling to this hope, this dream, this resurrection, then we might as well pack it up and make our home in the pit.



            But even then, we will find Jesus waiting for us there, in the pit.  Before God raised him up, like Joseph, he had to wait a while.  But he didn’t just wait quietly.  The story has it that Jesus contended with the powers, broke open the graves of Adam and Eve, grabbed them by the hand, and pulled them up, pulled us up with him.



            So, while we are waiting and living this cliffhanger life, while we each face our own pit gaping at us, while we’re looking up, praying on because that’s all that’s left, we too are to grab a hand of someone who could use some lifting, whose dreams could use some hanging on, because that’s how the story moves forward.





Sing on, stand strong just a little while longer

Sing on, stand strong just a little while longer

Sing on, stand strong just a little while longer

‘Cause everything is gonna be alright.