Sunday October 28th 2007

"IMAGINE”

Scripture: Psalm 91: 1-6; 14-16; 1 Timothy 6: 6-19; Luke 16: 19-31

Bliss W Browne

I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

And your sons and daughters will prophesy,

Your old men will dream dreams,

Your young men will see visions.

Even on the male and female servants

I will pour out My Spirit in those days. (Joel 2: 23-32)

 And he spoke this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others: Two men went up into the

 temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I

 am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all I possess.

 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but beat his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a

 sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalts himself shall be humbled; and

 he that humbles himself shall be exalted. (Luke 18:9-14)

 I’m going to start with the punch line first.

 Our God is outrageously generous and uncomfortably inclusive. Human beings need mercy. Religion can get in the way of mercy or invite us more deeply into God’s own tenderness where we find mercy that leads to freedom.

 Last Friday night I went to the temple to pray. A temple here in Calgary…Temple B’nai Tikvah. I’ve never been in a Jewish synagogue before to worship and I had been invited to preach there thanks to Sarah Arthur’s interfaith work here in Calgary. I knew the Shabbat services began at 8 pm though I didn’t know

what to expect. When I am a guest preacher at a church, I know to arrivearly, that worship services generally begin on time, that it is important to know where to sit, the flow of the liturgy.  So I arrived early at Temple B’nai Tikvah awaiting instructions. The people who greeted me were friendly,  relaxed and joked that the rabbi was unlikely to be there before 8 or 8:05. (Curious, I wondered to myself. Aren’t there rules about worship starting on time???!) I asked about Rabbi

Howard. One guy told me that the first time he met him he knew that he had found the right congregation. “Why”? I asked. “You’ll see” he said

to me, “there’s just something about him.” Not long afterwards Rabbi Howard arrived, all smiles, greeting everyone with a friendly “Shabbat Shalom.” Sabbath peace.  And the service began. It was like being in the midst of an unusually jovial family gathering, informal, personal, and unpretentious, palpably loving. As the lights in the sanctuary were rekindled we prayed:

 “On this day, we would see the world in a new light.

  On this day we would add new spirit to our lives.

  On this day we would taste a new time of peace.

  We would rest from our desire for gain, ambition for things.

  We would raise our eyes to look beyond space and time toward eternity.

  O may we come to see the world in a new light.

  As it is written, “Let a new light shine upon Zion, and may it be our

  blessing to see its splendor.”

Sabbath was welcomed with this prayer said by all:

 Heart’s delight, source of mercy,

 Draw your servant into your arms.

 I leap like a deer to stand in awe before you.

Your love is sweeter to me than the taste of honey.

 World’s light, shining glory,

 My heart is faint for love of you:

 Heal it Lord, help my heart,

 Show me your radiant splendor

 Let me return to strength and have joy forever.

 Have compassion O faithful One,

 Pity for your loved child:

 How long have I hoped

 To see your glorious might.

 O God, my heart’s desire.

 Have pity, hold back no more.

 Show yourself beloved and cover me

 With the shelter of your peacThat we may exult and rejoice in you.

 Hurry Loved One, the Holy Day has come:

 Show us grace as long ago.

 And the service proceeded with longing and tenderness…expressing the distance between us and God (we are seekers after the one whose name we

 cannot utter) and the deep desire that God show us the path, the light, the mercy by which we could walk in truth and light. (Though we cannot

 hope to be wholly righteous, yet may our ruling passion be the desire for righteousness…perfect love we know is too hard for us to reach, yet

 would we have love become our guiding light.”)

As a Christian, I experienced what Krister Stendahl once called “Holy envy” …envying the humanity, lack of pretension, intimacy of the Jewish

love affair with God which was evident in every prayer. As we approached the reading of the Torah, held in the Ark, another extraordinary moment happened. Rabbi Howard left the sanctuary and walked into the midst of the congregation. He said, “I am standing here because I have a confession to make. I was supposed to be concentrating on this most holy moment, preparing to approach the Torah,  and instead I was thinking about my undone administrative chores, what I needed to get done for Monday. I wasn’t fully present. This is a holy moment which needs our full presence, attention. I let myself be distracted.  I am standing out here with you to confess this.” And then he walked back up to the altar, the Bema, and continued with the tender expressions of reverence and love for God and God’s holy Word, fully present to what God would share.

>

> I felt extraordinary blessing all through that worship, remembered the tax collector standing on the threshold praying for mercy. Remembered what it’s like to be the priest, to be standing on the inside at the altar, expected to be holy. I could sense the outpouring of mercy by God in response to the prayers of longing for God’s righteousness. Here ware standing before God with feet of clay… we make mistakes, we arrive late and yet we dare approach the holiest of holy because God is merciful, God calls us, God loves us, God knows us, God longs for us to walk in light.

That is how I imagine the Publican felt as he stood there on the threshold of the temple, praying for God’s mercy, begging for God’s love, knowing keenly his own waywardness. And he found the mercy he was longing for, and left the temple justified, withBut what about the Pharisee? Are we to condemn him? No, he is a good man, faithful, religious, his conduct exemplary. He knows and lives according to the law. He is just.  And yet something is missing. He seems to have missed out on the great love affair. And so he appears cut off, standing in judgment of others, full of self-righteousness but devoid of hope and charity.

 I wonder which behavior the church encourages more. If we do something wrong, most of us don’t want people in church to know about it. Social norms encourage us to be the Pharisee. We are taught in church to be good and are recognized for it. But I prefer to be the receiving mercy leads to hope. I am glad Jesus told this parable.

 Jesus proclaimed and lived one thing—the coming kingdom of God. God’s kingdom was a compelling vision of hope for human life—justice, love and mercy, abundant life, the end of sadness and diminishment.

 Jesus was God’s lived word of hope. All that was life-giving, creative, able to order chaos and turn it into abundant community became fully

 human. Jesus told stories about the kingdom, he showed the signs of its in breaking life— feeding thousands with the resources of a few,

 restoring sight to those born blind,  setting people free by forgiving them.   Jesus’ friends watched amazed as he tamed storms, healed the

 sick, and spoke a word of love to those who had been cast aside.   In this morning’s parable, Jesus sets aside all precedent in dealing with

 offenders and the guilty, establishing the kingdom as a kingdom of mercy, a gospel for everyone.

 There is scandal in this that is life-giving to us…freedom from all that drags us down, to love beyond fear, because God’s mercy restores human life as a domain of forgiveness and love.  This good news breaks open our own limited lives; it points to the possibility of reconciliation with those we have harmed and who have

hurt us; it gives us courage in the face of all that we constantly confront that frightens and diminishes us.

We are vulnerable, frail, capable of fear and cruelty. When we receive God’s mercy, hope is reborn in us.  Hope moves us toward the light, keeps our eyes focused on who God is, that love is possible, no matter how much our fears cause us the doubt that.  By receiving mercy, letting God companion us where we are, we begin to discover strength beyond our brokenness, a love that scatters the darkness around us and inside of us.  Longing for God’s mercy, letting ourselves be transformed by it frees and purifies us to be of service to others. What does the Lord require of us? To do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our

God.  Keeping God in the center of our lives is the only means we have of releasing ourselves from fear, from the politics of intimidation, from the subservience which frustrates our courage to live without addictions, and to speak the truth.

 God’s mercy calls us to see possibility beyond what we have known--—hope for community animated by love,  hope for God’s future establishing

 itself in our very midst. It calls us to dream. As we learn today in the lesson from Joel, when the Spirit is poured out we find courage to dream

   I will pour out My Spirit on all mankind;

       And your sons and daughters will prophesy,

       Your old men will dream dreams,

       Your young men will see visions.

  Even on the male and female servants

       I will pour out My Spirit in those days.

God is up to something new, something outrageously inclussomething new is breaking in right here, now, in our world in all its pain and division.,. There is more to God’s imagination for our lives than the grim daily news  The world is now full of all the possibilities of the God of mercy and hope. The God that raised Jesus from the dead stands against suffering, against injustice, against judgment, against all that deadens our hope. As we receive God’s tenderness,  we discover the freedom and energy to renew life here and now.  Grace is at work, forging connections, building a community. So let’s imagine together, let’s talk about what that future looks like now. Imagine God’s future now. Be tuned to the frequency of hope, imagining an open future for everyone.  Living in hope is a choice. It carries with it creativity, openness, rejoicing for happiness restored, as we discover God breaking into the old and leading us to the new. The Episcopal catechism says it clearly: What is the Christian hope? To live with confidence in newness and fullness of life, and to await the completion of GodGod calls us forward in hope. But as S. Kierkegaard says, God does not think, God creates. The inbreaking of God’s kingdom calls us to create new things.

What a remarkable vocation… Living from a place of vision and hope …renouncing the world of death and diminishment by receiving mercy

and thereby finding what gives life and hope in a way that we can share that fullness with others.

I know this church has a distinguished history of doing justice.  I know you are on the threshold of new dreams of doing more. You live in a city

that is dreaming of its future, imagining a vision to live by for seven generations.

Dream from a place of mercy. Open your arms as wide as God’s. Hear the invitation to Sabbath.  Let yourselves rest in that loving kindness.

For the last three years,  I have spent lots of time in South Africa,becoming more familiar with the ongoing struggle and miracle than post-apartheid South Africa represents. I have been privileged to hear Desmond Tutu speak on a number of occasions and am struck he talks about God’s dreams and wiping away God’s tears. RIf we want to fight terrorism,  we won't win that war, we won't win that war as long as there are people who are made desperate by poverty, by hunger, by disease, by ignorance.  If you want to win that war, then the obscene gaps between the rich and poor, for the sake of the rich, must be narrowed now. You see, God dreams, and God dreams that one day my children will realize that they are sisters and brothers that they

belong in my family and in this family there are no outsiders, all are insiders, all black, white, rich, poor, clever, stupid, beautiful, notso beautiful, red, yellow, gay, straight, Jew, Arab.  Now, here's the most radical statements, actually, because he says all.  All, all, all, all.  Jesus, speaking about being on the cross says, "If I be lifted up I will draw," did he say some?  He says, "I will draw all."  All, all, all.  All includes Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, George Bush. All, all, all.  And if we are family, it's more radical than any political ideology you could ever imagine because in the healthy family you say from each according to their ability to each according to their need.> God says dream, dream with me, dream with me that we will, we will have> a day when they will beat their swords into blouses and their spears into pulling hooks.  Dream with me that one day, again the lion will lie with the lamb and my children will know we belong together.  We are

family.”

To be a Christian is to be caught in a living mystery which turns our lives and institutions upside down, including the church, which enables

 us to see through the eyes of God’s own imagination for human life, uncomfortably and wonderfully inclusive—undivided, reconciling, united, dynamic.  The spiritual journey in which we deepen our connection to the mystery which is life-giving, abundant, creative, transforming, beckons us beyond ourselves, to vocations of hope in the midst of a secular society which would deny the mystery and the hope in order to defend the current power arrangements.

Ultimate trust in a gracious God who offers forgiveness is the ground of freedom from the past and for the future. If we are raised to the seat

of God’s mercy, we develop merciful hearts capable of loving and of resting, of laying down our heavy burdens and giving thanks, of seeing

others with eyes of compassion and forgiveness, extending hospitality to the stranger, loving the enemy because we acknowledge the evil and

hatred in ourselves.  I suspect the best prayer which leads into action and justice begins with the Publican’s longing: Lord have mercy on me and on this city of which I am a part.

 AMEN

 And God will answer: Rejoice and be glad.