The Rev. Dr. Wil Gafney preaching on Genesis 12:1-4a as part of the Chidester Lecture Series. Audio Only.

Matthew 5:38-48 Calvin breaks his dad’s binoculars. Calvin, as in the comic strip boy with the tiger of “Calvin and Hobbes” fame, not the reformed theologian John Calvin, to be clear. He breaks his dad's binoculars and is sweating about it. He asks his tiger Hobbes, who is the voice of reason in the comic, what he should do. Maybe he can raid his piggy bank and buy a new pair without his dad noticing. He has about $6 and calls the store to see how much the binoculars cost. $600! Oh man! Calvin’s dad is going to kill him! Maybe we can put them back together, Hobbes offers. Calvin gets the box and pours out the binoculars that have been reduced to dust, instructing Hobbes not to sneeze. That’s not an option either. Calvin doesn’t know what to do. He’s at the family dinner table and he’s sweating it out. Calvin thinks, “Look at dad, calming eating his dinner as if nothing was wrong. I know him. His ‘dad radar’ is beeping like crazy. He knows I broke something, he just doesn’t know WHAT. He can’t nail me until he knows for sure. He’ll just wait. I know him. He’s going to just sit there eating and let me stew in my own guilt. He figures sooner or later I’ll crack.” His dad asks, “Calvin, can you pass the…” “AAUGH! I did it! I did it! I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!!” and Calvin confesses. Dad rants, “You BROKE the binoculars! Didn’t I tell you to be extra, extra careful with them?? Isn’t that exactly what I said?! WELL?! Those binoculars were brand new! Have you no respect for other people’s property??” Calvin replies with a tear, “I have an idea dad, let’s pretend I already feel terrible about it, and that you don’t need to rub it in anymore. I didn’t mean to break your binoculars, it was an accident. I’m really sorry and felt like I was going to barf all afternoon.” “I’m sorry I yelled at you like I did, I shouldn’t have been so angry,” The dad says. “After all in the big scheme of things, that’s really not so bad.” “Really?” “Sure! In another ten years you’ll probably be wrecking my car.” Calvin was so worried about the retaliation of his dad. He knew his father, he knew he’d go ballistic and he did everything he could do to avoid it. Yet the dad responded, after the initial flare of anger, with surprising grace. The dad responds in a way that isn’t punitive, but restorative. Later, he buys Calvin his own pair of binoculars and the two are reconciled and the relationship healed. That is how God is. We spend so much time sweating things out. We resist confessing because we’ve been told that God is a wrathful and vengeful judge, but that’s not the God we find in Jesus Christ. You’ve heard all that, but I say unto you that God is life-giving and will restore you… so you must do the same. Live just like God. Have the virtues God has. You have heard it said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, but I say unto you, turn the other cheek. If they want your coat, give your cloak. If one of the soldiers of the Roman occupying army forces you to carry their things for a mile, go an extra mile. Restore the relationship. Humanize yourself to them. Risk being vulnerable to them. Jesus knows we have enemies, or if not outright enemies then conflict in our relationships. Even the good ones. Jesus also knows that we’d sooner accept a God we are fed to than a God we are fed by. I’m going to say that again. Jesus knows, as theologian Robert Capon stated, we’d sooner accept a God we are fed to… that we have to sacrifice animals to and grovel and prostrate ourselves before… than a God we are fed by… who restores us, wants us to mend the relationship between God, the ground and source of our existence; our neighbors, the partners of our existence; and our environment, the context of our existence. Reminds me of a pity saying in some church circles, “God loves you just as you are, and too much to leave you as you are.” Love is transformative, changing, and restorative. Many people talk of God a(continued)

Sermon “You Have Heard it Said, But I Say” February 12, 2017 Deuteronomy 30:15-20 15See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. 16If you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the LORD your God, walking in his (God’s) ways, and observing his (God’s) commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the LORD your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. 17But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, 18I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. 19I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, 20loving the LORD your God, obeying him (God) , and holding fast to him (God), for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the LORD swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. Matthew 5:21-37 21“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ 22But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire… 27“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ 28But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart… 33“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ 34But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God… “Choose life, l'chaim!” “You have heard it said, but I say to you…” There is a Jewish toast that I want to lift up and use today for the sermon. “l'chaim,” or in English, “Choose life.” Many years ago as a teenager I remember that on one occasion when I went to get my hair cut at the local barbershop, the woman that was cutting my hair got shared with me a struggle that she was having in faith. This woman was from a fairly traditional church with fairly conservative teachings. The teaching that was causing her a bit of a faith crisis had to do with baptism. Her church taught that baptism was a prerequisite to having eternal life. Therefore the unbaptized were not welcomed into heaven. Her faith crisis happened when one of her friends had a baby that died shortly after being born. Due to the suddenness of the child’s death, the child had not been baptized their pastor. Now this woman, my barber, was struggling with her fear that this child, due to the lack of being baptized, was not welcomed into heaven, into eternal life. Her faith told her that the only outcome here was death. Now I do not remember exactly what I said to her but what I do remember of that time in the barber’s chair was that I could not imagine that the God we believed in could be so cruel as to bar an infant from baptism for the lack of being baptized. I chose to believe in a God that offers life. A second thought on eternal life was triggered by my attendance at funeral not long ago where another pastor was giving the message. In an effort to offer hope in the midst of death, this pastor on several occasions remarked that the deceased through his death had entered eternal life. Each time it was stated, I was thinking, I am not so sure about that. You see, I believe that his entrance into eternal life did not happen at death but happened much earlier than that. I believe his entrance into eternal life happened the moment he experienced life. Each of these s(continued)

Is 58:3-10, Mt 5:13-20 The Rev. Mary Meadows preaching. It was near the end of the summer between 9th and 10th grade – between junior high and senior high. I had finished with my job teaching swimming at the local YMCA, and I wondered what I would do while waiting for school to begin. My next-door neighbor came to the rescue. “I cook for First Baptist Church at Falls Creek, a big Baptist camp. I could really use a helper. I’ll pay you – I just need you for an hour before each meal so you’ll still have time to do things with the other campers.” A paid job and I could be out of the house for a couple of weeks. Sure, why not?! I didn’t know much about Baptists at that time. I had started out life as Catholic, but my parents left the Catholic church when I was in grade school. They were frustrated with a church that did not seem to respond to the world’s needs. Then we were Unitarian for a while. But by the end of junior high, I didn’t feel I was much of anything. But this was the year when Baptists (and when I say Baptists here I am talking about Southern Baptists – there wasn’t much else in Oklahoma!) were making popular a bumper sticker exclaiming, “I found it!” a reference to finding Jesus Christ as a personal savior. My family was more likely to tout the response bumper sticker that said, “I never lost it.” Nonetheless, with not much worry and only a mild admonition from my parents to, “Have fun – but try not to get saved,” I headed off to the borderland between Oklahoma and Texas for a summer camp. Other than having to get up earlier than most of the other campers to help in the kitchen before breakfast, the camp felt mostly like camp. Well, let me clarify. It wasn’t camp like “camping” - the kind my Girl Scouts did in cabins or tents. No this was “camping” in a huge barrack-like building amid other huge barrack-like buildings owned by other large churches. And there was an awful lot of God talk. Bible studies in the morning where I learned such things as, “If you are lukewarm for God, God is going to spit you out – just like the whale spit out Jonah.” And there were the church services in the evening – a revival type feeling. But there was also lots of singing, with songs like, “Wherever he leads I’ll go” and “It only takes a spark to get the fire burning,” (when Pass It On was a relatively new song). Since I liked to sing, it was enough to carry me through most of the God-talk. That is, until someone found out I wasn’t saved. I don’t know if you have ever been witnessed to, but it is a little intimidating. Everyone suddenly wants to share with you about his or her personal relationship with Jesus Christ and how you can have that relationship to if you only give your life up to him. They can pounce on you at any moment. And it sometimes felt like an inquisition. “Do you believe in Jesus?” “Sure, I believe Jesus was a real person,” I responded (we had been Unitarian after all). “Do you believe what Jesus said?” “Probably.” “Did you know Jesus said you had to be saved?” “Show me where Jesus said it.” Well, that would send them scrambling through their Bible – apparently, they weren’t used to having to prove things, and I was safe until the next person decided to try a hand at witnessing. One memorable counselor tried a sympathetic approach. “I know it’s hard for you to understand this since Catholics are not Christian.” Let’s just call that one a complete fail. But more troubling than being witnessed to was that I just didn’t see that much of a difference in the behavior of those who were “saved” and the usual behavior of teenagers. There was still teasing, catty remarks, and judgments (like rating girls on the way to the pool – yes, boys and girls swam separately). And there didn’t seem to be any focus on changing behavior. Rather, the focus was on confessing your sins and God would forgive you. I had the sense that many assumed that since you could ask forgiveness later, it didn’t matt(continued)

Matthew 4:12-23 12Now when Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. 13He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, 14so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 15“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali, on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 16the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light, and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death light has dawned.”17From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 18As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. 19And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” 20Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. 22Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him. 23Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people. First, to understand this text we must unlearn what we think we know about the word repent. When you hear the word repent, what comes to mind? “Repent you sinner!” I am a bad person, who must first repent so that I can be saved! But what if the word, repent, meant to turn, to change directions? What if it had nothing to do with sin or being a bad person? What if Jesus’s use of the word meant to change the current direction that your life has taken you to a new direction, one that is far more fulfilling? What if the use of the word repent meant that you turned from a life that left you aching for something more to one of which Iranaeus spoke about when he said, “The glory of god is a human truly alive.” In English the word repent means to turn from sin, to feel regret or to change one’s mind. But in the original Greek there is no sense of sin. From the original Greek, the word means to change one’s mind, to go a new direction. If we take this definition, “to go a new direction,” and apply it to this story in Matthew, the story starts to take on a very different meaning. The fishermen in the boats to whom Jesus calls out “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand,” were actually hearing, “Come and join me in going a new direction in your life, for God is with you!” Now that is an invitation that many of us would love to hear or need to hear. Secondly, to understand this text we need to know something about what it means to be a fisherman in Jesus’ day. For years, I struggled with this text as have countless other preachers and biblical teachers. We struggle with it because of its brevity. Many have come to the conclusion that there are parts of the story missing. Who would answer this call to follow Jesus without more information? Many have made up what that missing part of the story must have been. I have wondered too, until I read an article by Brian Stoffregen where he was quoting from the book Matthew and the Margins by Warren Carter. In this book Carter informs us what the world thought of fisherman in Jesus’ day. Carter writes that, “While fishermen have some economic resources, their social ranking is very low. In Cicero's ranking of occupations (De Off 1.150-51), owners of cultivated land appear first and fishermen last.” (Cicero was writing about a century before Jesus lived) “Athenaeus indicates that fishermen and fishmongers are on a par with money lenders and are socially despised as greedy thieves (Deipnosophistai, 6.224b-28c).: (Athenaeus lived about 2 centuries or so after Jesus). So for at least 3-4 centuries around the time of Jesus, fishermen were a despised lot, something on par with tax collectors(continued)

Part of our Chidester Series, the Rev. Quinn Caldwell preaching on the baptism of Jesus in Matthew 3: 1-17, audio only.

Matthew 2:1-12 Introduction to Scripture: Today we are celebrating Epiphany, a day when something new was revealed. As we read this familiar text today, let us look for something to be revealed that we had not seen before. There is a rabbinical story that can help us in this task. “It is the story of the burning bush in the Hebrew Scriptures in which Moses sees a bush on fire, but the bush is not consumed. The rabbis say that the important thing about this story is not that the bush is burning but that Moses notices, because every bush is burning, every bush is on fire with the divine presence, everything in the universe shines because God is at the heart of it. So it is in our epiphany story. It is a story that invites us to open our eyes to the light that is everywhere.” 1 In the time of King Herod, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, 2asking, “Where is the child who has been born king of the Jews? For we observed his star at its rising, and have come to pay him homage.” 3When King Herod heard this, he was frightened, and all Jerusalem with him; 4and calling together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for so it has been written by the prophet: 6‘And you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who is to shepherd my people Israel.’” 7Then Herod secretly called for the wise men and learned from them the exact time when the star had appeared. 8Then he sent them to Bethlehem, saying, “Go and search diligently for the child; and when you have found him, bring me word so that I may also go and pay him homage.” 9When they had heard the king, they set out; and there, ahead of them, went the star that they had seen at its rising, until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10When they saw that the star had stopped, they were overwhelmed with joy. 11On entering the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother; and they knelt down and paid him homage. Then, opening their treasure chests, they offered him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12And having been warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they left for their own country by another road. For a number of years now, my bucket list of places to visit is Yosemite National Park. 2017 looks to be that year. My son, Stephen, heard of our plans and gifted me with a book of John Muir’s wilderness essays. Muir was a 19th century naturalist, His activism not only helped to preserve the Yosemite Valley but played a part in it becoming a national park. Among the essays in the book is one titled, “A Near View of the High Sierra.” There was something about the Yosemite Valley and the High Sierra that fed his soul. It just so happened that it was Epiphany day as I was reading about his travels in the High Sierras. Epiphany day is the day we as Christians celebrate the travels of the Magi to Bethlehem to pay homage to the new born king. As I enjoyed Muir’s gift for prose, I wondered if one of the magi had had the same gift for prose as Muir did and had recorded his or her travels, what a gift that would be to those of us who also in a vicarious way long to have the same experience as those magi did almost 2,000 years ago. What story would the Magi have told? How would they have described their journey? How did they explain to skeptics their willingness to invest more than two years of their lives and a significant amount of money to follow a star that supposedly might lead to a new king. To invest this amount of time and capital, there had to be something special about that star that they were following. As I was thinking about Muir’s devotion to the wilderness that gave him a focus for his life, and as I was contemplating what it might have been like for the Magi to devote several years of their lives to follow a star(continued)

What are your dreams and hopes? Are they as big as Isaiah’s? … The problem is not that Isaiah’s hopes were too big. The problem is that ours are often too small, way too small.

"A New Season” Isaiah 2:1-5 The word that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. 2In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. 3Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 4He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 5O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord! Today I feel a need to offer a confession. My confession is centered around my use of my smartphone. It all started innocently, when I switched to using my smartphone as my alarm clock when my bedside alarm clock went on the fritz. My morning routine changed as a result. The alarm goes off. I silence it. Since it is now in my hand, I google the UCC daily devotion and spend a minute or two reading it. Feeling good that I began the day on a positive spiritual note, I then hit my news app. and for the next 10-20 minutes or more I spend reading the morning news. I had not thought about this change in my routine until I read an editorial in The Christian Century written by the editor, Peter W. Marty 1. He wrote the following, “Ever since I started using my smartphone as a morning alarm clock, my wake-up habits have shifted. Instead of engaging in prayer to open my day – once a regular feature of my rising…I check the news. When I lean over the edge of the bed to shut off the alarm, I notice my screen displaying news alerts that arrived overnight. Of course I click on them, wondering what I might have heroically saved in the world had I stayed up all night…I’m consumed by the news.” Then he asks the question, “Do we actually consume the news, or does the news consume us? Either way, it’s hardly a noble activity.” He goes on to quote Alain de Botton, a British-based philosopher and author of The News: A User’s Manual. Marty writes that, “de Botton believes that in contemporary culture, news has largely replaced religion as “our central source of guidance and out touchstone of authority.” The news – not scripture, tradition, or inspired ritual – informs how we handle suffering and make moral choices….It makes us more shallow than we may want to admit.” If he is correct, I am challenged by this thought. The last thing that I want to become is more shallow. My fear is that he may very well be correct. The ten or twenty minutes that I spent scanning the news feeds was time not spent in prayer or reading a devotional. And I must admit there is little in the news that is edifying or life altering, whereas time spent in prayer or reading spiritual writings is almost always edifying and life altering. Martin Luther King, one time quoted Theodore Parker, a Unitarian Minister from the early part of the 1800’s. In a sermon calling for the abolition of slavery Parker said, “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” I would like to think that as a moral person I am participating in this arc of the universe. My morning rituals certainly do not appear to be bending me in that direction. So today on this first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of a new Christian year, if you are like me, spending precious time of your day responding to all of the chirps and vibrations coming from your smartphones, time that takes you and me away from participating in the bending of the arc of the universe, let us take this time to stop and reflect on who we have become. One thing that I suspect has happened to us as we spend more time being consumed by the news(continued)

My mom is a gift-giver. Each and every Christmas growing up, there would be a pile of presents under the tree. My mom was a blue-collar, hardworking, single mom. We didn’t get much during the rest of the year as we were so busy surviving and working and running to and from our various activities. Yet each Christmas, we felt rich. One Christmas, there weren’t as many presents. Just two or three to my sister and me. And then one present had both of our names on it. My sister and I were puzzled, but my mom never disappointed. We saved that one for last, and when we opened it, we shouted and jumped up and down. It was a SEGA Genesis. An expensive game console at the time. It had to have cost her at least a month’s wages. It was an extravagant gift. Two years ago, I remodeled our master bathroom. With the help of my neighbor Eric, I ripped out everything, down to the studs. We then spent the next 4 months building it back. I learned how to tile and drywall. It was aggravating and wonderful. I grew closer to Eric and learned so much about him and his life. We spoke about the things that troubled us and more about our hopes and our dreams. A week after we had completed our work, a big package arrived in the mail. It was a towel warmer from my mom. I was surprised by this gift. I then ran up and couldn’t find a place to plug it into. And who really needs a towel warmer anyway? The warmth of the towel lasts for half a second and this thing could burn the kids if they played with it. It’s a waste of energy. And it’s just not energy conscious and I’m energy conscious! I have R36 in my attic, we’ve replaced leaky windows with energy efficient windows, I drive a Volt… A towel warmer is a waste of energy. I called my mom and briefly thanked her and then complained about all the ways the gift just wouldn’t work. I wrangled over my words. After I hung up, my sister rightly called me up and yelled at me, “Who are you right now?! Don’t you know that when you receive a gift, you say ‘Thank you!’ and then you shut up!” I felt lower than low. I was one of the nine lepers. Or worse, I would return and complain to Jesus about being healed! There is great wisdom found in the writing of Lewis Smedes in his memoir about gift giving and gratitude. He writes, “I have learned about real gifts is that they always come with a person attached. My gift to someone always comes with an unwritten message: I want to be part of your life; take my gift, take me. And I know that when someone gives me a gift, she too is saying: I want to be in your life. And knowing that she is attached to it makes her gift doubly precious.” My mom gave a gift in celebration of the bathroom remodel. A remodel we spoke so much about, and she made sure to ask after each time we talked. She gave not just a towel warmer, but she attached herself to it. And I didn’t see it. I rejected her and in a way said, “I don’t want you in my life.” How hurtful. I believe we learn most from our failings rather than our successes. I have since tried to be overly gracious and grateful. I practice writing three thank you notes a week to people in my church who have done good work. From preparing a great meal, to showing up and helping with the teens. Their presence is enough. Gratitude is important in the life of faith. Meister Eckhart, the medieval mystic once said, “If all you ever pray is ‘Thank you’ it is enough.” I have come to understand life as a gift. It is a gift I didn’t ask for. One that I find myself in. It is a gift that has an expiration date. It is a gift given to me not just by my parents, but God. I find myself participating in a cosmic love story: the love that flung the stars, made the galaxies, created the processes that would result in stellar evolution, biological evolution, and over the course of 13 billion years; created us. Created you, and me. Created here and now. We, by our very existence are participating in the life of God! The ch(continued)