They Mostly Come At Night... Mostly.

Awww!  =D

I suspect that the passage from the Gospel of John commonly known as "The Good Shepherd" usually provokes warm and fluffy imagery.  And I blame Bernhard Blockhorst.  You probably haven't heard of him.  In all honesty, I had to look him up myself.  But I bet you've seen images of his painting, "The Good Shepherd."  Doesn't Jesus look all serene?  And look at how calmly the sheep gather at his feet!

And he's holding a lamb!  A lamb!

All soft, and fluffy...

But that's so not what this passage is about.  It's not a soft and fluffy thing.  It's just hard for us to see it because we aren't shepherds in first century Palestine.

So I've been trying to find a way to express the danger—the legitimate fear—that should be wrapped up in the phrase, "the wolf snatches them and scatters them..."

The closest I've been able to come in gamer terms was one of the very first things that happened to me when I played Red Dead Redemption for the first time.  I've left the ranch for the first time and I'm cantering my way to Armadillo because, quite frankly, I'm not feeling competent enough to gallop yet.

And that's when I hear a man shrilling crying for help.  I reign my horse in, clear leather, and shoot a wolf—just in time to watch the rest of the pack bring the poor guy down.  All in less time than it took for you to read that sentence.

Poor sucker never had a chance.

In real life?  I just have to ask you if you've ever met the gaze of a large dog intent on protecting its territory—or its people?

I'm domesticated!

And now stop and think—that's a domesticated dog.

So when Jesus talks about the difference between the hired hand and the good shepherd—when he says that the hired hand saves his own hide rather than face off against the wolf to protect the sheep.  When Jesus says the good shepherd lays his life down for the sheep—we're not talking warm and fluffy.


We're talking Gandolf facing down the Balrog and crying out "You shall not pass!"

We're talking the Battlestar Pegasus staying behind and stomping on Cylons to secure the escape of Galactica.

We're talking Gorman and Vasquez taking as many Aliens with them as possible with a grenade.

The hired hand sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away because he doesn't care about the sheep.  But the Good Shepherd, Jesus?

He loves us.

Not in a soft and fluffy way.

In a die to defend you way.

So be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
042115







Lectionary texts

Acts 4:5-12

The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. When they had made the prisoners stand in their midst, they inquired, "By what power or by what name did you do this?" Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, "Rulers of the people and elders, if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. This Jesus is 'the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.' There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved."

Psalm 23

God is my shepherd,
  I shall not want.
God makes me lie down in green pastures;
  and leads me beside still waters;

God restores my soul.
  and leads me in right paths
for the sake of God's name.

Even though I walk through the darkest valley,
  I fear no evil;
for you are with me;
  your rod and your staff — they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
  in the presence of my enemies;
you anoint my head with oil;
  my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me
  all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of God
  my whole life long.

1 John 3:16-24

We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us — and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. How does God's love abide in anyone who has the world's goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help? Little children, let us love, not in word or speech, but in truth and action. And by this we will know that we are from the truth and will reassure our hearts before him whenever our hearts condemn us; for God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything. Beloved, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have boldness before God; and we receive from him whatever we ask, because we obey his commandments and do what pleases him.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. All who obey his commandments abide in him, and he abides in them. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit that he has given us.

John 10:11-18

"I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away—and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life in order to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again. I have received this command from my Father."

I Made a Promise, Mr Frodo. A Promise.

This was very nearly an entry about prophecy, despite the fact that the reading from Genesis that we find in the lectionary for Sunday isn't really a prophetic story.

I could wax poetic about how the word "prophecy" has been misunderstood and how therefore its very meaning has changed over the years.  But that will be a post for some other day.

No, the story of God and Abram forming their covenant with each other is more like the Council of Elrond than it is some obscure and obfuscated rhyming prediction of the future!

I don't know about you, but when I think of the Abrahamic covenant, what I tend to remember is God's promise:  do these things and I will make of you a great nation.

Similarly, when I think of the Council of Elrond, what I remember is Aragorn standing up and saying, "If by my life or death I can protect you, I will.  You have my sword."  Followed by Legolas and Gimli.  You can almost hear the sweeping music, can't you?

What you may not remember quite so clearly is the arguments concerning whether to use the One Ring or destroy it.  And then the more bitter arguments concerning who should carry the Ring into Mordor.

And perhaps you forget the part that was actually most important--Samwise bursting out of hiding and demanding to go along.  And the decision to include Merry and Pippin instead of more of Elrond's elves.

Because friendship and loyalty were deemed more important that strength.

And you know what?  That's not a bad description of what's actually going on between God and Abram.

It is a matter of friendship and loyalty.

Instead of bearing a Ring of Power, Abram and his wife Sarai bear being uprooted and settled in a strange land.  They bear circumcision--well, Abram and his male offspring do.  They even bear having their names changed to Abraham and Sarah.

Instead of arguing about what to do with the One Ring, or who is to do it, 100-year-old Abraham literally falls on his face and laughs when God tells him that his 90-year-old wife is about to become pregnant after experiencing barrenness all her life.

But in the end, this agreement, these promises, this covenant between Abraham and God are most like the Fellowship of the Ring in these ways:

Sometimes the people of God are like Boromir, too weak to keep our promises and sorry for it.
Sometimes the people of God are like Frodo, brave and diligent, plodding along even when our strength is failing.

But God?  God is like one Samwise Gamgee.  A loyal friend who is determined to walk beside us, no matter what we say.

All the way to Mordor, if that's what it takes.

Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
022415





The scripture lessons for March 1st—The Second Sunday in Lent Year B—are:


Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16

When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, "I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will make you exceedingly numerous." Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him,

"As for me, this is my covenant with you: You shall be the ancestor of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the ancestor of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you.

"I will establish my covenant between me and you, and your offspring after you throughout their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you."

God said to Abraham, "As for Sarah your wife, you shall not call her Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and moreover I will give you a son by her. I will bless her, and she shall give rise to nations; kings of peoples shall come from her."

Psalm 22:23-31

You who fear God,
   praise God!
All you offspring of Jacob,
   glorify God;
stand in awe of God,
   all you offspring of Israel!

For God did not despise or abhor
   the affliction of the afflicted;
God did not hide God's face from me,
   but heard when I cried to God.

From you comes my praise
   in the great congregation;
my vows I will pay
   before those who fear God.

The poor shall eat and be satisfied;
   those who seek God shall praise God.
May your hearts live forever!

All the ends of the earth
   shall remember and turn to God;
and all the families of the nations
   shall worship before God.

For dominion belongs to God,
   and God rules over the nations.

To God, indeed, shall all who sleep in the earth
   bow down;
before God shall bow all
   who go down to the dust,
and I shall live for God.

Posterity will serve God;
   future generations will be told about God,
and proclaim God's deliverance
   to a people yet unborn,
saying that God has done it.

Romans 4:13-25

For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.

For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, as it is written, "I have made you the father of many nations") — in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. Hoping against hope, he believed that he would become "the father of many nations," according to what was said, "So numerous shall your descendants be." He did not weaken in faith when he considered his own body, which was already as good as dead (for he was about a hundred years old), or when he considered the barrenness of Sarah's womb. No distrust made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God, being fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised. Therefore his faith "was reckoned to him as righteousness."

Now the words, "it was reckoned to him," were written not for his sake alone, but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.

Mark 8:31-38

Then he began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

He called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

Ahh, a bear in his natural habitat - a Studebaker.

Usually the hero journey is described in terms of the hero encountering and then overcoming (or not) a series of challenges.  It's no accident that so many rpgs use language like "encounters" and "challenges" for the battles and puzzles their players experience.

But it recently hit me that there's another way to see that journey, with it's string of challenge after challenge.  It's true of many stories, but it recently hit me particularly hard about The Lord of the Rings--there's simply no rest.  Every time Frodo reaches a place of sanctuary, a place where he can take a breath and take stock--something propels him forward again.  Sometimes it's an attack that breaks the sanctuary of a place, sometimes it's the knowledge that he's the only one who can bear the ring and destroy it's evil, but something always keeps him moving.



The Gospel writer of Mark paints a picture of Jesus's ministry that's like that.  Every time Jesus finishes preaching and seeks out some time away, he ends up healing someone.  And his fame increases.  And with fame, the crowds arrive.  Only they aren't there to hear the message.  They're there for the miracles.  And so Jesus keeps moving from place to place.  Preaching.  Healing.  Helping and subsequently escaping the crowds.

No rest.



There is another way to look at this dynamic, though.  Katherine Matthews Huey recently wrote a reflection over this aspect of Jesus's ministry in which she repeated the phrase "moving right along."

Which of course made me think of The Muppet Movie.



Maybe there's a positive side to being constantly on the move like that.  After all, Kermit wouldn't have met all the many, many good friends he'd gathered around him by the end of the story if he's stayed in the swamp or had a smooth journey from there to Hollywood.

I wonder how many friends Jesus had by the time he made it to the end of his story?

Be good to each other,
RevJosh
020315

The scripture lessons for February 8th—The 5th Sunday After Epiphany—are:


Isaiah 40:21-31

Have you not known? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to live in; who brings princes to naught, and makes the rulers of the earth as nothing. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows upon them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, or who is my equal? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: Who created these? He who brings out their host and numbers them, calling them all by name; because he is great in strength, mighty in power, not one is missing.

Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God"? Have you not known? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and strengthens the powerless. Even youths will faint and be weary, and the young will fall exhausted; but those who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.

Psalm 147:1-11, 20c

Praise God! How good it is
  to sing praises to our God;
for God is gracious,
  and a song of praise is fitting.

God builds up Jerusalem;
  God gathers the outcasts of Israel.

God heals the brokenhearted,
  and binds up their wounds.

God determines the number of the stars;
  God gives to all of them their names.

Great is our God, and abundant in power;
  whose understanding is beyond measure.

God lifts up the downtrodden;
  God casts the wicked to the ground.

Sing to God with thanksgiving;
  make melody to our God on the lyre.

God covers the heavens with clouds,
  prepares rain for the earth,
makes grass grow on the hills.

God gives to the animals their food,
  and to the young ravens when they cry.

God has no delight in the strength of the horse,
  nor pleasure in the speed of a runner;

but God takes pleasure in those who fear God,
  in those who hope in God's steadfast love.

Praise be to God!

1 Corinthians 9:16-23

If I proclaim the gospel, this gives me no ground for boasting, for an obligation is laid on me, and woe to me if I do not proclaim the gospel! For if I do this of my own will, I have a reward; but if not of my own will, I am entrusted with a commission. What then is my reward? Just this: that in my proclamation I may make the gospel free of charge, so as not to make full use of my rights in the gospel.

For though I am free with respect to all, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I might win more of them. To the Jews I became as a Jew, in order to win Jews. To those under the law I became as one under the law (though I myself am not under the law) so that I might win those under the law. To those outside the law I became as one outside the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ's law) so that I might win those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, so that I might win the weak. I have become all things to all people, that I might by all means save some. I do it all for the sake of the gospel, so that I may share in its blessings.

Mark 1: 29-39

As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them.

That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. And the whole city was gathered around the door. And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. And Simon and his companions hunted for him. When they found him, they said to him, "Everyone is searching for you." He answered, "Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do." And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

The Lidless Eye

Maybe it's the poet in me, but I love the Psalms.  And I think my very favorite is in the lectionary for Sunday, Psalm 139.  That's the one that starts:

O God, you have searched me and known me.
  You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.

Maybe it's kind of funny that it's my favorite.  After all, that psalm kind of makes God sound like Sauron and his all-seeing Eye.  Or maybe Big Brother watching you.

Or this classic restroom prank!

But that's not how I read the 139th Psalm.  I actually find it comforting, not creepy!  For example, when I have the opportunity to pray with a group through the sharing of joys and concerns we frequently respond to each little prayer with words like, "God of Grace, hear our prayer."  When the people are done voicing their prayers out loud I like to end with this thought, "The Psalmist tells us that God knows what we are going to say before the words can even form on our tongue.  And so we know.  We know that God has heard our prayers, both those spoken out loud (or typed into Second Life chat) and those spoken in the silence of our hearts..."  I don't know about you, but I find that comforting.

But that's the pastoral perspective more than a geek perspective.

When I look at Psalm 139 as a geek, I'm struck by the idea of labels—of identity.  The word "geek" probably has Germanic roots, "geck" meaning "fool" or "freak."  The word eventually came to be synonymous with a certain kind of freak show act—one where people did insane things like bite the heads off of live animals.  (I don't condone that, by the way.)  I don't know how it came to mean somebody who loved something so much—be it comic books or video games, or the work of J.R.R. Tolkien—that they're considered socially retarded.

But the first person to watch someone wax poetic about the work of Jack Kirby and say, "What a geek!" can't have meant it as a compliment.

And despite the whole geek chic phenomenon, that pejorative still at the heart of what it means to be a geek.  I know I've quoted her before, but I still think that Felicia Day said it best:  

The substance of what it means to be a geek is essentially someone who’s brave enough to love something against judgment.  The heart of being a geek is a little bit of rejection.

So, what happens when it's you that people are comparing to the freak that can only make a living biting the heads off animals?  What happens when it's you that Julie Smith is accusing of being:

...a bright young man turned inward, poorly socialized, who felt so little kinship with his own planet that he routinely traveled to the ones invented by his favorite authors, who thought of that secret, dreamy place his computer took him to as cyberspace—somewhere exciting, a place more real than his own life, a land he could conquer, not a drab teenager's room in his parents' house.

The only positive thing you can do is stand up and define yourself as something worthwhile.  As someone who grew up Christian, I was able to do that by turning to scripture like Genesis 1:27 or Psalm 139 and define myself as created, declared good, and unconditionally loved by God.  So when I read this psalm, I didn't see Sauron or Big Brother.  It's more like reading that my best friend and biggest fan will always, always be there.  It's like hearing the truth of Fred Rodgers's ministry:  God loves you just the way you are.

That truth made it so much easier for me to do what every geek ends up doing.  You see that people are going to judge you for loving what you love.  And you love it anyway.  And then you stand up and say, "Yeah, I'm a geek.  And I'm proud of it.  And I don't care if you judge me for it."

God loves you just the way you are.
Be good to each other,
Rev. Josh
011315