Your Kingdom Come

Oh, did you hear about the beating, that ended in murder here in Summit on July 17? Well, by all accounts it was a most disturbing event. The agreed upon facts are that after his shift at Dabbawalla, a local Indian restaurant, a Hispanic man who has lived in this country for 13 years and has worked in this community for at least three years went to the Promenade right across the street from the restaurant on Springfield Ave and sat down on a bench there. At about 8 or 9 p.m. a group of teens came by one of them put a shirt over the father of four’s face another began to hit him while still another video taped the incident.

Jesus teaches us to pray: Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come

The most disturbing thing is that one internet news article revealed that while this terrible beating was taking place more than a dozen people walked by, How could this be in Summit in a community where everyone and their child has a cell phone? Didn’t anyone think to call the police? I am astonished that while a man was being beaten to death citizens of this community turned the other way.

Turn the other way,that’s what the the men of the city wanted Lot to do as they came to his home demanding him to send out the men that were staying with him. Perhaps the ones being demanded are the men who, “turned from there and went toward Sodom, while Abraham remained standing before the LORD.”

There is no good intended as all the men of the city demand.“Bring them out to us, so that we may know them.”  Lot refuses. I am not going to tell you what he offers them. You will have to read that for yourself. Just know that what happens to Lot is the conclusion of the story that we heard this morning in the 18th chapter of Genesis.

There Abraham stands before God asking God to spare the people of what we have come to know as an infamous city. What we know from scripture is that the people of Sodom participate in a wide range of bad behaviour, from neglect of the poor and needy to lies, greed and living in excess luxury, sexual abuse, and in hospitality to strangers. Sodom was a place of careless living and indifference.

Yet, Abraham stands before God asking him not to destroy this city to spare the inhabitants for the sake of those who have not done wrong. We overhear Abraham as he challenges God: “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do what is just?’

Abraham understands that God’s very nature is violated in the destruction of the good with the evil, to ignore the innocent in the carrying out of justice would be against the very mercy of God.” And so Abraham stands boldly before God counting on a relationship that is close and intimate. “Suppose there are fifty righteous within the city?” Abraham seems courageous enough, and sure enough in the relationship that he is able to ask God not to make good on his threat, not to destroy an entire city of people.

See the lengths that Abraham is willing to go. He bargains “how about fifty,” and God considers Abraham’s plea on behalf of his neighbors, on behalf of those he barely knows. How about 45 or 40 or 30 or 20 or 10? “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” God tells Abraham.

It shows us that while God has expectations of humanity to live in good and right relationship with one another Abraham has expectations of God. He has expectations as we all do. When we fold our hands, get on our knees, open our hearts, or stand in a posture of prayer, we want God to be God--big enough,

righteous enough, loving enough to grant our petitions.

Abraham is persistent in his pleas that God have mercy. Abraham’s care for the unjust suffering people is a reflection of God’s concern for those who are vulnerable. It is Abraham’s bargaining that reminds 

God of God’s commitment to justice. In this way Abraham is an example for us and challenges us to seek and pray for justice.

This story also helps us to know that we too are heard, that God’s ears are open to us as we pray.

This we count on as we look around in our world and see so much that needs our attention in prayer

just this week we have seen violence in our local community, racial tension in our country and wars all over our world. There is so much to pray for,

As Abraham’s bargaining with God moves to as little as ten righteous we read the incident of Lot and the behavior of the men of the city and we see that not even ten righteous could be found. Not even ten people of the city would repent and turn from their wicked ways. So, the city is destroyed.

It is hard for us to look and see a God who destroys. And yet despite the destruction we see the picture of a God who hears Abraham’s pleas, checks to see what the truth is--a God who is willing to consider our pleas.

Ask and it will be given you; search and you will find; knock and the door will be opened 

These are radical words--words that have the power to turn the world upside down--if only we understood them. Yet this is what Jesus tells his disciples after “ one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord teach us to pray.” Jesus begins, when you pray say; ‘Father, hallowed be your name,’ 

he is saying to them to speak in the most familiar and intimate terms calling God Abba as he does. 

This word translated from the aramaic means more than Father but denotes an intimate relationship.

Like Abraham and Jesus we are to count on a relationship with God that is strong and intimate.

But as close as we are to God, we are also to reverence and hollow God’s name. It is so reverent to the people of Israel that even in writing the name was not spelled out and was never spoken. It was a name that evoked awe and power.

 And then Jesus says as we pray we are to say, ‘your kingdom come.’ And here is where I will stop because of course we think this is about asking for our daily bread, for the forgiveness of our sin, for our protection from the time of trial. And it is but not exclusively. We are to pray, not because when we pray we will get every little thing we ask for. All diseases are not miraculously cured but healing always takes place. The world doesn’t become instantly a better place and all problems will not with a snap be solved.

No even Abraham did not receive his preferred outcome. Yet, he dared to ask. 

Jesus says, ask, knock, seek, and tells us a parable of being persistent in prayer.

The prayers we are to offer with what one commentator calls ‘shameless persistence’ are requests for God to provide us with hope in a future that is here and not yet-- for promised eternal life, for equity, for peace, and for justice in the present and the perseverance we need to work through it all for a world that reflects the goodness and grace of God. We are to pray that we are able to work toward the reign of God to be able to do what little we can for God’s kingdom to come.

For what shall we pray 

certainly for racial reconciliation in our country

certainly for all those lost in combat

certainly for the family of Abelino Mazaniego who was 

so brutally killed in Summit

certainly for our community

and certainly for justice, reconciliation and peace everywhere

 with shameless persistence

we are to pray the words that Jesus taught us

Even if we don’t know exactly what they mean, we pray trusting through the promised Holy Spirit that a God who would send God’s very own son to die on a cross for our sins, and be raised so that we obtain eternal life would consider even our pleas---

Lord to all those who are suffering for this entire world, we pray, may your kingdom come.

We Believe -- A More Balanced View

Okay, so now that I have said what I liked and didn't like about my cousin's in the faith youth gathering, let me put it all together. I do this because nothing is just black or white, good or bad. What we believe as those who follow the German reformer is that we are simultaneously saint and sinner. This goes for both church bodies. We may easily point out each other's sins but we are, so to speak, in the same boat.

What was so wonderful about the gathering I just attended,  like the one in New Orleans in 2009, is that tens of thousands of young people came to praise God. Not only that, they came to help and serve in a city that has been devastated by natural and man made disasters. The city of New Orleans needs to know that the rest of the country has not forgotten about them and these young people let them know just that.

They walked the streets, spent their money on food and souvenirs and hopefully boosted the economy of this historical city. They were polite and well mannered. I heard this over and over as I visited the shops. And they went out, 12,000 of them to work all over the city. They were witnesses to Christ. Different than my denomination's witness, but witnesses just the same.

What is so wonderful in the culture that we live in is that it is still possible to gather so many young people together in the name of Jesus. Yes, Jesus' name was bandied about, sung, shouted and proclaimed. I have some problems with the way it was proclaimed -- I wish they would speak more about God's love; I suppose they would like us to be more pristine -- yet......In the gospel of Mark, John gets upset about others doing work in Jesus' name. "Teacher we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us." But Jesus said, "Do not stop him; for no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me." 

Indeed we may have differing ways to do the work of God, but we both believe that there is power in gathering, praising and serving in the name of Jesus.

Join me in this historic city in 2012, to sing, shout, praise and serve all in the name of Jesus. We are coming back New Orleans we have not forgotten. We come because 'we believe' in Jesus.

A Post-Racial Era -- Not Yet

The present political climate is frightening. As a matter of fact it is down right scary. It seems as though there is a real back lash in this country because we have an African American president. Just two years ago we were hearing that we were in a post-racial era-- well--not yet.

This weeks incident involving Shirley Sherrod is case in point. The right wing media machine was trying to say that the NAACP was as racist as the new Tea Party movement. Well, there are a few things wrong with that. First we seem to be afraid to explain the classic definition of racism--prejudice plus power. This has been written about and talked about in numerous books and articles on racism. Joseph Barndt classic work Dismantling Racism written in the early 90's and the more recent work Understanding and Dismantling Racism: The Twenty-First Century Challenge to White America written in 2007 explains. While a person of color can clearly be prejudice they do not have the overarching power that makes it possible to be racist. Even with a black president this has not changed. The dominant culture in this country still maintains much of the power -- political and economical.

Secondly, has anyone ever heard two wrongs don't make a right. No one says that the NAACP or left leaning politic pundits do not sometimes act with prejudice, but to tarnish an African American woman to make a point isn't right. What the right wing media machine particularly, Andrew Breitbart, did was take a small snippet of a speech given by a woman who had worked her entire life to overcome prejudice, out of context. If anyone had taken the time to view the entire speech they would have heard that she was telling a story of where she started out. When she encountered white farmers that had experienced hardship and had been hurt by an unjust system, she came to the conclusion that it was less about race and more about the 'haves' and 'have nots.' Shirley Sherrod was telling a story of how her prejudice had been replaced by compassion. A white farmer appeared on television to attest to this compassion. Sherrod was being anything but racist.

What has happened? And how do we who believe in Jesus the Christ counteract this constant rush to judgement about people who are different or who have differing views than we do?

Well, I have a few ideas when it comes to race and ethnicity: First, we have to tell the truth. We have to tell the truth about what frightens us. We also have to continue to be willing to tell our stories. Sherrod told her story of overcoming prejudice and we can tell our stories of experiences with those from different ethnic and racial groups.  Secondly, we can educate ourselves on the issues. In my church library there is an entire selection of books on racism including the two volumes named above. We can also be willing to participate in conversation and bible studies that deal with issues of race and culture. One such bible study is written by the ELCA; it accompanies the social statement "Freed in Christ: Race Ethnicity and Culture." This can be found at elca.org on the page that list social statements.

The statement begins:

. . . there is one God and one Lord, Jesus Christ, " . . . through whom are all things and through whom we exist" (1Cor 8:6).

Scripture speaks of one humanity, created by God. It recounts our rebellion and enslavement to sin. Scripture tells of a diverse people reconciled to God through the blood of the cross, a people set free for the work of reconciliation. It heralds a new freedom and future in one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

I long for the reality of this "new freedom and future." It is here in Jesus the Christ, but not yet in how we live our lives. I would love to live in a post-racial era, but this will only become a reality if we work toward this. Are you willing? We really can live together in peace with justice black, white, and brown. We can live together with God's help. Don't you agree?

We Believe --- God is Good

After all the ranting I did the other day, I have to say I love it when, my initial not so generous thoughts  can be proven at least a little wrong. They were this morning. Still in NOLA at the youth gathering of my cousins in the faith, I went to a bible study. The bible study leader was a pastor I met during my time serving a congregation in the South Bronx. My encounters with him throughout the years have been pleasant enough. He is smart, funny and the kids in the Bronx Parochial School where he serves love him. So I decided to go hear his bible study.

His study was from the ninth chapter of the gospel of John. He hung tight to the idea of look, listen, live and had some 5 thousand young people in attendance doing hand motions to that idea. He also had them reading the scripture along with him. He would say, 'who loves God's word? Thumbs up, those thumbs you use for texting, but God has a text message for you." The he would point them to their bibles. His style was engaging and captivating. I saw in him recognizable elements of the Black Church tradition. This young pastor, who has since the last time I saw him obtained a PhD in theology, had everyone in the room on the edge of their seats.

The bible study was theologically sound and very well organized. Some of the main themes of the study is that Jesus looks and sees who we are. The emphasis that Jesus knows us -- our needs, our wants, our hurts and pain --- was great. The pastor also talked about not our deciding to follow Jesus but Jesus follows us, seeks us out, chooses us. He described the process of justification through the man born blind as immediate and that his gradual coming to faith in Jesus was the process of sanctification. I enjoyed that explanation.

He also reminded those gathered that the theme of the youth gathering was not 'I Believe' but 'We Believe' because 'we' know and understand more about God than 'I' can know. The implication was that we help each other in our weakness.

When I went to say hello, he greeted me with a hardy, "hey rev, what are you doing here?" I told him that I was there watching how they did things and that I was happy to have heard his exceptional bible study!!!

Do you know any exceptional bible study leaders?

We Believe

Okay,  I marched into the Dome with 25,000 youth ready to praise Jesus. I was visiting the National Youth Gathering of my cousins in the faith. I was there to learn how to look, listen and live what 'we believe;'  I needed to get ideas, to see what it means to put on a massive program for tens of thousands of young people who would be hanging on every word. I was excited! And then ......

I had no preconceived notions. I knew that their interpretation of theology was a little more conservative than ours, but I had no idea how this was going to be presented to youth. The program started with lots of songs about victorious Jesus who was going to help me. The words about all of us coming together, words about justice for the poor, the oppressed, the hungry, were missing. I only heard what Jesus was going to do for me. This was very different from the upfront values expressed in the theme 'Jesus, Justice, Jazz,' and the lyrics I heard sung at our churches National Gathering last year. But it was only the beginning; my impression could be mistaken, so I kept listening. But instead ......

The program began and a skit called 'Gathering News,' was performed. It was not some young person that was going to give us some comic relief about what was happening in and around the world and even in our own backyard; it was not offered to us by some young adult anxious to tell us about what was happening in the lives of young people. But a seemingly middle age man did a very bad rendition of 'SNL' news, criticizing both the president of the United States and the governor of Louisiana it was humor at its meanest. I was aghast. . .

That's not all folks; there was a drama that started out with talk of a missing son and the death of a mother. The father in the skit told his daughter to get over it. This was weird. Something seemed so other worldly about what they talked about. Other worldly in every sense, every message was subliminal and not explicit. It was like a morality play and I am still trying to figure out what it is 'we believe.'

There was prayer and about an hour into the hodge-podge of a message someone quoted a scripture verse and I thought, 'yes' now we are going to get to the meat of this thing--now we are going to have an explicit message. Then a light show began -- the screens depicted the stars, sky and a cosmic universe all the while we saw a dancer moving behind the screens. Strips of long filmy fabric was paraded through the crowd and large cardboard animals were rolled in and out of our view -- I get it, the creation story!  Okay, but to what end? Then Jesus came out dancing in the Garden of Eden and put Adam and Eve together, a sand artist made images that were projected on the big screen (That was really the best part; he was good.) and then when the lights, the music and dancing, started depicting good and evil in black and white, I had enough.


Good and evil as black and white, are you kidding? What is this the sixties? I could not believe that I was in a gathering of Christians and I felt so excluded, so left out, so pushed aside. I had to leave. And you all know as an African American in a predominately white denomination I have learned to cope, to be at home, even to thrive. After all most Sundays when I stand to preach I am one of only a handful of persons of color in the room. That for me is never a problem. But.....

I felt depressed by the subject matter, hurt by conservative Christian sentiments, insulted by subliminal messaging, floored by the lack of diversity and disappointed at the execution. Unfortunately when I returned to my room I saw by looking in the guide book that we missed one of the very few African American speakers on the entire program -- oh well.

As my experiences continues I will keep you updated, perhaps in a few days my disappointment will change and I will understand clearly what 'we believe.'

Won't you stay tuned?

Eat What Is Set Before You

A few Sundays ago, I preached from the tenth chapter of Luke's gospel. I talked about being a good guest by doing as Jesus tells us, "eat what is set before you." I began telling a story of my grandson; "all you parents know how hard it is to get children to eat what is set before them. It’s a chore and I was reminded of this when my grandson visited a few weeks ago. We were having roast chicken, brown rice with a mango salsa spinach and green beans, a pretty nutritious dinner I thought. My grandson took a couple of bits of this and a couple bits of that and he pointed out what he liked and what he didn’t; he would only eat a tiny piece of the skin of the chicken I had so lovingly prepared; he liked the rice with the mango salsa; he tried the spinach with garlic and onions and wouldn’t touch the green beans. All the while he’s probably thinking, where’s the chicken nuggets and fries?" Even at grandma’s it was hard for him to eat what was set before him.

We are not four years old so we think about what it means to be a good guest; or more than that, what does it mean to accept hospitality? Sometimes that is so difficult for us. We think we have to be on the giving end all the time especially when we are the ones who have the resources. Yet, God provides times and opportunities for us to receive.

I was given such an opportunity. When I was in Guatemala over ten years ago I stayed with a Guatemalan family and was taught by an an awesome young mother Mily. They say that the best way to learn a language is to stay in the home and hang out with native speakers. For three months I wasn't to speak English.The time for conversation was during meals. I ate breakfast, lunch and dinner with the family five days a week. My first week was really hard, because all I could do was nod my head and say 'gracias.' I had no idea what some of the strange mixtures of food or funny looking vegetables were. But I didn’t have the vocabulary to ask or to say what I didn’t like. Little by little I learned from my host family and Mily to converse in Spanish one halting word, then one faltering sentence at a time. Finally, I was able to understand when Mily would ask about me, about my life in the Estados Unidos and mi familia. She asked about my vocation and I told her I was studying to be a pastor; after the shock of a woman becoming a pastor, in the days and weeks that followed, the floodgates of conversation were opened. We began to talk about all kinds of things that Mily never would have talked about with a language student- thinks like faith, forgiveness and God.

There was mutuality, and fellowship; we learned to respect and appreciate each other. Not only did we share meals but Mily taught me to dance Salsa. When Mily was recovering from dental surgery her dance partner even let me fill in as assistant instructor teaching other visitors and students how to dance. Now Mily and I are in touch through the wonderful technology of facebook.

This was an interesting time. I was not simply the language student that paid to learn Spanish, 'eating what was set before me' allowed me to see Mily and her family in action, to understand not only their language but the culture and to participate in their lives if only for a moment. This was a tremendous gift.

Jesus sent his disciples out telling them to be good guest, not to be the ones who thought that they had all the resources but to be the ones who received graciously; he told them to 'eat what is set before you.' Jesus himself did this many times in scripture sitting at table with tax collectors and sinners, visiting at the home of Mary and Martha 'eating what was set before him' receiving what others had to give and giving of himself.

Later he sat at table with his disciples on the way to his death. Jesus breaking bread and giving thanks offered to his disciples his body that would be broken for them. He then took the cup giving thanks and proposing that it was the new covenant in his blood; Jesus set before them a meal that nourishes, strengthens and keeps them.This is a meal that will be shared over and over again with us.

For a four year old it may be hard to eat what is set before you. As we grow and learn what a great gift to receive what is offered and be blessed by what is set before us.

That Goes Without Saying

I love my son. I guess that goes without saying. He was my constant companion for many years. I raised him mostly by myself. His father left when he was about eight. He, my son's father, was plagued with demons that show up occasionally in J. Now that he is thirty-one I suppose we have a good relationship. We talk; if he asks, I advice. He doesn't often heed my advice. Sometimes, he thinks I am old and out of touch with the "community." I guess I have lost some cool points following the path that I have, but I know that he respects me.

The other day, we had a heart wrenching conversation. Not so wrenching for him, perhaps, but for me. He told me that he was sorry. He was sorry for not making me proud of him. You see he was a troubled teenager, was smart but hated school. He just couldn't seem to get things together in the classroom. To top that off as a teenager he never seemed to want to hear anything I had to say. I was struggling with my own issues at the time trying to find my own way.  This mixture of my issues and his hate for school didn't do my son much good. So, he didn't go to college and has struggled for years waiting tables in restaurants. I am proud of him; he is trying to make his way. It is just hard to watch him navigate things that could have been avoided. I know I sound like all parents.

The thing I am most proud of is that he is a good father. When the relationship between him and the mother of my grandson didn't work out, he went to the courts and petitioned for partial custody of his baby boy and it was granted. J is determined to be a key player in his son's life. So, he keeps LJ half of the week and the mother has him the other half. My son even moved down the street from his son's mother so that it would be easy for the two of them to share custody.  My son loves his son. You should see them playing basketball together.

I am also proud of my son's work ethic. He has been working since he was fifteen years old and is a good worker. He is now being trained for a management position at his current job. I know he will do well.

I love my son, that goes without saying. I am also proud of him. My prayer is that he will continue to grow, learn, be the father that his son needs, a man the world respects and the person God calls him to be.

What do you want for your children?