Sermon: Grace bigger than a whale (Jan 25, 2015)

Epiphany 3B

January 25, 2015

Jonah 3:1-5, 10

            The Bible was written such a long time ago, and the stories sometimes seem so removed from our current context, that I think we often don’t get out of it all that we could. Either we miss significant references, or don’t grasp meaningful connections, or over time we turn biblical characters into these giants of faith that we can never touch or understand; they serve as unreachable models for us.

            I’m here to tell you: almost no one in the Bible is consistently a model of faith. And we never see this more clearly than in the story of Jonah. Just hearing today’s snippet doesn’t really do justice to the immense humanity that we see in the character of Jonah. So let me refresh your memory. I’m sure you all remember the bit about the whale, right? Well the story, of course, begins before that…

            It started when God asked Jonah to bring a message to the people of Nineveh about how their wickedness would be their downfall. Jonah is uninterested in this task. For starters, being God’s prophet is not for the faint of heart. But Nineveh is a particularly hard assignment. Nineveh was located in Assyria, the land of Jonah’s worst enemies – he rightfully hates them for all the death and destruction they have caused. For a modern comparison, it was as if God has asked Jonah to go talk to ISIS, to tell them, “Listen guys, all the violence and stuff has got to stop or God is going to destroy you. So… we cool?” Man, what could go wrong in this scenario – he could be tortured, shot, beheaded, who knows what else. I can understand completely Jonah’s next move – to go as far away from this call as he possibly can. He hops a boat in Joppa that is headed to Tarshish, literally the opposite direction from Nineveh.

Now, I hear this and think, “I get it, Jonah.” Jonah was not the first to run from God’s call, and he was certainly not the last. I can think of plenty of times in my own life when I really strongly felt God telling me to do something (or not to do something), and I just ignored it because my own freewill or desire was too tantalizing, and sounded like more fun, or easier, or safer. I metaphorically ran the other way and hopped a boat to Tarshish. I’m sure you can think of times you did the same, because you know what? Sometimes God calls us to things we flat out don’t want to do, or don’t think we can do. I doubt there is anyone among us who are always more like Simon, Andrew, or the sons of Zebedee, who “immediately” dropped what they were doing and followed Jesus. Most of us take at least a little time to weigh the consequences of big decisions. Most of us are a lot more like Jonah – thinking things through first, at least, if not outright denying the call.

So back to the story. Jonah goes on the boat. No sooner have they set sail than a storm arises. Jonah, still aware that he is trying to escape a God who he should have known will always win, becomes convinced that this is the Lord’s work and Jonah’s fault, and in one of his more selfless moments, he tells the others on the boat that they might as well throw him overboard if they want to save their own lives. As unconventional a method of enduring a storm as that seems, they finally do it, and immediately the storm ceases. Meanwhile, Jonah, whom God is determined to reach, whatever it takes, gets swallowed up by a big fish, in whose belly he spends three days and three nights. Jesus would later refer to this event as a precursor for his own death and resurrection, which helps us even more to realize the hellish predicament that Jonah has found himself in.

Have you been there? In the belly of the whale? I remember in school learning about the

Hero’s Journey, the trajectory made famous by the story of Odysseus, and recreated in many more modern stories, notably Luke Skywalker’s journey in Star Wars. In the “Hero’s Journey,” the “belly of the whale” is the part of the story where you think, “Our hero is really in trouble this time. How’s he going to get out of this one?” It’s that moment in which you have to truly rise to the occasion, to look inside yourself and realize who you are – and I would add, who God needs you to be – and recognize what it is that you need to do in order to get out of this place.

Pardon the pun, but it really stinks to be in the belly of the whale. It is dark in there, and you can’t always see what the next step has to be, and certainly you don’t know how this is going to end. But it is also a place that calls us to faith, courage, and trust in a God who can see the whole story. And this is what Jonah demonstrates, in a beautiful Psalm of Thanksgiving, which you can read in Jonah chapter 2, and I encourage you to do so.

Eventually, the big fish delivers Jonah safely to shore, in the precise place he started (oh, what an ironic God we have). He is spewed out by the fish, covered in who-knows-what (and smelling like you-know-what), and this is where our text for today begins. “The word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time.” I can almost hear God saying, “You thought you could run away from me? That’s cute. Here, I’ll give you another shot.” And to his credit, Jonah hears and obeys this time – but not to his

credit, he does a very half-hearted job. He goes only part of the way into the city, gives the shortest sermon in all of the Bible (in Hebrew, it is only five words), and then he gets out. I picture him like a reluctant 10-year-old who is being forced to apologize to his little sister. He is slumped over, head to the side, eyes averted, and mumbles what his mom tells him to say, just to get her off his back, then runs back to his room just as soon as he can. But amazingly, Jonah’s short, half-hearted message works! It goes viral through the city, even making it to the king. And this whole city of ne’er-do-wells repents! They actually listen! They turn from their evil ways, and God (who must have known all along this would happen, like any wise parent would), decides not to destroy them after all. Happy ending, right?

For the Ninevites, yes. For Jonah, no. This is one instance where he was sort of hoping for failure, not success. As you may remember, he hates the Ninevites, and all the violence and destruction and death they have caused. The one saving grace for Jonah in all this was that he would have the chance to give his enemies what-for, and to see them destroyed, like they surely deserved. But then God “changes his mind”?? It is incredibly unfair and unexpected, and Jonah is unimpressed, and he goes off to pout. God, after all, should hate all the people he hates, who are really worth hating, by the way. It was really nice that God showed grace to Jonah by saving him with that big fish (though he could have found a less messy way to do that, if we’re being honest), but Jonah was a nice person. These Ninevites – they were not nice people, and they deserved what was coming to them.

Jonah serves as a mirror to help us see our own humanity, and here is where that mirror because especially hard to look into. Jonah does not like that God showed grace to people who were so clearly bad. Jonah gets angry at God for being gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. Jonah feels grateful for the grace that God has shown him for his short-comings, but has a harder time accepting that God might be so gracious and merciful that even the nasty Ninevites could be forgiven and saved.

It’s hard to swallow: that God could be so gracious as to love and forgive even the people we find unlovable and unforgivable: the Ninevites in our own lives, ISIS, bullies, estranged family members. It is hard to swallow, but it is also the best news we could hope for – that God’s grace is big enough for all that, and for you, and for me. There is nothing, nothing that is too big for God’s grace.

If God can forgive like that, can we? In the Jonah story, we never do find out if Jonah forgave the Ninevites. We only know that God did. But in the Gospel story today, we hear Jesus call people to follow him, to “fish for people.” The four disciples he calls that day, unlike Jonah, follow him “immediately.” I wonder if they knew how hard it would be to walk in Jesus’ footsteps, how hard it would be to forgive their enemies. I wonder if they knew that, hard as it is, Jesus continues to lead, and continues to forgive us for falling short. I wonder if we really know that.

Let us pray… Gracious and merciful God, in the story of faith, we encounter many people who have tried to live into the challenges of a life of grace with you. Help us to learn from them, and to be patient with ourselves as we learn, so that we might continue to strive to be as loving and merciful as you are. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Sprit. Amen.

A story from my anti-plastic crusade

For Lent this year, my congregations are focusing on living more simply, in terms of our space, purchasing decisions, time management, awareness of environmental impact, disposal habits, diet, etc. I'm super excited about it, because this is something near and dear to my heart, and I have thoroughly enjoyed an excuse to finally read all the books on the topic that I have wanted to read but haven't had time - but now I can call it work and Lent preparation. (Below I will include the list of resources I am providing for my congregation, so Kids - you can try this at home!)

One of the books I decided to read was Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too. I am three chapters in and already I am finding it at once shocking, exciting, distressing, and empowering. The first chapter outlines where this woman's journey started, and some of the things she has learned about the dangers of plastic to our health and the health of creation. Truly horrifying stuff, but presented in a way both appropriately serious and light-hearted enough to prevent me from feeling guilty and giving up. Each chapter thereafter focuses on the impact of specific categories of plastic (bags, bottles, etc.), what some people are already doing to eliminate

their use and offer reasonable replacements, activist organizations and movements around the nation you can get involved in, etc.

Now, plastic bags have long been something about which I quickly get on my high horse. I try not to be too judgmental about people's life choices, but I just don't see any benefit to anyone for using as many single-use plastic bags as we do. Did you know the average American family takes home 1500 bags in a year? Or that 12 million barrels of oils are used to produce the 100 billion plastic shopping bags we use a year? Or that the world uses about one million bags per minute?? (More shocking stats here.) And each one of these simply goes into a landfill, into the environment to litter it, or into

Albatross eats plastic; bird dies but plastic remains.

innocent and unsuspecting sea animals who mistake them for food. It is just so senseless. Using them to pick up dog poo? They make specific bags for that, and they are not that expensive and they are biodegradable. Using them to line your bathroom trash can? You don't actually have to do that at all, or if you must, you can use one bag to do that and instead of taking the whole bag out each time, just dump the can directly into the main garbage vessel. There is just no reason to use plastic bags.

Okay, sorry for that little diversion into High Horse City. Back to my point: By extension, I also just hate the amount of plastic that comes with our dry cleaning, and I feel much more powerless about this. We use 1-800-dryclean, which is an awesome service that is reasonably priced and comes to pick up and deliver clothes directly to your door. Yes, I know dry cleaning isn't good for the environment, either, but Michael wears suits and dress shirts for work, he uses the service to keep his expensive work clothes looking nice. Even though they usually put several items in each plastic sleeve, we still end up with so much blue plastic with each returned order. ICK. We had been wondering aloud together if there was anything we could do about that.

Well, as it turns out, my book had a suggestion. Here is a cotton bag that you can use to deliver your dry cleaning, and then it serves as an organic cover for their return in lieu of plastic. Huzzah! I was so excited, I sent the link to Michael, who forwarded it to Pete the dry cleaning guy to see if it was possible.

Pete wrote right back: "Funny you should mention it," he said. "Your timing is impeccable. Just this week, I was looking into an option like this. We would like to find a way to use less plastic, too." He asked if he could give us a call. Michael gave the phone to me and I chatted with Pete about where I found the link and why I was interested. He said he had been looking at another option, too, but this was a really good one as well. I said, "As a conscientious customer and citizen, I would find this option very appealing, and if you went this way, I would recommend you to all my friends." He said, "Well, we're not really in it for the money. I mean, of course there is a marketing and competition aspect to it, but we mostly are just interested in wasting less."

Then he said, "Can I ask you something? I'm not gonna try to sell you one, but can I just do some market research on you? How much would you be willing to pay for something like this?" I said,

"The Clothesnik, a 100% cotton garment bag made specifically
for those who love to dry clean but hate to pollute."

"My parents' grocery store in California has a program where you can buy a canvas bag for say, $2. Then every time you use one of their bags (not per trip, but per bag you use), you get 5¢ off. So in maybe a month's time, you've paid for your bag, and after that, you are saving money. I would be willing to do something like that here - pay an upfront cost, knowing that I would make that money back and then some the more I use it." He responded to that very enthusiastically. "What a great idea! You must work in marketing!" Nope, I said, laughing. I'm a pastor. I just want to give people an incentive to use less plastic. He said, "You must have gotten an entrepreneurial spirit from your parents, then." Nope, dad's a pastor too, and mom's a teacher! Well, whatever the case, he thought it was a great idea. And even with the small discount, they wouldn't lose anything because they would be saving the cost of the plastic. Everyone wins. He thanked me very much for my ideas and my time, I thanked him for caring and looking into it, and we said goodbye.

Honestly, I couldn't believe this conversation was even happening. Michael and I had just been talking about how as small as one person may seem, he or she can make a difference. I always joke at the store (not just the grocery store, but every store) when I pull out my own bags, "Saving the earth, one bag at a time." But just think - my one little idea in what Michael is calling my "anti-plastic crusade" inspired a guy at a huge dry-cleaning company in something he was already thinking about, and now my little idea (which I got from my parents' small town grocery store) could be implemented in such a way as to save hundreds and thousands of pounds of single-use plastic!

I am so buzzed about this. I don't know that I have ever felt quite so empowered as a citizen before. Things are so cool sometimes.

Resources to Help You Live More Simply:

WEBSITES:

Nourishing Minimalism (http://nourishingminimalism.com/)  - The goal of this Christian blog is to “help people clear the clutter, invite calmness into their homes and enjoy the time they spend together.”

The Story of Stuff Project (www.storyofstuff.org) - learn where your stuff comes from and where it goes in this series of clever, easy-to watch videos, and learn how to take action.

Project 333 (theproject333.com/about) - Could you live happily with only 33 items of clothing per season? Project 333 says yes, and you will feel freer than ever before. Tips on how to pare down your closet and live with fewer clothes.

Becoming Minimalist (www.becomingminimalist.com) - A family of four decided to live with fewer possessions and as a result found a better way to live a life centered on more important pursuits.

Giving it Away for Lent (https://www.facebook.com/groups/234176396671993/) - A Facebook group that offers resources and community in your effort to get rid of stuff you don’t need.

My Plastic-Free Life (myplasticfreelife.com) - One plastic addict’s effort to eliminate single-use plastic from her life. (See also Plastic-Free book below.)

BOOKS:

Sustaining Simplicity: A Journal by Anne Basye → Down-to-earth journal entries from someone trying to live more simply.

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondo → A categorical method of decluttering – keep only what “sparks joy” in your life.

7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker  → What’s the payoff from living a deeply reduced like? It’s the discovery of a greatly increased God - a call toward Christ-like simplicity and generosity that transcends social experiment to become a radically better existence.

Enough: Discovering Joy Through Simplicity and Generosity by Pastor Adam Hamilton → Includes keys to experiencing contentment, overcoming fear, and discovering joy through simplicity and generosity. This book could change your life, by changing your relationship with money.

Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too by Beth Terry → A guide to giving up plastic, and why you should do it.

Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy by Sarah Ban Breathnach → Daily essays on embodying an attitude of simplicity and abundance.

Satisfied: Discovering Contentment in a World of Consumption by Jeff Manion → A Christian look at seeking satisfaction.

Sabbath as Resistance: Saying NO to the Culture of NOW by Walter Brueggemann → Sabbath isn’t about keeping rules; it is about becoming a whole person.

Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in our Busy Lives by Wayne Muller → We need not schedule an entire day each week. Sabbath time can be a Sabbath afternoon, a Sabbath hour, a Sabbath walk. (Poems, stories, and suggestions for practice)

Just a Little Bit More: The Culture of Excess and the Fate of the Common Good by (Lutheran pastor) T. Carlos Anderson → Is America’s religion Christianity, or consumerism?

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver → A family of four vows for a year to eat only food they grow themselves or can buy from their neighbors. Complete with expository essays and recipes. You are what you eat.

Sermon: I'm listening. (Or am I?) (Jan. 18, 2015)

Epiphany 2B

January 18, 2015

1 Samuel 3:1-10

            This week in confirmation class, we started learning about prayer – what it is, how we do it, what we expect to get from it, what it is like when we don’t get from it what we had hoped. We had a brief debate as to whether prayer is a one-way conversation with God, or two-way, or something else altogether that can’t be defined in our human words.

            Well, what would you say? I think most of us believe intellectually that prayer ought to be at least a two-way conversation – that is, not only do we ask God for things and then hope to see them come to fruition in a way we can recognize, but also sometimes God answers us in a way we can perceive. I suspect the reason the debate arose, however, is that this is not always how we experience

prayer. I suspect most of us have had the experience that we pray and pray for something to happen, but it doesn’t. Or we pray and pray for answers from God, but don’t get them. Or we pray and pray for guidance, but don’t receive it. For some of us, it may feel like prayer is often a one-way conversation, where we plead and plead, and God ignores and ignores.

            But I’m not so sure it is a matter of God ignoring our prayers so much as it is a matter of us not listening for the response. Perhaps that is why one of the lines that has grabbed hold of my heart this week is Samuel’s eventual response to the voice he keeps hearing: “Speak, for your servant is listening.” Three times he has heard this voice calling him in the quiet of the night. The author of Samuel tells us that Samuel “did not yet know the Lord,” and that in fact “the word of the Lord was rare in those days,” so naturally he did not suspect that this voice could belong to God. But the wise

old priest Eli perceives that it might be the Lord, and tells Samuel to respond accordingly. And so he does.

            I asked our Bible study this past week if Samuel’s response was ever their prayer – simply to say, “Okay, God, I’m listening. What have you got for me today?” I admit it is not often mine. I usually have a laundry list of things I need to ask God about, things I want or need, asking for guidance, or even offering thanksgiving or praise, but my prayers are so often a whole lot of me talking. It’s sort of like had a sweatshirt I had when I was young that said in bright colored letters, “I’m talking and I can’t shut up!” And while that is still pretty true about the way I interact with people, it is especially true about my prayer life: “I’m praying and I can’t shut up.” Perhaps the same is true for you. For me, I think one of the primary reasons I “pray and can’t shut up” is that if I stop and listen, I might actually hear God’s response – and sometimes God’s response is not something that I want to hear. Sometimes it calls me to something I don’t want to do, or suggests I accept something I don’t want to be true. But as I long as I “pray and can’t shut up” I never have to hear an undesirable response.

            But this innocent response from the young boy Samuel, this boy who did not yet know the Lord but had dedicated his life to serving God, shows that “shutting up” is one of the most important things we can do in prayer. “Speak, for your servant is listening.” My teachers in school always said, “You can’t listen if you’re talking!” and this is true in prayer, too. Listening is so hard to do, but it is an essential element of that two-way conversation that prayer should be. How can you really get to know someone, after all, if you do all the talking?

            In a novel by Czech author Milan Kundera, he tells a story about a woman who works in a restaurant, and although the restaurant wasn't very popular, people always came so they could talk to this woman.  She always listened and said, "Uh-huh," in the right places.  What I love about the way Kundera writes it is he says usually when people talk to other people, they wait for a chance to jump in and say, "Yeah, for me too, except for me..." and then talk about themselves.  But this woman wasn't like that.  She never said, "Yeah that's like me." She always just listened.

            What would prayer be like if we did as much listening as we did talking? If we just allowed space for God to speak to us, and said, “Uh-huh” in all the right places, and didn’t just come with a list of things we need to get off our chest, and did all the talking? What might we learn? How might it

shape us and form us? How might it affect our lives?

            Tomorrow is the day the nation celebrates the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr. When we think of King, we imagine this giant – a man of faith, a skilled orator, a charismatic leader who made a huge difference in the character and direction of our country, and someone who continues to inspire today. What we don’t imagine is a man who would ever doubt. We hear, “I have a dream!” but we don’t hear, “God, I quit.” But he was that man, too. In one powerful sermon, he told the story of a night in January, 1956, during the Montgomery bus boycott, when he received a death threat on the telephone. He tried to let it go (he had received many others like it), but he thought about his wife, and his new sleeping baby, and he couldn’t get back to sleep. He went to the kitchen, and as he tells it, he “took his problem to God.” He was exhausted and about to give up. He asked God for help, and in return, he says, he “could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice, saying, ‘Stand up for righteousness,

stand up for truth. God will be at your side forever.’” The inner calm that came from this small voice gave him the courage to keep going in his work. And aren’t we glad that he did!

            Could King have heard that voice if he was doing all the talking? Could he have been given that gift if he hadn’t first listened to God in his moment of need? For Martin Luther King, Jr., prayer was an essential piece of the fight for civil rights – both the speaking and the listening. God’s voice guided him and strengthened him. Somehow in the midst of violence and intolerance, King was able to find a way to listen for God’s voice, to say, even in his exhaustion, “Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.”

            It’s not easy, though, is it? The inner dialogue that constantly goes on in our heads poses a challenge – how do we quiet it? In addition, discerning God’s voice from all the other voices that seem to be pulling for our attention and telling us how to live our lives isn’t always easy. And then of course there is the problem that when we do finally discern God’s voice speaking to us, we don’t like what it is saying, and want to answer, “Return to sender. Try again.” I talked last week about my star gift of acceptance, and how hard it can be to accept what comes our way, and God’s call to us can be terribly hard to accept. Look at the call of Martin Luther King Jr. Sure it was a call to pursue righteousness and truth, but it also led to a lot of pain for him and his family, and of course eventually his tragic death. The call that Jesus issues to the disciples today in the gospel lesson – this, too, was a call into the unknown, and who would go that way without some trepidation?

            Yes, listening to God can have some terrifying consequences. But just like Martin Luther King trusted that even if he was too tired to go on, God would stand by his side and never leave him, we, too, must trust in that voice that comes to us. It comes in the quiet, when life calms down for a moment. It comes in the dark of night, when we are overcome with sadness. It comes persistently, tugging at us until we listen.

And listen we do: by the grace of God, who patiently whispers to us in the night, who holds our hand, who calls us to do God’s scary but fulfilling work. May the God who speaks to us also give us the courage to listen.

Let us pray… Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening… speak to us in the night… speak to us when we are tired… speak to us in sorrow, and in joy… Speak, Lord, for your servants are listening… In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.