Five Minute Friday :: Here

• Five Minute Friday :: Here Linkup

1 God is here! As we your people
meet to offer praise and prayer,
may we find in fuller measure
what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us,
all our varied skills and arts
wait the coming of your Spirit
into open minds and hearts.

2 Here are symbols to remind us
of our lifelong need of grace;
here are table, font, and pulpit,
here the cross has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching,
here in silence as in speech,
here in newness and renewal
God the Spirit comes to each.

• words by Fred Pratt Green, ©1979, Hope Publishing Co.
• music, Abbot's Leigh, Cyril V Taylor ©1942, renewed ©1970, Hope Publishing Co.

Do you know this hymn? It's one of my favorites to lead from organ or piano and a favorite to sing when someone else leads it well. Do you know the promise of this song? God is here. With references to God's assembled, Spirit-filled people and God's presence in the sacraments, in scripture, and in preaching, it's especially appropriate as the gathering song for worship.

Scripture tells us Jesus Christ ascended to the right hand of God. [Mark 16:19] As Martin Luther explains, God's right hand, God's sovereignty, is everywhere, therefore Christ is present not simply right here, but everywhere—though in a special way "for you, for me, for each of us" [1 corinthians 11:24] in the Savior's particular presence in the Lord's Supper.

We start and continue worship aware of God's presence here within the gathered assembly. Does that remind us to look for God elsewhere, because if God is here in this place, God may be there in our next here, in every right "here" where we find ourselves and others find us?

Do you remember the promise of God's life in us here in the world?

On the day of Pentecost the gathered people received the indwelling Spirit of Life [Acts 2:1-18]. Because at baptism each of us receives the Spirit, in our daily walk in the world we are the Body of the Crucified and Risen Christ here on earth. [1 Corinthians 3:16]

Being in God's presence during worship is an important "here" place to be, but in many ways it's a model, a rehearsal, and a reminder that God is right here – and right now – wherever we are.

What places are your favorite heres? # # #

Five Minute Friday :: Short

Owe no one anything, except to love one another,
for any one who loves another has fulfilled the law.
Romans 13:8
• Five Minute Friday :: Short Linkup

Buy short; sell long. Today I'm short on cash. Again. The short end of the deal.

Everyday.

Why do so many aspects of life keep coming up short? Not enough legal tender. Not enough human tenderness. The larder and the pantry lack. No rain for forty days and forty nights. Then nothing but rain with no sun for forty days and…

Knowing all that to be the case, what can we say about living in grace?

Maybe especially when we study the apostle Paul's theology, we contrast law and gospel.

Scripture reveals a world where we don't come up short, but one filled with abundance. The Hebrew scriptures particularly emphasize God's way as one of shalom, a peace that's far more than the absence of conflict. Shalom is wholeness, justice, goodness, bounty, and commonwealth. When we love one another we create shalom for the long run.

Shalom is integrity and honesty with each other. Shalom is the gospel lived out wherever we go. Shalom never runs short; it's the fullness of everything we need.

In the Acts of the Apostles we learn the newly birthed church born of Spirit, water, and Word, made sure everyone had enough, no one came up short on essentials. What can we say about living in grace?

"Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for any one who loves another has fulfilled the law." Romans 13:8

"Happy are the Shalom-makers, for they will be called children of heaven." Matthew 5:9

They'll be called children of heaven because when they practice shalom, no one comes up short. Everyone has enough. That is good news. That's gospel!

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Five Minute Friday :: Stable

When all things were wrapped in deep silence,
and night in her swift course was half spent,
your almighty Word, O Lord,
leapt down from your throne in heaven.
Wisdom 18:14-15

• Five Minute Friday :: Stable Linkup at Andrew's Place

Into the old RSV Bible I used and wrote in for a long time, I copied a list of life guidelines I found somewhere. Each was a situational symbol derived from scripture, followed by its meaning as God acts in our lives. When I find them they'll be great to blog, but right now I only can remember the Mark of the Stable and the Mark of the Empty Tomb.

The Mark of the Stable means? Begin where God says! Begin at the very start as a helpless vulnerable infant like Jesus? Yes, but let's also begin every day, every new endeavor, each new relationship and opportunity where God says, which is? On your current longitude and latitude and amidst the social, familial, and occupational places you find yourself right now.

When we study and begin to learn the histories of God's people, we often recognize similarities in our own walk by faith. Like Moses, like jacob-Israel, like Amos. Like Jesus' mother Mary/Miriam and like Jesus himself. Like the newly birthed church we know from Luke's book of Acts.

So God in a recent dream has inspired you to prepare to teach high school in the inner city or in the rural outback; maybe open a bakery and train people who already love to bake into professional expertise; possibly offer your accounting skills to non-profit organizations for a great price.

You don't and you can't start that new morning on the other side of your state or province. Or on the other side of your city or town. The bold startup eventually may take you elsewhere, or to a series of other places, but you begin it here and now.

Andrew loves to feature quotes from well-known people. I'll end this week with one from Gian-Carlo Menotti's one-act opera, Ahmal and the Night Visitors: The child who will do all these wonderful things is the infant who starts out in the manger in a stable in Bethlehem. Where will you start out to do all the wonderful things God calls you to?

The child we seek holds the seas and the winds on his palm.
The child we seek has the moon and the stars at his feet.
Before him, the eagle is gentle the lion is meek.

On love, on love alone will he build his kingdom…
His might will not be built on your toil.
Swifter than lightning he will soon walk among us.
He will bring us new life and receive our death.
And the keys to his city belong to the poor.

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Five Minute Friday :: Persevere

• Five Minute Friday :: Persevere Linkup

Especially in the southern states of the USA, people like to encourage one another to "keep on keepin' on." It doesn't take a regional folk saying to know you won't accomplish much of anything unless you persevere with your dreams, your ideals, your plans, your vision of a future.

This week on my scripture blog I'll be reflecting on a passage from the Acts of the Apostles. As Luke's Volume II opens, Jesus is concluding his post-resurrection ministry. He tells the disciples to wait in Jerusalem because there they will receive God's promised Holy Spirit to such a degree they'll be baptized (immersed) in the life of the Spirit.

Possibly still awaiting and hoping for a military or a royal savior, they ask Jesus if now he will restore "the kingdom" to Israel. Jesus replies the question is wrong because they will receive the power of the Holy Spirit so then they will witness in word and deed "to the ends of the earth" and help establish the reign of heaven on earth that Jesus began. Because the Spirit will indwell them, they'll be able to persevere and accomplish everything God (in the HS, of course) calls them to.

Born of Spirit, Water, and Word, the nascent church made sure everyone had enough, no one lacked essentials. We hear about members constantly being added as a result of dynamic, inviting preaching and caring community, yet the earliest members had followed an itinerant rabbi whose teaching and very existence got him crucified by the occupying Roman imperial government.

Their leader was dead, yet they met Jesus of Nazareth as the very alive Christ of God three days after Rome killed him; the disciples continued to interact with him until his ascension to sovereignty and power "at God's right hand," as the ecumenical creeds proclaim. The disciples kept on keeping on persevering; they kept on persevering on order for God's dreams, plans, ideals, God's visions of a free, just, compassionate, and inclusive future for planet earth would happen.

An Acts scholar could tell us how much elapsed time the book chronicles, but we're continuing to persevere and write the Acts of the contemporary people of God in Jesus Christ. We're keeping on as we persevere in our families, our schools, our neighborhoods, our churches. Some of us have been or still serve in an elected or appointed role in local, county, provincial, or state government. We must persevere in order to resist and overcome those forces that push against God's call to justice, righteousness, and overall well-being.

Because the Holy Spirit dwells in us, we are able to persevere and accomplish what God calls us to. We persevere together in order to help enact God's common wealth of well being and shalom for all creation. And sometimes we even journal about it or blog about it!

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Five Minute Friday :: Satisfied

• Five Minute Friday :: Satisfied Linkup

Intro

Satisfaction happens after a meal so abundant and delicious it fills your body and your senses. A person becomes satisfied after discussing a problem or conflict in enough detail and clarity to resolve it and move foreword in the situation or relationship. A well-crafted durable item is satisfactory for the use we hoped it would fit.

This is the second week of a new year and the first Five Minute Friday of 2025. Readers of this blog probably know I'm a theology geek and a church geek. With a worldwide plethora of church styles, traditions, denominations, etc., with the confusion of how to interpret scriptural passages about polity, organization, and structure – even with different perspectives on the authority of scripture – how can we interact with churches other than our own, or does scripture allow us to do so?

Magisterial Reformers Martin Luther (especially via Philip Melanchthon) and John Calvin had simple criteria for the presence of the church in any place, in any time.

• "The Church is the congregation of saints, in which the Gospel is rightly taught and the Sacraments are rightly administered. And to the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree concerning the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments. Nor is it necessary that human traditions, that is, rites or ceremonies, instituted by men, should be everywhere alike. As Paul says: One faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all, etc. Ephesians 4, 5. 6." Philipp Melanchthon, Augsburg Confession, Article 7.

• "Wherever we see the Word of God sincerely preached and heard, and the sacraments administered according to the institution of Christ, there, it is not to be doubted, a church of God exists." John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, Vol. 4, chapter 1, section 9.

2025 :: Satisfaction

Augsburg Confession, Article 7, Satis est "It is enough; it is sufficient, it satisfies."

Cool church stuff. But at this start of another new year that will take us 25% of the way through what once was an exciting new century we loved to call Y2K, what satisfies me? What suffices for me? What amounts to a full life, not a simple broken existence? Or can I ever be satisfied?

In his struggles, the Apostle Paul heard the Savior's assurance, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." [2 Corinthians 9:12] But how is "grace sufficient" or satisfactory for Paul, for any of us?

Yesterday I wrote to my star word for this year, Possibility. We can go on and on about spirituality, about feelings and thoughts, but we live in bodies that contain and express spiritual, gracious, thoughtful, and emotional realities. Without those are bodies are incomplete, but without a body they don't have a home, a place to reside. This material reality of substance is so central, the biblical story of creation [Genesis 1 and 2] opens with veggies, plants, trees (sun and water) to nurture bodies of animal and human critters. Agriculture becomes the material foundation of everything! At the end of the bible we read about the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven to earth [Revelation 21:2] and the river of life, trees of life with healing fruit [Revelation 22:1-2].

In the creeds we "believe in the resurrection of the body."

I need, I seek, I want, I long for a bodily and physically abundant life. A life with people, buildings, places, activities, and pets. An embodied reality that welcomes feelings and thoughts and ideas.

News of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When Barnabas came and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced, and he encouraged them all to remain faithful to the Lord with steadfast devotion. Acts 11:22-23

With his senses Barnabas saw the grace of God. He didn't hear a disembodied heavenly choir. It wasn't an imaginary apparition. It wasn't even a properly performed liturgy. He saw a caring community of people acting in Jesus' name to provide shelter, food, and other physical necessities. Practicing the forgiveness that generates new life.

Barnabas saw grace at Antioch.

When and where do you see, hear, taste, touch, and smell grace?

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Five Minute Friday :: Consume

• Five Minute Friday :: Consume Linkup

Our FMF host Kate wrote beautifully about some scriptural instances of consume; I'm starting with a more mundane spin to consider what we consume, why, and the outcome. I haven't checked out the word for technicalities, but in the popular sense, if you consume something it's no longer out there because it's now inside you or maybe inside your home, your office, in your yard or a related space. You've basically eaten it up! And to what avail?

There's an ever-expanding range of "consumer movements" in professionalized and licensed areas such as law, mental health, nutrition, and education. Is something for a consumer necessarily something that's for sale in a retail outlet or as fee-for-service?

Retail for sale. We shop for food, clothing, home furnishings, or repairs because we need to consume them in order to survive—in order to have better lives. Related to consumption, food first comes to mind as it reaches for your appetite, your senses, your belly, and that satisfied feeling of being full; consuming food is a physical necessity. But beyond fueling your body and nourishing your mind, the very best happens when family, friends – sometimes strangers – join to create at least temporary community around that essential.

Dinner's ready! Y'all come and get some now, hear?!

We sometimes consume something in order to attain a greater good for all, especially when by-products of consuming include deeper understanding, more radical community, and a hope-filled future. You've eaten it up. And to what avail?

They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. Acts 2:42

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Sermon on 07 May

On the Fifth Sunday of Easter I guest preached again. They follow the Narrative Lectionary that follows the autumn through spring academic year and gives the formal lectionary a summertime vacation. This is Matthew's year in both NL and RCL, thus my references to Matthew. They plan to study more of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount during the summer.

Instead of interpreting for the current context, I decided to introduce Romans; enthusiastic feedback confirmed that was the best decision. As before, this is more notes than it is actual preached words (because I still use notes when I need a prompt).


• Romans 1:1-17

• Grace to you and peace from Jesus Christ, firstborn from the dead and the first fruits of the new creation. Amen!

Today we're celebrating live and we're celebrating virtual on Easter five! Easter isn't only a single glorious celebration, it's a fifty-day long season that occupies about one-seventh of the year. Today is the fifth Sunday of Easter, day 29.

We've been studying Matthew's gospel, but today we start several weeks in the letter or epistle to the church at Rome. These weeks will increase our understanding of Matthew when we return to the Sermon on the Mount during summer.

Letters or epistles in the NT were sent to various churches, often in a round robin style where content and comments got added before being sent to the next place. Unlike the gospels that mostly reflect on Jesus' life and ministry, epistles tend toward teaching and doctrines that the OT and Jesus' life reveal. The letters then in turn help clarify Jesus' teachings. Technically an epistle is a sent communication.

Paul/Saul of Tarsus wrote his epistles considerably earlier than the gospels were composed. I always need to remind myself these letters were so much earlier than the gospels, yet they also reflect upon and interpret Jesus of Nazareth's ministry. The NT includes seven Paul wrote for sure; a few others bear his name as author, but weren't written by him. Back then they didn't have copyright concerns, and to attribute what you wrote to a famous person was a compliment that also would get you more readers. The NT also contains letters written quite a while later by other authors. Those would include Titus and Timothy (both attributed to Paul), Peter, James…

Letters or epistles tend toward teachings and doctrines derived from God's activity in the world, from the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ that other sections of scripture narrate.

Romans is the latest of Paul's letters. Today I'll talk about only chapter 1 that reveals some about the rest of the book. Romans includes theology of creation, redemption, and sanctification, along with words about the church. Theology about the Triune God! You could say Romans is Saint Paul's systematic theology. Systematics is the philosophical theology that outlines and structures its topics in logical ways. Among many others, Saint Augustine, John Calvin, and Karl Barth all wrote famous systematic theologies.

Although Romans' literary format is not a gospel, Paul uses the word gospel. Gospel means good news. Maybe you've seen the stage play musical, film, or TV show Godspell? That's gospel in Old English. In the Roman imperial context, gospel already was a known concept. They referred to the birth of the future emperor a gospel. Gospel most frequently described the returning conquering general's announcement of annihilating his enemies. Just as Christianity subverts, turns upside down, and redefines many existing concepts and practices, the Christian gospel is the Good News of God's redemption in Jesus Christ. Not only is it life rather than death; the gospel of Jesus Christ is the annihilation of death and the reign of life.

As Christians we usually say the Gospel of Jesus Christ, yet Paul refers to the gospel of God, so this isn't something new. The good news for creation of redemption and renewal is the way God always has acted. In verse 16 Paul says the gospel is "God's saving power." Because of this, we can follow many gospeled threads through the Hebrew scriptures.

Reading the New Testament, we find different nuances and emphases of Gospel. For Paul in particular the gospel is death and resurrection. The word evangelical is gospel in Greek! As people baptized into Jesus Christ, we are a gospeled community.

Romans 1:16-17 is huge in the history of the church. These verses were a kind of hinge between the church prior to the Reformation in the 16th century and the church after that. Since Martin Luther's excitedly zeroing in on these verses, church and academy sometimes have said we only need to trust or have faith in God, that the medieval Roman branch of the church was mistaken when it claimed our works or behaviors could reconcile or make us right with God. As we study this letter and when we return to Matthew, it's important to remember that Paul never separates faith or trust from obedience or works (our actions). Neither did Jesus. Neither does any of the Old Testament.

Paul calls himself an apostle, but we know he wasn't one of Jesus' original twelve followers. In scripture an apostle is someone who has seen the risen Christ. You may remember in the book of Acts when they're voting to find a twelfth to join the remaining ones after Judas of Iscariot's betrayal, they insisted it had to be a "witness to the resurrection," someone who had met Jesus crucified, Christ risen face to face: Acts 1:21-26 You've probably read the account of Paul's Conversion (also in Acts, chapter 9) when the risen Christ encounters Paul along the road? That event gave Paul apostolic qualification, just as our encounters with the Risen One make us apostles.

Paul introduces himself as an apostle, yet insists it's about BOTH being disciples or followers who learn from the teaching of the earthly Jesus AND about being apostles or sent people of the risen Christ. We've been in Matthew's gospel, where Matthew's Jesus is the ultimate teacher or rabbi. Jesus wants us, his followers to be the ultimate students or disciples, "taught persons." Disciple or apostle, it's a gift of God's grace.

An epistle is a sent communication; an apostle is a sent person.

We'll soon celebrate the day of Pentecost and the gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit we receive in baptism that enables us to follow Jesus as disciples and apostles.

I hope our study of Romans will broaden, deepen, and enhance our understanding of Jesus' teaching when we return to Matthew's gospel during the summer.

To God Alone Be Glory.

Amen!

Five Minute Friday :: Testimony

• Five Minute Friday :: Testimony Linkup

¹ Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the tomb. John 20

²¹ "So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,
²² beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us—
one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection."
²⁶ And they cast lots for them, and the lot fell on Matthias,
and he was added to the eleven apostles. Acts 1

The apostle Paul called himself an apostle because he had seen the risen Christ! As the Acts of the Apostles make clear, someone who has seen the risen Christ is an apostle of Jesus Christ like the original twelve! For Paul the gospel is death and resurrection. Throughout the epistles or letters he sent to local assemblies he founded or visited, Paul shared his testimony of meeting the living Christ along with more formal theology that grew from his experiences. Paul's words would resonate through the centuries, would lead to others knowing Christ, and in turn bearing their own testimonies in word and action to a world in pain, a world enmeshed in death, a world that desperately needs hope. More often than not (almost never!) we don't encounter the whole entire world, but rather one or two individuals who may be neighbors, random strangers, coworkers, or someone else God providentially has placed in your life, you in theirs.

In my tradition, when we gather to celebrate Eucharist, together we proclaim the mystery of faith:

Christ has died;
Christ is risen;
Christ will come again.

Death. Resurrection. New Creation.

The broken bread and poured out wine testify to the presence of the risen Savior. The welcome table itself testifies to the presence of the Lord of life within the assembly.

Our actions announce the reign of life despite the reality of death, but we often need to tell the story of Jesus in our life. We frequently need to describe the transformation that happens when we meet the risen Christ and become easter people. Why did you notice me? Why were you kind to me? Why did you help at the toy drive? Why do you always attend the reach out-gather in dinner? They've seen it; now you explain it!

The world needs all of our apostolic (yes, we're all apostles, because we've witnessed death and resurrection) testimonies, yet more often we get to share it with one or two residents of this planet at a time—definitely not in ways that trend worldwide. When someone asks you to bear your testimony how do you begin?

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Five Minute Friday :: Danger

• Five Minute Friday :: Danger Linkup

This week's prompt instantly reminded me the Chinese pictogram for crisis illustrates both danger and opportunity. Though I could take this prompt in countless directions from the global to the very individual, I'll write about my current place.

Los Angeles is the second biggest city in the country; it's probably the most diverse human settlement in the history of planet earth. Like any large twenty-first century urbanity, LA contains a literal plethora of retail opportunities and entertainment venues. I especially love how its cultural, ethnic, and linguistic diversity means more restaurants, food trucks, street carts, and cafés than any individual could sample in a year of three meals a day. Farmers Markets and Super Markets offer all the ingredients you need to create your own.

Kate's danger image includes a chain link fence. Poet Robert Frost told us "good fences make good neighbors." As much as we need to be aware and care for each other, it's important to be sensitive to and honor geographic, social, and emotional boundaries. However, as in other big cities and small places, many people feel threatened and build actual walls to keep newcomers out; some put up high social barriers to exclude (not welcome and include) almost anyone who feels or looks not like them, in their fear maybe not considering what gifts people "different from me" often can be.

Many stories in scripture are rooted in migration and displacement. They include Abram and Sarai, the Exodus, exile into Babylon, Jesus' experience as a refugee into Egypt, God's Spirited charge to the church to go everywhere, include everyone, with examples of people and groups who in some ways are quite unlike God's primal people Israel. God calls all of us to be hospitable and welcoming; after all, "You know the heart of a stranger because you were strangers in the land of Egypt." Different translations say stranger, foreigner, sojourner, resident alien. Scripture references include Exodus 22:21; Exodus 23:9; Leviticus 19:33; examples from Jesus and from the nascent church in Acts of the Apostles.

Rather than reacting as if we're in danger and putting up fences, can we consider newcomers to our neighborhood, city, or church an opportunity to be appropriately welcoming?

I'm way far past five minutes and would love to continue this topic.

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May & Spring 2020

• It's the end of another meteorological season! Time to link to Emily Freeman – What I learned this spring. It's my third monthly roundup blog in the current global season of COVID-19. And? Today, the Fiftieth Day of Easter that's the Day of Pentecost is the third day of the #LARiots2020, second day so far of a stay at home curfew for all but essential workers. National Guard has been deployed: 500 troops to the city; 500 to the county. Heartbreaking.

• March 2020 Highlights



• By mid-March #SaferAtHome and #StaySafeStayHome were in place, so Green Team transformed the long-planned actual World Water Day into a virtual event. "When life gives you lemons make lemonade." See you next year by the river?!

• April 2020 :: Lockdown

• I didn't picture either Easter Sunday or Earth Day 50 in my April summary blog! However, I gave both events a solid paragraph and I'd already blogged both days. If I'd been able to get out in the world to celebrate, both festivals would have included many many pictures.

• Easter 4 Sunday School notes – "Teaching and Fellowship Breaking of Bread and Awe" Acts 2:42-43

• Preparing detailed lessons to email to my mostly-lectionary [mostly] adult Sunday School class has become major since the world started #ShelterInPlace; partly for lack of outings and other activities around town, partly because they've been coming out really well, I'm linking to all 5 reflections for May and adding illustrations. Have I said this before? The notes I used to blog (and will again) after interactive Sunday morning discussions were more interesting and dynamic, but for people who weren't there that Sunday, these newfangled lessons may be easier to follow.



• Every year includes a Cinco de Mayo; no other has happened during a year like this. Here's one of my all-time favorite designs from a previous year in Previous City.

• Easter 5 Sunday School notes – "Chosen Royal Holy God's Own People" 1 Peter 2:9





• When physical distancing got serious, my nearby Subway franchise stopped offering trays and baskets to customers, then became takeaway only, then closed down completely for a few weeks. A couple weeks ago it opened again for takeaway. With restaurants now permitted limited indoor dining, I wonder if they'll reopen to eat-in, sit-down?

• Easter 6 Sunday School notes – "You will get your quilt" John 14:16



• Ascension / Easter 7A Sunday School notes – no illustration for this one.

• Day of Pentecost Sunday School notes

   



• In January I declared 2020 my year of living local. So far it has meant no amazon purchases, more fruits and veggies grown nearby, community owned restaurants and other retail outlets. #SaferAtHome has helped make life extremely local… families are doing better at being together; board game sales have increased a lot!

Porch Story :: John the Baptist

Sonoran Desert Wilderness near Tucson, Arizona
Porch Story host Kristin features guest Beth Johnson this week.

My long ago previous city next door neighbor Sara blogged for the first time in ages with an amazing account; today's porch story expends my comment to Sara...

"The magic in the ordinary!" This entire post is so amazing! The song "Live Like You Were Dying" has it right—if we knew this was our last day on earth, what would we do? What would our concern be? New Zealand must have been a dream come true—and the power and grace of your Dad's priesthood blessing will stay with you forever!

True about living life in ordinary, small things. I teach the adult SS class at my church; next Sunday we'll be talking about John the Baptist in Luke 3:7-18 as he instructs people (a brood of vipers who need to repent) how to get ready for the arrival of God in their midst in the person of his cousin Jesus. Do you remember John and Jesus were very close in age? J the B's official church birthday is June 25, right after the summer solstice; although Jesus's birth likely was during the season of spring, we celebrate his birthday right after the winter solstice, on December 25. Birthdays of increasing and decreasing light symbolize nicely John's observation, "Jesus must increase, I must decrease." Actions of Jesus' followers – ordinary, everyday lives of those baptized with water and with fire – become a big aspect of Jesus' presence increasing and growing on earth.

Luke 3:7-18

⁷John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Bear fruits worthy of repentance. Do not begin to say to yourselves, "We have Abraham as our ancestor'; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. ⁹Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

¹⁰And the crowds asked him, "What then should we do?" ¹¹In reply he said to them, "Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise." ¹²Even tax collectors came to be baptized, and they asked him, "Teacher, what should we do?" ¹³He said to them, "Collect no more than the amount prescribed for you." ¹⁴Soldiers also asked him, "And we, what should we do?" He said to them, "Do not extort money from anyone by threats or false accusation, and be satisfied with your wages."

¹⁵As the people were filled with expectation, and all were questioning in their hearts concerning John, whether he might be the Messiah, ¹⁶John answered all of them by saying, "I baptize you with water; but one who is more powerful than I is coming; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fork is in his hand, to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his granary; but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire." ¹⁸So, with many other exhortations, he proclaimed the good news to the people.

Your entire account reminded me:

Maybe especially smart people (like us!?) imagine doing things the world will consider amazing—teaching elementary school in the inner city, serving as a mostly pro-bono attorney for marginalized populations, serving a non-English speaking mission in a semi-exotic place, parenting a bunch of kids all of whom go on to get a PhD or MD and save their corner of the world... you know!

But Jesus' cousin tells us to get ready for The Coming One by living life simply where we already are and sharing essentials like clothing and food. He doesn't even advise tax collectors and soldiers who are in the employ of the occupying Roman government to quit their jobs that potentially oppress and even could bankrupt people. We basically need to bloom where we're planted, and do everything the best we can with fairness and righteousness.

Two Sundays ago in my intro to Luke's gospel, I said Luke emphasizes:

• neighborology – the word about the neighbor! During Luke's Year C the lectionary includes quite a few readings from jeremiah and Deuteronomy that also center around the neighbor, the other, living together faithfully in covenantal community.

• Starting with John the Baptist down by the riverside counseling people to share what they have with others in order to prepare for the arrival of God in our midst, we find a lot of "social gospel" throughout Luke,. However, this isn't let's see how many good works we humans can accomplish on our own; it's always about the indwelling and outgoing power of the Holy Spirit.

I added Luke's...

• Sermon on the Plain – Luke 6:17-49 – is about re-distributive justice and material well-being. Matthew's parallel Sermon on the Mount is more about spiritual well-being.

Would God among us not be an alleluia moment, a time to sing praises?! In this riverside narrative, John the Baptist has people preparing for God's arrival in their midst by starting to live as he knew Jesus would teach us to be and to act; when that happens, everyone will shout alleluias!

This scripture passage anticipates the same Luke's Acts of the Apostles where everyone has everything in common, where members of the nascent church literally provide for the common good. In the way Jesus showed us, economic and distributive justice is very spiritual! Acts includes some pretty amazing accounts of missions to fairly distant places, too, but more than anything, it's about serving the people, people, people, right here in this very place, giving of ourselves and our excess. This is the outcome of the presence in our lives of the One who baptizes with cleansing water and purifying fire. We become part of the magic of the ordinary for our neighbors.

Just as Matthew never lets up on justice and righteousness, Luke never lets up on living for the other, for the neighbor, correcting the imbalance of some having more than they need, others trying to get by with less. Early on in Acts 2:

⁴²And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. ⁴³And fear [the Greek here is an awe-filled type of fear, not fright] came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. ⁴⁴And all that believed were together, and had all things common; ⁴⁵And sold their possessions and goods, and distributed the proceeds to all, as any one had need.

Luke (and Jesus!) never let up until everyone gathers as equals around the welcome table of a bountiful eschatological feast that is the reign of heaven on earth.

Can you tell I'm preparing for Sunday?

World Rivers Day

River Celebrations

The fourth Sunday of every September is World Rivers Day; founder Mark Angelo reminds us, "Rivers are the arteries of our planet; they are lifelines in the truest sense."

In addition, this year the fourth Sunday of September is River Sunday in the liturgical season of creation emphasis. Every year I design a Season of Creation series; here's my River Sunday design for 2017. Will the LA River, currently a.k.a. The World's Largest Storm Drain {flood control channel}, become a "river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing through the middle of the city?"

Sunday School

This double riparian party time excited me because I facilitate the {mostly-Revised Common Lectionary} adult SS at the church I attend; this morning I focused on the Philippians pericope, and began with the serendipitous start of the Philippians church. Acts 16 recounts how Paul and Timothy went to Roman colony Philippi in Macedonia, then to the river on the sabbath to find an ad hoc synagogue {if there was no local synagogue, Jews would gather at the river to form a minyan or at least to pray together}, then finding Purveyor of Purple Cloth Lydia by the riverbank, finally the baptism of Lydia and her entire family.

Acts 16

¹²and from Neapolis to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. ¹³On the sabbath day we went outside the gate to a riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. ¹⁴A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. ¹⁵When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

Most major cities originated and grew up alongside a river; waterways are strategic nodes of communication, commerce, immigration, and exchange of ideas. The early church always baptized in the flowing water of a river; a river is a dynamic, open system. How about our walk by faith? A participant at our August Green Faith Team meeting suggested being baptized in the Los Angeles (San Diego, Amstel, Cumberland, Chicago) River, identifying with the city beside the river banks, especially seeking the well-being of that river and that place. Decades ago the US Army Corps of Engineers contained the Los Angeles river in concrete, because as a flashy river it flooded easily and overflowed into neighbor communities. But... how will the Los Angeles River become a river of the water of life?

The second appointed reading for today, Pentecost 16, is from the apostle Paul's "epistle of joy" to that church at Philippi where the Roman caesar was the default divinity. In 1:27 he counsels the Christians to live their public, political lives "in a manner worthy of the gospel" as witnesses to Jesus' death and resurrection—not to Rome's death-dealing imperialism.

Philippians 1:21-30

²⁵...I know that I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in faith, ²⁶so that I may share abundantly in your boasting in Christ Jesus when I come to you again. ²⁷Only live your life in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that, whether I come and see you or am absent and hear about you, I will know that you are standing firm in one spirit, striving side by side with one mind for the faith of the gospel, ²⁸and are in no way intimidated by your opponents...

On Sunday mornings we've recently come from studying several passages from Paul's letter to the church at Rome; in chapter 8 he reminds us true children of God lovingly steward creation in ways that authentically reflect their divine origins and birthright:

Romans 8

¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; ²⁰for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

River Walking

Will the Los Angeles River soon become a bright as crystal source of life-giving water for the city? As part of my quest to learn more about its history, to find out ways I fruitfully can live baptized in the city of this river, late Saturday morning I joined a River Nature Walk that started and ended along the LA Riverside at the Friends of the LA River's Frog Spot outreach center in Elysian Valley. A US Forest Service employee introduced the activity; our guide works for the US National Park Service. When will the Los Angeles River become a bright as crystal river of the water of life? The guide told us most of its water already is tertiary potable!

Paul counseled the Philippian church to live out their baptism as public witnesses to Jesus' death and resurrection. How about us? As we frequently observe during our Sunday morning discussions, even the smallest actions add up to big ones; they're synergistic— more than the sum of their individual parts! The early church always baptized in the lively waters of a river; a river is an open, dynamic system. Maybe I wasn't {definitely I was not} baptized in the LA River, but I live here now. It's my river. I acknowledge my baptism as wide open and God's call for me to care for all creation in the dynamism of the Spirit of Pentecost—especially for the natural world that makes its home alongside "my" Los Angeles River.








Burnaby, BC is World Rivers Day founder Mark Angelo's hometown; I'll conclude with a Burnaby WRD design.


PS city paradise :: urban wilderness is my blog for notes from classes I've participated in and facilitated.