Living in the Law of God

They are like trees

    planted by streams of water,

which yield their fruit in its season,

    and their leaves do not wither.

In all that they do, they prosper.

- Psalm 1:3

The psalm singer is pointing out the rewards of the virtuous, those who follow the law. The law is the law of God and the Bible talks about the law of God in some distinct ways. 

There are the laws of myth, where trees, birds, night and day follow the word of God. Note that everything follows this kind of law, e.g., "Let there be light!" except for Adam and Eve who in choosing to do what they please have not considered how God will feel about it or the consequences.

There are the laws that aren't spelled out but were apparently obvious to God who in Genesis 6 is grieved "to his heart" at the wickedness of people. Later, some laws will be spelled out and the first ten are pretty memorable. Those commandments multiplied over time (613!) and it is likely that these are "the law" that the psalmist was thinking of. Then there is the distillation of all the law that I, probably like you, first encountered in a couple of public conversations Jesus had a few centuries afterwards.

Deuteronomy 6 - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.

Leviticus 19 - Love your neighbor as yourself.

The variation of divine law that has been most powerful for me is found in John 15, "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you." 

These words are spoken by Jesus and, so, in order to figure out what this kind of loving one another would look like, one has to study Jesus, imagine Jesus, use Jesus, invite Jesus, challenge Jesus, grieve Jesus, hope Jesus, and, as our communion liturgy sometimes says, "allow oneself to be loved by Jesus."

Another way to say this is that one has to live in the presence of that which transcends our lives, that which is divine.

I just want to emphasize that in all things that we do, I hope that you and I are operating in an ancient context of myth, story, commandments, arguments, song, prayer, praise, and lived experience of the holy. It is that sense of the virtuous life, that sense of following the law which I commend to you. It is in living that way that we become like the trees the psalmist held up, nourished by streams of living water, bearing fruit in our season. 

Peace and Blessing,

Brad

Rules for the Road

For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it. - Matthew 7:14

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5, the writer places Jesus on "the mountain" where he begins to teach. The next few chapters contain some of the most moving and important parts of Jesus' ministry and ours. "You are the light of the world." "Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth." "Pray then in this way: Our Father, …." They also contain a few chestnuts, like the one quoted above from chapter 7. Perhaps you will recognize it a little differently if you read it from an earlier translation, "Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." That's right. This is the source of our ideas about sticking to "the straight and narrow."

Is this important in your life?

Maybe it is not. Maybe you would never try to live a "narrow" life. After all, you are no Puritan!

Finding the one set of lessons from parents, lessons from your faith tradition, lessons from school, from literature, from culture, from philosophy, from history can be complex and incomplete. In response to the complexity, some of us collapse the whole problem and grab onto something simpler. Because we've grabbed on, we also have to claim that we've chosen correctly. If you've followed this path, you may find relief from the difficulty of complex and incomplete rules to stay on the straight and narrow. You may also have a tendency to dismiss or denigrate other sets of rules; dismiss or denigrate those who follow truth that is not the truth you have chosen.

Sigh.

Don't do this.

The faith tradition I claim in the United Church of Christ, is one that tends to broadening and deepening – not one that tends to narrowing and completeness. We look to all those sources for inspiration and guidance I mentioned above and we remain open to God who is still speaking, still creating.

Biblical examples are often told to show how the most faithful, the great paragons of our faith story, were true to their root story, their covenant. To read some modern works based on this concept is to read how a church can't go wrong if it emulates the practices of the early church, revealed in the Acts of the Apostles and the Letters of Paul and his ilk to the new Christian communities of the eastern Mediterranean. Or one can read how if a modern church leader or pastor will just follow the leadership lessons of Moses, then all will be well. Also, in this style of narrative, Jesus makes no mistakes and God is perfect.

That's not what the Bible says, though. The early (and later) churches twisted away from the teaching of Paul & Co. Paul himself got a number of things completely wrong. Moses stumbled, David did vile things, and in a couple of instances, Jesus was, shall we say, a little slow on the uptake. …and there's that whole divine "oops" called the flood where God ended up having to promise never to do that again. 

What the stories really capture is how God is open to us and our positive and destructive twists and turns. God remains engaged with us in this complicated life. The people who told all those stories in the Bible made sure that we would see that even a powerful prophet like Elijah would visit despair and that there, in the midst of despair, God remained engaged. God did not leave Elijah alone.

That is what forgiveness looks like. In practical terms, forgiveness is remaining engaged with someone when there's every reason to turn away. That's who God is in these stories; the one who stays, the one who is there.

That, beloved, is the way you are called to be as well.

No, it is not always possible for you or me to forgive. You should make no mistake about it though, it is what God is hoping for from us, it is what Jesus recommended to us, it is the true north of our moral compass.

Let our longing be to find a way to live life that is connected to the deepest meanings of life. Take up this compass and head on out!

By the Oaks of Mamre and Your Front Door

He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them, and bowed down to the ground. He said, 'My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree. Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.' –Genesis 18:2-5a

 

I have always been charmed by stories of travelers in certain parts of the world who encounter hospitality in ordinary households. I hear some recurring themes in these stories. The visitor is shown to the most comfortable place to sit, be it a nice chair or the better pile of skins. There is some bustling around, perhaps the assembly of something to eat or the heating of a pot of water for tea or coffee. Conversation is pleasant as both host and visitor without anxiety allow the time to grow and flower in conviviality. The food and drink are served and more pleasantness is sustained. At some point, the talk turns to whatever business has brought this meeting into being.

The fascinating and inspiring book of a few years ago "Three Cups of Tea" drew its title from the measurement of that point at which conversation could turn more purposeful in some households of Pakistan.

Have you encountered a practice like this yourself?

Do you have a habitual way that you handle visits, perhaps learned when you were little? 

I confess that I don't. I kind of make it up on the fly. It depends on who the visitor is, what else I'm doing, is this an expected visit or a drop-in, the time of day, and, perhaps most importantly, what the purpose of the visit is. I don't necessarily have to get down to business right away, but often enough, that's the most significant aspect of the visit for me and the strongest determinant for what hospitality I will offer.

That is very different from the stories of hospitable hosts that I find so charming.

Where does my habit come from? Where does yours? Do you consider your habits of hospitality to be Christian?

With that last question, you can hear me asking whether your habits mimic the practices of Jesus. We have very few images of Jesus' example or idea of hospitality as such. One that we should remember, of course, is the Breakfast on the Beach, in the Gospel of John, Chapter 21. Another story is the powerful moment, when in response to the query, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?" in Matthew 25, Jesus shared this startling and eternal insight, "…just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Do you root your practice of hospitality in those stories?

I am asking another question too. Are your personal habits of hospitality informed or drawn from the rich history of hospitality in Christian communities, such as churches, such as homes? Some of these are revealed in the Acts of the Apostles and the letters at the back of the Bible. 

Consider this instruction from The Letter to the Hebrews, in Chapter 13, "Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares." The anonymous author of this book of the Bible is referring to the story excerpted at the beginning of this Note. That story is about Abraham, who is sitting outside the tent where he and Sarah are resting.

That story is the foundation of Christian hospitality, of Jewish hospitality, and, it turns out, of Islamic hospitality. The Pakistanis whose practice included those three cups of tea? Their cultural practice of hospitality is instructed by the hospitality of Islam. That hospitality of theirs is further illustrated by a story about one of Islam's heroes.

Abu Talha welcomed a hungry traveler into his home even though there was very little to eat. So he instructed his wife Umm Sulaim to bring whatever provisions they had and give it to the guest. As the guest ate his fill, these two devout Muslims pretended to eat in the dim candlelight.

Perhaps we should have a conversation about what practices we think are best, most welcoming, most nourished by the tradition we claim, and most holy. Holy? Why holy you ask? Well, here is the first line of Genesis 18, omitted earlier. It is a good verse to memorize today!

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day. – Genesis 18:1

Peace and Blessing,

Brad

 

Finding Truth in Encountering Winter

In the human struggle to understand the nature of truth, winter has landed in New England. There is no falsehood in the depth of snow I see outside my window, or yours I suspect. From one perspective, the snow just is. "The Teacher," the voice we hear in the book of Ecclesiastes, might regard the snow and the cold with wisdom's gimlet eye. The snow is neither good nor bad, it is just what is there.

How about you?

A ramble through the internet encounters reasons why people say winter is not just winter – winter is a drag. Here's a list:

Winter is cold, dark, one is trapped indoors, there is snow shoveling, hazardous driving, slush of uncertain depth, winter seems to last forever, walkways are slippery, nature looks dead, New England heating costs, chapped, heavy clothes, and banging heat pipes.

Then there is a list of why winter is excellent. Consider:

Winter air is crisp, sunrises are viewable at a civilized hour, skiing, sledding, tubing, etc., hot chocolate, quilts, snow days, no mosquitos, poison ivy, ticks, or grass mowing, winter has much of Advent and Lent and all of Christmas, cozy clothing, snow on trees, snow on houses, snow on mountains, snow sculptures, snow falling.

How does it change our experience of this day and tomorrow to see winter as the second list rather than the first? Both lists contain truth so this question is not about what is true or "truer." My question for you, beloved, is about how you let various truths live in your speaking, your emotional response through a winter's day, and your prayers at morning and evening.

Perhaps, pastor is here advocating the theology of Pollyanna, Eleanor H. Parker's optimistic heroine in her bestselling 1913 book of the same name? Maybe. 

Or perhaps I am suggesting that you observe, as Masha says in Anton Chekov's 1901 play, "The Three Sisters," that, "Happy people don't notice whether it is winter or summer."  

Well, no, I would rather you notice winter (and summer when it is summer.) No, I am not trying to judge you or give you cause to judge yourself for the way you approach winter. I have something else in mind.

I am advocating for your morning and evening prayers; that you stick to them, never missing a day. 

And here is a way you can try to pray your way through winter. 

First, accept the challenge of praying daily, when you wake up and when you are about to close your eyes to sleep at night. Second, make it your intention to summon or acknowledge or provisionally accept that you are praying in the realm of the holy. You can even say to yourself, "Okay, now I'm orienting myself to the holy, toward God, in the direction of what means most to me." This is one of the reasons people get down on their knees, put their hands together, and bow their heads. It is a purposeful act to enter the outside and inside posture of prayer – even if for you it feels silly or "just an act." Do it anyway.
Third, review what you have seen of life since you last prayed. Look outward to the people you have encountered, the events, and the weather too! You are looking at the truth of life. 
Fourth, look inward at how you feel about those things and if you are anxious or grieving or puzzled or angry or whatever, let yourself name those feelings and see the truth that way. Tighten. Lament.
Fifth, look again and find your feelings of joy or humor or pleasure or accomplishment and let yourself see the truth that way. Open. Honor.
Finally, say, "Amen," and move on to your day or your sleep. 

Let me know how it goes if you like.

I have the feeling, or at least the hope, that this simple practice of prayer will realign you, return you to yourself, and make winter winter again. I have the certainty that the source of all we know and see, the infuser of life and grace, will be strengthened by your practice – and then you will feel how strengthened you have been in return.

Caroling

"… and he laid his hands on each of them and cured them." Luke 4:40

Have you unplugged from Christmas?  What's that mean to you?  What stories do you tell at Christmas that you don't tell at the beginning of February?  I'm not suggesting that you should be telling stories about shepherds and annunciations and leading stars.  I'm just wondering if you have been able to keep the best impulses of Christmas alive in your life thus far into the new year.

One of those Christmastime impulses led a bunch of us to go caroling in December.  In case you haven't heard that story, here's one part of it.

Terri Taylor is attending Andover Newton Theological School and one of her classmates is now a chaplain in Wrentham at the Wrentham Developmental Center, a community for adults with developmental disabilities.  Chaplain Liz Brimm invited us to come caroling.  We went in three or four carloads!  The building we visited had two apartments on each of four floors.  Each apartment was home to three to five adults and each apartment had three or four professional caregivers.  Few of the residents speak or move easily.  The apartments were warm and decorated for the season.

We were a little shy and a lot curious.  I was certainly curious.  The "cottages" of which we were visiting one are the remnants of the state school at Wrentham where people with certain disabilities were housed, put away.  That history is not ancient or happy.  So I, at least, felt the weight of that history and felt some tension about our visit.

We were greeted and ushered into the first apartment where our first sight was a woman in a wheelchair with wide eyes and strong, gesticulating arms.  As we shuffled into the apartment, we kind of hung together – mostly because we were looking for where to stand to sing our carols – except for Susan Spaulding.  Susan walked right over to the (somewhat startling looking) woman in the wheel chair and took her hand and said, "Hello, dear, hello!"

I'd like to tell you that the woman calmed right down or that all the people we saw that afternoon were healed, amused, or even knew we were there.  Well, no one began to walk suddenly or speak in full sentences and many of the residents seemed unaware of us.  But we sang a ton of songs in the cottage that afternoon and there were some folks joining in and smiling that we were there.  The staff seemed glad and that helped us grow bolder as we went apartment to apartment.  Some of us grew as bold as Susan and reached out a hand to hold a hand or touch a shoulder.

I don't mean to sentimentalize our caroling visit.  We sang some carols!  The apartments were warm and bright!  We were glad to go and we stuck with it through the entire building!  Clearly the residents are being cared for competently and kindly.  Chaplain Liz  said that, "There's nothing but love in this building."  We should go again!

I just wanted us all to remember that Jesus laid hands on people to heal them and just to make his presence tangible.  I also invite us to find gifts in each other and honor those gifts.  There are some of us who are not likely to use a keyboard to update a spreadsheet.  There are some of us who may be unlikely to sing a solo.  But each of us has moments when our gift of song, of conversation, of building repair, of crafting, of foam collecting, of garlic planting, or of approaching an intimidating/frightened stranger and reaching out to reassure and say, "Hello, dear, hello," makes our strength and gift clear.  So look for the gift in yourself, look for the gift in the people around you, and give thanks and praise to the one who gave us the gift and is giving still.

Jonah

The story of Jonah is another Bible favorite! The reluctant prophet, the ship's crew in fear for their lives, a tempest, "man overboard!" a great fish, the prophet acquiesces, a land journey, a wicked city with a wicked ruler, a prophetic voice, a repentance and mending of ways, a temper tantrum, and a prank by the creator of the universe. Maybe you remember it as Jonah and the Whale. It's an epic tale and lends itself to child's drawings, costume dramas, puppet plays, and stained glass windows.

Which part of that story is about you? Is any part of that story like you or like part of your life?

Let me suggest a few places where you might see moments of your own journey in the journey of Jonah.

Have you felt compelled to take on an onerous or dangerous task? God compelled Jonah to go to Nineveh and tell them to shape up. Jonah really didn't want anything to do with such an errand. The embarrassment would be huge. He clearly would have no effect on the wicked. His reputation as a prophet would go down the drain. It was a long and difficult journey. They might just throw him in jail, or worse. Jesus, faced with this kind of task, asked to be let off, although if that was not possible, he said he would complete his destiny. Jonah just got out of town.

How about this one? You might have realized that you were the one messing things up. Or you violated your relationship with someone; being too controlling, being unkind, losing your temper in a hurtful way, grabbing a moment of selfishness. Jonah knew that he was the one who was the cause of the tempest. He comes to a dramatic moment of truth, don't you think?

"He said to them, 'Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will quiet down for you; for I know it is because of me that this great storm has come upon you.'"

Have you ever given Jonah credit for this moment in the story? He will sacrifice himself for a bunch of strangers, people he just met. It is extraordinary! And then something else extraordinary happens. They refuse!

"Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to bring the ship back to land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more stormy against them."

So, over he goes. Can you relate? Have you ever cast your fate upon the uncertain or dangerous path in a way from which there is no turning back? Or perhaps you can relate to what must have happened after he hit the water. Jonah knew he was finished. Nothing is stronger than an angry sea and he was right in the middle of it and beginning to sink. There are images stuck in my head from the end of the movie, A Perfect Storm. One is Bobby Shatford, played by Mark Wahlberg, who is overboard and floating. He is completely alone in the vastness. Another is Billy Tyne, played by George Clooney, who is still in his boat, underwater, staring up as all is lost. Have you been there beloved? Have you been in a place where there is no more help coming, no hope at all?

Then maybe you have found what Jonah found. Even in the most devastating, hopeless chaos, something comes swimming as if it owned the place. The great fish swims to the rescue and Jonah is saved. God's child, leviathan, whale, giant beast of the sea, water angel, comes and saves the drowning prophet.

When you are in the place of chaos and pain, beloved, may you find the very hand of God to hold you and see you through.

Homily - In Which Jesus is Found to Laugh with Delight

Homily for the Installation Service of Rev. Greg Morrisse to the Senior Pastor Call at The Plymouth Church in Framingham - October 19, 2014

Gospel Reading    Luke 10:25-28

Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus asked, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”
The lawyer answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.”
Jesus replied, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”

Homily

It seemed like any other day in the Gospels of Our Lord and Savior.
- Disciples full of questions
- Sadducees concerned about the integrity of the temple
- Pharisees discussing everything as they adapted faith to changing conditions
- …all familiar to Jesus.

Actually, in the Gospel stories, not much surprises Jesus. He pretty much sees coming what’s coming.

In this story, the gospel writers send yet another putz up against the hero, Jesus. This time, it's a "lawyer."

//
And we, the readers are more than readers. We are an audience with popcorn, bread, and grape juice and we have front row seats!

‘Cause we get it.

- There are people in our lives who have opinions about what we should eat, how we should fertilize our gardens, what car we should drive, who we should vote for, etc., and we would sometimes like to tell them to take a hike.
- There are people in our lives who think that there is a God whose voice stopped when the Bible was “written” or a founding spirit who vanished when the US Constitution was signed and we would like to tell them that the spirit of this nation continues to change and grow and that God is Still Speaking.
- There are people in our lives who don’t seem to quite "get" us and that is both wearying and irritating and we are impatient with being so patient.

//
So, we’re all set for a Jesus smackdown.
- We're ready to see him meet corruption with angry table throwing
- We can't wait for him to respond to pedantry with devastating truth
- He's about to put the lawyer on the ground with a folding chair!

//
Not only doesn’t that happen, but Jesus doesn’t fall for the trap at all.
I mean, he doesn’t fall for the trick-question trap that the writer of Luke places in the mouth of the lawyer.
He also seems not to fall for the writer’s trick either – I mean the setup for a dramatic refutation and confounding of someone opposed to Jesus’ story about the kingdom of God.

//
And you won’t fall for it anymore either, will you?
Greg has shown us all how the stress and anxiety of this life, of his life, and of this church do not command his behavior. Greg chooses again and again not to fall for the trick.
Beloved, if you haven’t realized it before this minute then this minute is your time to pivot – to turn the tables on the trickiness of life. After now, you won’t fall for any political ad trying to get you angry. You won’t be fooled by anyone’s attempt to put you down.
When someone tries to make their anxiety into your problem you will take a dancer's step back so it doesn’t land on you and listen kindly – without taking it on.
Now you will leave that manipulation behind.

So Jesus turns the tables on this trick situation – and I propose that the Bible narrative fails to fully report the surprise ending. And I hope you like surprises, ‘cause…

//
Here’s the picture of Jesus I want to paint for you today, I want you to imagine!
See him there in his rough clothes and a rough beard,
See him there surrounded by some who love him, some who aren’t sure, and a bunch of strangers.
See him ready for people in need of a kind word, in need of healing,
...People yearning for deeper meaning, "leaning out for love," for just one touch of the hem of his garment
…and he expects it all – he’s expecting the dust, the mixture of people, the suspicion, the anxiety, the expectations, and, yes, the trick questions,
…and sure enough, here comes the lawyer.

//

From wherever Lawyer is sitting, Lawyer pops up, raising a hand high and 

speaks. 

Lawyer:   Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?

Brad:       And expecting just one more of these interactions, Jesus turns
                patiently and asks,
                “What is written in the law? What do you read there?”

                And I think the lawyer might have paused briefly to think. And
                then eagerly said:

Lawyer:  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
                and with all your soul, and with all your strength,
                and with all your mind; - and your neighbor as yourself!

And Jesus is so surprised by the beautiful answer that he wraps the lawyer in his everlasting arms with a great shout, “Yes!” And Jesus, filled with delight, laughs and laughs and laughs!

//

Beloved, God grieves when we grieve. And the source and spirit of life itself rejoices when we get it right.

//

Oh, one more thing. Jesus doesn’t at this time make a promise about eternal life, no, Jesus says, “Do this and you will live.” Period. This life. Right now.

//

And we all know now that there is solid ground on which we can stand and that ground is to love our God and from that ground we can go forth to love our Neighbor and with that confidence, we need no longer be tricked by the world’s trivialities, we can live and live with joy, and that beloved friends, will make Jesus laugh and laugh and laugh!

Losing - or Keeping - Your Faith

From a Letter to a Student

Flannery O'Connor

Reprinted from www.bruderhof.com

Burdened by a crippling disease but armed with a razor-sharp mind and unshakeable convictions, writer Flannery O'Connor left a large and impressive body of spiritual writings when she died at 39.

Though not as widely known as her gothic novels and short stories, these pieces are more readily accessible, and (probably because so many are letters) they speak with a highly personal, immediate voice. In this one, written to her good friend Alfred Corn, she decries what she once called a "tired cliche": the idea that education in general, and collegiate / university life in particular, must inevitably lead to a shipwrecked faith.

…

I think the experience of losing your faith, or of having lost it, is an experience that in the long run belongs to faith; or at least it can belong to faith if faith is still valuable to you, and it must be or you would not have written me about this.

I don’t know how the kind of faith required of a Christian living in the 20th century can be at all if it is not grounded on this experience that you are having right now of unbelief. “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief” is the most natural and most human and most agonizing prayer in the gospels, and I think it is the foundation prayer of faith.

A friend once wrote to the poet Gerard Manley Hopkins and asked him to tell him how he could believe.  He must have expected a long philosophical answer. Hopkins wrote back, “give alms.” Perhaps he was trying to say that God is to be experienced in Charity (in the sense of love for the divine image in human beings). Don’t get so entangled with intellectual difficulties that you fail to look for God in this way.

Faith is what you have in the absence of knowledge… and that absence doesn’t bother me because I have got, over the years, a sense of the immense sweep of creation, of the evolutionary process in everything, of how incomprehensible God must necessarily be to be the God of heaven and earth. You can’t fit the Almighty into your intellectual categories.

If you want your faith, you have to work for it. It is a gift, but for very few is it a gift given without any demand for time devoted to its cultivation…Even in the life of a Christian, faith rises and falls like the tides of an invisible sea. It’s there, even when he can’t see it or feel it, if he wants it to be there.

Homily at a Wedding

I want to tell you two stories.

Look at these two people! We know enough about human sexuality and culture to see how they might discover each other and be interested, right? In the musical “Guys and Dolls,” the character named Sky Masterson called it chemistry. It’s not so surprising that they would find a connection. It is reasonable. This man and this woman make sense together. It is a good story to tell.

Look at each other. Go ahead. We know enough about how guest lists are assembled to figure out who is here today. Humans are social beings and a kinship analysis would reveal how everyone you see around you is connected by one or more threads of relationship to other people here. We can talk about family ties, ties of friendships long and short, we can understand the “Who’s Who” of this gathering. It is reasonable. This gathering makes sense. We make a fine story – call it chapter two of our first story.

Now expand your vision to this place. There is light and sea and air. We see the Maine coastline revealed in the stone ledge under our feet; formed from the slow shifting of tectonic plates, the grinding of giant ice sheets, the gradual erosion of the elements. We know the geology is mapped. The meteorological explanation of a sunny day is also something we can find on the web. When you dig into it, it is rational and makes sense. So we have chapter three of our first, good story.

Here is another story.

Can you see the poetry in the shapes of these stones? Do you feel the thrill of this sea air? Does your heart respond to the expectation of the open horizon? Are you brightened by the wonder in our spirits? Breathe it in! Let it fill you up - at the same time that it makes you empty and yearning for something more. We are in a world that has been made by a love well beyond our sense of time and understanding. There is surrounding us a flow of something ancient and unimaginable. It is right here and also elusive. Something or someone is delighted with all this and filled with wonder, just like we are.

Can you see that this gathering is extraordinary? We will never recreate this particular gathering of people and relationships another time. You are right here, right now. There is nothing else in your life you can really be sure of but this precious moment in which we are alive together. This couple and their parents have given us this moment as a completely unexpected and impossible gift, a completely unexpected blessing. Maybe like me, you can hardly believe it.

Can you imagine the complex web of choices that brought this particular man and this particular woman to this season in their lives and to this particular moment? A missed train, a different friend, some alternate decision about staying or going – it is as if they have been guided here. You know, God loves a romance as much as any of us, where boy and girl eventually find each other. And what God really loves is a story that starts this way and just keeps going.

So. I have set before you two stories. You can be happy with the fascinating story about chemistry, kinship ties, and the geology of coastal North America. You can be happy with the story about a creating love that is greater than time and space, the unexpected blessing of this moment together that you will never forget, and a destiny fulfilled and ready for the next step. I suggest you keep the first story in mind but choose the second.

Beloved, choose the better story!

Illustrating "Who's Garden?"

I can well imagine an atheist’s last words: “White, white!  L-L-Love! My God! – and the deathbed leap of faith.  Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, “Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,” and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story.

Yan Martel, The Life of Pi, (Knopf Canada, 2001), Chapter 22

Whose Garden?

Dear Ones,

"Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
   and spreads its wings toward the south?
Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
   and makes its nest on high?
It lives on the rock and makes its home
   in the fastness of the rocky crag.
From there it spies the prey;
   its eyes see it from far away.
Its young ones suck up blood;
   and where the slain are, there it is."
- Job 39:26-30

That text of Job is in quotes. Someone is speaking. Can you remember who speaks thus in Job's grand story of misfortune and fate? It is part of the song God sings - or hollers - at Job when God decides to set the record straight. The speech is another of the creation stories, among the many in the Bible, and this one comes from the very voice of God!

I love these passages. God is upbraiding Job (although God's real targets are Job's “learned friends") with a voice dripping with sarcasm...and yet poetry. "Is it by your wisdom" is sarcastic. Then notice the beauty of "that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south?" "Is it at your command," is sarcastic. "That the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high," is beautiful.

Then something even more compelling happens in the passage. God loses it. God is caught in wonder at creation even though it is the work of God's own word, God's own will. The voice 
seems to lose track of the scolding and go off in another direction entirely, marveling at how the hawk hunts and how its "young ones" are fed. Do you hear it? God is in love with all that is created. God's delight and awe in the face of nature is overwhelming even to God; just like it is to you!

Earlier this summer, I noticed that some of our church garden vegetables were nibbled to the nub. I suspected a few local residents. In particular, I had my eye on the groundhog who lives under the Grace Church shed. I did not forget to suspect the bunny (undoubtedly one of many) who is fond of the grass that grows beneath the elevated garden, where the lawnmower doesn't go. I also had the seemingly infinite number of turkeys who make a daily promenade through the field on my list. Only just now am I considering that deer, chipmunks, mice, opossums, racoons, skunks, and squirrels are also potential diners, although I haven't observed them myself. And there are other kinds of birds too.

It is tempting to think of them all as pests; vermin determined to thwart our attempts to grow some herbs for human consumption. I suppose they are. They may in fact thwart my plans to grow a tomato in the yard this year.

Perhaps another way to think of it is that they are operating from another plan. Perhaps our rational approach to creating free food for Framingham is only one plan. After all:

"Is it by your wisdom that the groundhog digs deep,
   and makes an exit from under the shed to all the compass points around?
Is it at your command that the bunny watches
  and turns like lighting to vanish from the yard?
They live near the earth and make a home
  where it is cool and dark and invisible.
They see wider than 180 degrees
  and notice every shadow, every quivering leaf.
They might know the coming weather
  and how to escape the flood.
They make many young
  for the meek shall inherit the earth."

Enjoy your vegetables, flowers, and all your gardens, beloved. Then give a sweet prayer of thanks to the one who finds joy in all growing things, who longs to heal all blighted and benighted things, and who, most particularly, loves you, loves you, loves you.

Peace and Blessing
Brad