Christianity

How Are You Investing Your Life? (Sermon November 16, 2014)

Matthew 25:14–30 (NRSV)

The Parable of the Talents

(Lk 19:11–27)

JESUS MAFA is a response to the New Testament readings from the Lectionary by a Christian community in Cameroon, Africa. Each of the readings were selected and adapted to dramatic interpretation by the community members. Photographs of their interpretations were made, and these were then transcribed to paintings. See: http://www.jesusmafa.com and http://www.SocialTheology.com.

¹⁴ “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; ¹⁵ to one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. ¹⁶ The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. ¹⁷ In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. ¹⁸ But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. ¹⁹ After a long time the master of those slaves came and settled accounts with them. ²⁰ Then the one who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five more talents, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me five talents; see, I have made five more talents.’ ²¹ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ²² And the one with the two talents also came forward, saying, ‘Master, you handed over to me two talents; see, I have made two more talents.’ ²³ His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and trustworthy slave; you have been trustworthy in a few things, I will put you in charge of many things; enter into the joy of your master.’ ²⁴ Then the one who had received the one talent also came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew that you were a harsh man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you did not scatter seed; ²⁵ so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here you have what is yours.’ ²⁶ But his master replied, ‘You wicked and lazy slave! You knew, did you, that I reap where I did not sow, and gather where I did not scatter? ²⁷ Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and on my return I would have received what was my own with interest. ²⁸ So take the talent from him, and give it to the one with the ten talents. ²⁹ For to all those who have, more will be given, and they will have an abundance; but from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away. ³⁰ As for this worthless slave, throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

Sometimes the worst thing about the parables of Jesus is that there is just too much information packed into a seemingly short story. Like last week’s story about the ten virgins. Who would have thought that we as a group would be discussing it for a good thirty minutes after the service? But during that discussion something very interesting was brought up, the idea of why the five wise virgins did not share the oil that they had with the foolish ones. That very question leads up to the parable that Jesus spoke just after that story. I want us to consider the oil as Luther suggested, as faith, or in deeper terms the source of faith, which is the very Spirit of God. That Spirit of God that was breathed into mankind on the sixth day of creation that separated us from all other living creatures, setting us apart to be stewards of all creation. The oil that burns in a lamp is the source or the fuel that allows for the energy of God to enlighten us, to burn within us without destroying us. It is drawn through the wick and the light shines all around, the flame, the oil, and the wick all relate to the triune God working together within a vessel of clay. A simple story that we teach to the youngest of ears, yet so deep it can puzzle the greatest biblical scholars, if they are honest enough to admit it.

But even Jesus knew that the story of the virgins could be twisted in some degree to the point that the true message would not be heard. Those ten virgins in the story waited and fell asleep, throughout history many groups have looked at this story and have said as long as you have the oil everything is good. This has left the church peddling a cheap grace, and a distorted form of discipleship. This is the very type of grace we so often hear about in our contemporary culture. As long as you have said the right prayer or attend the right church you are ok. It does not matter if your actions are right, or even if you are awake, the virgins were asleep. Yet Jesus ended that parable and transitioned into his next with one very important statement, “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.”

Keep awake. A lamp is worthless unless it is actively burning, oil is just a potential fuel until the flame ignites it, and a wick is just twisted fiber quickly devoured unless it is saturated. Without the flame, oil, and wick a lamp in the first century is just a fancy piece of clay, no life and no purpose only to broken down returning to the dust from which it was created. If the lamp is worthless asleep what does that say about us?

This is where today’s passage picks up. “For it is as if a man, going on a journey, summoned his slaves and entrusted his property to them; to one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one, to each according to their ability. Then he went away.” The first thing that is striking when we look at this passage in context with the parable just prior to it, is that this basically says we have a purpose for being here. We are here for a reason, to take care of the master’s property. This has been the role of humanity from the dawn of time, this is why we were created in the image of God and given the breath of life. We are the caretakers of His property. Each one of us has a role to play, it does not matter if you believe in God or not, that is our role and our purpose. Have we ever really thought about that? In our ever present quest to redeem the world for the cause of Christ have we actually boiled our purpose down to the very core of why we exist in the first place?

To each of the servants the master entrusts a portion of his property, entrusting them with only enough that he deems they are able to handle, but I want us to consider just how much he has entrusted each of these servants. A talent is a form of currency, its value is approximately six thousand denarii. The denarii in ancient times was a day’s wage, so one talent is almost worth 16 and a half years of labor. In classical Roman times, the age encompassing the time Jesus taught, the average life expectancy was thirty years. So a talent would basically represent the wages an average individual would expect to earn in their lifetime. Think about that for a moment. You thought that this parable was about money, really it is about life.

Jesus goes on to say that the one that received five talents, enough money for five families, quickly went out and used what he had in trade and made five more talents, as did the man with two talents. The man with one talent went off, dug a hole, and buried the talent he had received. At times it is difficult to think of this story beyond what we perceive as economics, but I would really like us to think outside the traditional box we put this story in and think about it as life. One servant was entrusted with the livelihood of five families, another with the livelihood of two families, and the third was given his livelihood. The master granted them with the portion of property that he thought they could handle, what Jesus is saying is that lives are in our hands.

This is what my theology teacher would refer to as God’s economy. An economic system that was not regulated in currency but in something totally different and much more valuable. Jesus did not come from heaven to be born of a virgin, to live among humanity so that we could have a financial return on our investments, but so that mankind could be redeemed from death to life. God dwelt among mankind to restore humanity. Humanity and life is the economy that God cares about. All of our perceived wealth and wealth creation is worthless in the eyes of God, if what we invest our lives in does not promote life.

The servant that was a steward over the livelihood of five families was able to invest the resources he was given to provide for an additional five, the one with two could provide for an additional two. Suddenly the community grew from eight to fifteen, consider that for a moment. We have each been entrusted with life, we each have at bear minimum one talent to invest into this world. We have our one life. The question is how are we going to use it?

How are we going to invest our lives? When we consider our individual lives thing begin to get more complex. How we invest our lives reflects what we hold as most important. Consider a conversation you may have had with someone you did not know before, what are the things you talked about? You probably exchanged names, more than likely right after names were exchanged the discussion moved toward our employment or what we retired from, and generally the conversation dwindles from there. Our identities all too often are attached to our careers, our identity and our social standing is derived from a twisted economy where value is measured by currency and the ability to amass more currency. That part of our lives are tools that we use in bringing about who we truly are. Currency is a tool, wealth is a tool. It is no different than any other tool when we look the bigger picture. The dollar is like a shovel, how many people have devoted their lives to the savings of shovels? But a shovel is an important tool a shovel when used properly can dig the foundation for a house for someone to live in, it can provide an opportunity to make clean water available to a remote village, and it can give someone a way to feed their family.

I bring this up because the resources, every resource we have available to us is important. They are important only because those resources can be invested into lives. And life is what God is interested in. Are we investing our talents into the lives of our community or are we burying our talents in a hole? Along with that question is another, are we actively participating in the investment or are we just speaking words?

This is not cheap grace or easy discipleship, but an actual cross to bear. So often our words are gilded with scripture but our actions speak something totally different. How often have we heard words spoken saying, “I’m Pro-life” yet have not opened our homes to house a child whose parents’ are unable to support them? How often do we hear that we should help the poor from people that would never open their doors or tables up to someone in need?

We are stewards of the master’s property only stewards. We have been blessed with talents to invest not in ourselves but into the lives of other. What will the master say when he returns? To the ones that expanded the influence of the master he said, “Enter into the joy of your master.” But to the ones that bury their resources and refuse to invest in life, those are wicked and lazy servant who will lose everything. What does it cost to be a disciple of Christ? What is the cost of being a friend of Jesus? It takes belief that the belief goes beyond knowledge and trust, the belief that we will entrust all we have and all we are into our master’s business. It takes us learning that business by participating in the very life that Jesus himself showed us. It takes us investing all that we have to bring light into the darkness, hope to the hopeless, and healing to the broken. To be a disciple of Christ our actions and our words reflect each other, our careers are tools that we use to minister, and our very lives are lived so that His will will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. And that starts with each of us individually turning to him, it continues by us corporately walking together and encouraging each other to walk that journey with Christ, and it returns when we share in the joy of service.

As we reflect on this story that Jesus told and examine our lives during this time of open worship. I ask again, how are we investing our lives?

Light bearers (Sermon November 9, 2014)

Matthew 25:1–13 (NRSV)

The Parable of the Ten Bridesmaids

Lamp of Wisdom Waterperry Gardens Oxfordshire, Great Britian

25 “Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. ² Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. ³ When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; ⁴ but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. ⁵ As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. ⁶ But at midnight there was a shout, ‘Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.’ ⁷ Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps. ⁸ The foolish said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.’ ⁹ But the wise replied, ‘No! there will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.’ ¹⁰ And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. ¹¹ Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, ‘Lord, lord, open to us.’ ¹² But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I do not know you.’ ¹³ Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.

There is something special about weddings. Yesterday I had the privilege to attend a wedding of a good friend and his now wife. It was a traditional wedding, nothing super special about it except for a couple of things. First it was a good friend’s wedding and I got to help with the celebration. Second the minister did something that was pretty profound, he asked those that gathered who is the most important people at the wedding. There were several answers, the funniest was when someone said Jesus and the pastor said that is a good answer but not right. I was sitting there wondering where he was going with this question and he turned to the crowd and started naming off names of the children and asked each child, including Albert to come up to the front. As the children gathered he said these children are the most important people at this wedding because it is these children that will look at the love story being played out before them and if the couple loves deeply and correctly it is the children in that room that will benefit the most.

I was amazed by that short little part of the ceremony. That is one of the most profound and correct things about marriage that I have ever heard. It is not only about the couple, but it is about the community. Encouraging and strengthening the community as a whole through the love that each family shares with each other. I spent the rest of the evening just thinking about that, that one statement changed everything I thought I was going to say today. We join together in marriage for the children of the community not out of love, not out of the potential for more children, but to strengthen the understanding and to become examples of the love God has for each person to those already in the room.

As I considered that statement, I reexamined this parable of the ten virgins through a different perspective. Often I read this passage and get stuck focusing on the wise women and the foolish women, but I think those women are just illustrations for something much deeper, something that goes down to the very heart of humanity as a whole. Often we get caught up in a narrow view of marriage, we get too focused on the family and fail to see how our commitment to a spouse strengthens families and communities in areas we may never know. I think I have missed this before because I look at this story through the lenses of our culture, and fail to understand what marriage meant to a Middle Eastern culture two-thousand years ago.

The first thing we need to understand is why there are ten virgins heading out to meet a bridegroom. I am almost embarrassed to say that most of my life I assumed that the bride groom was choosing his bride from these ten women, but that is not at all what is going on. In the ancient customs of marriage the community was very involved in every aspect of the ceremony. Negotiations were made between the families, prices were set, and debating going on between the parents of those to be wed. When all of the negotiations were settled, the bridegroom would be able to take his wife into his home. For many of us we see this as a terrible situation because it seems to treat women like property and not equals, but we are looking at things through cultural lenses instead of reality. The negotiations were made not only for the transfer of wealth but as a sort of insurance policy. Although the wealth was transferred into the man’s house the woman had the final say in how that portion of their combined wealth could be used. In many cases, the women would carry this wealth on their head coverings, hanging coins from their veils for all to see. If the woman’s wealth was used it was often scandalous, because this wealth was similar to what we know as life insurance, it was to be used in emergencies or if the husband died.

But that does not tell us why the ten women were out there getting the bridegroom. These women are what we would now call bridesmaids, their job in the ceremony was to go to the bridegroom’s house to escort him and his family to the bride’s house where the wedding feasts would begin. So these bridesmaids are told that the negotiations have been settled and the feast can begin, so they gather their lamps and go to the man’s house to bring him to collect his bride. So these ten virgins are not the bride, they are only representatives sent by the bride.

As always the characters in the stories that Jesus tells have important things to say to us. The bride is the church, the bridesmaids are those who minister in and through the church. I bring this up because often we see our personal relationship with God as being the most important thing about the Christian life, but that is not exactly the case, it is the church that is the bride not us. We are the bridesmaids. We are the representatives sent out by the bride to escort the bridegroom and his family to her. Yes our personal relationship with God is import but that is not the whole story.

Jesus goes on to say that there are different types of women in this group the wise and the foolish. The wise virgins grab their lamps as well as a flask of oil, where the foolish only grab their lamps. The lamp is an important illustration. In the days before street lights nights were very different. Only the moon and the stars provided light to illuminate the darkness unless you had a lamp to cast light. In the ancient cultures women would tend the lamps, and they would keep them burning all night often waking throughout the night to add oil so that the flame would continue to burn.

Well these women were waiting on the bridegroom to come, because he was delayed, they grew tired and fell asleep. I want us to reflect on this for a bit. They were holding their lamps but they fell asleep allowing the light to diminish, they stopped tending their lamps as they should and were caught off guard for the announcement. This is where our personal relationship with God becomes very important.

There are several interpretations of what the lamp and the oil mean throughout the history of the church. But through each of those interpretations there is a common theme. Salvation means something more. If the bride is the church, and we are the brides maids our job is to be light bearers we are to carry the lamps filled with oil to escort Jesus, and the community to the bride. We are to bear the light. There is something very profound in that, to bear light means that there is work that has to be done. We must tend the lamps, keeping the wicks trimmed so that smoke does not overcome the light, and we must keep the oil filled. Throughout Christian history they have said that this is a balance between works and faith. The oil is our faith and the filling of the oil is our personal relationship with God, because it is God’s spirit that is the oil and it is the oil that burns creating the light. The Lamp that we carry is the ministry and the works that we do to carry the light of Christ within us out into the community.

Jesus makes mention of half of the virgins as being wise and half foolish. Both the wise and the foolish carry lamps. But some neglected to bring oil with them. All people can do good works, all people can minister to other and shine light, but eventually their stocks of oil will run out and the light will fade away. Those without oil will cry out to the others but they will not have enough to go around so they will have to run to find it. Those that have oil will tend to their lamps and will escort the community to the feast.

This is interesting, because both groups of women were tired and asleep, and suddenly brought back to awareness. We never know when we will be called into action, but are we prepared to carry the light? God will use those that are prepared. Often we get caught up in carrying lamps of service only to find ourselves burning out, or we are focused on stockpiling oil but never carrying the lamp. Both cases we are not in a position to be bearers of light, at least for long. This is where discernment is very important, and the only way to have this sort of discernment is if we participate in the holy rhythm of life that Jesus taught us. Making it our custom to worship together, withdrawing to isolated places to pray, and going out into the community to minister and serve. The worship together ignites our passions and sets our heart ablaze. It is during worship where our wicks get trimmed and together we can encourage one another to continue on. These gatherings may not always look the same, passions that ignite our hearts can come in many different forms, we can be ignited to burn for the environmental movement, or for tax reform, or any other ministry that promotes our communities, but if there is not an adequate supply of oil the lamp will burn down and eventually fade. That is where a disciplined life of pray comes in. it is in those times of prayer, study, and mediation where we are filled and gain reserves of the oil of the spirit.

You might argue with that statement and say but we are filled with passion during worship, but what happens if you miss a day or several meeting for worship? If we are not personally engaged in a life of prayer eventually our reserves will diminish. When we do not actively engage a life of prayer when tough times hit us we cannot bear light because we cannot see because the oil is gone and we are burning a dry wick. Worship gets us excited to serve, Pray gives us discernment on where and when we are called to serve, but we are not bearers of light if we do not get out of ourselves to carry the light to those around us. Just like that minister said in the wedding that my family attended last evening, the bride and groom bear the light of love to the community so should we be bearing that light, the light of God’s love to our community.

If we neglect this holy rhythm, we will one day be called to minister and we will have nothing to offer like the foolish virgins without the oil. We will be forced to run out to find the oil we need but in the process we will lose the chance to become bearers of the light, we lose the opportunity to celebrate in the joys of the wedding feast. All because we were too focused on other things, we had our lamps but they were empty.

This parable struck me hard this week. It speaks of priorities and passions, it speaks of discipleship and discernment, and it speaks of the joys of service. It has caused me to look at what I have been doing and made me wonder if maybe I am not as wise as I would like to think. But then I saw little children gathered around a couple dressed in white, looking them in the eyes, hoping for a chance to see love played out before them. I began to ask myself, what are we as a community really showing the world around us? Are we bearers of light, or just another smoldering smoky wick?

Bearing the Cross (Sermon November 2, 2014)

Matthew 23:1–12 (NRSV)

Jesus Denounces Scribes and Pharisees

(Mk 12:38–40; Lk 20:45–47)

23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ² “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; ³ therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach. ⁴ They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on the shoulders of others; but they themselves are unwilling to lift a finger to move them. ⁵ They do all their deeds to be seen by others; for they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. ⁶ They love to have the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues, ⁷ and to be greeted with respect in the marketplaces, and to have people call them rabbi. ⁸ But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all students. ⁹ And call no one your father on earth, for you have one Father—the one in heaven. ¹⁰ Nor are you to be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Messiah. ¹¹ The greatest among you will be your servant. ¹² All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

Every year at the end of October the children across our land engage in a festive and fun filled evening of trick or treating. It is a day that has been surrounded with fun, legend, and myth. Called things from the devil’s birthday to a high church holiday for centuries because there is much history behind this holiday, Halloween. Many claim that it is a pagan holiday because it is connected to the Samhain (pronounced Sow-in), which is the holiday that the ancient Gaelic people celebrated which marked the end of harvest and the beginning of winter, which also corresponds to the darker half of the year. Of course this day is filled with spooky tales and mischief, mainly because as darkness falls our imagination can get the better of us. I also mentioned that this time of year is also a high church holiday. How can the church celebrate a pagan feast day one might ask, the answer is actually easier than you might think. November 1^st marks the feast of All Saints or All Hallows, this is the day where the people of the church would remember those great and faithful people that moved the church through the dark days and into light. November 2^nd, All souls day, which very similar to All saints except it focuses on remembering those people that may not have been well known throughout the church but have been of great importance to your own spiritual life. Why do I mention these holidays that we barely know of and as Quakers have never celebrated, because they are very important days.

Before the invention of calendars religious people of all faiths and traditions used the pathways of the sun and stars, and the cycles of the moon to mark time. They became very good at studying the paths and judging what the sun, moon, and stars would do in the future. Making the star gazers seem almost magical when in reality they were just really good at observation. So every religion from the Druids to the Hebrews to the Hindu in India all had their stargazers that would mark the time and would make observations and suggestions. Even scripture encouraged the Hebrew people to use the moon to mark the time for their various feasts. So every religion around the world has holy days that correspond with other religions. There are often similarities to the holy days as well, I am not saying that they are the same but similar because ancient religions would often use nature to illustrate their religious teachings. The transitioning days from October to November is important because that is the time-frame where the days become shorter and nights become longer. Imagine in a time before artificial lights how those days would make you feel. There are powerful teachings that can happen in the days of darkness.

Darkness has always represented fear and death, when the darkness overtakes the day the world itself seems to die just a bit. The days are colder, the plants wither, and the leaves fall to the ground. It is easy to become depressed and frightened, because nothing is growing and the weather becomes harsh, survival is a struggle. That is why All Saints day is on November 1, to remind us of all those that have gone before us that have faced dark days and have carried the light into that darkness. But October 31, All Hallows eve, or Halloween holds another important nugget of history. It was on October 31 in the year 1517 a man nailed a document to a door of a church that sparked a reformation throughout the western church. The document was nailed to the church door on the evening before All Saints day to tell the church that they had failed to live up to their calling and instead of bringing light into the darkness they are snuffing out the candles of those saints that were bearing the light.

I bring up this short little history lesson, because this is the very sort of thing that Jesus is doing in the passage that we read today. The Reformation was not intended on splitting the church apart but was to breathe new life into it. In today’s scripture Jesus is also saying that he was not intending on ripping the Jewish faith apart, but was encouraging all who listened to follow the teachings of the religious leaders. Why would Jesus, who spent so much time criticizing the teachings of the various religious leaders tell his own disciples to follow their teachings? Because they were not totally wrong. They taught from the scriptures, they knew the words to say that would lead to a life with God, but they did lack something. Jesus then said do not do what they do. Jesus was starting a reformation, he was encouraging people to return to the foundations of the faith instead of participating in a show.

Jesus looks out at the diverse multitude before him, there are common people and rabbis, there are lawyers and laborers, there are priest and peasants and He says listen to the words and live by them, but do not do what they do because they do not practice what they teach. He then proceeds to list off grievances that he has with the teachers of the crowd. He speaks about the burden the teachers place on the people, the fashion of the teachers, the titles and honors they give to one another. Which are wonderful if you are the teacher but they do very little to encourage those that are listening.

They make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long. This statement may seem foreign to most of us because it is foreign. A phylactery is the box of scripture that the devout would wear on their foreheads or bound to their arms. They were worn to remind them of the law throughout the day, the image of a phylactery is what the Revelation to John refers to when speaking of the mark of the beast instead of the phylactery of God a phylactery of man being bound to the forehead or the hand. There is nothing wrong with this in and of itself it is just a simple reminder to follow God in every aspect of our lives, but it became a form of idolatry because they would make highly ornamental phylacteries that would detract attention from the reason behind the ornament and instead direct the attention to the one wearing it. A broad phylactery is a symbol of a very religious person just as a big, well-worn bible shows the world how religious we are today. The long fringes are the white and blue threads that hang off the edges of their prayer shawls and their undershirts, these fringes have a symbolic meaning behind them as a tangible reminder of how to stay connected with God. They are like the prongs of an extension cord connecting a lamp to the power source. Like the phylactery the fringe or tzitzit (pronounced SiSit) represents the commands of God that surround the person. The long fringes are to attract attention to the one wearing the garment instead of being a subtle reminder to the one being clothed to focus their attention to God.

These sorts of things are the very sort of things that sparked the reformation the church as well. The church leadership became focused on themselves instead of on God. They built massive cathedrals to house their bishops to show the rest of the world their own greatness, they used terms and titles that detracted from God and focused the attention of the people to what the man before them could do by giving or withhold grace. Traveling priests would use a day like today, All Souls day, to raise money for themselves or their projects by guaranteeing the faithful that their ancestors would get out of purgatory if only they would give all their money to the priest.

Heavy burdens, flashy attire, fancy titles are things that Jesus would not stand for. Simplicity of faith is what he demanded. You have one instructor, one father, one rabbi, and no matter how long the fringes are on your clothes you have only one way to God. The greatest among you will be your servant. All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted.

The teachings of the early Friends looked at this passage very closely and made it foundational in their faith and practice. They removed all symbolism from their worship, all hierarchy from their governance so that all members were equal and focused on a singular idea. Every person is a minister of God, and lead by the Spirit of God. I liken this reformation to the process of distilling. When one is to distill something like water, you bring it to a boil to create steam, the steam then is funneled through cooling coils where it condenses back to a liquid form free from all impurities, simple pure water. Simple pure faith free from additives and impurities, a faith that is focused on loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. Each of the reformation periods of history has done some form of this distilling process, maybe not to the same degree as Friends, but they have removed aspects of religion that detract from God so that God can be praised unhindered by the vanity of man. But as time moves forward often the fire lessens and the impurities again make their way into the faith.

That very thing is what we are seeing all around us. We are seeing the beginning of a new era in church history, an era where there is less focus on the little nuances of the established religious expression and more focus on the reality of the mission. Even in a simple church like the Society of Friends, traditions can cloud the purity of the faithful and the fires need to be stoked to bring us to a boil. But the question is why? Jesus did not condemn religion, he condemned the vanity of the religious.

The first thing that Jesus mentioned was the heavy burden placed on people. These burdens are the very thing that keep people from engaging in a relationship with God. It is the burdens that religious people place on the outsiders that binds them to their sin instead of releasing them to experience the freedom of Christ. They bind the people in their judgment but do not lift a finger to help. Think about that for a moment. As we consider the words and our actions are we adding weight to people’s shoulders or are we helping them along the way.

Jesus says that if we are to be his disciples we must take up the cross and follow him. I have often struggled with this statement, I have walked in faith not knowing what that cross really is. I have often heard people make comments about some struggle in their lives as being the cross that they have to bear, and usually I wanted to laugh at the statement because their cross never seemed as serious as the cross of Christ. But even as I scoff I am pained because I am not really helping them. This week though that statement became clear to me. The cross we bear is one of faith. One hand is stretching out to God as we struggle and strive to live our lives for him, and the other is reached out to those around us in ministry. God and man are pulling our bodies in different directions stretching us as we try to encourage all that we meet to reach out to God as they see us live among them. That is the cross we bear. It is the cross of becoming a servant, the cross of humility where we do not look at ourselves. Bearing that cross we lift the burden of others off of their shoulders and carry it for them so that they are free to reach across our bodies and grab hold of the hand of God.

That is the cross that Jesus bore for each of us, he gave his life so that we could become friends of God. He took on our sin and our shame so that we could freely reach out to the hand that God himself has stretched out to us. And as we take on Christ in our own lives we are there with him on that cross stretching out over the void between life and death, between hope and hopelessness, and on the border between light and dark. Are we willing to become that type of person? Are we willing to follow our God into that type of life? Or will we instead sit back with our big well-worn bibles and fancy clothes patting ourselves on our back that we are so much better than those people? Jesus is calling us to something more, something pure, something better and more satisfying, but the only way to get there is for us to humble ourselves and reach out our arms to those bound by heavy burdens, and to become the light bearers in the dark days of their souls.

As we enter into our time of open worship and holy expectancy, let us remember all those people in our lives that have taken up that cross for us and lifted the burden we had carried so that we could see Christ. Let us praise and thank God for those souls that offered themselves to be used by you so that we could be freed. And let us be willing to stretch out our own arms to become the reflection of Christ, and a bearer of light in these dark days of uncertainty and change.