"Like the Morning Light..." --2 Samuel 23:1-7, John 18:33-37 -- Nov. 25, 2012

 

I was working here alone on Friday morning, my Thanksgiving dinner still pleasantly digesting as I was pondering what I should have done to make the turkey a little less dry. I haven’t had to cook the turkey for several years now, as we’ve been accustomed to traveling up to Potsdam to be with Bruce’s parents and aunt, and someone else always took care of the turkey. So, I wondered–next year should I use a baking bag, or wrap the bird up tightly in aluminum foil, or maybe just cook it a little slower, but for less time.

I heard the door into Webster Hall open, listened to the footsteps approaching, and a middle-aged gentleman, whom I had seen before, stood in my doorway and said, "I wondered if I might get a gas voucher." As I was getting the folder with the vouchers, he asked me, "How was your Thanksgiving?" I told him it was good, though a little different this year without a number of family members, who had died this year. "Yes," he said, "I lost two of my close friends in just these last few weeks. And I didn’t know about the programs here–I went to BROC for help with Thanksgiving, and they told me I was too late. I hadn’t signed up. So I had spaghetti with butter, since I didn’t have any sauce."

Suddenly I wasn’t worried about whether I’d use more aluminum foil or lower the oven temperature next year. Spaghetti with butter for Thanksgiving? Why wasn’t this man sitting at our dining room table, eating some of our abundant, albeit a little dry, turkey?! If Jesus really was Sovereign of the World, nobody would have to eat spaghetti with butter, alone, for Thanksgiving, unless that’s what they wanted to do.

Delores Williams is a theologian at Union Seminary. "She grew up in the south and remembers Sunday mornings when the minister shouted out: "Who is Jesus?’ The choir responded in voices loud and strong: "King of kings and Lord Almighty!’ Then, [she said] little Miss Huff, in a voice so fragile and soft you could hardly hear, would sing her own answer: "Poor little Mary’s boy." Back and forth they sang–King of Kings...poor little Mary’s boy. Delores said, "It was the Black church doing theology." Who is Jesus? ‘King of Kings’ cannot be the answer without seeing, ‘poor little Mary’s boy.’" (told by Barbara Lundblad, Odyssey Network, "A Different King od King," 11/20/12)

On this last Sunday of the Christian year, we celebrate Reign of Christ Sunday, which used to be "Christ the King Sunday," when we affirm that Christ is sovereign over all the earth, the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. It’s kind of a grandiose concept, easily slipping into triumphalism, rolling over all other faith traditions. Our own "God is still speaking" United Church of Christ has for its symbol a globe with a crown and cross on top. When poor little Mary’s boy is eating spaghetti with butter for Thanksgiving, what do we mean when we talk about the "reign of Christ"? For that matter what does "Jesus is my Lord and Savior" mean?

Pilate wondered that too. "Are you king of the Jews?" he asked Jesus. And Jesus eventually answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. [That’s what rulers of this world do–they have armies. They get their point across with weapons. They back up their claims with artillary.] But as it is, [Jesus said] my kingdom is not from here." Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice." Pilate asked him, "What is truth?" That’s the real question, isn’t it? What is truth?

In John’s gospel, Jesus doesn’t talk so much about the "kingdom of God" or the "kingdom of heaven." John’s Jesus, as we see here, isn’t really interested in "kingdoms." What he talks about, what he reveals,–what he is–is the truth, the truth about God. "Jesus’ followers [writes John Pilch] are not subjects in a kingdom but persons who hear the truth and respond to it." (The Cultural World of Jesus, Year B, p. 167) It was the Truth about God who was standing before Pilate. No wonder Pilate couldn’t make up his mind–all his old categories and definitions of "king" didn’t fit into the mystery facing him.

Br. Curtis Almquist says, "If your former experience of ‘God’ no longer has any meaning for you, if it’s too small, too pedestrian, too local, then translate it. Find some new language to speak out of the depths of your life. Get in touch with your ultimate concern, what you take seriously and without reservation." (Cited by Lundblad, op cit.) Again, what do we mean when we talk about the "reign of Christ" What does it mean to say "Jesus is my Lord and Savior"? Two days after Black Friday (and Gray Thursday), when the rulers of the world, the Magnates of Consumerism, the experts on the economy tell us that we and our children and grandchildren will only be worthy of respect and honor and love if we have the latest mobile device, flat screen TV, video game, sweater with sparkle, swag with style, what does it mean to say "Jesus is Lord"?

We each have to come to terms with that for ourselves; find what speaks to the depth of our experience, what we can take seriously and without reservation. That’s the only unifying theology in the UCC–Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior–each one of us has to figure out what that means for us. For me, to say that Jesus is Lord of my life means that I try to live my life out of a Christ-consciousness–that dinvine-infused humanity that says "I am beloved, a precious child of God. I am enough." Who I am–without buying or receiving one single thing–who I am is enough. I am worthy of love and honor and respect. And to say that Jesus reveals the truth about God for the world means that every single person, every single creature, is enough, worthy of love and honor and respect. It means that there are other forces and powers competing for my loyalty, even my life, that present themselves beautifully, compellingly, seductively, and if I don’t "know Jesus" well enough, that is, if I’m not grounded in the truth about God that Jesus revealed, I can easily get convinced that lots of other things are more important, that they will make me enough, worthy of love and respect and honor.

Pilate wields his ability to have Jesus put to death over him, but even that doesn’t even register on Jesus’ radar of truth. That, of course, is the real challenge to us who wrestle with what it means for Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior. Do we trust the Truth he revealed enough to entrust our loved ones to it when they die, let alone when we die? Just as Br. Almquist urged us to find new language to speak out of the depth of our lives, so Robert Roth "re-envisions providence"–"God will take care of us," he writes in Sojourners Magazine (Nov. 2006) "Beyond what we can see–or are willing to see–God is taking care of us already. There is loving, tender guardianship going on. If only we would be more trusting, if only we would let go and see what God is already doing."

That is easier said than done, isn’t it? Be more trusting, let go and see what God is already doing, when we or our loved ones face ominous diagnoses, when bills pile up or tensions at work or at home get more and more unbearable..."Be more trusting, let go and see what God is already doing..." when the "fiscal cliff" looms, and sea levels rise, when thousands of people die in heatwaves and droughts, and millions in wars and famines. "Brothers and sisters," begins a recent New Yorker magazine piece by David Remnick) –Brothers and Sisters, before we open our hymnals and sing the many grim verses of ‘Now Cometh the Hard Part,’...the congregation is kindly requested to indulge in a brief interlude of soul-replenishing joy." (11/19/12) Here at the end of church year, on Reign of Christ Sunday, is the upcoming season of Advent just a "brief interlude of soul-replenishing joy" before we sing the many grim verses of ‘Now Cometh the Hard Part’? If Jesus is Sovereign over all the world, if Christ reveals the truth about God, about who we are and Whose we are, then even in the midst of the "hard part"–even in the midst of death and grief and fear and pain and anxiety–we can trust that we and our loves ones–and everyone else--are being taken care of.

"Ooh, is He safe?" Lucy asks when she see the mighty lion Aslan in C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. "No," replies Mrs. Squirrel. "He is not safe, but He is good." Can we trust that God’s goodness transcends our safety?

Who is Jesus? King of Kings and Lord Almighty. Poor little Mary’s boy. Jesus’ great-great-great-great grandfather David, in one of his wiser moments, is reported to have said, "One who rules over people justly...is like the light of morning, like the sun rising on a cloudless morning, gleaming from the rain on the grassy land." That is a sovereign worthy of our allegiance and our lives. May we live into that Truth, may we kneel in gratitude and humility before that Truth, and may we allow that Truth to come and live in us this day and every day to come.

Amen, and amen.

Rev. Mary H. Lee-Clark

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“Birth Pangs”--1 Samuel 1:4-20, Mark 13:1-8 --Nov. 18, 2012

You may or may not know that the world is supposed to be coming to an end on December 21, 2012.  That’s the cyberspace and tabloid buzz around the date on which the ancient Mayan “Long Count” calendar ends. The Mayans were a central American culture which thrived between 250 and 950 of the Common Era, who were known for their skills in astronomy and elaborate calendars. 12/21/12, or the winter solstice of 2012, is the date when our planet is aligned with the center of the Milky Way in such a way that cosmic energy is supposed to stream over us.  It is the end of the so-called  4th Age–the age of Materialism, and the beginning of the 5th age, the age of Spirituality.  An incredible percentage of the world’s peoples, at some point, believe that the end of the world will come in their lifetime.  From all we know, Jesus too was one of those people.

Not surprisingly, real live Mayan elders have a different take on this doomsday prediction.  Felippe Gomez protests the commercialization and distortion of this ancient prophecy and says that they are “turning us into folklore-for-profit.” (Huffington Post, 10/31/12) December 21 is actually the beginning of a new time cycle on the Mayan calendar, he says, and it “means there will be big changes on the personal, family, and community level, so that there is harmony and balance between [hu-]mankind and nature.”

Carlos Barrios, another Mayan Elder and ceremonial priest of the Eagle Clan, explains further–
“We are disturbed [“we” meaning the inhabitants of planet Earth]–we can’t play anymore.  Our planet can be renewed or ravaged.  Now is the time to awaken and take action.  Everyone is needed.  You are not here for no reason.  Everyone who is here now has an important purpose.  This is a hard but a special time.  We have the opportunity for growth, but we must be ready for this moment in history.”  (SERI-Worldwide. org)

“Tell us,” Peter, James, John, and Andrew asked Jesus privately, after he had said that not one of the massive stones of the Temple would be left standing, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign that all these things are about to be accomplished?”

Then Jesus began to say to them, “Beware that no one leads you astray.  Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.  When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.  This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

Mark’s community lived in the 60's or early 70's of the Common Era, a time when the Temple was about to be, or had already been, destroyed.  The Roman armies marched through Jerusalem following yet another Jewish revolt, and essentially bull-dozed the Temple, tore down the Holy of Holies, the place where God Himself was said to reside, and slaughtered all the inhabitants of the city.  Blood was literally flowing in the streets.  It’s as powerful an image of the end-time as you could get.

“There is wistfulness and grief in Jesus’ words,” writes one commentator.  “He is for life, not destruction” (Bruce Epperly, The Adventurous Lectionary, 11/12/12).  This passage follows immediately upon Jesus’ observation of the poor widow putting her last two coins into the Temple treasury and his lament over the corruption and injustice of the Temple hierarchy.  “Beware the scribes,” he said, “for [among other things] they devour widows’ houses...”  In Mark’s–and maybe Jesus’–imagining of the end time, the great upheaval, the apocalypse, the Temple and a whole complex of events around it loom large.  (Russell Pregeant, Process and Faith website, for 11/18/12)

But Jesus’ advice to his followers here is not to look for signs to figure out the end-time timetable, but rather to keep awake, to beware of being led astray, for persecutions and distortions come not only from without but also from within.  “Beware that no one leads you astray,” he told them.  “Many will come in my name and say, ‘I am’ [which is God’s name, or] I am he!’ and they will lead many astray.”

In our day, there are some who have warned that progressive or liberal Christians, for whom God is still speaking, who believe God’s revelation didn’t end with the Book of Revelation but is still unfolding, some warn that we are leading people astray.  But it could also be said that those who preach a prosperity gospel–that God simply wants you to have more cars and houses and to wear the finest clothes–are leading people away from the gospel that Jesus preached and away from his spirit.  It could be said that those who preach a gospel of hatred–who demonstrate at soldiers’ funerals saying God is punishing the U.S. for sanctioning homosexuality and feminism and abortion–it could be said that they are leading people astray in the name of Jesus.  It could be said that those who preach disdain for the poor, who preach God’s preference for one nation over all others, who preach carelessness or exploitation of the earth are all leading people astray in the name of Jesus, going against the spirit of Jesus. “Beware that no one leads you astray,” Jesus warned. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed; this must take place, but the end is still to come.  For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be earthquakes in various places; there will be famines.  This is but the beginning of the birthpangs.”

Alfred North Whitehead, the great process theologian, wrote, “The pure conservative is fighting against the essence of the universe,” [cited by Pregeant, op cit.) and that essence is change.  Those who wish to return to some pure, golden time, who want to conserve the way things were, are fighting a losing battle, which is what makes their tactics and their rhetoric so often violent and full of vitriole.  There are some in the Roman Catholic Church hierarchy, the Tea Party, fundamentalists of Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism who all share a deep longing to return to the way they imagine things once were, but the current of history flows on.

The ancient Greeks said, “All things must pass. The river flows and life is brief.” As one commentator writes, “Our greatest achievements and the institutions we love (church, country) are finite, mortal, and temporary.  This can lead to anxiety and acquisitiveness, it can also lead to gratitude and appreciation for this day that God has made.” (Epperly, op cit.)  Another says, “Our job is thus not to impede change but to enable creative transformation...The God of the biblical tradition is...[not] tied to established patterns but rather a dynamic creator who continually re-shapes those patterns to meet new situations; and the church should honor that process of constant revolution.”  (Pregeant, op cit.)

At our Re-think Church Task Force meeting this week, we acknowledged that the river of Change for the church is already flowing.  We could decide to climb out onto the bank and be left high and dry, or to keep paddling.  We acknowledged that the incontrovertible statistics about church decline and disenfranchisement toward institutions like the church are scary, as we think about our own church here and all that it means to us.  But we also acknowledged that it is exciting.  The image of the white water river raft captured that fear and that thrill.  None of us know where the river is headed, but we do know that looking back is not the way to go!  The best we can do is keep paddling, keep looking forward, keep our heads above water, give a shout out to the others paddling down the river with us, keep alert.  That way, when we do finally arrive, when the new birth finally takes place, we will be able to climb ashore with our companions on the journey, look around, and see then what new thing God has brought forth.

The image of the church as a ship or an ark, self-contained and closed in, is not the image for these times, thinking we can ride out the storm and emerge unchanged.  There are others riding these waves with us, toward that hopeful future:  allies in other faith traditions, allies in other spiritual if not religious communities, allies in the environmental and social justice movements, allies in positive psychology and yoga communities, allies in artists, dancers, musicians, architects of the new creation.  “I have sheep that are not of this fold,” Jesus reminds us.

So, if so much is changing, including our own beloved Second Congregational Church, why at this time of year should we pledge or commit some portion of our financial treasure to its future?  Why should we contribute to or invest our time, talent and treasure in this current incarnation if the river of change is carrying us to an as yet unknown destination? This is the craft we’ve been given for the journey.  Have you ever tried rowing or steering a raft all by yourself?  We still need and want companions on this journey, this journey not only to some new incarnation of the church but this journey that each of us is traveling toward who God wants us to be.  We can be reminders to one another of who we are and Whose we are; together we can help others who are drowning.  “We are called to support one another to live in joyful hope of what we can’t yet see.” (Brian Volck, Living into the Mystery, Ekklesia Project, 11/14/12) Perhaps the former age is coming to an end, but the new age is being born.  God is always doing a new thing.  Thanks be to God!

Rev. Mary H. Lee-Clark

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"On the edge"-- Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17; Mark 12:38-44-- Nov. 11, 2012

The word for widow in Hebrew means "one who is silent." It reflected the status of widows in ancient culture, which was utterly dependent, having no voice of their own, having no home of their own other than their husband’s nearest male relative, if he would take her in, and who might fulfill his obligation to give her a son, though it wasn’t thought of "her" son, rather his dead brother’s son, if he had had none before he died.

So taking care of the widows and orphans is over and over lifted up as an obligation of the community of faith, and it was certainly one of the marks of the early Christian community. Their common meals and sharing of resources saved many an otherwise destitute person from utter misery and abandonment.

Ruth and Naomi lived on the edge of their patriarchal culture, which had made some provisions for them (Kate Huey, Weekly Seeds, 11/11/12). The poor were allowed to glean on the edges of fields, entitled to the unpicked or dropped harvest. There was also the levirate marriage, allowing a widow to be married or "acquired" by her dead husband’s nearest male relative as part of his estate. Those were Ruth and Naomi’s institutional options, but their story reflects a much richer and more creative set of possibilities. They take care of and show concern for one another. They become "safe harbor" for one another, as Martin Copenhaver puts it, (Cited by Huey, op cit.) and in that caring and concern, discover a way where there appeared to be no way, and they give life not only to their community but also to generations to come.

There isn’t a lot of "God-talk" in the book of Ruth, other than saying after the fact that God must have intended either the bitterness of Naomi’s losing of her husbands and sons (which we read about last week) or, in the end, the blessing and restoration of Naomi’s fortune, when her daughter-in-law marries Boaz and produces a son–and a future-- for her. But beneath the surface, in much more subtle ways, God is at work, creating a future not only for Ruth and Naomi, but for all of Israel as well. God’s actions, though, depend upon the courage and creativity of these two women, who had been written off by their culture as hopeless cases, living, as it were, on a fiscal cliff, on the edge of ruin.

In a recent interview with World Ark, the magazine of Heifer Project International, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talks about the importance of supporting and empowering women throughout the world as a primary and effective way of raising the standard of living and well-being of the world’s people.

We know that investing in women’s employment, health and education levels leads to greater economic growth across a broad spectrum

[she says]. It also leads to healthier children and a better educated population overall. We know that political systems that are open to full participation by women produce more effective institutions and more representative governments...

 

...Women have shown time and again that they will seize opportunities to improve their own and their families’ lives. And even when it seems that no opportunity exists, they still find a way... [World Ark, Holiday 2012, pp. 7-8]

Secretary Clinton could have been describing Ruth and Naomi. If you’ve never done it, I urge you to read the whole story of Ruth–it’s only 4 chapters, less than 4 pages in your Bible–and totally worth it. It’s got intrigue–even sexual intrigue–humor, courage, and daring. It’s even got a happy ending, which we all could use these days, so give it a read–you’ve even got an extra day off this week, and this will only take you a few minutes.

In the snippet we have extracted from the story which we read this morning, "Naomi her mother-in-law said to [Ruth], ‘My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well for you. [Remember Sec. Clinton’s remarks–"Women have shown time and again that they will seize opportunities to improve their own and their families’ lives."?] ‘My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well for you. Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor;; but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then, go and uncover his feet and lie down; and he will tell you what to do.’ She said to her, ‘All that you tell me I will do.’ So she went down to the threshing floor and did just as her mother-in-law had instructed her."

See what I mean? Intrigue? Double intendre? Biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann writes that this story, which is the basis for the Jewish Festival of Weeks, is written with subtlety and sophistication, pointing out that "the primary action occurs on the threshing floor...It may...be...that in the imaginative horizon of the narrator the threshing floor, the defining venue for the festival, is understood as a most generative arena in which radical newness is given that opens futures for Israel." (Brueggemann, An Introduction to the Old Testament, p. 322) It is that "divinely given newness" that is celebrated each Festival of Weeks.

Our readings this morning don’t include the additional potential barrier of another, closer male relative, but Boaz quickly and honorably negotiates the passing of his right of redemption, and when our reading picks up, we know that "Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. When they came together, the Lord made her conceive, and she bore a son...They named him Obed; he became the father of Jesse, the father of David." God has indeed acted in what appeared to be a hopeless case, but not out of the blue–not without the courage, kindness, initiative, and risk-taking of Ruth & Naomi.

Jesus points to another widow living on the edge in our reading from Mark this morning. Jesus sits opposite the treasury and watches the crowd putting money into the offering box. "Many rich people put in large sums, [but] a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny." Jesus calls his disciples and says to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."

This story is often read this time of year, when many churches are engaged in their stewardship campaigns, and the widow is lifted up as a model of sacrificial giving. But is Jesus praising her or lamenting her situation? Just before this, Jesus has pointed to the scribes, "who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have the best seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets...They devour widows’ houses and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation."

Is Jesus perhaps pointing to the widow’s giving of her last two coins to the Temple treasury as an example of the "devouring of widow’s houses"? As a condemnation of an institution which drains people’s resources and then ushers them out the door? I have come to insert my own revision of Mark’s manuscript here. Before the next verse, when Jesus is coming out of the Temple, I imagine Jesus’ saying to one of his disciples, "Go over to that widow and invite her to our supper tonight. And see if there isn’t room in Martha’s house for her."

"Jesus didn’t allow his listeners to forget about the poor," writes one commentator (Greg Carey, Odyssey Network, 11/6/12, "Chump Change"). "It would have been impossible anyway. Nearly everyone in the ancient world lived in poverty, often dire. Jesus’ world included a very few wildly wealthy people, a few people finding ways to make money and accumulate wealth, lots of people scratching a living off the land, and lots of people living on the margins of the economy."

It doesn’t sound all that different from our world, although most people don’t live close enough to the land to scratch a living off it. And we still don’t like to talk about the poor, as I’ve said before. We and our politicians prefer to focus on the middle-class. We still think poverty is shameful–not just for what the poor do or don’t do, but for who they are. They are largely invisible in our midst, but Jesus saw the widow.

"The widow’s generosity places the reality of poverty before our eyes," that same commentator goes on. "It reminds us that the poor do not represent parasites who drain society of its resources. This story reminds us that we live in an economy that siphons its resources upward and leaves the vulnerable to face destitution on the own." (Carey, op cit.)

Before we urge widows or anyone else to give all they have to the church or any other institution, we should rather make sure that we are taking care of their basic human needs, that we are acting as a "family of choice" for all those without families who can care for them, caring for one another, becoming safe harbor for one another. Jesus may be suggesting that the widow who put her two coins in the offering is giving out of her love for and gratitude to God, not the Temple per se. What we can learn from her is that we are all dependent upon God for all that we have and are, not independent, self-sufficient individuals, which our culture is more likely to lift up as the model to be copied. In as much as we as a church community live up to the community of caring that Jesus creates, we are worthy of sacrificial giving, not only of our treasure, but also our time and talent, so that we can continue to be such a community.

No matter what we might be "on the edge of"–financial ruin, a new stage of life, the end of independent living, on the cusp of a new way of thinking and acting, a new way of being "church"–we can look to the models of these widows who became vessels for God’s radical newness, who dared greatly, who trusted in God boldly, who cared for one another, and who, in the end, became part of the story of God’s people transforming the world, no longer silent, but becoming the Word made flesh. This is Good News indeed!

 

 

Rev. Mary H. Lee-Clark

 

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"Of princes, widows, and orphans..."11 Ruth 1:1-18, Psalm 146 -- November 4, 2012

"In the days when the judges ruled, there was a famine in the land, and a certain man of Bethlehem in Judah went to live in the country of Moab, he and his wife and two sons." The story of Ruth begins like the story of so many other people, who find themselves displaced, adrift, at a loss, through no fault of their own. "In the days when Barack Obama was President, there was a hurricane named Sandy, a tropical storm named Irene, and they were left without power or heat, their homes were swept away, they lost everything they had."

It’s a story repeated over and over again, in our country and around the world. "In the days when Bashir el Asad was President, a civil war arose in Syria, and thousands of refugees fled their country to Jordan, to Turkey, taking with them their families and the few belongings they could carry." "In the days when Peter Shumlin was Governor, Louise could no longer take care of herself or stay in her own home, and so she moved to a community care home, all the while longing to go back to her ‘own’ home." "In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Trachonitis, and Lysanias ruler of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas, the word of God came to John son of Zechariah in the wilderness."

Over and over, set against the background of rulers and people in power who come and go, the lives of the children of God go on, up against the forces of nature, up against the natural processes of aging and disability, up against the powers and principalities that seem to sweep all the "little ones" up in their path. "Do not put your trust in princes," warns the psalmist," in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day, their plans perish."

However, the psalmist goes on to say, "Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who is making heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who is keeping faith forever; who executes, who is making, justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry." The God who is still creating the heavens and the earth is at the same time the One who is executing justice for the oppressed, who is lifting up those who are bowed down. "God watches over the strangers; upholds the orphan and the widow."

In all these stories of displacement and hopelessness, there is a glimmer of hope, a hint of what is at work beneath the surface. "There was a certain man from Bethlehem of Judah...." Ruth travels with her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem, where she ends up marrying Naomi’s kinsman, Boaz, and becomes one of the grandmothers of David and thus of Jesus. In the midst of the devastation along the east coast, there are countless acts of courage and kindness, as people help one another and as engineers and reconstruction teams bring knowledge, ingenuity, and skill to the rebuilding and re-visioning process. The reality of rising sea levels due to climate change becomes an unavoidable fact, perhaps alerting us to take a serious look at how we might be contributing to it and how we might do things differently. Families find new families and allies that support and assist them in taking care of loved ones, and we all realize how dependent we actually are on one another.

In the kingdom of God, Jesus said,-- if God truly were ruler of the nations, of the world-- the hungry would be fed, the homeless housed, the widows and orphans taken care of, the prisoners set free, those who are bowed down would be lifted up, the eyes of the blind would be opened, the refugees and sojourners would find a home. But the kingdom, or the reign, of God is not just some future time, Jesus said. It’s coming and now is, he said. You are to live in that realm as well, feeding the hungry, taking care of the widows and orphans, finding homes for the strangers and aliens in your midst, executing justice. You are to be-friend the friendless. You are to stand with those who are going through troubles.

You can trust us to stick to you through thick and thin–to the bitter end. [said his friends to Frodo, the Hobbit in JRR Tolkein’s Fellowship of the Ring] And you can trust us to keep any secret of yours–closer than you yourself keep it. But you cannot trust us to let you face trouble alone, and go off without a word. We are your friends, Frodo. Anyway: there it is."

"I have called you my friends," Jesus said to his followers. Can we not be as good a friend

as Hobbits to the least of Jesus’ brothers and sisters, whom he said were his surrogates? "Whatever you have done to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you have done to me."

"Do not put your trust in princes," the psalmist said, but the reign of God is not only coming but now is. Regardless of who wins the elections on Tuesday, we are called as friends of Jesus to look out for the widow and orphan, the powerless, the sick, the homeless, and so to be concerned about how we as a community and a nation choose to live together. The personal is political for so many of us, particularly for those who through no fault of their own find themselves in need. God is executing justice for the oppressed, as the psalmist says, God is "powerfully partisan," as one Biblical scholar writes, (Texts for Preaching, Year B, p. 570) and we are to align ourselves with that ongoing process.

"I vote because I am a citizen," writes the Rev. James Moos, Executive Minister of the UCC Wider Church Ministries and Co-executive for Global Ministries, in a press release entitled, "Our Faith, Our Vote, God’s World"--

I vote because I am a citizen. Yes, I am a citizen of the Untied States and I take civic responsibilities seriously. More importantly, however, I am a citizen of

God’s realm; as such I am called to live out my faith in the public arena. This means casting my vote not out of economic self-interest, but for the sake of all of God’s people and all of creation, and especially on behalf of the vulnerable and powerless.

I vote because of a little Palestinian girl named Siham in East Jerusalem who my wife and I sponsor through Global Ministries’ Child sponsorship program. Siham’s future and the prospects for peace in the Middle East will be deeply impacted by U.S. foreign policy. Siham cannot hold our nations’ leadership accountable, but we can.

I vote because I live in Cleveland, OH, a city where 44 out of every 100 adults over the age of 16 lack basic literacy skills. They cannot read a bus schedule, or write a letter explaining a credit card billing error. Through elections we both demand better educational systems and we support them.

I vote because 15% of households in the wealthiest country on earth lack food security. At some point in the past year, they had insufficient nutritional food to lead healthy, active lives. While private generosity is good and necessary in addressing these needs, the structural inequities that underlie them are a matter of public policy.

I vote

because, as a former military chaplain, I know all too well the grief and trauma inflicted upon the innocent and suffered by veterans and their families during unjust and seemingly never-ending wars. On Nov. 6^thwe will choose the next Commander-in-Chief.

I vote because the first eight months of 2012 were hottest on record. South Pacific islanders are being swamped by rising sea levels due to global warming. The legislators we choose will decide on whether we take bold action, or continue on the path of environmental catastrophe.

I vote because nearly 50 million Americans lack health insurance, some of them are close friends and family members. Access to quality health care is not a privilege, it is a human right. The future of that access will be determined on Election Day.

I vote because I affirm marriage equality. In the land where the constitution guarantees equal protection to all citizens, same gender loving people are entitled to all the rights and responsibilities of marriage. Elected officials and ballot measures are keys to attaining and maintaining marriage equality.

I vote because while faith is intensely personal, it is never purely private. In his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," Martin Luther King chastised this contemporaries who were ‘....more cautious than courageous and have remained silent behind the anesthetizing security of stained glass windows.’ Faith that is nurtured in the church must be boldly lived out in the world. In a democracy, the ballot box is one place for us to live out that faith. Please join me in voting."

"Do not put your trust in princes...Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who is making heaven and earth, who is executing justice and lifting up those who are bowed down." Because God’s reign is coming and now is, we who are Friends of Jesus (FOJ?) know that we are bound together with all God’s children, both here and around the world. We know that God sets a welcome table for all people who would come to it, and so we come to this table this morning, affirming that we are One Body in Christ Jesus. We are fed and nourished, that we too might become food and drink for a hungry and thirsty world. In faith, in hope, in courage, then, let us keep the feast. Amen, and amen.

Rev. Mary H. Lee-Clark

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